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BTRDA® Gold Star® Champions

Autotest championship after Owen

Added: 9th August 2009

There were 2 winners at the Wheels banger racing track on the 8th August when Stephen Wild took FTD and another possible step towards being BTRDA Gold Star champion whilst by taking second spot overall Alastair Moffatt retained his MSA British Autotest champion title.

Full article from Duncan Wild below

Peter Cox

Demon Tweeks Direct BTRDA Autotest Championship - Round 11
Crimson Dynamo Autotest, Owen Motoring Group MC
Sunday 9th August 2009

Stephen Wild and Alastair Moffatt continue to dominate the 2009 Championship. This time it was Stephen who took FTD, his fourth of the year. Two penalties on the first test put Alastair on the back foot and with one eye on the MSA Championship he was quick but safe in the Mini Special for the rest of the event. This didn't detract from Stephen's performance as he continued to have a penalty free season and remained in the lead all day. Duncan Wild, who shares the ABS Freestyle with son Stephen, had his best event of the year, staying in touch with the leading times which resulted in third place. Alastair's second place confirmed him as the MSA Champion for a second year. However it is still all to play for in the BTRDA Gold Star® Championship.

As the competitors walked the tests there was a view that there was no favorites for FTD and that Richard Pinkney must break his duck soon. A wrong test on test 1 put paid to his chance and with everyone flying on Mike Sones' fast open tests it was difficult to recover from a 20 second penalty; he had to settle for fifth, just three seconds off the podium. Separating Duncan and Richard was the flying Nova of John Moffatt. Another fourth place was just reward for spirited driving near the Armco which lines the Wheels Raceway. John was also on hand to loan a gearbox to one of the 2 Egger Novas which had fractured a gear selector. It's good to see Richard Egger continuing to support the championship by bringing the cars to events for some of the promising younger drivers. Lee Valentine was second in the Nova class, another good result.

Class A for all Minis was won by Howard Everingham from Rob Rolston. This puts Howard in an unassailable lead in the class. John Moffatt has sewn up the other saloon class after a near perfect year. Richard Pinkney has won the sports car class.

Malcolm Livingston reverted to the special class with a shared drive in Martin Mackenzie's Lindsay Special. The car was reluctant to start at the beginning of the day. After much head scratching it was found that the float chamber was flooding. Once cured Malcolm was on the pace and he and Duncan traded times as they battled for third place. A penalty on round 3 dropped Malcolm down and he was also lucky when a brake failure occurred when Martin was driving.

The hot weather at Wheels caused several cars to have trouble starting. Unusually the most common fault was a sticking starter solenoid. This affected the retrotester of Stuart and Helen Perren and the ABS of Duncan and Stephen Wild. Dave Sowman had a bad earth.

The event was popular with the ladies. Helen Perren was quickest from Clair Chambers who continues to throw the Subaru Engine Buggy around with gay abandon. Lloyd Bass was the best novice. Lloyd continues to impress in his first year of championship autotesting and is now in an unassailable lead in the Bronze® Star Championship.

 


Results Summary
Organiser: Owen Motoring Club Where: Birmingham Wheels Adventure Park When: August 9th Championships: MSA, BTRDA Starters 31

1 Stephen Wild (ABS Freestyle) 567.1seconds; 2 Alastair Moffatt (Mini Special) 571.0s; 3 Duncan Wild (ABS Freestyle) 583.8s; 4 John Moffatt (Vauxhall Nova) 585.4s; 5 Richard Pinkney (Caterham 7) 586.8s; 6 Malcolm Livingston (Lindsay Special) 594.9s; 7 Stuart Perren (Retrotester) 604.8s; 8 Stephen Morten (RAW Striker) 605.8s; 9 Chris Atkinson (Subaru Buggy) 610.2s; 10 Lee Valentine (Vauxhall Nova) 620.1s. Lady Helen Perren (Retrotester) 648.2s; Novice Lloyd Bass (Vauxhall Nova) 712.1s