Class Three’s provide top action all weekend.

We mentioned in the overview that the track produced some of the best racing seen all season, and this was particularly relevant for the class threes which offered sensational action from their first race of the weekend.
Sam Gould had a 156 point lead over Barry Almond coming into the final round and had the title easily within reach. Gould continued to extend the gap as the heats progressed and then chose to sit out of the final due to engine issues after some deliberation.
A win and two seconds in the heats put him fourth in the points behind top qualifier Phil Thompson and a two way tie for second between Aaron Mackenzie and John Shorter. Thompson then made a brilliant start in the final and was chased to the chequer by Ged Power.
Power was immediately the closest challenger and despite drifting a little wide in the first turn he headed the chasers, then closed up to the back of Thompson by the time they exited the pits bend at the end of the first lap. Thompson was a little quicker up the straights, but Power was stronger under breaking which allowed him to narrow the gap again, and the pair circulated nose to tail.
For a couple of laps Almond held second too after Power went wide and tried a number of manoeuvres on Thompson but failed to demote the leader. Mackenzie too passed Power but then let the Abram driver back through into third after understeering wide, and then on the next lap Almond left a space for Power and he powered through to reclaim second place. In the final corner Almond made a final attempt and lunged up the inside of Power and only succeeded in giving Power a little extra momentum into the bend which resulted in a nudge on the back end of Thompson. The trio then crossed the line closely bunched together with Mackenzie close in fourth too. John Shorter had originally held fourth before Mackenzie slid up his inside. The national champion then settled in a fairly secure fifth with Dave George not far behind and Steve Goodwin at the tail end.

At round three, the points situation between Becky Shaw and Sally Shorter was such that the class lead swung from one to the other depending on their race results and created an exciting scenario for the remaining events.
An unbeaten run in the heats at round four gave Shaw a slight advantage ahead of the final round, but she secured her winning position this weekend with great performance in qualifying.
Both Shaw and Thompson sat at the top of the table with two wins and a second place, with Shorter fifth after the heats, and Shaw then followed this with a clear win in the final. Her 210 point tally was the best this season which meant a far greater doubled score than Shorter, and she took the title by 187 points in the end.
Shorter deserves huge credit for her consistency this year, the Star lady benefiting hugely – as has John, too – from the work to transform the SR22 machine over the winter. Having won both the nationals and the BAS in her dad’s car Shaw will move to class eight next year, making Shorter one of the favourites for next year’s title.
Thompson held a safe second in the final as Shaw pulled away at the front. Had she not been a non-starter at round three she would undoubtedly have been among the title protagonists, but ultimately finished the year fourth in the points. Behind Shorter in the final was last year’s champion Trish Simmonds-Grant, who had started the race at the back and worked her way through the field past Lianne Teather and Beth Flynn. Teather held fifth place with Flynn dropping back to last in the end behind sixth placed Robyn English and Joanne Rowlands in seventh.

Main: Phil Thompson topped the qualifying order and the final too in what was a weekend of brilliant racing in the three’s. Above: Becky Shaw took a win in the final to take her second title of the year (photos: Dan Moffatt).