Croft report for front

[steve-e]

2014 FSRA F350/Post Classic Sidecar Championship

Croft

At the FSRA Post Classic and F350 round at Croft on 16th/17th August, Joe Heys/Marc Maier (350 Heys Banshee) continued to dominate the F350 class, and local Post Classic crew Tony and Neil Wheatley (750 Irseon Yamaha) had a very profitable weekend at their local circuit. Saturday’s opening race took place in cloudy but dry conditions and Pat Gallagher/Sean Rooney (1230 Derbyshire Suzuki) took the lead from the lights, closely followed by Wheatley and the rapid F350 outfit of Heys. Next came Alan Longshaw and stand in passenger, Joe Gaunt (350 Windle Banshee), Dave Tibbles/James Halliday (Kawasaki) and the 500 Konig of Howard Langham/Geoff Knight. Despite Croft’s long straights, by lap 3, the incredible 350 of Joe Heys and he pulled steadily away from the pursuing outfit, to take the overall win by 4 seconds. Gallagher and Wheatley had a classic tussle in the Post Classic class until Gallagher slowed with gear change problems. He had to settle for second in class, some 18 seconds down at the flag. The only other F350 of Alan Longshaw finished 45 seconds down on Gallagher, with Tibbles some 37 seconds further adrift. Unfortunately, Langham’s beautiful Konig retired on lap 2. Race 2 was so full of incidents, that only 1 Post Classic and 1 F350 outfit finished! Gallagher led from the line, with Heys in close contention, but by lap 4 the big Suzuki had blown up after losing an engine bolt. Wheatley tried to close the gap on Heys, but, ultimately he was happy to settle for the class win. There was not one black flag displayed in this race, but 2! Alan Longshaw lost his passenger in a low speed collision with an F2 outfit, but the sprightly James Gaunt jumped back on! The outfit was black flagged so that he could have a medical check. Dave Tibbles received his early call due to the amount of smoke that his engine was giving from a leaking base gasket. There were some unkind references to a ‘diesel Kawasaki’ in the bar in the evening! Poor Howard Langham had continuing problems with the Konig cutting out, so he called it a day on lap 1. Sunday’s races were again held in dry conditions, but the crews had to contend with gusting winds throughout the day. After a disappointing Saturday, Howard Langham decided to cut his losses and continue with the development work on the Konig. Mark Edwards replaced James Halliday as Dave Tibbles’ passenger and Alan Longshaw elected to ride Allen Steele’s TZ350 Windle outfit in race 1. This time, Joe Heys on the 350 got a great start and led from the off, with Wheatley close behind on the first of the Post Classics. As Heys built up an overall lead, Gallagher passed Wheatley on lap 2, but was soon re passed by the Yamaha. This battle allowed Heys to get away and he finished 15 seconds in front of Wheatley. Such was the pace of the leading two outfits that they were the only ones to avoid being lapped by the leading F2’s. Despite slowing, Gallagher remained comfortably ahead of Tibbles. By lap 6, Alan Longshaw was getting to grips with Allen Steele’s outfit and was visibly closing on Tibbles. On the next lap, an ignition misfire caused Longshaw to slow, but he cruised round to take the points for second in class. For race 2, Longshaw reverted to his own outfit. Gallagher led for 3 laps before the engine went sick, putting him out along with Dave Tibbles who was also in difficulties. Joe Heys took over the overall lead but Wheatley was closing on him. Try as he might, Wheatley couldn’t catch the flying 350 as he was held up by a slow F2 outfit. With Longshaw going out with a broken fairing, again there was only one Post Classic and one F350 outfit running at the end! Joe Heys looks absolutely unstoppable in the F350 class, but the battle between Tony Wheatley and Pat Gallagher for the Post Classic honours is far from settled!

[steve-e]

The latest points on Google sheet (similar to excel) as I'm on the phone at the moment
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... cslist_api

[rugbyfan]

Like that format Steve, I can see the points on my phone.