The third round of the Carpet Wars series was the first race meeting back for most, so rusty thumbs would be common amongst most drivers. The track would prove to be fast and unforgiving, with a lot of drivers at the start of the day struggling with one particular corner on the track which would send them into the path of cars coming down the straight! But for those that could master it, it would be the key to the track and consistent lap times.
Due to many cars ending on the straight after clipping this particular corner, it was moved back after the first round. As always, practice started at 8.00am with the controlled practice slots, which allows every driver competing to get to grips with the circuit layout; and at 9.00am drivers briefing was had in front of the rostrum before the days racing commenced.		  
     
 

27 Turn
The early pace setter was Neil Castle setting a very fast 18 lap run, with Richmond Rogers close in second place. Young driver Elliot Boots demolished Neil’s FTD by almost a lap in the second round, showing his true pace. Nathan Morgan would now take up second spot behind Elliot sending Neil further down the field! The third round of qualifying saw no change up front with Elliot maintaining his FTD but not improving in the last round. Meanwhile Nathan would better his FTD by a second securing his second spot on the grid, but still a long way behind the youngster. Richmond Rogers put in a blistering run in the final round that put him a second behind Nathan and thus promoting him to third on the grid.

1st Elliot Boots
2nd Nathan Morgan
3rd Richmond Rogers
4th Neil Castle
5th John Painter
6th Ian Taylor
7th Ross Thompson
8th Brian Shardlow
9th Simon Anscombe
10th Tim Hancock

 

Elliot Boots - The man to beat

 
 
Leg 1
Elliot was the only starter who would get away from the first lap carnage, with the rest of the field pilling into the first corner! This allowed Elliot to take the lead, which he extended constantly on the rest of the pack throughout the race. Nathan lost out after making small errors which cost him big, leaving him fighting for fifth position with tenth qualifier Tim Hancock who had made up a lot of ground from the back of the grid. John Painter would slowly move his way up the grid from fifth and end up challenging Richmond for second place. A mistake by Richmond at the half way mark allowed John the opportunity to push through to second, which he maintained to the end. The victor was Elliot, who by the end of the five minutes had extended his lead to a little over 8 seconds over John.

1st Elliot Boots
2nd John Painter
3rd Richmond Rogers
4th Nathan Morgan
5th Brian Shardlow
6th Tim Hancock
7th Neil Castle
8th Ross Thompson
9th Ian Taylor
10th Simon Anscombe
 
     
 
Leg 2
Nathan managed to avoid the first corner incidents this time and provide a challenge to the extremely fast Elliot Boots. Elliot began to extend his lead on Nathan, but a small mistake would allow Nathan to take the top position. With Elliot chasing hard for the lead, Nathan was under enormous pressure with Elliot fighting him all the way! Separated by 0.3 seconds was the end result, with Nathan narrowly taking the win, a single mistake was all that Elliot needed but it never came. Nathan was driving superbly and had no intention of crumbling under the pressure! The race for third place was between John and Richmond. Yet another battle to the line with John claming third by a mere 0.5 seconds from Richmond who had fought hard through the race to claim his third place qualifying position back! Once again the fifth spot went to Tim Hancock, who yet again had battled his way through from tenth on the grid.

1st Nathan Morgan
2nd Elliot Boots
3rd John Painter
4th Richmond Rogers
5th Tim Hancock
6th Neil Castle
7th Simon Anscombe
8th Ross Thompson
9th Ian Taylor
10th Brian Shardlow

Overall
1st Elliot Boots
2nd Nathan Morgan
3rd John Painter
4th Richmond Rogers
5th Tim Hancock
6th Neil Castle
7th Brian Shardlow
8th Ross Thompson
9th Simon Anscombe
10th Ian Taylor