ROOZ news Season 13 Round 5 Grand Valley East Reverse Enduro

Welcome to the 5th round of League racing, coming to you from Grand Valley East reverse. 93 laps was the distance, taking nearly 1 1/2 hours to complete. Unfortunately, the editor wasn't paying much attention and the network gremlins had been at it again so there was no Division 1 report at time of posting. Warrior took the win from Mustafur by a small margin, with Anon666 rounding out the podium.



Now we move to the Division 2/3 report, brought to you by Tim (t_b_williams) and Jamie (Ad2mny)


Round 5 - Enduro
Grand Valley East / Reverse
This round of the championship sees the drivers head to Grand Valley Speedway to take on the shorter East circuit, but in reverse. All up 10 drivers tried their luck with Disturboed the fastest qualifier taking his rightful place on pole.

Grid:- Disturboed, Overdrive, Stumbles, Emmo, Hr31gts, T_B_Williams, 3vilmoon, Ad2mny, Bjh, Hazeone.

The lights went out on track and at OverDrivve's place as the second fastest qualifier fell from the silver medal position down the field off the line and through the first few corners, while Emmo made it up to 3rd with T_B_ hot on his heals and unfortunately making a mistake out of turn 9 gifting the final podium position to the no. 1 and falling to dead last.
Fast forward to lap 4 and while the final four were everchanging with Emmo trying to fight his way back, Overdrive was wishing his night would get better soon, slipping another spot down to 6th allowing Ad2mny into the top 5. But only moments later, Stumbles made a mistake at the final hairpin, dropping down to 6th now behind Overdrive. But the early action wasn't over yet with a third error, this time by the leader, Disturboed, allowing TB to close the gap and take the lead which sparked the beginning of an epic battle for the lead, with Turbo eventually wrestling back 1st on lap 8 courtesy of a great move into turn 1 after the draft forced TB to tuck in behind or cause a collision.

TB (right) and Turbo's(left) epic opening lap battle.

Lap 10 now and Turbo had a 1 sec lead over TB in front of 3vilmoon in 3rd, 2.2 secs behind the leader. Stumbles had a handy gap back to 5th placed Ad2mny who had a similar gap on Emmo. In 7th was Bjh, holding off a trouble stricken Overdrive reminiscing his front row start ahead of Hr31 and Hazeone rounding out the field.
Overdrive takes a spot from Ad2mny. one of many passes thanks to the draft.

A mistake on lap 13 by Emmo in the tunnel saw Overdrive start to rise from the back of the pack into 6th as attention started to shift to when and how many pitstops would serve the drivers best. TB was the first to blink coming in on lap 17 and thereby committing to a four stopper. 3vilmoon followed him in from 4th as did Hr31. Ad2mny came in a lap later on 18 with Emmo pushing his rear wing all the way. Lap 19 was the lap of choice for Stumbles and Hazeone, with Bjh coming in on lap 20 and the last of the drivers on a 4 stop strategy as Turbo and Overdrive (now back in second) pushed on for a 3 stopper.

Bjh gets his first service.

So now on lap 21 and strategy now playing its cards on the field, Turbo and Overdrive, yet to stop, lead the field comfortably from TB, 3vilmoon, Stumbles, Emmo, Ad2mny, Bjh, Hr, and Hazeone.

Turbo's tyres cried enough on lap 23, dead on song for a 3 stop as did Overdrive which gave the lead to TB. This see-saw of the lead would continue as the race wore on and differing strategies played out. Would Turbo and Overdrive's choice work out? They must have been hoping so as they rejoined in 4th and 8th respectively, with the others getting a huge undercut, with the leaders having come in from a commanding lead.


3vilmoon(left) and Turbo (right) fight for position on differing tyre strategies.

Lap 30 saw TB holding onto the lead for the time being ahead of Stumbles, Turbo, 3vilmoon, Emmo, Ad2mny, Overdrive, Bjh, Hr, and Hazeone. Now the field was really spread as the tail enders had started to go a lap down. It was lap 33 when Overdrive gained a spot passing Ad2mny down the main straight.

Lap 35 and TB relinquished the lead for new tyres and fuel with Haze following him in now 2 laps down. This saw Stumbles as the 3rd leader of the race until he was passed into T1 only mere seconds later and had a horror run through the two fast left handers and took the time to study the concrete barriers on the left of track. This was all the incentive he needed and pitted at the end of the lap as did 3vil only a few seconds behind, with Emmo going in as well giving Overdrive (OD) second for the time being. Bjh also came in on lap 37 after falling to last with Hazeone now out of the race. Ad2mny took his 2nd stop on lap 39 while Hr continued on until lap 41.

This saw a field lead by Turbo, OD, TB, Stumbles, 3vil, Emmo, Ad2mny, Hr and Bjh. But this would all change again as Turbo came in for his second service on lap 46 giving the lead briefly to OD who pushed on only to be pushed down to second as TB passed into T1. Turbo's stop saw him fall back to 4th once more, behind the Div captain and No. 43, Stumbles. With OD on old slippery tyres, the No. 25 Citroen pitted on lap 48 coming out in 7th just behind Ad2mny.

So at just over half race distance on lap 50, TB was back in front with a 19 sec lead over Stumbles, Turbo in 3rd 23 secs back, 3vil was 4th, Emmo, with a great run from last in the opening laps, now 5th, Ad2mny just ahead of OD in 7th and Hr and Bjh both a lap down.

.................................passes the baton to Jamie

Disturboed harassed Stumbles01 all of lap 55, and slid past on the inside of the final corner as Stumbles01 ran wide and into the gravel, then dove into the pits. t_b_williams also pitted and disturboed took the lead.

Lap 56, emmo46 had a half spin as his car became unsettled on the rumblestrip at the double left after the tunnel, allowing OverDrivve and Ad2mny to move up ahead of him, and he pitted end of that lap along with X-3vi1m00n, hr31gts and bjh1012. Ad2mny took his stop end of lap 58.

Start of lap 67, OverDrivve ran wide into turn 1, running onto the gravel and ending at a full stop in the armco at the start of the hill. Stumbles01 took his 3rd position. hr31gts pitted end of this lap.

disturboed took his final stop end of lap 69, dropping to 3rd behind t_b_williams and Stumbles01. OverDrivve pitted lap 71, dropping to 6th behind X-3vi1m00n and Ad2mny. disturboed slowly reeled Stumbles01 in until on lap 74, Stumbles01 outbraked himself exiting the tunnel and lost his 2nd position.

t_b_williams pitted for the last time on lap 76, as did Stumbles01, X-3vi1m00n and emmo46. OverDrivve moved up to 4th ahead of Ad2mny at the end of the straight lap 77, and they both moved ahead of Stumbles01 as he ran wide at the last turn end of that lap, dropping him to 5th. Ad2mny took his final stop that lap allowing Stumbles01 to repass but unfortunately he disconnected halfway through the next lap.

hr31gts took one last stop lap 82 and the final run to the flag was on. disturboed had a 4 second gap to t_b_williams that was slowly shrinking lap by lap. OverDrivve was 40 seconds back, then X-3vi1m00n was the first of the lapped cars. Ad2mny was the full length of the straight further back, with emmo46 nearly the same distance back from him. bjh1012 was 2 laps down and passed hr31gts as he exited the pits.

Lap 90 and disturboed makes the error that costs him the race, getting a little sideways at the double left after the tunnel and running across the grass as he recovered gaining a penalty. t_b_williams zoomed past, and disturboed pushed as hard as he could but cannot reclose the gap. t_b_williams takes the win by nearly 10 seconds from disturboed, with OverDrivve rounding out the podium 46 seconds further back.

bjh1012 has a spin at the end of the straight starting his final lap trying to avoid the cruising finished cars, allowing hr31gts to catch and pass him just before the timer reached zero, sealing 7th and 8th positions.

A gruelling race with positions changing many times with differing pit strategies. Next round at Autumn Ring will be a great test of throttle control and cornering, with long sweepers and tight bus stop sections.
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See you next time.

Division 2 Reporter /Photographer - Tim (t_b_williams) Reporter/Editor - Jamie (Ad2mny)

You can't help DSCs mate I should have paid more attention and tried to organise someone else but oh well...

Oh dear lol