Review Of the 1998 Super 4

Review Of the 1998 Super 4 / Short Circuit Gearbox Championships.

Robin Haworth

Just 5 rounds made up the 1998 championship, past years have been over 7,
but 98 would see points scored in the heats as well as the final, thus
giving the consistent finishers a chance of amassing valuable points.
Healthy entries throughout the 6 classes meant competitive racing all
season, with most of the championship titles undecided until the final
event of the year.

Fulbeck hosted the season's opener, a wet start to the series didn't dampen
any ones enthusiasm and it was to prove to be the only real wet event all
year, in probably one of the wettest years on record, we were very lucky.

Twenty-one drivers registered for Formula 125 Open and this class proved to
very competitive indeed. Nelson Rowe looked like the man to beat as he
streaked off into the distance at the first round final at Fulbeck, but
unfortunately he threw it in the gravel and failed to rejoin.
This left Peter Budd to open his account with a win, Peter then followed
it up with victory at Larkhall and a further win was added to his CV as he
claimed the title in style at Shennington. New comer Paul Ozanne had
adapted well to gearbox karts and was immediately on the pace, he managed a
win at Rowrah, on his way to 2nd in the championship.
Third place went to veteran, Peter Palmer, Peter scored a memorable win at
Kimbolton, moving swiftly to the front he led from start to finish leading
home Budd and Ozanne.
Another promising young driver is Daniel Grieg, a couple of second places
towards season end secured 4th for Daniel and keep an eye on him in 99.
Neil Hawley will circulate with the number 5 plate next year after doing an
impressive job this season and he finished ahead of Alex Pirozek and Dave
Stuart.

What can you say about Formula 125 National?, Quality, Quality, and Quality.

Defending champ Kevin Pinder started his defence in style, taking the win
at Fulbeck, Matthew Bett took victory on home ground at Larkhall, Carl
Hulme made Kimbolton his, Matthew again took another win this time at
Rowrah.
With one event left it would go down to the wire, Graham Barker had not
won a final all season but heat wins and podium finishes put him well in
contention for the title, Bett was favourite as he only had to
finish behind Barker to clinch the title.
Come the final Barker moved quickly to the front and would eventually go
on to take the win, all eyes were on Bett, Chris Pike had held 2nd place
and this would have given Barker the title, but he retired leaving Bett in
2nd. With a lap to go it would slip through Betts fingers, as a charging
Dennis Gale promptly pushed Bett back to 3rd. So it was Barker who would
take the crown, Bett just 3 points adrift in 2nd.
Scott Neal took third just a cushion of 4 points separating him from
Kevin Pinder, Richard Ward would take 5th place from Carl Hulme, Matthew
Gray, Bobby Cannon, Phil Wilson and Simon Scott.

Formula 125 Europa was very close all season long with three drivers taking
it right to the final race of the year.
Greame McKinley drew first blood, taking the season's opener at Fulbeck and
from there he would go on to take the title, clinching it in the final race
at the final event at Shen. Greame had scored in every heat and every final
during the season amassing a grand total of 757pts. Kevin Orchard claimed
the number 2 spot and but for a non-scoring final at Larkhall it could
quite well have been No 1. Tim Loughran had also scored consistently
throughout the season but his effort faltered at the last round and after
failing to score in a heat and the final, he dropped to 3rd in the table.
Like McKinley, Graham Smith was the only other competitor to score in every
heat and final and his reward was 4th in the championship ahead of Paul
Etty.
Last years defending champ, Dan Abbot, started the season tentatively
leaving Fulbeck in 5th place, Sadly two broken motors at round 2 and a lack
of funds brought an end to his title defence, hopefully he should be back
in 99.

Realistically 3 drivers were the class of the field in Formula 250E,but
even so, consistent finishing would reap rewards.
Paul Kennings opened his account with a win at Fulbeck. A heavy shunt at
Larkhall put front runner, Carl Kinsey, out of action, with a back injury,
until the final round at Shen, Paul again taking victory at Larkhall.
Round 3 and Kimbolton, a tangle on the first corner dropped Paul out of
contention and it was Neal Mellish who romped home, albeit with a deflating
tyre. After scoring wads of points in the previous two events Neal now
headed the table by just 15 points.
After a win at Rd 4, Paul reduced that margin to just 5 pts. Carl returned
to the fray at Shen and promptly returned to wining ways, this left Paul
and Neal battling for the title, a non finish in heat 2 for Paul meant Neal
just had to finish behind Paul, in the final, to take the title, and he did
exactly that. Tom Stambach claimed 3rd place from Alistair Boyd and Andy
Scott.

Formula 250 International was another class to go take it to the very end
and after a season long campaign it was the outfit of John "Guru" Riley who emerged
victorious. Andrew Walker had pressed him right to the final flag, but a
failure to finish in the last round dropped him to 4th in the final table,
both having taken a couple of wins during the season. The last round went
to Malcolm Crowe who was extremely delighted with the win. A super 2nd
place to Dave Harvey boosted him into 2nd place in the Championship Table
with ever improving Mark Powell taking a well-deserved 3rd place.

After dominating the opening two rounds, Don Kennedy looked favourite to
succeed in Formula 250 National, but a dreadful round at Kimbolton all but
ended his hopes. Consistency certainly was the name of the game and the
names of Neil Burroughs and Kevin Ridley were stringing together result
after result and after Kimbolton these two headed the field.
Rowrah and Don took the final, but again after finishing well, Kevin and
Neil held a considerable advantage going to the final round at Shen.
Welsh whiz, Chris Berry was the surprise winner of the final round, but it
was the ever reliable Kevin Ridley who took second place and that was
enough to clinch the championship, Kevin had managed to score points in
every race throughout the season.
Neil hung on to second in the table, just 19 points clear of a recovering
Don Kennedy, Malcolm Witts impressed with his consistent finishes and was
rewarded with 4th place overall. Roy Bennett was another posting some fine
results and he would net 5th.
Early leader in the season was Phil Ducker and but for a couple of non
scoring, through no fault of his own, rounds mid season would undoubtedly
have been a top three finisher. All in all F250 National was very close all
season and provided plenty of entertainment, hopefully it will continue in
to 1999.