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Rother Vallery 2003.

The fifth round of the RWS British Hovercraft Racing Championship was held at Rother Valley. This was the fourth time that the Midlands Branch had organised a race meeting at this venue, and the site and course remained little changed from previous events although the size of the grid was increased over last year and with bar and two food outlets on site the catering was much improved.

For those who have not visited, Rother Valley Country Park is a huge council owned park. There are a few large lakes, plenty of footpaths, a café, and a play area for the children. We race on the Northern Lake on a course that comprises about 80% water with four transitions per lap. A tight coarse but with plenty of room on the lake made for close and interesting racing, giving the spectators some exciting racing to watch.

Our first coup was to get the event advertised for free on national radio! On the previous weekend, following our disastrous performance in the cricket, Richard Allinson was inviting listeners to e-mail in to his show on Radio Two with suggestions of new silly sports that the British should invent so that we could be good at something. I e-mailed in, suggesting that we have a perfectly good silly sport already, and have two world champions. Richard read this out on air, mentioning Conrad Beale and Daniel Turnbull as our champions, then went on to read out that our next meeting was at Rother Valley the following weekend. I'd also included the website address (always worth a try!) but that didn't get a mention.

The race weekend started on Friday morning with a select bunch of volunteers setting up the course by banging in posts, putting up ropes, signposts etc. A sincere thank you to everyone that helped to do this thankless but essential task in the scorching heat.

Saturday was again a hot day – with the initial mist burning off by about 9am and the sun beginning to beat down. Temperatures must have reached the mid 30s and stayed there for most of the day – this was one of the few events where it must have been almost pleasurable to fall out into the water!

The hot weather and advanced publicity brought in a good crowd, we hope that they were captivated by the exciting racing, but they may have been too hot to move! Sunday's weather was mixed with strong winds down the lake for the third set of races.

As at previous meetings this year, the novice races were well attended, although the numbers seem to be reducing as the year goes on and yet more qualify. Matthew Gill won all of the F1 category races; Les Bran and Jon Pert shared the first and second places in F2, with Stuart Bate winning the F3 category.

The F1 races for the weekend were action packed. The first two races were won by Daniel Turnbull, with Daniel Newton for Pintail Racing having lift engine problems in the first race, leaving him with no points. The third race showed a change of fortune for Daniel Turnbull, with a spectacular dismount from his craft on the first lap. This caused sufficient damage that he couldn't make the re-run, so enabling Conrad Beale to take full points. The final race of the weekend was close, with the first 3 finisher covered by ~1 second. Team Pintail taking first place, followed by Conrad Beale and Daniel Turnbull in third. Conrad took the first place trophy for the weekend, by a margin of 13 points. Just two points separated Second to fifth places. Meteor Racing Team took second place through consistently achieving forth place in every race. Daniel Turnbull was one point behind in third, closely followed by both Pintail Racing and Z racing a further point behind.

Lewis Webb took a swim in the first Formula 3 race for the weekend, relegating him to sixth place, with Scott Tilley taking full points. Lewis then had a battle on his hands to try to move back up the scoreboard. Close racing ensued between Lewis and Jamie Lewendon for Storm Hovercraft. Jamie took first place in both races two and three, with Lewis in second. The most exciting race of the weekend was the last F3 race. This saw Jamie and Lewis neck and neck through every corner. Either of them could have taken the chequered flag, but the honours went to Lewis, leaving him in second place overall behind Storm Hovercraft. Scott Tilley took third, on equal points with Lewis.

Formula Two racing was dominated by Lee Willars, who took first place for the weekend, with two wins and two second places, behind Mike Brickles. One race was a definite success for integrated craft, with almost all of the two-engined craft remaining on the grid with lift engine difficulties long after the Union Flag had been dropped.

The Formula 503 championship continues to be well supported - comprising nine of the fifteen F2 entrants. Richard Wiles dominated this formula at Rother Valley, taking first place for the weekend in every race. Team White got consistent results to give them a creditable second overall.

Junior racing was well supported, with seven entrants for the weekend. Matthew Gifford took both wins on Saturday, with Matthew Foster taking both wins on Sunday. Consistency rules, with Matthew Gifford winning the weekend and Bearwood College taking second place – the only two teams to score points in all four races.

The open racing was won by Pintail racing, with two wins and two seconds. Michaela Kendall took second place overall in the Meteor Racing Team craft, with an impressive win in the final race. Third overall was Scott Tilley, in his F3 craft showing some of the F1s and F2s how it's done!

The trophy for highest point scoring Midlands Branch members went to Taz Racing, with points scored in both F2 and Open races contributing to this success.

My observations on the weekend would not be complete without thanking all those volunteers behind the scenes who help our race meetings run so efficiently. These include: the Race Director; Chief Marshal; Drivers Reps; scrutineers; marshals; land and water recovery; commentary; Admin Co-ordination team and lapscorers; Records Officer; Membership Officer. Also the members of the club who gave up their time to put up the course, take it down, collect camping and race fees, organise toilets and skips, write risk assessments, and produce programmes etc etc

Nikki Turnbull