Mirage Team Drivers Win Rounds 1 & 2 @ Maxbashing in Guilford

The Off Road Team From left to right: Phil Cracknell, Simon (Pit Man), Tony Gomez, Joe Joyce and Karl Dilworth.

Round 1

At the Maxbashing track in Guilford took place on the 3rd April 2005. 14 Outlaw runners set out to stake their claim in this years series, including Mirage's B Team drivers Tony and Joe. Heat 1 saw last years top contenders rack up 6 laps to set the pace for the day. Heat 2 Tony also raced up a 6 lap heat with a faster time of 303.90sec which qualified him 2nd overall for the finals.

Round 2

Provided some of the closest racing ever seen in this class with 3 seconds separating the top 4 drivers. Heat 1 Mirage's B Team driver Joe clocked up 6 laps in a respectable time 312.58sec to qualify in 4th place in the A final.

This was a hot competition with several drivers changing positions during the race. A traffic jam at the start left Joe in 7th place, after several fast and consistent laps he then found himself tussling for 1st position and took the lead on lap 6. Joe kept the lead to take the win with 11 laps in 622.00sec.

Saw the return of Mark Knight who was last years champion in the Monster Mash series. The field was ready for an MK domination but this was not on Joe's mind. Heat 2 produced some very close racing and both Joe & Mark clocked up 7 laps each and only 2 seconds separating them, leaving Mark qualifying in 1st and Joe in 2nd for the final.

Joe stole the hole shot with Mark hot on his heels. Several laps of close wheel to wheel racing with the lead changing several times between the 2 drivers. On lap 8 due to a Hub breakage Joe lost the lead but managed to stay out on track to take a well deserved 2nd place only 10sec down with 13 laps in 623.83sec.

Tony & Joe line up for the start of round 4 knowing grip was the order of the day. Heats 1, 2 Joe clocked up 7 laps and achieved a Top Qualifying time in heat 2 with 7 laps in 322.54sec. This time set by Joe was good enough to TQ and qualified him in 1st position in the A final. Tony struggles with grip issue's as all drivers did but he still managed to qualify 8th in the A final..

Joe gets the hole shot at the start of the A final leaving the field to fight it out. Lap 3 saw an unusual rear shock breakage and put him out of the race until a superb pit stop by Phil C & Simon, saw Joe back onto the track in under 30 sec to drive from the back of the field to 5th place just behind Tony who finished the race in 4th place.