30/03/2025
Race Report – Stratford Club Night: Final Youth Ministock Meeting (Maybe!)
With a massive field of youth ministocks from all over, the competition was fierce, and the red lights were frequent! Running a 3/4 format, the night proved to be one of the most chaotic of the season that I’ve been to so far!
Race 1 (Grid 20 → 7)
The first race was shaping up to be a battle, but with four red lights in just nine laps, officials called it early. I had my fair share of action, getting put up the wall on the front straight but managing to straighten up and push forward. Later in the race, I tried to avoid a pile-up with a mentor but ended up launching myself into the wall, catching some nice air in the process. The damage report? A battered front end, a banged-up right side and a bent right transverse link. Huge thanks to Liam and Leighton for lending us a replacement part and to Dad and Craig for working their magic with a quick patch job to get me back on track for the second race.
Race 2 (Grid 10 → 11)
The car felt tight in the steering and we soon realized we hadn’t swapped out a bent right rear rim from the first race. That meant a wobbly rear and some tricky handling, but I held on, scuffing the wall a few times before settling into a bit of a groove. Despite the issues, I still managed a 19.50 second lap time before, once again, the race was called early on lap 9 due to multiple red lights.
Race 3 (Grid 10 → DNF)
With the right rear rim swapped out, the steering was still feeling tight, but I got a decent start and made my way into the top five. Unfortunately, lap 3 brought disaster. A tap to the right rear spun me into another car, which then spun them out. Before I had a chance to recover, I was t-boned by a third car, sending both of us into the wall HARD. That was the end of my race and the car now needs some serious TLC.
Final Standings & Wrap-Up
I finished 19th out of 37 cars, in what was an absolute wreck-fest of a night. There was a ridiculous amount of carnage, heavy damage across the field and way too many red lights for a supposedly “non-contact” class! Hopefully, I’ll get another chance to race this season, but for now, it’s back to the workshop to get the car straightened out.
Big thanks to everyone who helped out - Dad, Craig as well as Liam and Leighton for the spare part to get me back out racing.
Thanks to Mum and Cookies Motorsport Photography for the awesome 📸