Pete House Memorial Meeting 2022
Well what a day it was. The first Pete House memorial meeting has finally happened and it was definitely worth the wait! The weather was sunny, and the racers were happy, and a good day was had by all.
The event was run as a fun days racing, and a chance to raise money for Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex. Aldingbourne Community Sports Centre had very kindly given us the hall for the day free of charge. This meant that along with all the money raised from the raffle and collection boxes, that all the driver entry fees/donations would also go to the very impressive total amount raised of £704.21.
The winners of each class would receive car stand trophies designed and made by “Team Cooper”. 2nd and 3rd would win chocolate racing car kebabs. Our 3 junior racers would all be awarded chocolate bars. The other prizes of the day were all in memory of Pete House. Pete worked for many years as a paint sprayer and always enjoyed a concourse event, and was a regular winner over the years.
The “main” prize of the day was the Pete House Memorial award. This was something we kept under raps until the day of the event. Pete himself was never hugely competitive on the racing side of things, but he was always the first to offer help to others. He always saw the bigger picture of what the club meant, and his calm manner helped steer the club through good times and bad. With all this in mind the Pete House memorial award is not something you can win on the track. It’s about the person, and how they conduct themselves, rather than how many laps, or races they win.
The award itself was donated by Pete’s wife Julie, and his son’s Stuart and Mathew. There was also refreshments in the shape of tea/coffee, cakes and treats, and various bags of chocolates spread around the pitting areas for the racers to enjoy. Julie, Stuart, and Mathew were all present during the day to see the racing, and catch up with a lot of our long standing racers.
We also has some Ex-racers pop in to say Hi, which just shows how much Pete was respected. Steve Westbrook, Dale and Alan Goodchild to name a few. Maybe we will see them racing with us again in the future?
After booking in, and the drivers briefing the first event was the concourse. The cars were separated into classes. Holly Goodland very kindly acted as judge, and made a great job of it as well. The winners were,
Hot rod – Max Flynn
1300’s – Gordon Brett
2litre saloons – Ian lane
Mini stoxs – Stuart Morgan
So to the racing, an open practice session was held first for each class before 4 rounds of qualifying, with mixed heats for all classes but the saloons. There would also be bump up finals for all classes apart from the saloons which had an all in heat and final.
We will start with the mini stox. The heats were as you would expect for the mini class with lots of giggles along the way. The B final had Stuart Morgan on pole, Andi Tamplin on grid 2, lan Lane on grid 3, Matt Jordon on grid 4, Kevin Brand on grid 5, Darren Houston on grid 6 and the Gordon Brett mini, (which was a raffle prize won by Antony Figg), and thus raced by him in the final on grid 7. In a close race it was lan Lane taking the win, from Andi Tamplin, with both moving up to the A final. The other places were filled by Stuart, Matt, Kevin, Antony, and Darren.
The A final had Martin Watts on pole, Chris Booker on grid 2, Paul Cooper on grid 3, Richard Morgan on grid 4, Leo Houston on grid 5, Ian lane on grid 6, and Andi Tamplin on grid 7. This was a very close race, Martin took the win but only just from Chris. Paul Cooper was a couple of laps down in 3rd. The other places were filled by Richard, Ian, Leo, and Andi.
Brushed rods next. It would have been nice to split the cars for 3 heats, but as time was pushed with a busy day planned it had to be 2 heats which ment a busy time for the rods. That said it was not easy to qualify directly into the main final with some quick cars having to make there way using the bump up system.
The C final had Allan Goodland on pole, from Mark Smith on grid 2, Liam Booker on grid 3, and Paul Baker on grid 4. Young Liam Booker would go on to take the win from Allan Goodland. The returning Mark Smith and Paul Baker would fill the other places.
The B final had Max Flynn on pole, Anthony Figg on grid 2, lan Lane on grid 3, Chris Moran on grid 4, Liam Booker on grid 5, and Allan Goodland on grid 6. Max Flynn would take the win, followed by a very happy Chris Moran in 2nd. The other places were filled by Liam, Allan, Anthony, and Ian.
The A final had Keith Smith on pole from Chris Booker on grid 2, Harry Weymouth on grid 3, Harry Cooper on grid 4, Max Flynn on grid 5 and Chris Moran on grid 6. This was a fast paced race as expected. Chris Moran was a unfortunately dnf with shell problems. Keith would take the win from Max in 2nd, with both the Harry’s on split time in 3rd and 4th. It was Harry Cooper in 3rd, and Harry Weymouth in 4th. Chris Booker dropped to 5th with a car that had not been charged doh! and the unlucky Chris Moran in 6th.
1300’s now, the D final had Matt Caney on pole, from Paul Baker. Gordon Brett was on grid 3 and Kevin Brand was grid 4. Unfortunately Matt was out after just 1 lap. Gordon Brett would go on to take the win from Kevin with Paul 3rd and Matt in 4th.
The C final Cameron large on pole, Ethan Aldridge on grid 2, Andi Tamplin on grid 3, Ashley Aldridge on grid 4, Liam Booker on grid 5, Matt Caney on grid 6 and Gordon Brett on grid 7. The top 4 cars would all finish in there grid positions, Matt Caney would climb to 5th, followed by Liam Booker and Gordon Brett.
The B final had Chris Moran on pole, with Ian Lane on grid 2, rob driver on grid 3, Daren Wood on grid 4, Allan Goodland on grid 5, Cameron large on grid 6 and Ethan Aldridge on grid 7. Come the end it was young Cameron large taking another win! Could he go all the way? Ian lane was 2nd but on just on split time from Daren Wood. Rob Driver was 4th followed by Chris, Ethan, and Allan.
The A final had a normal club night look about the front row. Max Flynn was on pole from Harry Cooper, Richard Morgan was 3rd, from Paul Cooper in 4th, Stuart Morgan in 5th, Cameron large in 6th, and lan Lane 7th. We asked the question could Cameron go all the way? The answer was a amazing yes! He took the win a couple of laps ahead of Harry Cooper in 2nd, and Max Flynn in 3rd. Stuart Morgan was 4th, with 2nd to 4th all on the same lap! Richard Morgan, Paul Cooper and lan Lane filled the other places.
The Saloons had a very “hot racers ” feel to it. With a all in heat final it would be Leo Houston on pole, from Martin Watts on grid 2. Cameron large was grid 3, with Stuart Morgan grid 4, and Ian Lane grid 5. Leo would go on to win from good friend and rival Martin Watts. Cameron was 3rd, from lan Lane and Stuart Morgan.
When the finals were finished the winners were presented with there prizes. It was then time to announce the first winner of the Pete House Memorial award. The committee had decided that the first winner would be Allan Goodland. Allan only started racing with us during our lock down meetings. He is now a regular BMCC racer and is a real asset to the club. Amazingly he knew Pete through a model boat racing club many years ago. Allan was visible moved by being chosen which was nice to see.
So there you have it, the meeting we had waited for. Hopefully we did it justice, you all had a fun day and a safe journey home. The list of people to thank is so long, let’s just say a massive thank you! to absolutely everyone that made the day what it was.
