Pen - Y - Fan 1997

The course backs onto a country park and the track has to be fenced off to stop cattle and horses gaining entry. The course is run clockwise and has a long water section which is fairly exposed and wind was a factor during the weekend. The land bit is very bumpy and had large stones to cause damage if you got off line. The main left handed corner was rough if taken with a very tight line.

Practice :- After the wide open spaces of the paddock at Lucon, the paddock at Pen Y Fan seemed very cramped. Some craft had to be double parked!

I had a good laugh to find out that the piston that was fitted to Stepehen Scotney's craft after the first race at Lucon was borrowed from Mr Tilley and was the same one that I borrowed at Weston Park and subsequently returned after a quick decoke and clean up. Three engines that piston has been in and still going!!

Practise was a brief three laps as we were concerned about battery voltage since we (Dad, that is) had not recharged all the batteries in preparation for the meeting (there is no charging circuit with the competition crankshaft). Euan Black of the Bridgwater Team came to the rescue later with his portable generator and battery charger!

Woody's (Sir Harry Smiths School) problems with the engine frame continued so he was unable to compete.

Race 1 After the disasters of earlier UK races my grid position was sixth, so I had to come through the pack to get up to Luke and Stephen who were pushing out ahead. On the second lap Luke fell foul of the strong tailwind in the section of water to the first buoy and ploughed in very heavily and went for a bath! He managed to get back in the craft but was unable to start it. As the floor had given way in the plough in, the craft sank fairly quickly. So no points for Luke.

That set the positions for the race with Stephen in a comfortable lead, me chasing, but not close enough, then Simon Kearle from Bridgwater.

Race 2 - The second race got me on the front row of the grid in between Simon Kearle and Stephen At the start Stephen and I scorched of the grid together, Stephen was first round the buoy, just, with me hot on his tail. The run to the second buoy was into the low sun. Stephen was having trouble seeing the buoy in the glare and was wandering a bit. I caught his air and went air borne in a big way, giving me no choice but to ease off to regain control. This allowed Stephen to get away. I chased hard but his craft is definitely quicker so I really couldn't do much about the situation but keep pushing in case he had some problem. Simon K was pushing on ahead of Mark Coles and Simon O. Luke was using his Mothers F3 hovercraft and was in 6th place.

Race 3

Luke was back in his own repaired craft and when Stephen cleared off, Luke and I had a good scrap for second. Our craft are very similar in lap times and produce close racing. My craft is better on water and in windy weather. Luke's has the legs on land and tight corners. As Luke had to come through the grid he also had the problem of getting past my thrust air! In this race he didn't, but pushed all the way. As the photos show things were close.

My race was also made more interesting by my seat and steering coming away on driving to the starting grid. The seat assembly had become un-riveted from the hull and was floating loose. Since the console also houses the steering column top bush the whole situation was quite interesting. With only two minutes left all Dad said just before the race was "whatever you do, sit still" and then started the engine!! I think that when I was airborne in the previous race I must have hung onto the steering for dear life to have carried everything away!!

Race 4

I was furious with my self at the end of this race as I had thrown away second place because of some sloppy cornering which allowed Luke through on the inside on the big left hander on the land section. Having got in front I then had the problem of his thrust and finding just that bit more speed to overtake. The situation was tense as I could gain on Luke as he drifted wide to the first buoy but on the second water section I could not make further headway as I couldn't get the nose of the craft down enough in the headwind to get maximum speed.

On the land section Luke would gain again round the big left hander and we started the lap as before with me catching on the first water section!

Things were tough for Luke with me close behind, particularly when other craft were on the racing line. Mark Coles got stomped on in one corner as Luke frantically pushed on to keep ahead.

Stephen won all the races in Pen Y Fan and the National Championship for the year. As he has been runner up two years in succession we were all pleased to see him win in his last year of juniors. In the photo below from left me, Daniel Newton (last year in juniors this year in F1) Stephen Scotney - still in his racing gear as he knew he was going for a swim! and Jonathan "Woody" Hallet

Results for Wales 97

1st Stephen Scotney Self/Yamaha TZR

2nd Edward Hurn Eagle/Yamaha TZR

3rd Simon Kearle (Bridgwater) Eagle/Yamaha TZR

4th Mark Coles Self/Yamaha LC

5th Simon Oakley Osprey/Kohler

6th Luke Sedzikowski Python/Kawasaki KL1S

Results for UK Junior National Championship

1st Stephen Scotney 2nd Luke Sedzikowski 3rd Simon Oakley 4th Woody 5th Me 6th Simon Kearle 7th Mark Coles 8th Dave Read 9th Bridgwater B 10th Windsor High School