By 'Eck, It's Grim Up North

27th May – Arrows Club National
Rossendale Ski Slope, venue of the All England Champs, the 2007 Telford Summer Camp, the greyest skies and the coldest wind anywhere outside of the North East. Whoever invented the words 'bleak' and 'overcast' must have lived in Rossendale at some time.

Ah yes, the racing. In the minis Jordan, Nathan and Kirran all looked to challenge for the honours. Messer’s Fellows & Breese claimed fine 2nd & 6th places but Kirran split the seemingly inseparable duo with an excellent 4th place. Ashley had a frustrating morning with a brace of DNF’s whilst Ben scuppered a great opportunity to gatecrash the Grand Prix party by missing a gate on run 3 after a fine 1st run but Joe Humfress again impressed recovering from a first run DNF to post a highly creditable 12th place in category.

In the girls, Chi 2 (or what looks likely to be renamed the Dad’s Army category) our walking wounded girls placed well with a bruised Charlotte Shrimpton returning to action with 9th place despite being handicapped by a less than aerodynamic front tooth and George Gould hobbled down run 3 after a pulled muscle in the morning. Blimey, the paramedic gave George a paracetemol to ease the pain in her leg and it took her longer to swallow it than it took Dr Harmon Morse to invent and patent the bloody stuff. Claire Brown‘s seasonal debut was spoiled by a brace of morning DNF’s but sister Ellen showed Claire the way with an excellent 7th in category. The honour of racer of the day however has to go to Charlie Gould, recently re-christened ‘Bird’ and blimey did she fly. 3rd in Junior 1 and 18th overall was a fine reward for the hard work of the winter.

Three Slopes, One Weekend, Lots of Driving

19th May – Stoke Race Series – Race 2
Race 2 of the Stoke fun series saw another hefty contingent from Telford in attendance. Spirits were almost immediately dashed however as the morning warm up session witnessed Charlotte Shrimpton’s horror crash that required a visit to the hospital and what looks likely to be a lot more to the dentist. As for those who raced we saw category wins for Emma Taylor, Claire Ainsworth, Charlotte Gould, Kirsty Thomas, Emily Humfress, Kirran Singh Khalsa, Joe Humfress and William Lucas. Oliver Dovey and Daniel Taylor added to this rather impressive haul by claiming 3rd places in their respective categories

19th May – Norwich Club National
With the Telford masses descending on Stoke Jordan, Nathan and Ashley cut somewhat lonely figures at what is without doubt the finest dry slope facility in the country. Nathan again delivered, claiming another impressive top 5 finish in the minis, Jordan recovered from a nightmare morning to steal 2nd place in the same category and Ashley added to that with 3 super runs to claim 3rd in chi 1 category

20th May – Norwich Grand Prix
With GP entry criteria excluding minis Ashley found himself in a one man team and despite the lack of Telford numbers we still ended up with a podium as Ash raced to 3rd in Chi 1

20th May - WMSA Schools Race 2007
And whilst the boy Breese was racing onto the Norfolk podium the rest of the Telford racers all headed to Madeley for our second and final home event of the summer. In the Girls categories the racers from Telford completely swept the board with Emma Taylor, Claire Ainsworth, Emily Humfress, Claire Brown, Charlotte 'Bird' Gould and Abby Clifford claiming wins. Podium positions were also claimed by Helen Fisher, Becky Brown, Kirsty Thomas, Charlotte Shrimpton, George Gould, Ellen Brown & Elisabeth Thomas. In addition, Chloe Ruston and Nadia Hicken both claimed 4th in category. In the boys, William Lucas, Jordan Fellows, Oliver Dovey, Ben Cooper and Jack Cottam claimed wins in all categories barring the u16 crown. Places were also captured by Harry Dovey, Kirran Singh Khalsa, Joseph Ruston, and Joe Humfress. Well done everyone.

The Great Indoors

12th May – Xscape Series, Race 1
The first of the 5 part indoor series saw another indifferent showing from the Telford lads. Jordan and Nathan’s day was over before it had really started with run 1 DNF’s and Ben and Ashley followed suit in run 2. Joe Humfress however spared our blushes with a fine morning run on the way to 24th place

13th May – Xscape Series, Race 2
So with the previous morning’s nightmare fresh in everyone’s mind the pressure was cranked up a notch or two for race 2 of the indoor series. Nathan led the charge with an outstanding brace of runs that not only left him as the victor in the younger mini category but a magnificent 4th in the minis overall. Jordan returned to form with a 2nd place in the minis and Joe Humfress added a cracking second run to a solid first taking 20th place in Chi 2. Ben and Ashley both found themselves out of the hunt with DNF’s although Ashley should at least be able to recoup £250 from You’ve Been Framed as his monster, marshall scattering net busting double clicker at least made it onto the camcorder. If anyone beats this crash this year they’re gonna be sore!

Hemel weekend

5th May - Hemel Club National
With 236 racers it was always going to be a long day and whilst it wasn’t quite the ice age fighting back global warming we did have to wait almost the whole day to see anything that remotely resembled sunshine. On the track Nathan Breese followed up the promise of the Celtic Cup series openers compiling three superb runs to claim a highly creditable 5th place in the minis category. Jordan Fellows also proving his consistency with the three fastest times of the day in the minis to take 1st place. In the girls Abby had a morning to file away and forget with a brace of DNF’s, Georgina Gould failed to build on two great morning runs with a DNF in her 3rd run, Charlotte Shrimpton claimed 12th place in chi 2 with three solid times and Charlie Gould smashed her seed point ranking by taking an excellent 9th Place in jn1. In the boys Ashley claimed 4th place in chi 1, Joe Humfress instantly took his seed points below the 250 mark in claiming 17th in Chi 2, a feat that would have been matched by Ben Cooper but for the most officious of officials, whom for every ounce of common sense also had an ounce and a half of pettiness, chose to disqualify Ben for missing a verbal instruction. Quite why men feel the need to detach their brain when wearing a florescent yellow jacket is the eighth wonder of the modern world. God help us.

6th May – Hemel Grand Prix
And so to the first Grand Prix of summer 2007. On a brute of a second course Ashley, lying in 3rd place after run 1, straddled whilst looking like improving on his position. Abby also followed suit and so it was left to the two Charlotte’s to battle it out for Telford. In ch1 2 Charlotte Shrimpton claimed 9th place and in jn1 Charlie Gould placed 14th.

Plastic Fantastic

28th April - Celtic Cup Race 1 – Rossendale
The first national dry race of the season saw full measures of both pre race tension and hope. How well did we winter? Have we improved? Well the answers were pretty well and oh yes. With Ashley Breese vacating the mini’s podium it was time for others to step up to the mark and our young lads didn’t disappoint with Jordan Fellows claiming a fine win and Nathan Breese following his team mate home to claim an excellent 3rd. Ashley translated his mini form into the children’s category by easing to his first win of the season in Children 1 and 27th overall. Jake Williams claimed 8th in Chi 2 with his partner in crime Ben Cooper finishing 16th. In the girls George Gould showed her sister a clean set of heels by racing to 13th and Charlotte Shrimpton continued the good form of last summer by claiming 7th place in chi 2. Performance of the day however goes to Abby Clifford who claimed a win double by demolishing the field to claim both category and overall victories.

29th April - Celtic Cup Race 2- Rossendale
With this ski racing game being so easy it was no surprise to see similar success in race 2. Well, erm, not exactly. Flushed with the successes of the previous afternoon, and with new coach Mr Blagdon looking on, one by one our racers bought themselves back down to earth with a bit of a thump. Jordan, Charlie, Ben, Jake and Abby all managing to end their productive weekend in the DNF shed. Inevitably the day was saved by the Breese Brothers with Ash doubling up on the previous afternoon’s Chi 1 win and Nathan claiming a fine 4th place in the minis. Congratulations should also go to Ash for securing a top 20 finish overall. Kirran produced a strong couple of runs to claim 6th in the minis, Charlotte Shrimpton claimed 14th in Ch2 girls with George Gould securing sub 250 seed points by following Charlotte into 15th. Both girls also claimied spots in the overall top 25 girls.

Stoke Race Blog

21st April - Stoke Race Series – Race 1
The first dry racing weekend of the season saw William Lucas and Emma Taylor scorch to victories in the U8 categories. Harry Dovey and Joshua Ainsworth also impressed with excellent 3rd & 5th places respectively. In the U10’s Claire Ainsworth & Jordan Fellows raced to wins with Daniel Taylor claiming a fine 3rd and Charlie Haycox claiming 5th. In the U12’s Oliver Dovey scored a superb 3rd place in the boys and Emily Humfress matched the feat in the girls with Adam Haycox shading brother William for an impressive 5th in a fiercely fought category. Honours for the U14 were claimed by Ben Cooper and Charlotte Shrimpton, with Joe Humfress taking an excellent 3rd and George Gould blasting her way into a fine 4th. However the prize for racer of the day has to go to Charlotte Gould who beat off stiff competition to not only take 1st place in the U16 girls but also claim the fastest time of the day for the girls. Well done indeed.