JapShow Finale Report 2009

Pro Class

With notable absences in the final round of the series, it was down to Chris Impey and Leon Green to duke it out for winner and runner up spot in the championship.

With four qualifying sessions under the belt, Chris was running some seriously impressive numbers, but Leon was yet to put in a full-bore run. Could he pull something out of the bag for the final.

Pro Class Final

Straight into the finals, and it was clear that Leon’s car was still not working properly. Chris leapt off the line to another superb 8, but Leon couldn’t deliver anywhere near his car’s full potential and Chris was gifted the win.

Winner: Chris Impey

Fac Mod Class

Qualifying saw Mark Moseley top the charts with a very strong 9.3 at 153mph. Gary Gooding was not far behind in the RX7 even with terminal speed that were well down on Marks.

Keith Car was still getting to grips with his Supra, and Rob Gallagher threw a belt on his Skyline to ruin his qualifying session.

Fac Mod Class Semi Finals

In round 1 Mark Moseley was up against a broken Rob Gallagher  who failed to make the line sending Mark straight through to the finals.

Gary Gooding caught Keith Carr napping, and got away from the lights by a huge margin. Keith stood no chance of catching Gary who was on a strong run in the Mazda.

Fac Mod Class Final

Gary was up against Mark in the finals, and with both drivers capable of similar times, all was set for a close race. But whilst Mark got everything right with a good reaction and ET, Gary must have been left frustrated with an off-par reaction and run, trailing Mark at the finish line and handling him the win.

Winner: Mark Moseley

Street Class

Johnny McKeon resumed his position at the top of the table with a monster 9.4 second run and a new personal best. Jeff Ludgate ran a strong 10.0 at a huge mph to take the second spot, and Roy Ashby was also running at his best with a 10.1 for third. Malcolm Thomas was running well with 11.0s and James Willday suffered with a below-par gearbox after a breakage in testing. Gareth Owens chased a fast field with sturdy low 12s.

First Round

Roy Ashby laid down a fast 10.5 to see off a struggling Malcolm Thomas, whose low terminal speed suggests problems for the Skyline driver.

Johnny McKeon was suffering from gearbox problems aquired during qualifying, and ran a below-average pass with just third gear to hand, but luckily for him Gareth Owens was not fairing any better and crossed the line behind Johnny.

James Willday had a slow start against Jeff Ludgate, but took the win regardless.

The fourth pair was a pair of bye runs that would greet Johnny McKeon in the semis.

Street Class Semi Finals

Roy Ashby pulled out all the stops with a great reaction time and very impressive run to decisively stick it to James Willday who was clearly not at his 10.0 second best.

Johnny McKeon had a clear run to the finals having earned himself a bye run, so took it easy to preserve the car for the race that mattered.

Street Class Finals

The finals were upon us, and Roy Ashby had everything going well. However, Johnny McKeon had been deep into the 9’s earlier in the day – unexplored territory for Roy. A fast getaway from the lights and a very strong run saw Roy cross the line in 10.5 seconds, but Johnny’s gearbox problems had not gone away and he attempted to launch in the one gear available to him, which resulted in terminal failure, handing the Roy his first win in the series.

Winner: Roy Ashby

FWD Class Qualifying

Qualifying saw Guy Chamberlain topping the tables with yet another 10, hotly followed by four competitors in the 11s. Richard Batty notably performing better than ever with an MPH that matched Guy’s. Guy took the points for high mph because he achieved the 136.91 mph first. Newcomer Karl Hart put in a promising mid-12 but championship contender Neil Knight was struggling to meet his potential languishing at the bottom of the qualifying table.

Round 1 FWD

Round one, and Guy’s top qualifier slot earned him a bye run which was taken relatively at ease sending him straight into the second round.

Paul Cresswell and Douggie Gemmell were well matched in their first elimination round, and both pulled out the stops for a good reaction time . Douggie was charging hard at the finish with a high mph but Paul just pipped him to the line ion a very close race.

Richard Batty made a dreadful start and found himself well behind Neil as the lights dropped, but Richard’s superior power allowed him to charge past Neil who was still not performing to his best with a relatively low mph at the finish.

Karl Hart pulled out a fantastic reaction time against Adam Buckley who red-lit his way straight out of round one.

FWD Class Semi Finals

Richard Batty got everything in round 2 spot-on with reactions, ET and mph that Karl just couldn’t keep up with.

Guy Chamberlain must have been worried as Paul Cresswell got away from the lights first, but once again, big power saved Guy’s race and he charged past Paul for the win.

FWD Class Finals

Richard had been on top form all day and Guy had been slightly below his best to make this a tense final that anyone could win. Richard was out of the traps with a superb 0.0 second reaction time with Guy not too far behind him, but Guy managed to get up to his top speed faster than Richard and had pulled out an impressive lead by the finish line. There was nothing Richard could have done to keep up with Guy’s excellent 10.4

Winner: Guy Chamberlain

Champions:

The round points and season standings table are on the main 2009 Points page.