Author: brfcjordan95

NFL Draft: Who’s going where? Round 2

After the surprises and excitement of last night’s 1st round of the 2014 NFL Draft tonight see’s the 2nd and 3rd rounds take place as many 1st round talents hope to be taken off the board early in the 2nd round. Here are my prediction for the 2nd round picks although like my 1st round mock draft potential trades will automatically render most of my predictions incorrect as teams jostle to take the best available players for their organization. Without further ado, the Houston Texans are on the clock.

33rd Pick: Houston Texans – With the opening pick of the 2nd round I predict the Texans will finally address their weakness at Quarterback by selecting a consensus 1st round talent who amazingly slipped out of the 1st round in what was a tough night for the QB class. I’m of course talking about Fresno State’s Derek Carr, a big physical pocket passer with a cannon arm who could immediately come in to training camp and become the game 1 starter for the Texans.

34th Pick: Washington Redskins – The Washington Redskins enter the 2014 NFL Draft after the last of their blockbuster trade in 2012 to grab RG3 meant St Louis used their 2nd overall pick. Nevertheless, the team is in a rebuilding stage with a new head coach and a QB out to prove the critics wrong after a disappointing 2013 season. Their biggest need appear in protection for RG3, which is why I think they’ll be thrilled that Alabama Offensive tackle Cyrus Kouandjio, someone who is ranked 24th on Mike Mayock’s top 100 board. Therefore he represents a steal for the Redskins early in the 2nd round.

35th Pick: Cleveland Browns – The Browns made a splash in the 1st round by addressing two big needs with top quality players, their 22nd overall pick of QB Johnny Manziel that affects this 2nd round pick however as I predict the Browns will immediately add protection for Manziel. The best available Offensive line prospect is UCLA Guard Xavier Su’a-Filo. He’s a 1st round talent and would immediately give Manziel the added protection he’ll need to make plays.

36th Pick: Oakland Raiders – After they managed to grab a steal in selecting Khalil Mack in the 1st round like the Texans I see the Raiders addressing their Quarterback situation with this pick. Of the QB’s still available I predict they’ll go with rising draft prospect Jimmy Garoppolo. Although he went to a small school in Eastern Illinois he’s wowed draft scouts during the draft process and could be a serious challenge to Matt Schaub from day 1.

37th Pick: Atlanta Falcons – After selecting an Offensive tackle in the 1st round the 2nd round will see the Falcons again address a big need for them in a pass rushing edge player. Of the remaining Defensive end class I predict the Falcons will select Kony Ealy from Missouri. He’s a really good player whilst simultaneously filling a need for the Falcons in what is a beneficial selection for both parties.

38th Pick: Tampa bay Buccaneers – After the selection of Mike Evans in round 1 the Buccaneers I predict they’ll swap and select a defensive player with their 2nd round pick. The player in question I sense will be Linebacker Demarcus Lawrence from Boise state. He’s a real good player and also helps fill a need at linebacker.

39th Pick: Jacksonville Jaguars – With the shock selection of Blake Bortles at the 3rd pick the team still need to give him some offensive weapons to throw too if he’s to stand a chance of success. Therefore the Jags will be ecstatic to find a Wide receiver in the calibre of USC’s Marquise Lee still available. Although he has injury concerns if he stays healthy watch out for the Jags offense this year.

40th Pick:Seattle Seahawks – After trading out of the 1st round last night the Seahawks will finally make their 1st selection with the 40th pick. The team lost a lot of players during free agency and therefore go into the draft with more needs than they would have liked. One of the top needs is on the Offensive line which is why it makes sense for them to select Joel Bitonio from Nevada. He can immediately start for the team and will add brilliant depth on the line.

41st Pick: Buffalo Bills – The Bills provided a shock last night as no one predicted they would trade up to select Wide receiver Sammy Watkins. That doesn’t appear to be the end of their offensive selections as it seems most likely they will upgrade their offensive line by selecting draft faller Morgan Moses from Virginia. Many mock drafts had him late in the 1st round so it would be a steal for the Bills to select him in the middle of the 2nd round.

42st Pick: Tennessee Titans – The selection of Taylor Lewan was no surprise as the team needed an instant upgrade on their offensive line. With this upgrade the team have given Jake Locker even more protection going into a crucial year for him . Many have raised doubts however as to his long term potential with the Titans and it appears the Titans will select a QB in this draft. I sense they’ll go early and select Zack Mettenberger from LSU. He has injury concerns however he’s a very talented QB who can learn from Locker this year before challenging for the starting job in the next few years.

43rd Pick: New York Giants – Wide receiver Odell Beckham was their 1st round selection and it appears their offensive selections won’t stop there. One of their biggest needs is at Tight end and is something that can be easily upgraded with this selection. The Giants will select the second best Tight end in this class with Jace Amaro of Texas Tech. He can start from game one and will be another weapon for Eli Manning to throw too.

44th Pick: St Louis Rams – After a pretty conservative 1st round with the selections of Offensive tackle Greg Robinson and Defensive end Aaron Donald which will improve both sides of the ball for the Rams, now it appears the teams will make the more eye catching selections as I sense they’ll go after a Wide receiver in the 2nd round. Indiana’s Cody Latimer will be a good selection for the team as Sam Bradford will get a new offensive weapon to throw too in a crucial year for both him and the Rams.

45th Pick: Detroit Lions – With the 45 pick my prediction is that the Lions will go after highly rated linebacker Kyle Van Noy from BYU. He’s a draft sleeper and can be considered a steal for the Lions at this spot in the middle of the 2nd round.

46th Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers – After the defensive selection of Outside linebacker Ryan Shazier with their 1st round selection last night with the 2nd round choice I predict the Steelers will again stay on the defensive side of the ball by selecting Cornerback Anotone Exum from Virginia Tech. He’s someone who will immediately improve what was the biggest positional need for the Steelers and makes great sense for them to address this need in the 2nd round.

47th Pick: Dallas Cowboys – With so many defensive needs for the Cowboys it was a slight surprise they selected Offensive tackle Zack martin in the 1st round last night. Therefore the team will surely address their defense with this pick. One of their biggest needs is at Defensive tackle which is why I see them selecting Minnesota’s Ra’shede Hageman. A very good Defensive tackle, he will most likely immediately start and therefore upgrade the Cowboys defensive.

48th Pick: Baltimore Ravens- The Ravens pulled their classic pick the best player routine last night by selecting Inside Linebacker C.J Mosley from Alabama. Their 2nd round selection I feel will simply go for their draft needs now of which Tight end is the one with the best value at this pick. The Ravens can select the third best Tight end of this draft class is Austin-Seferian- Jenkins from Washington. He might not get much game time in the first year but can learn from Dennis Pitta and Owen Daniels before eventually getting his chance in the next few years.

49th Pick: New York Jets- After addressing their need at Safety by selecting Calvin Pryor in the 1st round it would therefore seem logical the Jets will use their 2nd round pick to address another big need for them at Wide receiver. From the receiver class still available one of the top talents is Vanderbilt’s Jordan Matthews, who was once in the 1st round discussion before settling in most mock drafts to the middle of the 2nd round. Alongside Eric Decker Geno Smith will be very happy with his new offensive weapons to throw too.

50th Pick: Miami Dolphins – For the Miami Dolphins their draft needs are glaringly obvious. After a bruising 2013 the team has a serious lack of depth on the offensive line therefore it was no surprise they selecting O-lineman Ja’Wuan James in the 1st round. Also it shouldn’t be a huge shock to see them select another O-lineman in the 2nd round with another Tennessee man Antonio Richardson. Both selections will bring much needed depth and talent to a struggling Offensive line going into the 2014 season.

51st Pick: Chicago Bears – The Bears played the 1st round smart last night by selecting a player to address their biggest overall need at Cornerback in Kyle Fuller. The Bears organization I believe will play their 2nd round selection smart too by getting the best value whilst simultaneously filling a need also by selecting Florida State Defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan. The fact he would have fallen this far will be viewed as a complete steal by the Bears as they will get an upgrade at a key position whilst simultaneously nabbing a player who is a late 1st round talent.

52nd Pick: Arizona Cardinals – After moving back in a trade with the Green Bay Packers the Cardinals still managed to fill a need for their team at Safety by selecting Deone Bucannon. Many were slightly surprised they did not select a Quarterback as Carson Palmer is nearing 35 and will need to be replaced in the next few seasons. The fans I sense will get their way as the Cardinals will select a young QB to develop and learn from Palmer before replacing him. Tom Savage is a QB who will be hard to pass up on at this point as he is a stocky pocket passer who could effortlessly take over from Palmer after a few years of development.

53rd Pick: Green Bay Packers – The Packers made the brave move of trading up from 27 to the 20th pick to select Safety Ha Ha-Clinton Dix in the 1st round. This was a clever move from the Packers as they managed to select one of the top Safeties in the draft, whilst also filling their biggest need going into the draft. The Packers will therefore play it sensible and use their 2nd round pick on the team’s second biggest need which is at Tight end. The team will therefore select Notre Dame Tight end Troy Niklas. The team will get a top 5 rated Tight end and for their position in the draft this pick has to be viewed as a steal.

54th Pick: Philadelphia Eagles – To the surprise of many the Eagles did not select a Wide receiver with their 1st round pick, instead trading back to select Defensive end Marcus Smith. Whilst he’s a top quality player he didn’t fill any of the Eagles top needs therefore I would be very surprised if they didn’t address one of these needs with this 2nd round pick. The Eagles biggest need is at Cornerback and I feel the team will make a reach and select the best available corner in Clemson’s Bashaud Breeland.

55th Pick: Cincinnati Bengals – The Bengals were quick to select Safety Darqueze Dennard with their 24th pick, as the team looked to improve their Cornerback position by selecting an immediate starter in Dennard. With their 2nd round pick I sense the team will improve their biggest need which is at the Defensive end position. By far the best available Defensive end is Oregon State’s Scott Crichton. He could immediately challenge for a starting role and is rated as the 46th best player on Mike Mayock’s big board, representing how this pick is a steal for the Bengals.

56th Pick: San Francisco 49ers – Last night’s 1st round selection for the 49ers was Safety Jimmie Ward, yet it appears for their 2nd round selection the team will improve their offense. The team seems to be one speedy receiver away from the Super bowl and with this selection they have the perfect opportunity to rectify this. I predict the team will select LSU Wide receiver Jarvis Landry, someone’s who’s highly rated and will be an immediate for the 49ers offense.

57th Pick: San Diego Chargers – With the Chargers filling their biggest need at Cornerback by selecting Jason Verrett in the 1st round the team will follow a similarly sensible path by filling their second biggest need at Wide receiver with this 2nd round pick. The Wide receiver class is deep this year therefore I sense the team will take a chance and select a slightly unpolished receiver is Clemson’s Martavis Bryant. He has tremendous upside yet needs a year or two to develop before he becomes an NFL starter.

58th Pick: New Orleans Saints – The New Orleans Saints gave Drew Brees a new receiver to throw too with Brandin Cooks from Oregon State. Therefore it seems logical the team will use their 2nd round pick on a defensive player now with a big need on that side of the ball being at Cornerback. A deep class at the position means the team can select a player of the calibre of Florida State’s Lamarcus Joyner who will arrive at a winning program and can become the future starting corner for the Saints.

59th Pick: Indianapolis Colts – After trading away their 1st round pick to Cleveland for Trent Richardson early in the season the team finally arrives at the NFL Draft with the 59th pick. The team have a lot of defensive needs yet a lack of available talent at this spot seemingly will force the team into selecting the best available player in Mississippi State’s Guard Gabe Jackson. He’s a consensus top 4 at his position and will add some extra depth in the protection of Andrew Luck going into the 2014 season.

60th Pick: Carolina Panthers – After seemingly disabling most of their offense this off-season the Panthers finally gave Cam Newton another weapon to throw too in Florida State’s Kelvin Benjamin in the 1st round. With the 60th pick it seems the team will address a big need on offense at Offensive tackle by selecting the best available in Clemson’s Brandon Thomas.

61st Pick: San Francisco 49ers – With their second pick in quick succession late in the 2nd round the 49ers having nothing to lose by drafting another Wide receiver to create some early competition for a future starting job. With such a deep class there seems little risk in selecting someone like Fresno State’s Davante Adams as a perfect challenge to Landry for the future.

62nd Pick: New England Patriots – With a late 2nd round pick like this a well set team like the Patriots have the flexibility to draft someone out of the ordinary which is why I sense they’ll be the first team to select a Running back in this draft by selecting Ohio State’s Carlos Hyde to help fill a positional need whilst also receiving a great talent from a low 2nd round pick.

63rd Pick: Denver Broncos – With the penultimate pick in the 2nd round I sense the Broncos will attempt to fill the best potential need available at the Offensive line position by selecting Ohio State’s Jack Mewhort. Whilst he’s not likely to be an immediate starter he can develop over the next few years before becoming a future starter for the Broncos.

64th pick: Seattle Seahawks – The final pick of the 2nd round goes to the defending Super bowl champions with their second pick of the 2nd round I sense the team will look to select a positional need at Defensive tackle as the team lost a number of starters during the free agency period. Therefore I predict the team will select Defensive tackle Will Sutton from Arizona State. The team can use him in certain schemes whilst allowing him to grow and develop before taking the starting reign’s himself in the next few seasons.

2014 NFL Draft: Who’s going where? Part 2

After previewing the first half of the 2014 draft in my previous post now it’s time to look at the second half of this draft. With the teams at this end of the draft being far less needy they have a lot more flexibility in terms of their selections. First up in the second half of the 2014 NFL Draft are the Baltimore Ravens.

17th Pick: Baltimore Ravens – Despite it being a re-building year for the Ravens after winning Super bowl 47 the team were still disappointed to miss out on the play-off’s with an 8-8 season. Therefore the team have been very active in the free agency period to improve going into next season. Another key opportunity for them to upgrade is with the draft of which GM Ozzie Newsome is famous for finding talent in all rounds of the draft. With the 17th pick I see them taking the best player available, who just happens to fill a need for them too. If he’s still on the board at 17 of which I predict he will be the Ravens would be crazy not to pick Tight end Eric Ebron. He’s by far the standout Tight end in this draft and would challenge Pro bowler Owen Daniels for the next few seasons.

18th Pick: New York Jets – The Jets are a team that are almost play-off calibre they simply need a few more impact players to make it into the post-season. Although they’ve already added a dynamic Wide Receiver in Eric Decker I feel they’ll go in for another receiver with this pick. I see them taking Odell Beckham JR from LSU. They seem enamoured with the guy and clearly believe he can be another impact player alongside Decker.

19th Pick: Miami Dolphins – After a tumultuous year it seems fairly apparent which position the Dolphins will be upgrading with this pick. After the bullying scandal of last season the Offensive line is depleted and in serious need of improvement if their to compete for the play-off’s. With already a decent run on Offensive tackle’s so far I still feel they’ll go this way and select Cyrus Kouandjio from Alabama. He’s a talented player who will immediately strengthen the Offensive line going into the 2014 season.

20th Pick: Arizona Cardinals – The Cardinals go into the 2014 with the luxury of having very few immediate needs with their roster. The team can therefore think to the future with this draft and it seems they’ll look to inject some youth into their most important position of all with this pick . There seems a lot of buzz that the Cardinals will select University of Central Florida Quarterback Blake Bortles with this pick. He’s a very talented young signal caller who can immediately learn from the ageing Carson Palmer before he takes the starting reigns himself.

21st Pick: Green Bay Packers – The Green Bay Packers are a team that struggled when Aaron Rodgers was out injured last season. It was at this time that the defensive unit was exposed as they also showed weakness throughout the year. Therefore I sense they’ll rectify this starting with their defensive backfield and the Safety position. From the Safeties left available I think they’ll go with Deone Bucannon from Washington State. He’s a underrated Safety who will bring immediate improvements to the position for the Packers.

22nd Pick: Philadelphia Eagles – The Eagles have enjoyed a relatively quiet free agency period aside from the Desean Jackson saga. Now with that in their rear view mirrors they can focus on simply selecting the best available player for their franchise. Based on my previous selections I feel the best player available is Inside Linebacker C.J Mosley from Alabama. He’s the best Inside Linebacker in this draft and the fact he’s around at 22 will be enough for the Eagles to quickly snap him up.

23rd Pick: Kansas City Chiefs – After a unexpectedly good season for the Chiefs which saw them go from the worst team in the NFL to the play-off’s in one season was remarkable to watch play out. Yet this team still has needs going into the 2014 season and a quiet free agency period clearly means their looking to the draft to get their upgrades. With this pick I’m going to go along with what the fans want and predict they’ll take a Wide receiver with this pick. Which one is a lot harder to call yet I sense they’ll go with the best available on most boards and select Brandin Cooks out of Oregon State. He’s a great player in a deep receiver class which explains him only being taken at 23.

24th Pick: Cincinnati Bengals – After a decent season which saw them into the play-off’s the team is looking solid going into 2014. Yet solid doesn’t mean there’s not room for improvement which is what the Bengals will be looking for with this pick. It seems their most pressing concern is with the Cornerback position, something which can immediately be solved with this deep class at the position. Whilst the top Corner’s will be off the board by now I sense they’ll go with the best available at the position in Bradley Roby from Ohio State. He’s a talented player with limitless potential for this team at Cornerback.

25th Pick: San Diego Chargers – As with many teams at this end of the draft the Chargers already have a play-off calibre roster, giving them plenty of freedom to select the best player available. In my estimations the Chargers will be thrilled at this point as they will be able to take one of the best available players whilst also filling a need for their team. I predict they’ll select Defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan from Florida State. He’s a beast of a player and can easily be a game 1 starter for the Chargers.

26th Pick: Cleveland Browns – With their second first round selection from the Indianapolis Colts in a previous trade I predict the Browns will again improve their Offence. After selecting QB Johnny Manziel with their 4th pick I sense they’ll use this pick to give him another weapon to throw to in Wide receiver Marquise Lee from USC. He has injury problems yet when he’s healthy he will instantly energise the Browns Offence.

27th Pick: New Orleans Saints – The Saints are a very talented team with explosive players at almost every position. Yet their always looking to upgrade and I sense they’ll use this 27th pick to snatch Defensive End Stephen Tuitt from Notre Dame. If he’s still available here the Saints will feel like they’ll got a steal by selecting a player predicted to go 10-18 with the 27th pick.

28th Pick: Carolina Panthers – The Panthers have an explosive offence under QB Cam Newton yet the flip side to that is the importance of him receiving good protection from his Offensive line as the Panthers would be lost if Newton was out injured for a significant portion of the season like the Packers struggled when Rodgers was out last season. Therefore I think they will want to add some youth at this position by selecting Morgan Moses from Virginia, then letting him learn from the elder statesmen before eventually taking over on the Offensive line himself.

29th Pick: New England Patriots – The New England Patriots are always in play-off contention every year as long as they still have Tom Brady under centre, however the defensive unit is in need of slight improvement going into the new season. With their offence looking potent I feel they will want to use this pick to improve their defensive unit. Therefore if he’s still on the board I can’t see them looking past Minnesota’s Defensive tackle Ra’shede Hageman. He’s a player that could immediately come in and challenge for a starting role from day 1.

30th Pick: San Francisco 49ers – The 49ers offense seems to need very little improvement, at least in comparison with their defence. Whilst it’s still a good unit some cracks have appeared in it over the last few seasons. Therefore with no other pressing needs I sense they’ll deal with this with this 1st round pick by taking Cornerback Jason Verett from TCU. In any other year he’d be a top 3 rated Corner easy yet the deep talent pool this year at the position has pushed him back to the 5th rated and therefore 30th selection.

31st Pick: Denver Broncos – After their humiliating loss in Super bowl 48 this February the Denver Broncos will be looking to solidify a defence that conceded 43 points in that game. Their biggest defensive need is their Pass rushing attack which is why I feel they’ll go with highly rated Outside Linebacker Ryan Shazier from Ohio State. Whilst he may not immediately start for them some day soon he will be a top rated pass rusher for the Broncos.

32nd Pick: Seattle Seahawks – Whilst the Seahawks are the current Super bowl champions they have seen a lot of talented players leave in this free agency period for pastures new, meaning they will be looking for immediate starting talent in this draft to replace them. Their biggest need is on the Offensive line which struggled with poor play and injuries last season, therefore it seems if he’s still available they’ll select the top rated Guard in UCLA’s Xavier Su’a-Filo. He would bring some youth to the line and could be a potential day 1 starter for the team.

Of course with this mock draft I haven’t taken into account any trades so I would be very surprised if the draft even goes half the way I predicted but what is for certain is that every NFL fan will be eagerly watching to see which potential starter their team selects in this first round. We have an exciting night in store.

2014 NFL Draft: Who’s going where? Part 1

With the 2014 NFL Draft taking place today it seems an appropriate time for a last minute prediction on who’s going to be selected by which team in the first round. We’ve had the first wave of free agency therefore most teams biggest needs are well known going into the draft. On the other hand no draft expert, of which I am far from, can confidently predict every first round pick as many teams will throw logic out the window and draft a completely different player come draft night. Also it’s inevitable the current draft order will not play out on draft night as some teams will be moving around to select the must have player they need. Whilst this is not a definitive mock draft and will be far from accurate this is simply my prediction on who all 32 NFL teams should draft come next Thursday.

1st Pick: Houston Texans – The Houston Texans have been through a lot of turmoil this off-season with their appointment of new head coach Bill O’Brien and their current search for a new Quarterback after Matt Schaub was traded to the Oakland Raiders after a poor season. With such a glaring need at Quarterback many thought initially the Texans would draft a QB with this pick. However, the recent crop of QB’s appear to be sliding down the draft boards I predict they’ll use the first pick to select once in a decade prospect DE Jadeveon Clowney. A defensive line with Clowney and J.J Watt will strike fear into every NFL team for years to come.

2nd Pick: St Louis Rams (From Washington Redskins) – The St Louis Rams have two first round selections, which is handy for them as they have a lot of needs going into the 2014 season. First of all they will want to protect Quarterback Sam Bradford, especially as they have recently given him a bumper new contract. Therefore the best upgrade through the draft to protect Bradford will be to select Offensive tackle Greg Robinson from Auburn. His talent is significant and he can easily develop into a Pro Bowl Offensive tackle in the next few seasons.

3rd Pick: Jacksonville Jaguars – The Jacksonville Jaguars have a lot of significant needs going into the 2014 draft, with their biggest needs being a pass rusher, a quarterback and at running back. With the third pick I predict they will fill their biggest need at pass rusher and select standout Outside linebacker Khalil Mack from Buffalo. Although he’s a relatively small school guy he’s proved he can be a dominant NFL player during a standout college career.

4th Pick: Cleveland Browns – Much like the Jaguars the Cleveland Browns are perennial under-achievers. Yet unlike the Jaguars the Browns are making a resurgence behind Wide Receiver Josh Gordon and Tight end Jordon Cameron. Similarly to a lot of teams near the top of the draft order however the Browns need a Quarterback. Therefore I predict they’ll pull the trigger and take the first QB off the board in the much hyped Texas A&M man Johnny Manziel. He’s the kind of talent that could either be the next Colin Kaepernick or the next Tim Tebow.

5th Pick: Oakland Raiders – The storied Oakland Raiders franchise are a tough team to predict in terms of their draft strategy this year. After the Matt Schaub trade they no longer need a QB however they do need some weapons to help him out which is why I feel they will be unable to pass on Clemson Wide Receiver Sammy Watkins. He’s the consensus No1 receiver in this draft and if the Raiders select him will feel like they got a steal at No5.

6th Pick: Atlanta Falcons – The Atlanta Falcons suffered a strange 2013 season as they went from a heavily tipped play-off team to one who finished 3rd in the NFC South. Therefore the team does not have that many needs going into the draft. Their biggest need is at Offensive tackle and this is where I see them going with their 6th pick. I sense they’ll select the second best Offensive tackle prospect in Texas A&M man Jake Matthews. He’s a plug and play starting tackle in the NFL for the next 5-10 years with Pro bowl potential.

7th Pick: Tampa Bay Buccaneers – The Buccaneers are coming off a turbulent off season which has seen them lose a head coach and their star Cornerback yet gain a new Quarterback in Josh McCown. The Buccaneers could use with giving McCown some weapons to throw too and I sense they’ll add a Wide Receiver with this pick. With top receiver Watkins already off the board they’ll go for the next best receiver Mike Evans. He’s a athletically strong receiver with a big future in the NFL.

8th Pick: Minnesota Vikings – For the Vikings it’s clear by far their biggest off-season need is to dramatically improve their passing game. On the other hand I feel it would be a major reach for them to grab a QB at this spot in the 1st round. Therefore I feel they’ll upgrade their defence with this pick. Specifically I see them going with UCLA Outside Linebacker Anthony Barr. He’s the second best outside linebacker on most boards and would instantly improve a defence in need of significant improvement.

9th Pick: Buffalo Bills – For the Bills this year’s biggest need to address at the No9 pick has to be on their Offensive line. More specifically they need help at their Right tackle position therefore I predict they’ll select Notre Dame Offensive tackle Zack Martin. Whilst Taylor Lewan ranks above him his off-field issues mean his stock is falling which is why I see them picking Martin instead.

10th Pick: Detroit Lions – Detroit wilted as the 2013 season went on therefore the draft is the perfect place for the organisation to rectify this going into the 2014 regular season. It appears the Lions which select a defensive player at No10 with their defensive secondary receiving particular attention with this pick. In my opinion they’ll add a Cornerback in Oklahoma State’s Justin Gilbert. His impressive speed and ball hawking skills may him well in line for a hugely productive career in the NFL.

11th Pick: Tennessee Titans – The Titans are another team re-building going into the 2014 season with a new head coach in Ken Whisenhunt. It seems fairly apparent the team are looking to improve their defensive unit with this first round pick. Their biggest defensive need is at Outside Linebacker however it would be a major reach for them to select the best available player at this position in Ryan Shazier. Therefore I see back to back Cornerback being picked as they select standout Michigan State Corner Darqueze Dennard, someone rated by many to be the top Cornerback in this draft class.

12th Pick: New York Giants – For a long time this off-season the Giants have been pencilled in to pick dynamic Tight End Eric Ebron as it appeared such a glaring need for them in this draft. On the other hand recently the momentum is building that the Giants will instead draft an Offensive Linemen, another area they need to improve on. Therefore I’m going to follow the momentum and predict they’ll take a chance on selecting Lineman Taylor Lewan. Although he has legal issues off the field his production is undoubted and will immediately energise the Offensive line .

13th Pick: St Louis Rams – With their second pick in the 1st round I suspect that considering who is likely to still be available with the 13th pick that the Rams will use this pick to upgrade their Safety position in the Defensive backfield. With free reign over the Safety class I suspect they’ll select No1 ranked Safety Ha-Ha Clinton Dix from Alabama with the 13th pick. He’s had a stellar college career which looks set to continue in the pro’s.

14th Pick: Chicago Bears – After their defensive unit let down the Bears in 2013 it seems likely they’ll want to improve the unit early on in the draft. Therefore expect Chicago to select a Defensive back with the most likely occurrence being that they go with No2 ranked Safety Calvin Pryor of Louisville. He’s an intelligent Safety who has the potential to be a superstar in the NFL over the next few seasons.

15th Pick: Pittsburgh Steelers – The Pittsburgh Steelers go into the draft with a lot of needs for their team. It seems their most important area for improvement is on the defensive side of the ball which is where I believe they’ll go after drafting an offensive player last year. Specifically I see them continuing the run on Defensive Back’s by selecting Cornerback Kyle Fuller out of Virginia Tech. Mike Mayock has him as his top rated Corner and he would be by far the best corner left on the board at No15.

16th Pick: Dallas Cowboys – After winning a coin toss at the scouting combine the Cowboys are on the clock at 16. After a season where the Cowboys defence let them down therefore it seems they’ll continue the current run on defensive picks by improving the Defensive tackle position with this pick. With free reign over Defensive tackle’s I predict they’ll select Aaron Donald from Pitt. He seems to be the consensus top Defensive tackle in this draft and would vastly improve the woeful Cowboys Defensive tackle position.

May Bank Holiday Races Report Part 2

After the frenetic resident Formula Ford series there was no let up in the action as the Castle Combe Saloon car championship took to the grid. After qualifying a shock was provided as circuit favourite Gary Prebble managed to snatch pole in his first time driving friend Rob Ballard’s Seat Leon Cupra. Alongside him was the impressive Russell Akers in his uprated Vauxhall Astra. At the lights it was Akers who made the best start to grab an initial lead. Behind him Tony Hutchings improved on 3rd in his Audi TT by passing Prebble for 2nd on lap 2.

From here the leaders appeared to spread themselves out slightly however this calm period was ruined when Prebble re-took 2nd from Hutchings around the back portion of the circuit and was soon hustling Akers for the lead. Behind them a potentially big moment in the 2014 championship occurred as perennial class winner Adrian Slade lunched his gearbox going into Camp on lap 7 forcing him to retire from 4th.

From here the race was taking a calmer turn yet by the penultimate lap this was clearly over as both Prebble and Hutchings were looking to pass Akers going up Avon rise. The inevitable people feared occurred from here as Akers was potentially helped into a spin at Quarry although from my vantage point it looked as if he lost him all by himself. Either way he became a retirement and this settled the race as Prebble opened a small gap to take a very popular win from Hutchings in 2nd with Kevin Bird a long way back in his Renualt Megane completed the rostrum. The win was also significant for Prebble as he matched Bob Light’s all time win record at Castle Combe.

After that excitement it was the Nippon Challenge that was next up with their second race of the day. The first race finishing order from race 1 determining the grid for race 2 many waited to see if Simon James could improve on his third place grid slot after his race 1 heroics. At the lights it was pole man Adam Lockwood who made the best getaway with a similar outcome to race 1 as immediately him and second man James Janicki broke away from the pack by lap 1 with Lockwood then opening a gap to Janicki in second through laps 2-4. Although not quite as dominant as race 1 it was clear only mechanical/driver error would deny Lockwood a double win.

The spectator’s eyes were therefore drawn to the battle for 4th between Curtis Mitchell and Craig Rankine which was settled in Rankine’s favour on lap 7. At this point Lockwood had a 6 second lead however with only minute’s left in this 15 minute dash the red flag’s suddenly appeared after tail ender Jon Lord suffered a dramatic looking accident on the pit straight. After running wide at Camp he lost control on the grass with the rear hitting the tyres before sending the car into a sickening mix of barrel and end over end rolls before landing upside down. Luckily the roll cage did it’s job and Lord was quickly out of the car, yet this spelt the end of the race as Lockwood was declared the winner from Janicki and Simon James in 2nd and 3rd.

Net up on the time table was the new for 2014 Castle Combe Sports Racing Car Series solely for sports prototype machines. After a thin first round entry the numbers were up slightly for this meeting as 7 cars ventured onto the grid. After missing the first round it was no surprise to see Simon Tilling on pole although this time he was driving his newly acquired VdeV spec Ligier JS49T and not his bright orange Radical. First round winner Norman Lackford lined up alongside him on the front row.

From the rolling start Tilling was dominant as he lapped several seconds a lap quicker than the rest in what was simply a shakedown session for his new car. Behind Lackford gave valiant chase with the only real action being Stephen Bracegirdle in his Nemisis passing Mike Roberts Radical SR8 for 3rd on lap 7 before pulling away. After a dominant 20 minute display Tilling took the win 30 seconds clear of Lackford in 2nd with Bracegirdle a lap down in 3rd.

The penultimate race of the race was the second stanza of the Toyota MR2 series with once again the finishing order from race 1 determining the grid for race 2. Therefore it was Paul Corbridge who was on pole from Nathan Harrison in second. From the lights Corbridge made a very good getaway whilst Harrison fell into the pack as he fluffed his start. This time around it was 4th man Neale Hurren who had vaulted his way up to 2nd at the start that was troubling Corbridge as they broke from the rest by the end of lap 1.

Harrison started his recovery drive by passing Eddie O’Kane for 4th going into Quarry on lap 5 before joining the battle between Jon Winter, Harrison, Peter Higton and race 1 pole man Aaron Pullan who had amazingly managed to fit a new clutch in the period between race 1 and 2 to start from the back. His lightning progress soon saw him win this battle as he snatched 3rd from Harrison on the inside at Tower on lap 8. Sadly he was left with not enough time to catch the leading two despite taking seconds a lap out of their lead he finished the race right on the tail of 2nd man Hurren with Corbridge only just up the road as he took the win.

The final race of this truncated programme was a Castle Combe open sports v saloons race with an eclectic entry. On pole was Chris Milner with his Caterham CSR with the VW Vento VR6 of Dave Scaramanga alongside him. From the start both front row men made good getaway’s as the rest were left for dead behind. Soon Scaramanga joined that list as Milner’s Caterham was so much quicker than the rest of the saloon entries.

Behind him the field was fairly evenly spread with no real significant battles being provided during the 10 lap dash. At the flag it was a delighted Chris Milner who took a very comfortable victory with Dave Scaramanga being the best saloon car home I 2nd, only 50 seconds down on Milner. Martin Perry completed the podium in his Fiat coupe to round out another great day’s racing at Castle Combe with the next meeting only 3 weeks away on the next Bank Holiday Monday.

For more details about the Castle Combe circuit please visit their website here http://www.castlecombecircuit.co.uk/

Also for anyone interested in the official results from yesterday’s meeting feel free to visit the TSL Timing link to all the official results here http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=club&season=2014&series=CCRC&event=club&source=ed_CCRC&eventid=141968

May Bank Holiday Races Report Part 1

After a superb opening start to the 2014 Castle Combe season on Ester Monday, after what felt like no time at all the second Bank Holiday signalled another race meeting at Combe. The onus centred around the circuit’s local championships which were ably boosted by two races each for the visiting Nippon Challenge and Toyota MR2 series.

After a slight timetable change it was the Nippon Challenge that got us underway with their opening race of the day. On Pole position was the beastly 5 litre Toyota GT86 of Nick Holden with Adam Lockwood’s Nissan 200sx alongside. Both front row men made rapid getaway’s with Lockwood edging into the lead going into Quarry corner. From here things descended for Holden who went off on the first lap before re-joining well behind the rest of the pack in last.With Holden well down this set Lockwood free to open a commanding lead on the opening lap from the double Rockingham winner James Janicki, up from 4th on the grid.

As the first two were pulling away the excitement was provided by a battle for 3rd which saw Curtis Mitchell dive inside Ian Collins to claim the place going into Camp corner on lap 3. By lap 6 Lockwood had stretched his lead to 13 seconds, therefore attention turned to the remarkable drive from Simon James in his Citroen Saxo VTS, as he marched through the field from his lowly 31st starting position to stunningly pass both Collins and Mitchell for 4th and 3rd respectively on lap 10. For Lockwood however things were comfortable with his only issue being a driving standards warning flag on lap 11 as he cruised to a 24 second victory, his first of the year, from Janicki in 2nd with the amazing James completing the podium.

Next up was a fan favourite in the local Castle Combe Sports & GT Championship. Returning circuit favourite Simon Norris took pole in his monstrous Mitsubishi Evo 9 RS with the returning Chris Milner alongside in his Caterham CSR. Predictably off the line both cars made rocket getaway’s to streak ahead yet the early battle for the lead was contested by Keith Dunn, up from 4th on the grid, and Norris. After swapping places multiple times in the early laps Norris finally wrested the lead from Dunn on the pit straight to start lap 5, quickly opening a 3-4 second gap to ensure his lead was comfortable.

Behind them Milner finally passed the Mitsubishi of round 1 winner Barry Squibb for 3rd on lap 4. Things soon got worse for Squibb as his car developed a problem, allowing Tim Woodman and Ilsa Cox to take a slowing Squibb on Dean Straight on lap 7 for 4th and 5th respectively. This became the focal point for attention as a battle for 4th developed between the nimble Caterham 7 of Woodman and the more powerful Seat Leon Cupra of Ilsa Cox. Cox stole the 4th place from Woodman on lap 8 yet Woodman struck back to finally claim the place going into Quarry on lap 13. Up front the gap remained around 3.5 seconds until Norris came through for his first win of 2014 from Dunn in 2nd with Milner coming home an impressive third in his first race for 5 years.

The third race of the day was the opening Toyota MR2 race, in what is a highly supported series. Clutch troubles prevented pole man Aaron Pullan from starting the first race which left Paul Corbridge all alone on the front row. At the lights Corbridge made a good start but was almost mugged by the fast starting Nathan Harrison who rocketed up from 5th to 2nd in the drag up to Quarry corner. It was clear the first two meant business as the dropped the field early with Corbridge also edging away from Harrison by lap 3.

The next issue for Harrison was a closing Jon Winter, the first of the adjacent Hyundai Coupe series cars by lap 5. The rest of the race provided little drama apart from a squabble between Nathan Wright and Eddie O’Kane for 5th place which ended in tears for Wright as they collided at Quarry sending him into the barriers. All of this had little effect on Corbridge who eased to victory from Harrison in 2nd and a closing Winter in 3rd.

Next up was the highly anticipated Castle Combe Formula Ford Championship. After a fraught opening round a no less fraught race was expected this time around. Similarly to last time Ash Crossey took pole with Kevin Mills stable mate Nathan Ward alongside him on the front row. Crossey made a good getaway from pole as team mate Ward fluffed his start as he was swamped by the pack. The order was quickly changing as the recovering Luke Cooper disposed of the returning Felix Fisher for 4th into Quarry on lap 2.

The first 3 had other ideas however as Crossey, Ward and first round winner Roger Orgee made a break from the field early on. The drama was playing out behind them as 2013 champion Adam Higgins retired from 5th on lap 3. It wasn’t long before the lead three became the lead four as Cooper joined the battle. The constant lead changes were only halted when Ward made a mistake at the Esses, losing himself a lot of time and simultaneously breaking up the pack, leaving Crossey now with a 1.5 second lead over Orgee as Ward retired on Dean straight. Cooper also fell back at this time with a cooling problem leaving Crossey clear to claim his first win of 2014 from championship leader Orgee in 2nd and a slowing Cooper completing the podium.

Ayrton Senna: His legacy 20 years on

Throughout the world Ayrton Senna is known for being one of the greatest Formula One drivers of his generation, however in his native Brazil he is known more prominently as a sporting hero who made great strides in combating social problems such as poverty and illiteracy in Brazil. He primarily helped children and was someone who provided rare joy to a country experiencing many social, political and economic problems during his career.

Ayrton Senna Da Silva was born on March 21st 1960 in Pro-Matre Maternity Hospital of Santana, a neighbourhood of São Paulo to his parents Neide Senna Da Silva and Milton. He was born the middle child of the family with an older sister Vivane and a younger brother Leonardo, with the family giving Senna the nickname ‘Beco’. From an early age Senna excelled at physical sports and developed an interest in motor racing from the age of four years old. At the age of seven he first learned to drive the family car on their extensive land showing an early appetite for cars. Throughout his school life Ayrton was dedicated and recognised the importance of education, however his sporting ambitions always came first. Examples of this are the fact that once he started Go-Kart racing he would pay extra attention in class so that he would not have any schoolwork to do at home therefore giving him maximum time for his Go-Karting.

Also prevalent from an early age was his compassion and sympathy with those less fortunate than him, as the Senna family was well off financially. Even at a young age Senna was aware of those less fortunate with an example told often is of a poorer child in his neighbourhood being told by Senna to visit his house later on that day. The child remained sceptical of his intentions but when he eventually visited the Senna house Ayrton gave him his new expensive tennis racquet to help this poorer child out. His early passion for karting soon meant he was given his first homemade kart of which he spent almost all his spare time practising. Fairly soon after being given his first kart he was beginning to practise at the local Interlagos race track, often focusing on different corners to improve his technique and therefore his time. He was a frequent visitor to the track and he began to attract the attention of Brazilian racing hero Emerson Fittipaldi who was impressed with his talent and dedication.

As soon as Senna was 13 he was officially allowed to start kart racing in Brazil with a seemingly future prophecy coming in his first race as he drew pole position in the qualifying ballot. From the start he held the lead despite pressure from far more experienced karters he managed to maintain the lead until the final laps, when he was involved in a collision from which he had to retire. Despite the result it was an impressive debut from someone so inexperienced. After his family saw how committed and passionate he was about his karting they had no problems financially supporting him and he was soon enjoying the help of Lucio Gascon, who was universally known as one of the most influential kart tuners in the country.

Senna soon found success and by 1977 he had won the South American Karting Championship to go along with Brazilian national and state titles.1978 saw Senna begin to expand his horizons as this saw his first foray racing outside Brazil when he contested the 1978 World Karting Championship, a competition he contested ever year from 1978 to 1982, with his best results being close second places in both 1979 and 1980. Senna’s growing reputation in karts soon meant he was thinking of moving up and to pursue his dream of becoming a F1 world champion, he made the decision to move to England in late 1980 so that he could further his racing career. Before he left for England he married his current girlfriend and close family friend Liliane Vasconcelos, but they both found it initially difficult to adapt to the British lifestyle as they found themselves removed from a life of sunshine and endless material wealth to suddenly living in a small house in the cold British climate. Here’s an interview Senna did in 1993 where he talks about his karting memories.

For Senna this was simply something he had to do in order to realize his dreams and with the correct budget in place from his father he contacted leading Formula Ford boss Ralph Firman relating to a works Van Diemen drive for 1981. At this time Van Diemen was seen as the best in the Formula Ford business, which was also the primary starting point for any wannabe Formula One racer. After numerous tests where Senna showed his considerable speed to Firman, who was suitably impressed enough to offer him a works drive for 1981 alongside Mexican Alfonso Toledano and Argentinean Enrique Mansilla.
At this time Formula Ford had several main championships in Britain with the three most prestigious being the Townsend Thoresen, RAC and P&O championships, with each driver being assigned to one by Firman with their teammates also competing to help out the preferred driver in each championship. Senna was given the Townsend Thoresen title as his main championship however after a blistering season where Senna dominated taking 21 wins from 32 races he not only managed to win the Townsend Thoresen title but also the RAC title which demonstrated his talent. Despite this domination Senna was still unsure where his future lay in racing as he face considerable pressure from both his unhappy wife who wanted to return to Brazil and also from his family who wanted him to return to Brazil and begin in the family business. Senna in Formula Ford circa 1981. http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a395/Triboy/formula-ford-senna-1981.jpg

This meant that in October 1981 he returned to Brazil after the racing season had finished with the only event he missed being the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch, which was seen as the World Cup of Formula Ford. Senna however left Firman in the lurch and refused to return his calls forcing Firman to rope in his close friend and Formula Ford 2000 driver Tommy Byrne who suitably ended up winning the Festival, which is the result everyone expected. During the winter of 1981 Senna was very unhappy with being part of the family business and still wanted to return to Europe so that he could further his career. Finally in February 1982 Senna made the decision to return to Europe despite his family’s reservations and also his wife’s pressure, which led to their protracted divorce some time after.

After Senna returned to England in early 1982 he began trying to set up a deal for the coming season, despite what had happened the previous season Senna turned to Ralph Firman for help. Senna didn’t however want to return to Formula Ford in 1982 and wanted to progress to a higher category.
With his reputation rising after an impressive first season in Britain he wasn’t short of offers for 1982 and despite initial budget disputes Senna eventually joined the top line Rushen Green racing for the 1982 British and European Formula Ford 2000 series, the next step on the ladder to F1. Although the quality of the field was not seen as being exceptional Senna still managed to completely dominate the season both in Britain and Europe ending the year as both British and European Formula Ford 2000 champion. Here’s a small look at his 1982 season . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42UrvP6sRK8

Going into 1983 his family wanted to take more of a back seat in terms of funding and therefore Ayrton had to attract sponsors if he was able to continue racing. Eventually he was able to attract funding from Banco do Brasil, Pool Jeans and Banerj which allowed him to tie up a deal with the top British F3 team West Surrey Racing run by Kiwi Dick Bennett. British F3 was seen at the time as one of the major worldwide championships for future talent and had produced many F1 world champions, therefore this represented for the first time a major test of Senna’s ability. Senna was becoming increasingly professional and before the 1983 season he decided to drop Da Silva from his name thinking Senna sounded more professional and unique. Senna in F3 circa 1983.https://godandformula1.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/senna_1983_on_the_limit1.jpg

Armed with arguably the best team in the field and the latest Ralt RT3/83-Toyota package Senna had the equipment he needed to show his talent to the racing world. Senna showcased his skills by completely dominating the first half of the season as he took 9 wins and 8 poles from 9 races to give him a huge early lead in the championship. The second half of the season became a lot tougher for Senna however as his main title rival Martin Brundle in the Eddie Jordan Racing Ralt-Toyota began to seriously challenge and beat Senna which led to Senna’s driving becoming increasingly erratic in an attempt to keep up.

Senna was convinced Brundle’s car had an advantage and just before the last race of the season this was found to be newer, improved engines with Senna receiving this newer engine finally for the last race of the season at Thruxton, setting the scene for a title showdown between Senna and Brundle. From the start Senna led away and managed to keep a safe enough distance that he was never seriously challenged by Brundle behind and took a comfortable win, in the process becoming the 1983 British F3 champion. When he returned to the pits his family, which had travelled over from Brazil especially, were there to congratulate him with his future seeming bright with talk of a potential F1 deal for 1984. The winter of 1983 and beginning of 1984 was a busy and exciting time for Senna indeed.

In November 1983 Senna finished his F3 season by entering the Macau GP which was being run for the first time that year and attracted all the top F3 drivers from across the world with some F1 drivers even entering showing the significance of this race. Macau businessmen Teddy Yip entered Senna, Brundle and his F1 driver Roberto Gurrerro under the Theodore racing banner and Senna was soon setting the pace and in the 2nd qualifying session as he managed to taken pole for his heat.

From the start Senna made a tardy getaway and Gurrerro stormed into the lead however Senna soon re-took the place at the 3rd corner and from there managed to pull away enough not to be challenged in a similar manner to how he won the title decider at Thruxton. This meant Senna was on pole for the final and second time around managed to make a decent getaway to retain the lead. This was a major part of winning as Macau was a fast and challenging street track with the barriers being close enough to seriously challenge the drivers.

The track however posed no threat to Senna as he strolled to a very comfortable victory cementing his reputation as a future star in the making. His exploits had not gone unnoticed in the F1 community with the prestigious Williams team being the first team to offer Senna a test in July 1983 through Senna’s friendship with Williams he was invited to Donington to test the current FW08C-Cosworth car. Within 20 laps Senna had equaled the best time ever done at the track by current test driver Jonathan Palmer and soon after lapped even quicker, eventually taking the car round Donington faster than it had ever been before.
Surprisingly Williams had no further contact with Senna and his next F1 test was in October 1983 as a prize for winning the British F3 title McLaren gave him a prize test alongside other promising hopefuls Brundle, Stefan Bellof and Thierry Boutsen, all seen to be top line drivers of the future but of them it was Senna who lapped quickest and was actually faster that the McLaren drivers had driven at the British GP only a few months ago. Here’s a link to a roundup of his F1 tests in 1983 apart from Brabham. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xwZCqHpX7Q

Ron Dennis was hugely impressed by Senna and offered him a testing deal with McLaren with a view to a future race deal, the same deal Senna had turned down in 1982. Further interest was shown by current F1 world champions Brabham run by Bernie Ecclestone who offered him an F1 test in November of 1983 at the Paul Richard circuit against other young hopefuls, despite showing impressively the team’s Italian sponsors wanted an Italian driver for 1984 and therefore this ruled Senna out of contention. The final F1 team to show interest was the lowly Toleman team who had shown occasional promise in 1983 and had some up and coming talent within the team. Senna impressed them when he tested for them in late 1983 and in early 1984 they se themselves apart by offering him a race deal for that year.

After considering his options with his manager the only offers on the table were of a McLaren testing deal and the Toleman race deal. Despite McLaren being the best team in F1 at the time and Toleman being one of the worst he decided race experience was better than a testing deal and eventually signed for Toleman in a 3 year deal to partner teammate Johnny Cecotto. Senna tested for them before the season and for the first races of the 1984 season Senna had to make do with an updated version of the 1983 car for the Brazilian and in South African GP’s. He surprised the F1 paddock by scoring his first world championship point in South Africa with a 6th place.

On the other hand this race highlighted his physical weakness, as he had to be helped from the car. After this he focused on improving his fitness by hiring personal trainer Nuno Cobra to help with this. Back in Europe and Senna again scored a 6th place in Round 3 at Spa in Belgium before the new TG184 car was ready for round 4 at Imola in San Marino, this proved a frustrating weekend for Senna as tyre contract disputes meant he was not left enough time to make a proper qualifying run and therefore for the only time in his career Senna failed to qualify.

By far Senna’s best weekend of the year came at the most challenging track at Monaco where after qualifying 13th rain on race day disguised the deficiencies of his Toleman TG184 as he soon began demonstrating his talent by rapidly rising through the field to take 2nd from Niki Lauda on lap 19. He began closing rapidly on leader Alain Prost too and on lap 32 overtook Senna took the lead however on the same lap the race was stopped with the rules stating the result was based on the lap before meaning Prost took the win from a disgruntled Senna in 2nd. Senna claimed 2 further podiums in 1984 with 3rd’s in Britain and Portugal and ended the year in 9th place in the drivers’ championship with 13 points. This was an impressive debut season especially considering Senna missed 2 races through his DNQ in San Marino and his suspension from the Italian GP by Toleman because he breached his contract in signing for the more competitive Lotus team for 1985 also on a 3 year deal. Here’s highlights of the 1984 Monaco GP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke92NqanQJs

It did not take Senna long to adapt to the more competitive Lotus 97T-Renault as in Round 2 at Estoril in Portugal he took his first pole position and then when raceday dawned in torrential rain Senna showed his class to completely dominate the field and take his first win . As the season went on Senna had more success in qualifying than in the races as by the end of 1985 he had claimed 7 pole positions and through unreliability only 2 race wins both in the wet at Portugal and Belgium. He finished 4th in the drivers’ championship with 38 points however his intensity didn’t favor everyone as his teammate Elio De Angelis became increasingly frustrated by the bad treatment he received at Lotus as all their attention became focused on Senna, subsequently leaving to join the Brabham team for 1986.

The choice of his replacement became a controversial issue as the sponsors and team principal wanted Brit Derek Warwick, however Senna insisted Lotus wasn’t capable of running two fast drivers and vetoed Warwick. Lotus eventually signed another Brit in Johnny Dumfries however he never seriously challenged Senna throughout the year. 1986 was similar to 1985 as with the Lotus 98T-Renault he took 8 poles and 2 wins in Spain and Detroit to eventually finish 4th in the drivers’ standings with 55 points, but it could have been a much better season as he was leading the drivers world championship early on only for unreliability to tarnish his title hopes in 1986. Senna sliding his Lotus in 1986. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aUtq5bZaf80/T1OCFMlRtaI/AAAAAAAAAlc/6zhXd06CYy8/s1600/Hungary+1986+-+Senna.jpg

1987 saw big change for Lotus as their long standing relationship with Renault ended with the new Lotus 99T now being powered by Honda, starting a relationship that became very close to Senna during his F1 career. This also meant he received a new teammate in Satoru Nakajima. 1987 was a slightly more successful season for Senna in reliability as whilst he only claimed 1 pole and 2 wins, his first of many wins in Monaco, and again in Detroit alongside improved reliability meant he finished the year 3rd in the drivers title with 57 points. Senna realized Lotus couldn’t provide him with a title-winning car and it was announced in late 1987 he would join McLaren for 1988 alongside Alain Prost also with Honda power. Finally Senna has a car capable of winning the world title for 1988 with early tests showing the McLaren MP4/4-Honda to be almost 2 seconds quicker than the rest despite the car arriving late before the start of the season.

The 1988 F1 season is an illustration of a team having the almost perfect season as McLaren was totally dominant with Senna taking 13 from 16 poles and 8 wins with McLaren taking 15 from 16 wins. Many were surprised that Senna could beat Alain Prost who was seen as the best at the time. Although Prost finished the season with more points than Senna dropped scores meant the title was won by Senna by 3 points (90-87). Senna almost lost this title through greater inconsistency compared to Prost however this season was the first where Senna could be seen as the season’s benchmark driver with his highlight and low point of the season both being in Monaco. In qualifying he managed to set a time 1.5 seconds faster than Prost astounding the F1 paddock that Senna could be so much faster. He duly dominated the race and was closing in on victory when he lost concentration and crashed putting himself out and handing Prost the win thanks to a rookie mistake. Also this season saw the first break in the Senna/Prost relationship as in Portugal Prost went to overtake Senna who used what was seen as overly aggressive tactics in blocking Prost who still managed to make it through. Senna on his way to a first title in 1988. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Ayrton_Senna_1988_Canada_cropped.jpg

1989 saw the banning of the turbo engines which had be so effective for Honda in 1988 and some doubted if the McLaren MP4/5-Honda could maintain its superiority in 1989. Although the season was less successful for McLaren with a greater unreliability McLaren still possessed the fastest car as was shown by Senna who again took 13 from 16 poles and 6 victories. This however was a very controversial year for McLaren as the Senna/Prost relationship disintegrated to the point of not speaking to each other. The bad blood built up until it reached a peak at the title deciding Japanese GP where Senna needed to win to keep his title hopes alive. From the start Prost made a better getaway and led from Senna. Going into the later laps Senna began to close on Prost until he attempted a move on Lap 46 which ended badly with both colliding and going off the track. Prost jumped from his car whereas Senna waited for the marshals to push him back onto the track after missing one corner. Senna subsequently rejoined and won the race before being disqualified for missing part of the track leaving Prost with the title in 1989. This incensed Senna who even thought about quitting the sport during the winter of 1989/1990. Here’s a link to the infamous 1989 incident between Prost and Senna. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFuZ_DuQG9A

1990 was a pivotal season for Senna who very late in the day decided to continue with F1 and McLaren. The ramifications of the previous season were that Prost moved to Ferrari to be replaced by Austrian Gerhard Berger. 1990 saw Senna again maintain his title of the fastest man in F1 with 10 poles from 16 and 6 wins teamed with a greater consistency meaning again a title showdown was set for the Japanese GP however this year if Prost failed to finish Senna would be champion. Senna duly took pole however he was incensed when it was then moved to the dirtier side of the track, which he saw as favoring Prost. Therefore at the start as predicted by Senna Prost made the better start however going into the first turn Senna lunged to the inside into a disappearing gap eventually making contact with Prost and finishing the race for both men ensuring Senna took his second world title (78 to Prost’s 71). Here’s footage of the other infamous incident between Prost and Senna in 1990. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvSgJDIsRnc

Many have since questioned the motives of this move with many stating that Senna deliberately drove into Prost as revenge for the previous year which was something Senna hinted as being true a year later. Either way this has become one of the most controversial moments in F1 history alongside the actions in 1989 and many people connected with racing have diminished the legacy of Senna citing this case as an example. Also many have refused to rank Senna as a truly great driver because of the incident, which is arguably the most damaging of his career. Some were worried the 1991 season was going to carry on in a similar vain to 1989/1990 however 1991 saw a cooling of the Prost/Senna dispute with their performance being a big factor. Whilst McLaren continued to be the best team as Senna used the McLaren MP4/6-Honda to take 8 poles and 7 -wins including taking the first 4 poles and wins of the season setting a record.

Meanwhile Prost and the Ferrari underachieved failing to take a single pole or win before embarrassingly being sacked from Ferrari before the last race of the season for negative comments he made about the car. However in the German GP he was again critical of Senna and his defensive tactics before promising to help rival Nigel Mansell in the title battle after a closely fought dice on the track for position which eliminated Prost from the race.
Senna faced a new challenger in the highly sophisticated Williams-Renault and Nigel Mansell seriously challenged Senna before eventually spinning out of the Japanese GP to hand Senna his third world title by 24 points 96-72 in a much more sporting championship free from major controversy. This seemed to be the year Senna validated himself as a great becoming the then youngest ever 3-time world champion.

1992 was a unhappy year for Senna as the sophisticated Williams-Renault package which had challenged in Mansell’s hands in 1991 significantly improved leaving it clear from the rest and for the first time since Senna joined McLaren they did not have the fastest car and lagged behind Williams in the technological race rendering them uncompetitive in 1992.Senna only managed to take 1 pole but used his talent to take 3 wins including an iconic drive in the late stages of the Monaco GP as Mansell suffered problems and rejoined behind Senna with 7 laps to go. Despite the Williams being a much faster car Senna managed to successfully defend his lead to take a record equaling 5th Monaco win. Senna stoutly defending at Monaco in 1992. http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2011/06/04/ayrton-sennas-f1-career-pictures/1992-1-2/

Despite 3 wins his unreliability meant he only finished the season in 4th place on 50 points only 1 ahead of teammate Gerhard Berger. The only saving grace for Senna was that Prost was on a sabbatical and therefore again this season was free from major controversy. 1992 was also significant as Honda pulled out of F1 at the end of the year severely affecting Senna who had built a very close relationship with them even crying during a interview during the Japanese GP, held at a Suzuka track owned by Honda.Senna ended 1992 debating whether to take a year out from F1 in 1993 as he felt he had no chance of winning the title with the Williams being so dominant and Honda pulling out of the sport. Senna was reluctant to test the new McLaren MP4/8-Ford however when he finally did he was impressed with the new car but still only agreed to sign a race by race deal with McLaren.

Berger had rejoined Ferrari for 1993 so American Michael Andretti joined him. Again Senna only took 1 pole however he showed his considerable ability by taking 5 wins including the European GP at Donington which is widely known as one of the most masterful victories in F1 history after Senna went from 5th to take the lead on the first lap before dominating the race. He also claimed a record breaking 6th win in Monaco, a record that still stands. Senna improved to 2nd in the drivers table on 73 points however he was increasingly unhappy with the dominance of the Williams and actively tried to join them for 1993 unsuccessfully however when Prost retired he took his place at Williams for 1994 ending a tumultuous yet highly successful 6 year association with McLaren. Here’s a link to Senna’s dominant opening lap at the 1993 European GP. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwLEE420v20

1994 was a season many predicted as being a dominant one for Senna and Williams but the sophisticated electronic aids helping the driver, pioneered so effectively by Williams were banned for 1994 leaving the title more wide open than many believed. The first few races highlighted this as although Senna took 2 poles he failed to finish both through errors whilst his teammate Damon Hill was not near the front with many believing Hill’s performances was a true reflection of the car and Senna was masking it’s true ability. Going into the San Marino GP a Senna victory was seen as a necessity as Senna again took pole from title leader Michael Schumacher in the Benetton-Ford. The weekend was marred by tragedy however as in Friday qualifying Senna protégé Rubens Barrichello severely crashed his Jordan-Hart and was lucky to emerge unhurt, whilst in Saturday qualifying Austrian Roland Ratzenberger in the lowly Simtek-Ford crashed heavily. Despite immediate medical attention Ratzenberger was pronounced dead soon after the accident. This was the first fatality in F1 for 8 years and many were shocked with everyone simply wanting the weekend to be over. Senna spinning off in Brazil 1994. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dP1-J5FboIU/ScvdYHslgKI/AAAAAAAAD_4/BhpQtnlqN0o/s400/spin_senna.jpg

The race still went ahead and from the lights Senna took the lead however a big crash behind brought out the safety car with Senna at the front. The safety car went in at the end of lap 6 and Senna was immediately on the pace trying to build a gap to Schumacher despite the car not yet at its optimum after the safety car with visible sparks showing how hard he was pushing. Indeed his lap 6 time would only be bettered later on by two other drivers despite the cars running much lighter fuel loads throughout the race.At the beginning of lap 7 Senna entered Tamburello corner however half way through the corner the car veered off the track violently with Senna slamming into the wall in a massive accident. Medical assistance was swift however early on they could see it was going to be a serious injury especially around his head. He was airlifted to a local hospital with the whole paddock anxious for information with many rumors on his condition circling.

The race was restarted with Schumacher taking a hollow victory however the paddock was shocked to hear that at 6.40pm Senna was declared dead from a fatal head injury caused by the crash. Immediately the news spread round the world and in Brazil 3 days of national mourning were announced. His body was returned to Brazil on the 3rd May two days after the accident with a full military salute given before a state funeral on the 5th May in Sao Paulo with many of the racing community attending as well as millions who lined the streets to pay their respects to him. A photo from Senna’s funeral showing his public support. http://www.formula1-dictionary.net/Images/senna_funeral_1.jpg

In conclusion the social impact of Ayrton Senna is something which is hard to measure definitively. What is clear however that is during his career Brazil was experiencing many problems relating to the economy and government and whereas other sporting heroes tried to hide their Brazilian roots Senna provided hope and joy for the country as every time he won he would proudly wave the Brazilian flag. His social impact was not just emotional and throughout his career his donated tirelessly to charities with some estimates suggesting he donated up to £400 million over his career and just before his death he was planning to start a charity in Brazil helping underprivileged children and this still lives on in his honor with the Ayrton Senna Institute helping millions of children through education and a wide range of activities since 1994.

The best indicator of the social impact Ayrton Senna had on Brazil is the reaction to his death as in Brazil the country going into three days of national mourning and the fact millions lined the streets to pay their respects at his funeral. His lasting impression on Brazil is another significant sign of his social impact as on May 1st every year Senna is remembered throughout Brazil and worldwide both inside and outside the racing community showing that Senna was more than just a racing driver to many and his social impact spreads well beyond motorsport.

By Jordan Wilkins

Evaluation of my blog

At the start of this unit I hoped to create a well organised, easy to navigate and professional looking website as a showcase for all my future media material. As my website was likely to be sports based as the website is part of the Sports Journalism course I’m taking I used prominent sporting websites as inspiration for how to design mine. I looked at http://www.autosport.com/, http://www.fifa.com/,http://www.formula1.com/ and http://www.nfl.com/ as inspiration for my site. Now I’ve completed this module in reflection I feel the site I have created meets all the targets that I set out when initially starting this project. With four pages- Home, About, Blog and Contact my site is well sorted with all of the pages having relevant content and being easily accessible. Whilst I was not able to add all the design features I wanted this is mostly to do with the limitations of using WordPress for my site.

As I mentioned above the first step I took when designing my website was to look at other prominent sports websites for design ideas. When it came to creating my own site at first I only used a basic template design as I wanted to get the basics right first before adding to my site at a later stage. Soon after I came back to the design and went through the full list of design templates much more thoroughly this time looking for the right one. Once I had chosen the right template I then set about altering the default colours used. Finally I settled on a basic colour scheme of black and white. Whist it may appear slightly boring to some I chose these colours because I felt they were the most professional looking and that was the overwhelming priority for my site; for my site to look professional. After sorting out the design I then focused on adding a structure to my site through content, I subsequently added the about, blog and contact pages to add some structure to my home page. From this point I then focused on the smaller details which all together cementing the professional look I wanted from my website.

The intention of my website was to have a simple easy to use yet professional looking website. I wanted to keep my site relatively simple with only a Home page, About, Blog and Contact partly because of the amount of time given to us to create this site and partly because I wanted my site to be structured so it’s very easy to navigate for the reader. One of the features I included as a way of helper the reader visually see this is a sports based website was using a picture of famous racing driver Ayrton Senna as my header.

Whilst having a website with few pages may mean I lack in content to similar sporting websites the benefit to this is that my website does very well in speed as it’s very easy to load because of it’s relatively small size. Therefore when I tested the speed of my site on Pingdom it performed very well.

The results showed my site only takes 1.49 seconds to load which is 80% faster than other sites tested. Therefore the speed test didn’t influence my website very much because the tests had shown it didn’t need tweaking in terms of speed. The W3C test however was less straightforward as that showed my website had 6 errors and 3 warnings. The warnings however are far less significant than the errors so they can largely be discounted. In reality, the W3C test didn’t influence my website very much either because after looking through them it became clear all these errors were to do with the WordPress site itself and was no errors were of my own making on the site which meant there was little I could do to fix them.

From the original inspiration sites I have been able to incorporate some of their design features such as with Autosport.com their breaking news is all together in list form in the middle of the page. I have a vaguely similar design on my site with my latest posts being in list form in the middle of the page just off to the right. Also at the very top of the page they have all their different sections to the site for the reader, something I have done also placing all the navigation buttons at the top of the homepage below the header. These are both effective on my site as they make it easier for the reader to navigate my site which was their original purpose with the recent posts allowing the reader to easily find my latest posts whereas the navigation buttons are clearly visible on the home page for the reader too.

Through the design process the only problems I had to contend with was difficulty in making the picture of Ayrton Senna which I wanted to fit into the header bar. This was resolved relatively easily however as after several tries I simply chose another photo to use which fit the header box perfectly. Also I had a small issue with making the site name fit on one line in the header box which because of the length of the name I was unable to do. Whilst it looks slightly unprofessional, it’s a relatively small detail. However after exploring how to resolve this I decided not to resolve this small problem.

To change the header I would have to find a way to lengthen the size of the header or header photo, something I was unwilling to do as I previously explained above, the header photo was something that was difficult to implement. The only other option would be to change my blog title, something that is not wise to do considering the amount of work put in to create this blog in the first place. Therefore after considering these options I decided not to change anything simply to fit in the title on one line. The only effect this has is to compromise slightly the professional look of my site however in reflection I do not feel it compromises this enough to necessitate a drastic change to the header.

At the bottom right of my blog I implemented a recent posts section so that readers could visit other blog’s I’ve posted when they visit my blog. Initially the recent posts section was placed on the top right of my pages yet afterwards I was advised it would be better to place the categories section above the recent posts section. This is to allow readers to easily see the categories my blogs are written about so as to determine if this correlate with their interests ad hobbies.

The recent posts section is something I hadn’t given much thought to in the initial design process yet is something I would definitely include in future sites. This is because of the effect they have in making it a lot easier for readers to easily see if my blog posts are linked with their interests. It also makes it a lot easier for readers to navigate between blog posts on my site.

In conclusion I have learnt how to properly design a professional looking website and how to improve it through the use of coding and also testing such as the W3C errors test and the Pingdom speed test. I have also learnt to develop my content through tags and categorising my posts which help boost the popularity of my posts. This can also be helped with search engine optimisation which is another thing I’ve learn whilst developing this website. In the future I would ensure I had slightly more time to get it perfect but that’s the only thing.

Castle Combe Howard’s Day Meeting Report Part 2

Another highly anticipated championship was next up as the resident Castle Combe Saloon Car Championship formed on the grid. On pole Russell Akers in his uprated Vauxhall Astra from Tony Hutchings in his turbocharged Audi TT. Off the line it was pole man Akers who made a bad start as Hutchings in 2nd and the giant slaying little Peugeot 106 GTI of Adrian Slade flew off the line from 2nd and 5th. After his initial rocket getaway it was inevitable that soon Slade would drop down the field again as the more powerful cars re-took him. For the lead three it was traffic that was keeping Hutchings, Akers and Charles-Hyde-Andrews-Bird in his Renault Megane close together up front through the middle portion of the race.

The drama started on lap 10 however as first Akers passed Hutchings for the lead on the inside at the Esses, yet his lead didn’t last long as at the very next corner at Old Paddock he ran wide onto the grass dropping himself to a distant 4th. This appeared to settle the battle in Hutchings favour yet on the final lap inexplicably Bird in his Megane rapidly closed on Hutchings forcing him to defend the final few corners to hang onto his win in what was a far from easy almost lights to flag win. Bird did well in his first Class A race to finish 2nd from Class B winner Mark Wyatt in a distant 3rd.

Race 7 was the second of the Mini 7’s 10 lap dashes with the grid being set from drivers second fastest qualifying times. Therefore it was no surprise to see race 1 winner Andrew Deviny all alone on pole as second man Gareth Hunt was unable to fix his car from earlier. As the lights went out it was Deviny and third man Ross Billison that made the best starts as the field set off. The drivers had barely got into their stride before the Safety Car was out on lap 2 after S class race 1 victor Ian Deviny went off at Tower. The Safety Car finally pulled in on lap 6 at which point Deviny made a blinder of a getaway to restore his previous lead.

His lead didn’t last long however as Darren Thomas and Ashley Davies challenged Deviny for the lead on the outside at Bobbies on lap 7 in remarkable moves for both of them as they carried on their duel by swapping the lead plenty of times between laps 7 and 9. The real excitement was to be provided on the final lap however as Davies tried a last lap lunge going into Camp corner which tagged Thomas and sent Davies spinning off as the pack behind ducked and dived their way through. Through the drama came Darren Thomas to claim the victory from Andrew Deviny in 2nd and Spencer Wanstall in 3rd.

The second of the Lancaster Insurance MGOC races was up next with again second fastest qualifying times setting the grid. It seemed logical therefore that the front row was the same as race 1 with Ben Palmer on pole and Lee Sullivan alongside. Lee Sullivan matched his good start from race 1 this time around as he challenged for the lead going into Quarry. The action started here as Andrew Rogerson in 3rd spun at Quarry after possible contact from Sullivan, leaving Rogerson with a mountain to climb as he re-joined 14th.

Similarly to race 1 Palmer opened a big gap to the rest early on from Gary Smith this time in 2nd. Mirroring race 1 again the excitement was provided by a race long battle between Gary Smith in 2nd, Lee Sullivan in 3rd and Fergus Campbell in 4th. The battle was only disturbed by Campbell who made an error at Quarry and dropped to 5th on lap 9. In a race that largely mirrored race 1 it was Ben Palmer that took a double win from Castle Combe with Gary Smith 2nd this time from Lee Sullivan in 3rd.

The penultimate race of the day was for the Castle Combe Sports & GT championship in it’s new guise for 2014. With only GT cars allowed we saw ex-saloons racer Barry Squibb take pole in his monstrous Mitsubishi Evo 9 with Keith Dunn and his Caterham C400 alongside him. It was no surprise that at the start Squibb rocketed away with his 4wd system and immense power allowing him to shoot away into and early lead as behind him third man Nick Holden’s beefy Toyota GT86 struggled off the line.

The rest of the race provided entertainment as Squibb and Dunn battled for the lead in a classic racing case of David vs Goliath. Behind them the rest of the field were left for dead with the only other real drama being the initial surge from Adam Prebble in his Rover 220 Turbo which went from 13th- 6th in the opening 4 laps before pulling off with car issues, likewise Nick Holden and his magnificent sounding Toyota GT86 a few laps from the end. Barry Squibb held on for the win from a determined Keith Dunn in 2nd and a lonely Tim Woodman completed the podium in 3rd.

The final race of the day was the second race for the Mini Miglia championship, therefore it seemed the perfect end of the day as a thrilling race was almost guaranteed. The front row saw Daniel Wheeler on pole from Aaron Smith in 2nd, who had managed to sort his car troubles that forced him to miss race 1. At the lights it was Smith that shot away into the lead as Wheeler made a bad start from pole as he slipped down the field. Things got worse for Wheeler at Quarry as him and Niven Burge both went off but whilst Wheeler was able to continue on Burge thumped the barriers quite heavily. This initially brought out the Safety Car at the end of lap 1 before the race was red flagged on lap 2.

The red flag appeared a blessing for Wheeler as the original grid would line up again giving him a second chance at improving his start. After a small 10 minute delay we were racing again as Wheel suitably made a much better getaway this time along with Kane Astin in 4th. Things were bad this time for Smith who pulled off at Avon Rise on lap 1 in what was a miserable day for him with 0 points scored. An initial lead battle developed between Wheeler, Astin and Richard Casey between laps 2 and 5.

At this point things went sour again for Wheeler as he made a mistake and dropped to 6thas Astin took over the lead. Astin was helped maintain his lead as an epic battle developed for 2nd between Tony Le-May, David Drew, Richard Casey and Daniel Wheeler in the closing laps. The race was enthralling to watch as two 4 car trains came very close as the battled for 2nd and 6th respectively. All of these battled suited Kane Astin just fine as it left him free to take the victory from Tony Le-May in 2nd and David Drew in 3rd.

The good weather ensured the crowd remained until the very end in what was a great opening meeting of the 2014 season with the next car race meeting only a few weeks away on the next Bank Holiday Monday in early May. For anyone interested in finding out more about Castle Combe events here’s a link to their website.

Home

Also for anyone interested in further results from this meeting here’s a link to the official timekeeping company TSL Timing which have all the stats from Monday’s meeting.
http://www.tsl-timing.com/?loc=club&season=2014&series=CCRC&event=club&source=ed_CCRC&eventid=141768

Castle Combe Howard’s Day Meeting report part 1

With the late arrival of Easter this year the new 2014 Castle Combe car racing season finally got underway this Easter Monday with a packed programme full of British manufactures in memory of previous circuit saviour and long time owner Howard Strawford, who tragically passed away before the start of the 2013 season.

The decent sunny weather helped draw in the crowds for the first meeting which began with an old favourite, the Dunlop Mini 7 championship. These original Mini’s always produce top quality racing and the first of their two 10 lap races was eagerly anticipated. Pole man Gareth Hunt slightly jumped the start which allowed second man Andrew Deviny to claim the lead off the line.

At the end of the first lap Hunt slowed suddenly and retired soon after with what appeared to be a transmission or gearbox issue. After this Deviny was able to just about hold off the challenges from behind to claim the victory, from Ashley Davies in 2nd and Graeme Davis in 3rd, both close behind at the finish. Ross Billison was 4th from S class winner Ian Deviny in 5th and it was Keiran McDonald that rounded out the top 6.

Next up was the first of two 15 minute Lancaster Insurance MGOC races, with the swarm of MG ZR’s expected to dominate the race. Ben Palmer claimed pole from Lee Sullivan, both in ZR’s, with both making good starts yet it was Palmer who had the ideal line for the first kink at Folly and therefore took an early lead. Initially Palmer and Sullivan were squabbling for the lead before Sullivan began to slip away as he began to be challenged for 2nd by Andrew Rogerson on lap 2.

Rogerson finally made his way past into 2nd on lap 4 but by this point Palmer had already opened a comfortable lead. Behind the lead three the excitement of the race was the battle developing on lap 6between Gary Smith, Fergus Campbell and Vince Pain for 4th. The battle wasn’t slowing them up however as the sucked 3rd man Sullivan into their battle by lap 8, the same lap Pain took Campbell for 5th on the inside going into Quarry. Pain was the man on the move as twice on the final lap he made up places by taking Smith for 4th at Folly and then going inside Sullivan into the Esses for 3rd in a masterful race for him. In front however Ben Palmer cruised home to a comfortable lights to flag victory from Andrew Rogerson in 2nd and Vince Pain in 3rd. Lee Sullivan was 4th, Gary Smith was 5th and finally Fergus Campbell rounded out the top 6.

Something new for 2014 at Castle Combe is a new six round Sports Racing Car Series, a new series aimed at giving both the sports prototypes and GT cars from the Sports and GT championship fair races and chances to compete with similar levels of competition. As with most new championships the first race saw a small grid for the 20 minute race. After Alan Hamilton pulled off on the formation lap it was sadly only left to 5 cars to start the race. Pole man Norman Lackford made the best start from the rolling grid as 2nd man Andy Crockett initially struggled. Crockett soon made up for it however as when the Safety Car came out to retrieve Hamilton’s car at the end of lap 1 it was Crockett who led.

The Safety Car went in after only 1 lap on lap 2 at which point Crockett and Lackford resumed their battle. Lackford finally took the lead on the inside at Tower on lap 5 however the gap between the two ebbed and flowed as Lackford was unable to shake Crockett completely. Behind them Robert Gillman passed a slowing Neil Harris for 3rd on the start/finish straight on lap 15. Back at the front the battle for the lead came to it’s conclusion as Crockett pushed slightly too hard going into Tower on lap 15 and spun off into retirement. This left Norman Lackford to take a comfortable victory over a lapped Robert Gillman in 2nd and Richard Gray in 3rd. This race was the perfect validation to the old racing cliché you only need two cars to make a motor race.

Next up was the first of the two 10 lap races for the more powerful Dunlop Mini Miglia championship. These original Mini’s boast 1300cc engine compared to 1000cc engines for the 7’s. There was drama before the start as pole man Aaron Smith was out before the race even started with an unspecified problem. This left Daniel Wheeler alone on the front, therefore it was no surprise he made the best getaway to take an early lead as behind him Kane Astin in 3rd made a shocker of a start as he was swallowed up by the chasing pack.

It didn’t take long for the order to change as Richard Casey took 3rd from Niven Burge on the inside at Folly on lap 2. Astin soon recovered from his poor start and was swapping the lead with Wheeler several times between laps 3 and 5. Soon this changed however as David Drew moved up to 2nd on lap 6 as the 4 car train for the lead held station for a few laps. Amazingly Rupert Deeth joined the lead battle in a remarkable race for him as he made his way up from 15th to 3rd on lap 9 and then passed Drew at the Esses on the final lap to steal 2nd. Daniel Wheeler claimed the win from Rupert Deeth in 2nd and finally David Drew in 3rd.

The halfway point of the meeting was reached with the first round of the eagerly anticipated 2014 Castle Combe Formula Ford championship. Many of the contenders from 2013 returned and first blood went to Ashley Crossey who planted his Kevin Mills Spectrum on pole from team mate Nathan Ward in 2nd. Crossey came on strong during the year yet at this point it’s unclear whether he will compete in the full championship or not, therefore it appeared a crucial confidence boost if he could grab an early win. Pole man Crossey made a good start likewise 2013 champion Adam Higgins up from 5th, meanwhile Roger Orgee fluffed his start from 3rd. The first lap is usually frantic and this was no exception as Nathan Ward out braked himself at the Esses before re-joining and promptly retiring at Bobbies all on the opening lap.

Crossey had a big early lead yet behind him first Orgee then Higgins passed 2004 and 2007 champion Ed Moore for 2nd and 3rd on laps 4 and 5 respectively. Crossey was suffering with a misfire however and was soon caught and passed by Orgee on the inside at Tower on lap 6. Crossey showed his strength however as he re-took the lead at Quarry on lap 10. By this point Higgins had joined the battle and promptly took 2nd from Orgee up Avon Rise on lap 11 before repeating the trick on Crossey for the lead a lap later, with Orgee following him through into 2nd. The drama wasn’t over however as Orgee made a move inside at the Esses to steal the lead from Higgins, who then tried a last lap lunge at Camp which didn’t come off. Behind him however his brother Richard Higgins showed him how to do it by completing his Camp lunge at Crossey to steal 3rd on the last lap.

David Moyes: Doomed from the start

Just less than a year ago the future appeared very rosy for David Moyes. After 11 successful years he was leaving Everton a club legend to take over as the hallowed Manchester United manager after being hand picked by Sir Alex Ferguson. When he was announced as the new Man Utd manager on the 9th May 2013 the press conference contained lots of talk from both sides about the succession plan Man Utd put in place with this appointment. After being personally chosen by Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes seemed the perfect man to carry on the vast achievements of Manchester United into a new era. A 6 year deal with the opportunity to earn £5 million a year with bonuses was a perfect validation to their succession talk. Yet as of yesterday David Moyes is unemployed and Man Utd are facing having to pay him off £5 million until he finds himself a new job. What went so wrong for Moyes in only 10 months?

First lets look at purely his results over the 10 months. After starting well with comfortable Community Shield and opening day premier league wins things got progressively worse from here. He led United to their worst ever league start with defeats to bitter local rivals Manchester City 4-1 and a 2-1 home defeat to lowly West Brom heaped the pressure on Moyes early on. After a relatively stable few months December saw them suffer successive home defeats to Everton and Newcastle, the first time Man Utd had lost consecutive home premier league games since the 2001 season. This left the team languishing at this point in 9th, yet after only 15 games the team were 13 points behind leaders Arsenal. Here’s a picture of Moyes in happier times with the Community shield trophy.

Compounding their awful league form were exits from the F.A Cup in the third round at home to Swansea 2-1, defeat in the Capital One Cup semi-final to Premier League dwellers Sunderland and finally comfortably being outclassed in the Champions League Quarter- Final to Bayern Munich. The tension reached fever pitch as fans responded to successive 3-0 home defeats to hated rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, by flying a banner over Old Trafford before the next home game against Aston Villa calling for Moyes to leave the club. Here’s a link to a Youtube video report on the banner incident. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQZ77mPMdCA

After a slight recent turn around Sunday’s comprehensive trouncing by Everton 2-0 brought the tension back around Moyes. He believed however that despite the poor results to this point he would receive the board’s backing until at least the summer transfer window. On the other hand, the board seemed to want swift action as over the course of the following Bank Holiday Monday rumors became increasingly persistent that Moyes would be imminently sacked. The rumors were proved true early yesterday morning as it was finally announced Moyes had been sacked after only 10 months in charge.

Now we’ve established the results that got him sacked let’s now try to explain firstly why these individual results happened and secondly how the end result of his sacking came about so soon. Firstly let’s look at the task he actually took on becoming Manchester United manager. He faced the unenviable task of being the Man Utd manager after Sir Alex Ferguson. After Ferguson’s mammoth 26 and a half year reign which yielded an astonishing 38 trophies in 26 years, including 13 Premier League titles and 2 Champions League’s. Therefore with United fans accustomed to so much recent success Moyes was coming into a job with probably one of the highest levels of expectation in world football.

This would be something new for Moyes to deal with as he had arrived from Everton, a club who had rather more modest expectations to which Moyes would regularly over achieve. Inadvertently Sir Alex had also heaped even more pressure on Moyes by being so public with his view that Moyes was the perfect man to succeed him as part of the succession plan.

Another factor behind the downfall in results for United has to be the relative weakness of the current squad in comparison with other top 4 sides. This may seem a slightly ridiculous statement considering the squad possesses quality players such as Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Nemanja Vidic, David De Gea and Patrice Evra. Yet around these players the rest of the squad seems slightly lower on all round quality in comparison with the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool. Part of the problem seems to be the fact Man Utd have an ageing squad yet the younger players coming through seem to struggle slightly to take over from the older players. Examples of this are surely the likes of Chris Smalling, Tom Cleverley and Alex Buttner. Whilst all of them are good players they have under performed this season and appear unlikely to play to the level of those their taking over from such as Vidic,Giggs and and Evra respectively.

The point about under performing players above doesn’t only apply to some of the younger players this season. Another factor behind the downfall of Manchester United this season appears to be a combination of Moyes not being able to get the best out of his squad alongside a reluctance on the players part to play under Moyes. Rumors are circling in the aftermath of his sacking that Moyes was never able to get the respect and influence over some of the high profile players such as Wayne Rooney.

Whilst all of the recent points have been based around the actions of Moyes or the players themselves the club does not come out of this sacking blameless. Indeed it was their big talk of a succession plan that set expectations that were too high for Moyes as I explained above. Also the lack of overall quality in the squad could have been addressed in the summer transfer window before the nightmare season even started.Over the summer Moyes and the club made ham fisted attempts to sign Cesc Fabregas, Leighton Baines and Marouane Fellaini, of which they only signed Fellaini in a deadline day deal worth £27.5 million pounds.

Again in the January window they only made the one signing splashing out on Juan Mata from Chelsea for £37.1 million pounds. Whilst these are both great players their first season can only be described as a disappointment as they have failed to produce much as they struggled to fit into the Moyes system Manchester United were playing. So although it’s early on it seems these two transfers are going the way of failed expectations there were plenty more signings the club failed to complete for a number of players undisclosed to the public.

Whilst many will try to pin the reasoning why Moyes failed at Manchester United down to one thing it appears there were several factors which meant he was doomed from the start. First the increased pressure and expectation as the club made sure the world knew Moyes was pre-approved by the legend Sir Alex Ferguson as the right man for the succession plan carrying on his reign. Whilst they backed him here they didn’t complete the deals he wanted in the transfer windows leaving him with an ageing squad and a fan base with high expectations.

It should therefore no surprise that Moyes was unable to carry on the success of Ferguson, yet everyone around the club appeared to be completely shocked by this. Whether this was delusional or simply not with the times doesn’t really matter, either in a damning indictment of those around the club. Once things began to tail off the players appeared to lose respect for Moyes and didn’t want to give 100% for a manager they questioned. Also the club didn’t cover itself in glory by dithering with his sacking with Moyes appearing to find out the news he was going to be sacked first from social media on Monday afternoon. Therefore it was all of these factors that contributed to the demise of Moyes with the chain of events being set in motion the day he was announced as the successor to Sir Alex Ferguson. Indeed, both sides have come out of this looking rather less respectable than when they started and for sure it will take a number of years at least for both sides to move past this nightmare.

sportsjournalismsgs

A blog about world events particularly sporting one's