UK Karting - MBKC GYG Club Championship Race Report

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MBKC - GYG Club Championship

MBKC - GYG Club Championship
Round 1 - Glan-y-Gors - 13th March 2005

A fantastic start to the new championship at Glan-y-Gors park. As with any new venture, there was a certain amount of trepidation, but any fears were quickly put aside as the big day went almost without a hitch and, whilst the weather let us down somewhat, the forecast was for dry and sunny, what we got was damp with sleet and the odd sunny spell, the overall feel of the day was one of a great success and the club would like to thank the drivers for their assistance in making sure that everything ran smoothly and also people who stepped forward at the last moment to assist with marshalling and other duties. Hopefully the season will now kick on from here with some improved entries and, hopefully, some kinder weather for the second round in April.

With three seven lap heats together with fourteen lap finals there was plenty racing to get through but, without a single red flag, it was achieved comfortably. Perhaps with longer days and better conditions maybe twenty five lap finals will be the order of the day at future meetings!

Cadets got the afternoon finals underway, and the skill of these youngsters had to be applauded under the circumstances. The track had dried our by early afternoon and, for the first time during the day, the slicks were on. Sadly though, no sooner had the first lap been completed, a heavy downpour of sleet made the track very greasy yet again. It was clearly a difficult situation handled superbly by the young drivers and, in particular James Tunnicliffe who, having won each of the earlier heats, made no mistake in the final either, taking a lights to flag victory by some 20 seconds from Luke Hughes, the son of former Rotax 177 champion Tony, who himself had driven very well throughout the day, with Scott Rixon who, despite clearly having vision problems with the driving sleet, taking a very creditable third place.

On a split grid with the W-60 cadets were a rather lonely pair of S-60 drivers. The day in this class proved to be a huge success for the novice driver Nicholas O`Sullivan, who took two heats and then the final with some panache over his opponent Bradley Ord.

Next up came the Senior TKM final and, whilst the circuit was by now pretty damp, at least the TKM drivers had the advantage of being on wet tyres. Gemma Wainwright started on pole and, quite simply, disappeared into the great blue yonder to record what was possibly the most impressive victory of the day, also taking the fastest lap by very nearly half a second. The final distance was 15.568 seconds from Simon Davis who had a really good joust for the second spot with John Walsh. It had looked like Walsh would take the second place but, under great pressure from Davis, a late spin saw him relinquish the advantage to Davis who held on by a narrow margin.

Minimax had seen Ryan Singleton look quickest for much of the day and, once again, in the final, starting from pole, he took off into an early lead which he stretched consistently as the race wore on to record a classic lights to flag victory by some 7.145 seconds from Alexander 0`Sullivan with Josh Butcher taking a comfortable third place.

On a split grid, a very small field of just four Junior TKM entries saw Oliver Slade dominate this particular class, taking each heat and then the final by a huge margin following a final lap contact between Scott Carruthers and Mark Booker. Carruthers at least managed to finish to record second place, with Booker and Mark Flint both recording DNF`s.

There had been some impressive driving performances all day, none more so than by Oliver Webb in the Junior Rotax class. Up against some decent competition, particuarly so in the case of Nico Angelides and Robert McArthur, he had been very impressive all day, and was again so in the final, holding off the determined challenge of Angelides to take a lights to flag result by some 2.657 secs, Douglas Crosbie some little way back in third, just ahead of McArthur.

Rotax Max provided an interesting final. The heats had been taken by three different drivers, Chris Taylor, Peter Baybutt and Robert Parry sharing the honours. In the final, Parry, on pole, got his nose in front early, but, try as he might, he could not shake off the close attentions of Taylor. It was a hugely impressive display of defensive driving from Parry to take, what was eventually, yet another lights to flag victory, but this time by the much narrower margin of just 0.436 secs. Baybutt took a fairly comfortable third place ahead of Andrew Connell.

A small entry of 100 national drivers had seen the Davies brothers, Ash and Matt, generally quickest throughout, although in the final it was Ash Davies who made a flying start, opening up a sizeable advantage very early in the proceedings, a lead he never looked like relinquishing. Meanwhile, running second, Matt Davis appeared to have an engine problem, then a little contact saw him apparantly out of the picture altogether, as James Peake came through into second spot. Though Peake held the second spot quite comfortably, a supreme effort saw Matt Davies come through again very late in the day to take third place from Dan Pritchard.

On a split grid another small entry of Rotax 177 drivers were having a real battle royal with Bram De Groot taking up the mantle from Adrian Jones, Stuart Wyn Jones, Andy Stockton and Dirk Van Braeckel, but it was a desperately close affair throughout, especially between De Groot and Wyn Jones, which eventually saw contact putting De Groot back to fourth spot, then, as he tried to regain his position, further contact saw him out of the race. Adrian Jones finally took the victory by a narrow margin from Stuart Wyn Jones, but a subsequent inquiry saw him excluded, thereby promoting Andy Stockton into second spot with Van Braeckel moving into third place.

Report by: Mel Tipton

Results

Full Race Results from Round 1...

W-60 CADET
James Tunnicliffe (Zip/Comer)
Luke Hughes (Zip/Comer)
Scott Rixon (Zip/Comer)

S-60 CADET
Nicholas O`Sullivan (Maranello/Comer)
Bradley Ord (Zip/Comer)

FORMULA SENIOR TKM
Gemma Wainwright (P1/TKM)
Simon Davis (Tec/TKM)
John Walsh (P1/TKM)

FORMULA MINIMAX
Ryan Singleton (Sodi/Rotax)
Alexander O`Sullivan (Maranello/Rotax)
Josh Butcher (Maranello/Rotax)

FORMULA JUNIOR TKM
Oliver Slade (JKH/TKM)
Scott Carruthers (P1/TKM)

FORMULA JUNIOR ROTAX
Oliver Webb (Gillard/Rotax)
Nico Angelides (Birel/Rotax)
Douglas Crosbie (Intrepid/Rotax)

FORMULA ROTAX MAX
Robert Parry (Tony/Rotax)
Chris Taylor (JKH/Rotax)
Peter Baybutt (MSKart/Rotax)

FORMULA 100 NATIONAL
Ash Davies (Tibi/TM)
James Peake (Maranello/TM)
Matt Davies (Tibi/TM)

FORMULA ROTAX 177
Adrian Jones (JKH/Rotax)
Andy Stockton (JKH/Rotax)*
Dirk Van Braeckel (JKH/Rotax)*
*Stuart Wyn Jones finished second but excluded.

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