25-11-14 Autumn League Final Round

An exciting finish to the league with the top positions changing in three of the four Divisions
James Hart wins the GT12 Division 1
Nick Bruty is the Division 2 champion
Lee Bishop takes the club mardave class winners spot with Paul Galbraith second
Jake Galbraith pips Jenson Butlin to the Division 2 title in the final race

GT12 Qualifying
David Simpson was quickest in round 1 just 5/100th second faster than James Hart, however James won the remaining two qualifying rounds to take pole in the “A” final with Louis Parker second and Darren Ford third.

In division 2 Courtney Orme was in sparkling form to be fastest ahead of Jack Cook and the club chairman Rob Hambridge who was still trying to get his new car set up correctly.

Club Mardave Qualifying
Team Galbraith dominated both divisions with Paul taking pole in division 1 with Mike Simpson second and Lee Bishop third.

Jake Galbraith was the best qualifier in division 2 which was a critical result as he started the evening in second place in the league two points behind the leader Jenson Butlin who was second best qualifier.

Finals
James Hart led the field away from pole position in the GT12 “A” final but a racing incident on lap 4 saw Louis Parker storm into the lead. Some fine driving on a very tight track design followed until a slight error on lap 25 let James past and he went on to win the race, Darren Ford was second and Louis Parker third – great racing!

Bob Harley won the “B” Final after a close battle with Chelle Snowden, Bob eventually having a comfortable six second advantage. Dave Tomlinson was third, three laps down and the wheels came off for Courtney Orme when his personal transponder failed to register any laps.

In the “C” final, having made a few adjustments to his cars diff and sorting out the tweak Rob Hambridge put in a sterling performance to register a convincing win by seven laps over his nearest competitor Kevin Flamson with Alister Hart third a further lap adrift.

The club mardave final was exciting to watch, Mike Simpson got ahead of pole position driver Paul Galbraith on lap 2 but his hopes of winning were dashed after being forced to retire on lap 4 with a broken wishbone. Paul Galbraith had been fastest all evening and went on to win the race by four laps from Lee Bishop. Another fine performance from Paul, come on you mardave drivers lets give him a good run for his money next week!
In division 2 with just the final left Jenson Butlin and Jake Galbraith were tied for the league lead so whoever won and took the extra point for the best final position would be the winner! It was Jake who came out on top and put an end to Jensons incredible run of four successive league titles – well done Jake!

Next week is the start of the winter league.

Final league positions
Mardave Division 1
Winner Lee Bishop
Second Paul Galbraith
Third Mike Simpson

Mardave Division 2
Winner Jake Galbraith
Second Jenson Butlin
Third Joshua Galbraith

GT12 Division 1
Winner James Hart
Second Darren Ford
Third Louis Parker

GT12 Division 2
Winner Nick Bruty
Second Courtney Orme
Third Graham Oxford

18-11-14 A.G.M Clubnight

Following the Annual General Meeting there was just enough time to have three five minute qualifying rounds.

Following their success in the clubmans series at Broxtowe last weekend James Hart and Louis Parker retained their good form and finished first and second overall respectively in the GT12 class.

Paul Galbraith was the top mardave class driver (without using his new car) and club chairman Rob Hambridge took second place half a second behind.

Remember that next week is the final round of the current autumn league.

11-11-14 Autumn League Round 7

Four 5 minute qualifying rounds and an 8 minute final this week
Darren Ford was the fastest qualifier but James Hart wins the GT12 “A” Final
Nick Bruty takes over as division 2 league leader
Lee Bishop wins in the Mardave class by just 0.18 seconds in a tremendous final
Jake Galbraith closes Jenson Butlins lead in division 2 to just two points.

This was the penultimate round of the current Autumn league and with just the final round to go there were some significant changes to league positions as with the best six from eight round scores to count the drivers worst scores to date were discounted.

In the GT12 class James Hart is assured of the winners trophy as he now has maximum points in four of the rounds.
Darren Ford was again driving well this week and all the races were very close, Darren was quickest by 1.36 seconds in the qualifying to take pole position in the “A” final but James Hart was first across the finishing line by a margin of 1.07 seconds in a thrilling race.

Louis Parker won the “B” final with some impressive driving, being fourth fastest overall in the GT12 class, Mitch Howard was second and Nick Bruty took third place to move him to the top of division 2.

In the club mardave class final Lee Bishop and Paul Galbraith had a very close race and were two laps up on the rest of the field. Paul was in the lead for a large part of the race and looked to be on course  for ending Lee Bishops run of consecutive wins.  However a coming together with one of his two sons car (I won’t mention his name but I think he may have had a long walk home afterwards) let Lee back into the race and he went on to win by the narrowest of margins 0.18 seconds.
Not to be outdone by his dad, Jake Galbraith had an excellent race to finish in third place in the final and get within just two points of division 2 league leader Jenson Butlin – no pressure Jenson for the final round!

04-11-14 Autumn League Round 6

Lee Bishop wins again in the club Mardave Class
David Hall and James Hart finish first and second respectively in the GT12 class driving new Schumacher SupaStox GT cars.

Track
Three six minute qualifying rounds and an eight minute final on a fast track design this week.

Lee Bishop took pole position in the Mardave final after qualifying with 34 laps ahead of Paul Galbraith 33 and Jenson Butlin 32.
In the final Paul Galbraith was in the lead until the late stage of the race and Lee overtook to be first to the finish line three seconds ahead of Paul, both drivers getting 46 laps. An excellent drive from Jake Galbraith earned him third place on 44 laps.

In the GT12 class Darren Ford with 41 laps was the quickest in round 1 just over a second ahead of James Hart, with David Simpson and David Hall third and fourth both on 40 laps.
Round 2 saw James Hart reverse the positions by setting the fastest time on 42 laps just over a second better than Darren.
In round 3 James bettered his 42 lap time by 4 seconds to take the top qualifying spot with David Hall moving up into second place 0.42 seconds behind with Darren third also on 42 laps.
In the final James Hart and David Hall went ahead of the rest of the field and had a tremendously close race which was exciting to watch, James was leading up to lap 34 when David Hall took over the lead only for James to get back in front on lap 37. Some very close racing to the end with James maintaining his narrow lead until lap 53 when David Hall slipped past him to win by 0.68 seconds on 56 laps. – great race!
Darren Ford finished third and a fine performance by Chelle Snowden put her in fourth place – well done Chelle!

Louis Parker won the “B” final with 51 laps and Nick Wallace took fourth place and top division 2 driver spot by the narrow margin of 0.38 seconds ahead of Nick Bruty – that was close!

Graham Oxford was the winner of the “C” Final on 46 laps, Jack Cook was second with 44 and Alwyn Hodges third with 36 , Alister Hart took fourth place a further laps down.