27-09-16 Autumn League Round 5

Louis Parker wins a thrilling A Final, narrowly beating Shane West and Gavin Maciver
Jordan Galbraith is now joint leader in the club mardave class after winning the final from pole position
Paul Galbraith’s car was really flying but came back to earth with a bump!

A tricky track design this week needing full concentration and tidy driving to produce quick lap times.

Qualifying
Visiting driver Shane West made a good start to the evening by being top qualifier after round 1 with Darren Ford second and Louis Parker third, all on 30 laps. Louis improved his score in round 2 with 31 laps, followed by Shane, Darren and Gavin Maciver all with 30 laps. Louis put in 32 laps in round 3 to take pole in the final, Shane improved to 31 laps and Gavin moved ahead of Darren Ford to take third place.
Darren was the top driver in division 2 and Matt Popejoy second.
Steve Donald set up another possible maximum points in division 3 by being top in the division.
In the mardave class Mike Simpson won round 1 with Roy Matthews finishing second and Wes Wray third. Paul Galbraith took the top spot by winning round 2 but Jordan Galbraith took pole position in the final setting the fastest lap in round 3, Mike finishing second and Paul third.

Finals
In the mardave final Jordan Galbraith made a clean start from pole and was never seriously challenged on his was to a great win. It was a different story for second and third places with Paul Galbraith and Mike Simpson being very evenly matched and having a great battle for lap upon lap. With three laps to go it looked like Paul would hold on but a racing incident resulted in Paul’s car taking to the air in spectacular fashion, allowing Mike to slip past and take second place.

In the GT12 C final Mike Simpson had a win ahead of Courtney Orme with Jack Walsh third with a good performance on a difficult track design – well done Jack!
Club Chairman Rob Hambridge did not make the start as his rear suspension became unsprung and fully independent in qualifying.

Dave Tomlinson led the drivers away from pole position in the B final and won with a consistent drive, Matt Popejoy was quickest around the track but could only manage fourth position. It was close though with Bob Harley second, Daniel Lacey third and Matt fourth – all on 27 laps. Steve Donald was again top division 3 driver finishing in fifth place.

Just the GT12 A final to go and what a great race this proved to be. Louis Parker took an early lead from pole position on the grid but fell back into third place on lap 3 with Shane West leading and Gavin Maciver in second place. This set the scene for a tremendous race with Louis fighting to catch up and all three drivers putting in a superb performance. Louis set the fastest lap of the race on lap 17 and took the lead on lap 23 only for Shane to overtake him on the following lap. It was wheel to wheel now for the remainder of the race, Shane leading with two laps to go then on the penultimate lap Louis got ahead and went on to win, Shane finishing second and Gavin third, all three on 31 laps. What a race to conclude the evening!

Half way through the league now, remember it is the best 8 from a possible 10 round scores to count.

20-09-16 Autumn League Round 4

A fast and flowing track design this week produced some very quick racing, Louis Parker was top qualifier in the GT12 class followed by David Simpson second, Bob Harley third and Steve Donald with a remarkable performance fourth.
In the club mardave class Mike Simpson claimed pole position with Jordan Galbraith second and Paul Galbraith third.

The mardave final was very close with all the first four drivers lapping at almost identical times, Mike Simpson was slightly more consistent and won with Jordan, Paul and Joshua Galbraith finishing second, third and fourth one lap down being separated by just over four seconds – a great race to watch!

Grant Woodcock won the GT12 C final ahead of Courtney Orme with Alwyn Hodges taking second place.

Matt Popejoy got the better of Daniel Lacey in the GT12 B final with a best lap time of just over half a second quicker, David Snowden was third.

Louis Parker won the A final from pole position on the grid, David Simpson took second place and Bob Harley third, just ahead of division 3 driver Steve Donald who took another maximum points from the meeting – well done Steve.

In the league Mike Simpson moves to the top of the Mardave class with Jordan Galbraith dropping back to second.
Steve Donald increases his lead in the GT12 division 3 with maximum points in all four rounds.
Matt Popejoy retains his position at the top of division 2 and Bob Harley leads division 1.

Six more rounds to go with the best eight round scores to count.

16-09-16 Autumn League Round 3

Round 3 of the current league produced a great evenings racing, maximum points were scored in all four divisions by Gavin Maciver, Darren Ford, Steve Donald and Jordan Galbraith.

After qualifying Gavin was top in the GT12 class with 31 laps followed by Louis Parker on 30, it was close in division 2 with Darren Ford just having the edge over Matt Popejoy, both drivers on 29 laps. Steve Donald was well ahead in division 3 with 27 laps and in the Mardave class Jordan Galbraith was best, closely followed by his dad Paul and Mike Simpson all scoring 24 laps.

In the Mardave final Jordan Galbraith starting from pole position on the grid had a fine drive to win and nearly lapping everyone else in the race, Mike Simpson was second and Paul Galbraith third. Jordan moves up to joint leader in the league, the first three rounds producing thee different final winners.

The GT12 C Final produced saw a win for David Snowden but could not match the 26 laps of the division 3 league leader Steve Donald in the B Final, with Courtney Orme finishing in second place.

Chelle Snowden won the GT12 B Final just under a lap ahead of second placed driver Bob Harley, a good race this with very few errors made by any of the drivers.

The A Final started with Gavin Maciver leading off from pole at a fast and furious pace being pursued by Louis Parker and Darren Ford. A racing incident on lap 4 lost Louis some time and Gavin went on to win, setting the fastest laptime along the way. Darren was also on top form finishing in second place 6 seconds behind with Louis third 1 lap down. Matt Popejoy also had an excellent drive to finish fourth.

06-09-16 Autumn league Round 2

Gavin Maciver wins the A final with Matt Popejoy taking second place
Nick Wallace is first across the finishing line in the B final with Daniel Lacey a close second
Mike Simpson wins the C final ahead of Alister Hart
The V12 mardave final was very close, Mike Simpson the winner and Jordan Galbraith in second place

Qualifying
Gavin Maciver was quickest and took pole position in the A final, David Simpson was second and Matt Popejoy third, also best in division 2 with some great driving.
Steve Donald was also in top form taking seventh overall and best in division 3.
In the mardave class Mike Simpson took pole with Jordan Galbraith just over 1 second behind.

Finals
The mardave final was a great race with the first three drivers very closely matched and lapping just a few hundredths of a second difference. Mike Simpson built up a small lead only for Jordan Galbraith to start reeling him in, this repeated several times with Mike hanging on for the win, Jordan was second and Paul Galbraith third.

In the GT12 C final Alister Hart was driving a different car to usual with James acting as his pit crew, he had a steady drive to finish second behind Mike Simpson with Alwyn Hodges taking third spot.

Nick Wallace and Daniel Lacey battled it out for the win in the B final, a close thing this, Nick being the winner by just over 2 seconds. Steve Donald put in an exceptional performance to take third place – well done Steve!

The last race of the evening was the A final, pole position driver Gavin Maciver had a comfortable win with Matt Popejoy having one of his best final drives to take a magnificent second place, it was close though Chelle Snowden trailing by just 0.27 seconds in third place.

A good evenings racing on a great track.