09-05-17 Spring League Round 4

Another testing track design this week provided some great racing in the usual three qualifying and one final round.

Qualifying
GT12 Class
James Hart was quickest in round 1 with Steve Donald second a lap down, Chelle Snowden was in third place just ahead of Bob Harley. James managed an extra lap in round 2, Steve holding onto second place with Louis Parker moving up into third place ahead of Chelle. James put in yet another lap in the third round to take pole in the A final, a good run by Louis assured him of second spot, Chelle moving up into third.
Matt Popejoy was the top F2 driver with Jordan Leavis second and Stephen Deacon third.
Jason Leavis was highest placed in F3 followed by Courtney Orme and John Stringer.

Club Mardave Class
Mike Simpson was fastest in all three qualifying rounds, Paul Galbraith was in second place after two rounds with Roy Matthews third and Harvey Forster fourth. In round three Jordan Galbraith set the fastest lap time and moved up into second place with Paul Galbraith third and Nathan Marshall fourth.
In F2 Alex Forster was fastest followed by Roy Matthews and Harvey Forster – well done Harvey a great performance.

Finals
The Mardave final was first up, Mike Simpson leading the field away from pole position and car 2 Jordan Galbraith in hot pursuit. These two built up a gap from the other drivers and Jordan took the lead on lap 11, a great race followed with Mike trying his best to get back on terms but Jordan maintaining his advantage. A mistake by Jordan on lap 20 gave Mike a chance and with two laps to go only a few inches separated the two drivers with Jordan holding on to take the win by 8/100th of a second – what a finish!
Paul Galbraith finished in second place, Alex Forster was the best placed F2 driver followed by Roy Matthews and Harvey Forster.

The GT12 C final saw an emphatic win from David Snowden starting from fifth place on the grid, Jason Leavis was second just ahead of Jack Walsh, all three drivers having a good drive.

Jordan Leavis made a good start from pole in the B final and had a convincing win over Stephen Deacon in second place with pole position driver Matt Popejoy finishing third.

In the A final James Hart lost his pole position advantage when Louis Parker overtook him on the first lap, James gradually made up ground on Louis and there then followed several minutes of racing at its best with James pressurising Louis who held on to his lead driving superbly for what seemed forever until James eventually got past and went on to win the race. Meanwhile Steve Donald was also putting in a great performance to take third place a lap ahead of Chelle Snowden in fourth. What a race to finish the evening with, it does not get any better than this!

DONT FORGET THAT THERE IS NO RACING NEXT WEEK DUE TO THE HALL NOT BEING AVAILABLE – The next club meeting is on TUESDAY 23rd MAY which will be the Spring League Round 5.

02-05-17 Spring League Round 3

A tighter track design than usual put a premium on accurate driving.

Qualifying
Louis Parker was the top qualifier in the GT12 class a lap ahead of both Gavin Maciver in second place and Bob Harley in third.
In F2 Matt Popejoy was quickest, two laps better than Daniel Lacey in second and Stephen Deacon in third place.
Courtney Orme was the best placed F3 driver, John Stringer was second on the same laps and Jason Leavis third a lap down.
In the club mardave class Mike Simpson was first with Jordan and Joshua Galbraith second and third both a lap down.
Wes Wray was the top F2 driver followed by Alex Forster and Roy Matthews.

Finals
Mike Simpson made a good start in the mardave final to take an early lead with Jordan Galbraith dropping three places down the field on the first lap. He recovered well from this and on lap 15 caught an passed Mike to lead the race. However Mike began to make up ground again and some very exciting racing followed for several laps before Mike retook the lead on the penultimate lap to be first to the finish and win by less than a second from Jordan, Paul Galbraith finished third, two laps down.
Alex Forster was the top F2 driver once again finishing in fourth place with some consistent driving, his brother Harvey was fifth and Roy Matthews sixth.

In the GT12 C final Paul Galbraith won, Isaac Donald took an excellent second place racing GT12 for the first time – better watch out Steve he will soon be catching you up!. Jason Leavis was third and Alwyn Hodges fourth.
Daniel Lacey won a great B final, behind him Stephen Deacon and Jordan Leavis were fighting it out for second and third places, Stephen set the fastest lap and eventually finished two seconds ahead of Jordan. Courtney Orme was best F3 driver finishing in fourth place.

As usual the last race of the evening was the GT12 A final where pole position driver Louis Parker got off to a poor start on the first two laps after changing his transmitter from the qualifying, letting Gavin Maciver build up a lead. Louis came back strongly to win, Gavin was second and Steve Donald third – all on the same lap. A great race to finish the evening.

Three wins out of three rounds so far for Louis, can he make it four consecutive wins next week?