The penultimate round of the 2016 superleague produced an excellent evenings racing with several very close finishes.
Track
A refinement on last weeks design.

Qualifying

James Hart starting from the back of the field set a blistering pace in round 1 to record 39 laps, an incredible 3 laps ahead of Gavin Maciver in second place with Darren Ford, Louis Parker and Chelle Snowden a further lap down. Louis moved up to second place in round 2 with 38 laps, Gavin also improving on 37. James achieved 40 laps in round 3 which proved to be the best time of the evening to take pole in the A final ahesd of Louis and Gavin.
In division 2 Bob Harley was quickest in round 1 but Matt Popejoy beat him in round 2 and then again in round 3 by the narrowest of margins 0.17 seconds, Rob Hambridge was third fastest.
Steve Donald led the division 3 drivers in the first round with Courtney Orme in second position. Daniel Lacey had a good drive in round 2 to take the lead but Steve Donald re-established the top place in round 3 with Daniel second and Courtney third.
In the mardave class Mike Simpson won round 1 with Jordan Galbraith in second place and Joshua Galbraith third. In round 2 Jordan was the winner with Mike second and Josh third. After round 3 Jordan was top qualifier, Mike second, Josh third and Paul Galbraith fourth. Team Galbraith were talking very confidently in the pits of claiming all three places on the rostrum in the final – could they deliver?

Finals

First up was the mardave final as usual and team Galbraith’s hopes of a whitewash were dashed in the first few seconds of the race when Joshua’s car refused to move off the line. Jordan however was in sparkling form and soon established a lead that nobody could make up and went on to win the race. Behind him Mike Simpson and Paul Galbraith were having their own race for second place with Mike being ahead and Paul lapping quicker. Half way through the final lap Paul was just a couple of car lengths behind and they crossed the line at speed in a photo finish – Mike just ahead by 0.2 seconds, all the first three drivers being on the same lap. Wow that was a close finish!

Visiting driver Martin Trice won the GT12 C final ahead of Mike Simpson, Courtney Orme took third place and Jack Walsh had a good drive to be fourth – well done Jack.

The B final was a great race to watch with Daniel Lacey, Matt Popejoy, Steve Donald and Bon Harley all very evenly matched and driving well. It was Daniel Lacey who was first across the finishing line for a hard earned win, very closely followed by Matt Popejoy, Steve Donald was third and Bob Harley fourth, both drivers a lap down on the winner.

The A final saw another win for James Hart with Louis Parker also putting in a super performance to put pressure on James for most of the race and finish in second place. Gavin Maciver was third, Darren Ford fourth and Chelle Snowden fifth.

A good evenings entertainment, with several of the league positions not decided yet it will all come down to the last round results in December.

Another great evenings racing on a fast track design.

Louis Parker wins the GT12 A Final, Gavin Maciver was second and Darren Ford third half a second behind.
Bob Harley won the B Final, Steve Donald took a fine second place and Daniel Lacey was third just 0.28 seconds adrift.
Club Chairman Rob Hambridge had a convincing win in the C Final followed by Courtney Orme and Alwyn Hodges.
In the Mardave final Mike Simpson was the winner with Roy Matthews taking second place and Paul Galbraith finishing third after losing his nuts! – (on his front wheels of course).

Don’t forget that next week is round 5 of the 2016 superleague.

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.

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.

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.

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.

James Hart qualifies for pole position and wins the A Final, Gavin MacIver is second Bob Harley qualifies an excellent third.
Darren Ford takes fourth place in qualifying to be top division 2 driver ahead of Matt Popejoy.
In division 3 Steve Donald was best with some outstanding driving, Courtney Orme qualified in second place but beaten into third place by Mark Perkin in the final.
Joshua Galbraith was top qualifier in the V12 mardave class and went on to win the final leaving his brother Jordan the summer league winner feeling a little run down after failing to start in the final.

Qualifying
James Hart set the pace with 34 laps, his closest rival was Gavin Maciver who was second just 4.64seconds down. Bob Harley, just promoted from division 2 was also lapping quickly and took third place overall.
Darren Ford had another good evening to be top division 2 driver a further 5 seconds behind Bob.
Steve Donald with his new car dominated division 3 to be 4 laps ahead of second placed driver Courtney Orme.

In the club mardave class Joshua Galbraith got the better of his brother Jordan to be top qualifier with Jordan second and Mike Simpson third.

Finals
Joshua Galbraith started well from pole position on the grid, disaster struck for Jordan after his batteries went flat in his transmitter and then had a broken connection. This left just three cars in the race, Joshua was in control for most of the race and took a deserving win with Mike Simpson second and Paul Galbraith third. A maximum league points start for Joshua, better watch out Jordan!

The GT12 C final was won by Mike Simpson, ever improving Mark Perkin took second place and Courtney Orme was third. Well done to Jamie Hall who was fourth and set the third best lap time.

The B final was the closest race of the evening with Ashley King, Dave Tomlinson, Matt Popejoy and Nick Wallace only separated by the smallest of margins for the duration of the race. They eventually finished in this order, all on 30 laps and less than 6 seconds between them. Steve Donald also put in a tremendous performance to finish just 1 lap behind. A great race this!

With just the A final left the question was could anyone beat James Hart who was in sparkling form in qualifying. He again showed everyone the way to win by a clear lap, Gavin Maciver was an excellent second and Darren Ford just managed to beat Bob Harley for third place.

A good evenings racing with James Hart, Darren Ford, Steve Donald and Joshua Galbraith all scoring maximum points in their respective league divisions.

James Hart wins the A Final with David Simpson in second place and Gavin Maciver third.
In the Club Mardave class Jordan Galbraith wins, Paul Galbraith is second and Mike Simpson third.

Qualifying
James Hart was top qualifier on 31 laps, followed by Gavin Maciver 31, David Simpson 30, Chelle Snowden 29 and Bob Harley 28.There were good performances also from Steve Donald who won all three rounds in heat 2.

In the Mardave class Jordan Galbraith was quickest with 25 laps closely followed by Mike Simpson with Paul and Joshua Galbraith on 24 laps.

Finals
Jordan Galbraith lead the field off from pole position in the mardave final and with some great driving had a convincing win on 25 laps, there was a close battle for second, third and fourth places with Paul Galbraith coming out on top, Mike Simpson third and Joshua fourth also setting the fastest lap.

Visiting driver McKensie Wallace had an excellent win in the GT12 C final, David Snowden was second also on 24 laps to take the winners trophy followed by Courtney Orme second and Mark Perkin third.

The B Final was a great race with all the drivers going well, Bob Harley was the victor on 28 laps closely followed by Matt Popejoy with Daniel Lacey third on 27 laps. Steve Donald continued his good form finishing on 25 laps.

James Hart achieved another 31 laps similar to qualifying to take a superb win, behind him Gavin Maciver and David Simpson were locked in a very close race for second, David got past Gavin mid way through the race and despite extreme pressure managed to hold on to take second place, both drivers on 30 laps.

An excellent evenings racing, afterwards club vice-chairman Chelle Snowden presented the trophies for the first three places in each final plus Steve Donald won the “most improved driver trophy”, best Junior was Joshua Galbraith and runner-up Jensen Wray.

the summer league trophies were also presented,
GT12 Division 3
Winner Daniel Lacey – maximum points, won every round
Second Courtney Orme
Third Alywn Hodges

GT12 Division 2
Winner Bob Harley
Second Matt Popejoy
Third Darren Ford

GT12 Division 1
Winner Gavin Maciver – maximum points
Second Chelle Snowden
Third Nick Wallace

Mardave Class
Winner Mike Simpson
Second Paul Galbraith
Third Jordan galbraith

The Chairmans Cup for the most improved driver in the league was won by David Snowden

An ordinary clubnight this week with the summer trophy meeting planned for next week, followed by the start of the new league.

Qualifying

It was good to see Darren Ford racing after a few weeks break, he put in a fine performance to be second fastest qualifier behind Gavin Maciver with Nick Wallace in third place. David Simpson was fourth and Matt Popejoy fifth.
Four visiting drivers this week with Grant Woodcock being the quickest followed by Connor Reeve, McKensie Wallace and Jamie Hall.

In the mardave class Paul Galbraith was top qualifier with Mike Simpson second, Jordan Galbraith third place and Joshua Galbraith fourth – would this be the evening for a team Galbraith 1-2-3 in the final?????

Finals

A fast and furious mardave final with several spills along the way, Jordan Galbraith storming into the lead from third place on the grid and Joshua suffering a mechanical problem with his car early in the race forcing a pit stop.
A win for Jordan with Mike Simpson and Paul having a close race for second place, Paul finishing ahead and Mike third.

Grant Woodcock won the GT12 C final being a lap clear of second place driver McKensie Wallace, Mark Perkin was third followed by Courtney Orme, Alwyn Hodges and Jamie Hall all on the same lap.

Daniel Lacey was the winner of the B Final, Dave Tomlinson finished second on the same lap with Mike Simpson in third place two laps down.

The GT12 A Final was the last race of the evening and produced yet another win for Gavin Maciver, Darren Ford tried hard to put pressure on Gavin and finished second on the same lap. Matt Popejoy also had a great race to take third place.

Round 4 of 6 this week,the track looking very smart with the new white perimeter markers.
Qualifying
Gavin Maciver was quickest in round 1 followed by Matt Popejoy with a best lap just 2/100th second slower than Gavin, Chelle Snowden was in third place. Positions were unchanged after round 2 with Matt just over 6 seconds adrift. Good driving also from Bob Harley and Daniel Lacey in fourth and fifth place overall.
David Simpson had a good run in round 3 set set the best lap time and move up into second place behind Gavin, Chelle took third place and Matt fourth, also being the top division 2 driver followed by Bob Harley and division 3 driver Daniel Lacey.

In round 1 of the mardave class Joshua Galbraith finished in first place with Mike Simpson second and Jordan Galbraith third, also setting the best lap time.
Despite having a lap time nearly 0.8sec faster Jordan finished second in round 2, a lap behing his dad Paul with Mike third.
Jordan came good in round 3 to be top qualifier, Paul second, Mike third with Wes Wray moving up ahead of Joshua Galbraith to take fourth place on the final grid.

Finals
Jordan got off to a flying start from pole position on the grid, however he had to make a pit stop on lap 2 to refit his transponder which cost him nearly 2 laps and allowed Paul to take the lead which he held to the end of the race with some excellent driving, holding off a challenge from Mike who finished second. Jordan recovered well with some incredibly fast laps to overhaul and pass his brother Joshua and take third place – well done Jordan.

David Snowden had a comfortable win in the GT12 C final being three laps ahead of second place driver Courtney Orme. Jamie Hall finished third with a fine drive on a tricky track design.

With the club Chairman and secretary both in the B final there was a bit of rivalry as to who would come out on top. It was Daniel Lacey who left everyone else standing with a superb drive to win, with Rob Hambridge finishing second two laps down and Mike Simpson third after a close race with Steve Donald. Advantage Chairman!

The GT12 A final was an exciting race with Gavin Maciver leading from start to finish and being pursued by David Simpson who finished second with a best lap just 0.1sec slower than Gavin. Matt Popejoy was again flying around the track but in the end it was Chelle Snowden who took third place and Bob Harley fourth. Great stuff to watch!