James Hart and Matt Popejoy are the only drivers on maximum points in the league
Mike Simpson just prevents another Team Galbraith whitewash in the V12 Mardave Final
Great drive from Ashley King in the GT12 A final to consolidate his lead in division 2
James Hart wins the GT12 A Final, Darren Ford is second
Chelle Snowden wins the GT12 B Final by two laps ahead of Bob Harley and Matthew Minto
Matt Popejoy wins the GT12 C Final

Qualifying
Mike Simpson was top qualifier in the V12 Mardave class with 23 laps, one clear of both Paul and Jake Galbraith
In GT12 division 3 Matt Popejoy was fastest achieving 21 laps, Alister Hart was second also on 21 laps and Courtney Orme third with 19
Ashley King was best on 27 laps in division 2, a lap clear of Dave Tomlinson and Chelle Snowden
James Hart set the best GT12 time with 29 laps, Darren Ford, David Simpson and Louis Parker were second, third and fourth respectively one lap behind James

Finals
V12 Mardaves were off first, a great race this with Mike Simpson leading from pole for the first 16 laps chased by Jordan Galbraith who then took the lead and went on to win – well done Jordan a super performance. Paul Galbraith was second and Mike finished third just ahead of Jake Galbraith, all the first four being on 36 laps.

The GT12 C final saw league leader Matt Popejoy again in sparkling form setting the fastest lap time and leading from start to finish apart from one lap in the middle of the race. Mike Simpson was second and Alister Hart third.

Chelle Snowden showed everyone the way in the B Final with a near faultless drive to win with 42 laps, Bob Harley took second place and Matthew Minto third both two laps down.

James Hart with 46 laps had yet another victory in the A Final, Darren Ford was his closest rival finishing one lap behind James, Louis Parker and David Simpson had a close race for third place, Louis getting the upper hand to finish in front, both drivers on 44 laps. An excellent drive from Ashley King with 43 laps made him the top division 2 driver.

Great GT12 A Final with James Hart winning just ahead of Darren Ford
Ashley King wins the GT12 B Final, Matthew Minto is second
Nick Wallace is first in the GT12 C Final, Matt Popejoy is the top division 3 driver
Paul, Jordan and Jake Galbraith take the top three places in the V12 Mardave Final to make it a Galbraith whitewash
The Winter league trophies were presented by the club chairman.
How many Galbraith’s does it take to roll up a carpet? – find out later in the report.

A good start to the new league with the best eight from a possible ten weeks scores to count for each driver. Both the overall qualifying and final positions each week count, 20 points for best qualifier in each division, 19 for second etc, in the finals an additional point is added for the best driver in each division making 21 points, 19 for second etc.

Track

Things were very close after the three qualifying rounds with James Hart leading by just under two seconds from Darren Ford, both drivers on 27 laps.
Dave Tomlinson was the leading division 2 driver scoring 25 laps, Ashley King and Chelle Snowden were one lap behind.
Matt Popejoy was best in division 3 with 19 laps followed by Alister Hart on 18.
In the Mardave V12 class the first four drivers were all on 21 laps, Paul Galbraith was fastest, Mike Simpson second, some fine driving from Jenson Butlin earned him third place and best in division 2 with Jordan Galbraith also close behind.

Before the finals there was a trophy presentation for the winter league, James Hart retained the GT12 division 1 title

Yes the club chairman won one this time! – he has now been promoted to division 2

See more photographs in the gallery section.

The first final was the Mardave V12 and Paul Galbraith made a good start from pole position to lead the race until lap 16 when Jordan Galbraith overtook and hit the front for the next seven laps after which Paul regained his lead and went on to win with 35 laps, Jordan was second and Jake Galbraith third. A clean sweep of all the first three places by team Galbraith – well done!

Nick Wallace was the winner of the GT12 “C” Final and having finally sorted out the handling problems with his car Matt Popejoy was second giving him maximum points in division 3, Alister Hart and Courtney Orme were third and fourth respectively.
The “B” Final saw a disaster for pole position driver Dave Tomlinson when his motor pinion came loose at the start of the race, Chelle Snowden took an early lead followed and a most exciting race followed with little between all of the drivers. Matthew Minto briefly took the lead on lap 14 only to see Ashley King come past on the next lap. Ashley held on to the lead to win with Matthew a close second and Chelle third.
The “A” Final produced one of the best races of 2015 so far, Darren Ford made a great start to shoot into the lead with Gavin Maciver second and James Hart in third place. Darren was driving very quickly and accurately, James moved up past Gavin who was also overtaken by Louis Parker to get into third place. James hit the front on lap 18 but Darren was not beaten yet and retook the lead four laps later. There then followed a tremendous display of driving from Darren and James with Darren holding on to the lead for another 10 laps before James got past and went on to win with 43 laps, Darren finishing just 1.21 seconds adrift and Louis in third place a lap down.
What a race to watch, it was greeted with a round of applause from the other drivers.

Did you guess the answer correctly?

Yes it takes three and judging by the photograph a lot of thought goes into it.

Louis Parker wins the GT12 A Final with Dave Tomlinson in second place
Ashley King takes the GT12 B Final ahead of Bob Harley
Matt Popejoy wins again in the GT12 C Final with a good drive from Alwyn Hodges in second place
Paul Galbraith wins the Mardave V12 Final for the second week running, Mike Simpson was second

An ordinary clubnight prior to the start of the new Spring League next week when the trophies for the 2014-15 winter league will also be presented.

Track
A very tight and twisty design this week.

Qualifying

Louis Parker was the top qualifier after three rounds with David Simpson in second place four seconds behind, both drivers put in some good times with Louis getting the fastest lap of 9.16 seconds to Davids 9.19
There were good performances from Chelle Snowden, Dave Tomlinson, David Statham and Ashley King who were all two laps down on the leaders.
In the Mardave V12 class Mike Simpson was best qualifier on 26 laps, Paul Galbraith was second five seconds down and also setting the fastest lap of 11.02 seconds to Mike’s 11.05

Finals

Louis won the GT12 A Final and after a great race Dave Tomlinson took second place in front of Chelle Snowden who was third, the fastest lap went to David Simpson with 9.16 seconds.

New member Ashley King won the B Final after a great race with Bob Harley who finished second.

Matt Popejoy had yet another victory in the C final with Alwyn Hodges finishing in second place.

The Mardave V12 final saw Paul Galbraith eventually overtaking pole position driver Mike Simpson after several laps of very close racing to win, Mike was second and Jordan Galbraith an excellent third.

REMEMBER THE SPRING LEAGUE ROUND 1 IS NEXT WEEK

 

James Hart wins the GT12 “A” Final with Louis Parker in second place
Dave Tomlinson wins ahead of Ashley King in the “B” Final
Nick Wallace wins the “C” final by seven laps, Matt Popejoy was second
Paul Galbraith won the Mardave V12 final with Mike Simpson second in a Galbraith sandwich

Track
A great track design this week

Qualifying
After two rounds of qualifying Louis Parker was in the top spot being three seconds quicker than Jame Hart with Chelle Snowden third two laps down.
James Hart found an extra lap in the final qualifying round to take pole in the A final, Louis remained in second place and Gavin Maciver moved up to third position.
In the V12 mardave class Mike Simpson was fastest with Paul Galbraith second and Jordan Galbraith in third place.

Finals
The Mardave final was first where Mike Simpson was on pole followed by a full complement of Team Galbraith drivers Paul, Jordan, Jake and Joshua.  Jordan made a great start and took the lead early in the race which he maintained until six minutes into the race when his dad Paul took over. The final two minutes were close but Paul was first across the line followed by Mike and Jordan who were separated by 0.4 seconds, all three drivers getting 45 laps with Jordan setting the fastest lap.

The GT12 “C” final saw Nick Wallace steadily build up a lead over the rest of the field to score an easy win on 47 laps and complete the fastest lap. A quickly improving Matt Popejoy was second on 40 laps and Alister Hart took third place on 38 laps, both these drivers making some impressive overtaking along the way.

The GT12 “B” final was keenly contested between Ashley King, Dave Tomlinson, Bob Harley and Nick Bruty.  Ashley held the lead until lap 7 when Bob Harley stormed by, these two were then neck and neck with less than a second between them up to lap 18 when Ashley regained the lead once again. Ashley seemed to have the race in the bag leaving Bob and Dave to battle for second place with Dave eventually getting past Bob. With less than 30 seconds to go until the end of the race disaster struck for Ashley and Dave Tomlinson seized the chance to take the lead and crossed the finishing line ahead of Ashley to win with Bob Harley a fine third. Exciting stuff!

Having been pushed hard in the qualifying James Hart had a much easier time in the GT12 “A” final where he was leader from start to finish completing a magnificent 57 laps setting the fastest lap of 7.99 seconds, the only driver to beat 8 seconds.
Behind him there was a titanic battle for second place between Louis Parker and a very much in form Gavin Maciver. Louis maintained second place up to lap 32 when Gavin briefly got by only to be retaken the next lap. Not to be outdone he quickly got back into the lead which he held until two corners from the finish when Louis executed a breathtaking overtaking manoeuvre perfectly to win by just 0.2 seconds. Gavin was seen to be shaking his head afterwards saying “there was no gap – how did Louis get through”
A great finish to an enjoyable evenings racing.

James Hart wins the GT12 League with Darren Ford second and Louis Parker third
Mitch Howard is the division 2 champion, Dave Tomlinson is runner up and Chelle Snowden third
Rob Hambridge wins division 3, Courtney Orme took second place and Alister Hart was third
In the Club V12 Mardave class Mike Simpson was the winner with Paul Galbraith second and Glyn Butlin third
Division 2 was won by Jake Galbraith, Jenson Butlin was second and Joshua Galbraith third

Track

A good evenings racing, in the qualifying James Hart was fastest in the GT12 class with 28 laps followed by Louis Parker, David Simpson, Darren Ford and Gavin Maciver all on 27 laps, with less than 3 seconds separating them.
In division 2 Chelle Snowden was in top form to be best with 26 laps, Dave Tomlinson, Bob Harley and Nick Bruty were all close behind with 25 laps
Rob Hambridge was the top driver in division 3 scoring 23 laps, Ashley King and Nick Wallace got 22 and Courtney Orme 21

In the club Mardave class Mike Simpson was top with 23 laps followed by Paul Galbraith with 22 laps
Jenson Butlin was the best division 2 driver with Jake Galbraith second, both on 22 laps

The first final was the Mardave class, Mike Simpson was on pole but a disaster on the first bend put him down to fourth place with Jake Galbraith taking the lead. After struggling in the qualifying Glyn Butlin had got his car sorted and overtook Jake on lap 6 to go in front and lead the race until lap 16 when Mike Simpson regained first place. There then followed a great battle between Mike and Paul Galbraith with Paul faster but unable to get past despite a final attempt on the last straight he crossed the finishing line 0.21 seconds behind – what a great race to watch!
Joshua Galbraith had a good drive to finish ahead of Jenson Butlin to be best in division 2 – well done Josh.

In the GT12 “C” Final Ashley King had a convincing victory being five laps ahead of second placed driver Matt Popejoy with Courtney Orme in third place.

Next was the GT12 “B” Final with fastest qualifier Chelle Snowden leading the field away from pole position on the grid, but Nick Bruty got past her following a slight error and lead for the next two laps. Things were very close and it was Dave Tomlinson took the lead on lap 4 but was unable to keep ahead of Chelle who was in dazzling form. Nick Bruty was also very much still in the race and he hit the front on lap 10 but Chelle then stepped up a gear, regained the lead on the next lap and built up a comfortable margin lapping everyone to win. Dave Tomlinson was second and Nick Bruty third.

After the excitement of the previous race could the drivers in the GT12 “A” final provide an equal amount of entertainment – we were not to be disappointed!
James Hart was at the front after starting from pole on the grid, Louis Parker challenged him hard with David Simpson a little way back in third place. On lap 10 Louis took the lead and then followed a great display of driving from Louis and James for the next 19 laps with little room between them at high speed. James eventually regained the lead and went on to win setting the fastest lap in the process, Louis finished a fantastic second place and David Simpson third. What a great end to the evenings racing!

James Hart takes maximum points in the GT12 class
Mitch Howard wins the “B” Final
Paul Galbraith charges though the field to win the mardave V12 “A” Final
Jordan Galbraith gets maximum points in division 2

Track

A flowing track design for the  the penultimate round on the winter league.

Qualifying
James Hart was the top qualifier in the GT12 class with 31 laps followed by Louis Parker and Gavin Maciver both on 29 laps.
Nick Bruty was best in division 2 with 26 laps, Mitch Howard was in second place 2 laps down.
Rob Hambridge once again was fastest in division 3 achieving 23 laps with Matt Popejoy taking second place on 21 laps just ahead of Courtney Orme.
In the V12 mardave class Mike Simpson scored 23 laps, Jordan Galbraith, Glyn Butlin and Jenson Butlin all finished with 21 laps.

Finals
First up was the Mardave “B” Final with Jordan Galbraith on pole position being quickly overtaken by Jenson Butlin on the first lap, however Jordan regained the lead on lap 5 and went on to win with 38 laps, Jenson Butlin was second on 37 laps and Jake Galbraith third with 34 laps.

Mike Simpson led the mix of V12 and GT12 cars away from pole position in the “A” final but by lap 12 Paul Galbraith had fought his way up to second place from the back of the field. For the next 13 laps these two cars were only a short distance apart until Paul took the lead on lap 26 and went on to win with 39 laps – great drive Paul. Mike was second on 38 laps and Alister Hart in his GT12 took third place on 32 laps.

Mitch Howard and Nick Bruty were very evenly matched in the GT12 “B” Final, both lapping quickly, but a mechanical problem put Nick out of contention leaving Matt Popejoy to take second place with a great performance, Mitch was the winner with 40 laps.

The last race was the GT12 “A” Final and Darren Ford stormed into the lead on lap 1 then Gavin Maciver overtook him on lap 2 only for Darren to retake the lead on lap 5 with pole position driver James Hart moving up into second position. Everyone was the treated to a fantastic display of driving by Darren and James as James caught up and attempted to get ahead of Darren. On lap 22 he took the lead and put in some very fast laps to win with 48 laps, Darren was second on 46 laps ahead of Gavin Maciver also with 46 laps. Another very exciting race!

We look forward to a great final round of the league next week.

Gavin Maciver, Paul Galbraith, Jordan Galbraith and Roy Matthews win the team event
Good individual performances from Gavin, Paul and Louis Parker
Louis sees the white of the wheel rims through his tyres

Track

A change from the usual racing this week with a team event which was very closely contested.
After the first round there was only a single lap difference with Gavin Macivers Team 2 leading the way with 111 laps from Louis Parkers Team 1 in second place with 110.

The Lead was extended to 5 laps after round 2 with a total of 224 laps.

The third round saw a change in positions with Chelle Snowdens team 5 moving up into second place, the scores with the final round to go were

With only 4 laps separating the first two teams it meant that everything would be decided a tense final round.

Gavin and his team were up to the challenge to win with Chelle and her team finishing in second place a total of 7 laps down.

Gavin Maciver scored 137 laps which the most individual laps, being 1 ahead of Louis Parker who had 136.
Paul Galbraith was the top V12 Mardave driver with 119 laps followed by Mike Simpson on 113.

A good evenings racing with a close result!
Louis may be due for a set of new tyres soon Richard as the rims were showing through in places!

FEBRUARY 2015 TEAM EVENT
FINAL RESULTS AFTER ROUND 4
TEAM 1		TEAM 2		TEAM 3		TEAM 4		TEAM 5
Louis Parker		Gavin Maciver		Dave Tomlinson		Nick Bruty		Chelle Snowden
Glyn Butlin		Paul Galbraith		Mike Simpson		Nick Wallace		Bob Harley
Jake Galbraith		Jordan Galbraith		Jenson Butlin		Alister Hart		Matt Popejoy
Alwyn Hodges		Roy Matthews		Kevin Flamson		Courtney Orme		Joshua Galbraith
441		452		437		424		445

Louis Parker challenges James Hart in the GT12 qualifying
Dave Tomlinson on top form to lead division 2
Club Chairman Rob Hambridge takes maximum points in division 3
Jake and Jordan Galbraith are the top qualifiers in the mardave V12 class
Club members in the news in the march radio control car racer magazine

Track

A full length track this week giving an extra two metres on the straight.

This week was the first round of the 2015 Superleague, there will be six rounds held in February, April, June, August, October and December with the best five results to count for each driver.

Qualifying
James Hart was again the fastest qualifier but Louis Parker came very close to winning round three, eventually finishing just over two seconds adrift both drivers getting 29 laps, David Simpson was third with 28 laps.
In division 2 Dave Tomlinson displayed some great driving to be fastest on 27 laps followed by Mitch Howard and Nick Bruty both one lap down.
Rob Hambridge on 27 laps was two laps clear of second place driver Jack Cook to be best in division 3 with Alister Hart a further lap down.
Some tremendous driving by Jake and Jordan Galbraith put them ahead of their dad Paul in the mardave V12 class, giving the division 2 drivers pole and second positions on the final grid. Mike Simpson took third place to spoil a team Galbraith monopoly of the top three places as Paul was fourth fastest qualifier.

Finals
The mardave V12 class was first up with Jake Galbraith leading the field away from pole position on the grid but it was Jordan Galbraith who soon went into first position and built up a substantial lead until disaster struck with his car on lap eighteen putting him out of contention. Jake resumed the lead until lap thirty when Mike Simpson drew level and then overtook to lead, three laps later Paul Galbraith passed Mike and with some great driving won the race with Mike finishing second and Jake third. A great finish to a very close race.

GT12 “C” Final
Jack Cook was the fastest driver and had a comfortable win three laps ahead of second place driver Ted Griffiths. A good drive from Alwyn Hodges put him in third place a further four laps down.

GT12 “B” Final
All the drivers in the race were evenly matched and we were treated to a very close and exciting race, at the finish it was Mitch Howard who was first across the line to win from Chelle Snowden in second place, Bob Harley was third and Nick Bruty fourth – all four drivers on the same lap.

GT12 “A” Final
James Hart set a very fast pace followed by Louis Parker and David Simpson, the race soon developed into a battle between James and Louis and following an error by David, Gavin Maciver and David Statham keenly contested third and fourth places. At the end of eight minutes James was the winner , Louis an excellent second, Gavin third and David Statham fourth. Dave Tomlinson also had a fine drive finishing in fifth place to be the best division 2 driver.

Burton Buggy Club drivers in the news
It was good to see club members James Hart, Louis Parker, Michelle Snowden, Bob Harley and Nick Bruty getting a mention including photographs of Louis and Michelle in the march edition of Radio Control Car Racer magazine for their fine performances in the GT12 Clubmans series final round at Tamworth last year.
Well done everyone!

Spot the Club Chairman
Rob Hambridge has a new Chairmans “hoodie” – has anyone seen him!

Stealth car
Roy Matthews adopted a low profile this week driving his “stealth” car with a grey bodyshell that was almost invisible at the far end of the track – only the orange rear wheels gave it away.

James Hart’s nerve holds out to win the GT12 A final despite sustained pressure from David Hall
Dave Tomlinson takes fifth place in the A final to be the top division 2 driver
Chelle Snowden wins the B final ahead of Bob Harley
Jack Cook wins the C final with Ted Griffiths second and Alister Hart third
Mike Simpson finishes just ahead of Paul Galbraith to win the mardave V12 final

Track
Some very tight sections this week

Another great evenings racing, the highlight being the GT12 “A” Final with James Hart starting from pole position followed by David Hall and Louis Parker, all three of these drivers having achieved 30 laps in qualifying which was two more than anyone else.

James got off to a flying start in the eight minute final but it was not long before David Hall was challenging him for the lead and for the remainder of the race there were only a few inches between the two cars. The circuit was very tight and James held the racing line magnificently despite a tremendous amount of pressure from David and crossed the finishing line first to win a fantastic race. Great stuff!
Louis Parker finished in third place with yet another super drive.
Dave Tomlinson took fifth place to be the best in division 2 beating “B” Final winner Chelle Snowden by just 0.34 seconds.
Bob Harley and Chelle had a close race with Bob trailing by 3 seconds at the finish.

Jack Cook was well clear of the rest of the field in the “C” final to win with Ted Griffiths second three laps down and Alister Hart third a further lap behind.

The mardave V12 class was as always very close with all the cars being evenly matched. Mike Simpson starting from pole got away from the rest of the field but was being chased down by Paul Galbraith and on lap 27 he had caught up. Things were close in the final two minutes but Mike stayed ahead to win by 0.63 seconds, Paul being second and Jake Galbraith in third place.

Just two more rounds to go in the league which should provide an exciting finish.

Mike Simpson wins the Mardave Final after Team Galbraith trip themselves up
Jack Cook triumphs in the GT12 C Final
Chelle Snowden wins a thrilling GT12 B Final after nail biting finish
James Hart wins again in the GT12 A Final

Twenty One GT12 class drivers this week and five mardave V12

Track
An excellent design this week giving no opportunity to relax concentration!

Qualifying
Three five minute qualifying rounds produced some good racing, James Hart was really flying in the GT12 class and took pole position for the A final, Louis Parker and Darren Ford were closely matched with Louis taking second place behind James.
In division 2 there were only four seconds separating the first four drivers, Mitch Howard was the fastest followed by Dave Tomlinson and Chelle Snowden.
Club Chairman Rob Hambridge got his car performing well and was three laps ahead of the field in division 3 with Jack Cook being second.
Mike Simpson was fastest in the mardave class followed by Jake Galbraith, Paul Galbraith was third after missing the first two rounds.

Finals
The mardave final was first and Mike Simpson took an early lead from pole position but Paul Galbraith gradually made up ground and these two were inches apart for lap after lap until Paul managed to get past with a great bit of driving. It was still very close but a racing incident between Paul and Jake Galbraith let Mike back into the lead and he managed to hold on to the finish with Paul making up ground quickly. A great race this, heated discussions in the team Galbraith camp afterwards – will they need to get McLaren to mediate!
Jake Galbraith was best in division 2 followed by his brother Josh.

Some exciting racing in the GT12 C final between Jack Cook, John Yates and Ted Griffiths, the fastest lap went to John but in the end it was Jack who won by two laps from John in second place and Ted third.

The GT12 B final produced the most entertaining race of the evening, Dave Tomlinson was on pole but after the first bend found himself in last position with Bob Harley leading and Chelle Snowden in second place. There was then a great race between these three, Bob looked to have a win in the bag but Chelle took the lead in the later stages of the race and with one lap to go was just over half a second in front at the final bend only to have problems and Bob stormed down the straight to produce a photo finish at the line. Chelle was the winner by 1/100th of a second, Bob second and Dave Tomlinson third all on 48 laps and less than half a second apart. Can it get any better than this?

The last race of the evening was the GT12 A final, James Hart produced the fastest lap of 8.65 seconds and Louis Parker 8.96 seconds, these being the only two drivers to get below 9 seconds.
James had a comfortable win with 54 laps, Louis was second with 52, Darren Ford third with 51 and a great drive from David Statham earned him fourth place also on 51 laps. Mitch Howard also had a good evening to be the only division 2 driver to make the A final and finished with 49 laps.