Louis takes the GT12 Class by storm!

Track

It was a good night for team Parker with Richard being fastest qualifier and winning the “A” final in the club mardave class, not to be outdone Louis Parker put in what is probably his best ever performance to be unbeatable in the GT12 class. Very well done Louis.

A good standard of driving from everyone this week made for some really close racing, Jenson Butlin was the top driver in the mardave “B” final, with Roy Matthews second testing out David Simpson’s car and Joshua Galbraith took third.

Richard Parker duly won the “A” final, but there was a tremendous race for second place between Paul Galbraith and Lee Bishop with Lee eventually finishing 2 seconds ahead of Paul.

The GT12 final was run at a very fast pace, Louis Parker dominated the race and holding off a determined challenge from Dave Tomlinson in the latter stages of the race, both driver finishing with 51 laps. Behind them Daniel Williams finished third after another close battle with Bob Harley, both drivers achieving 50 laps.

After his great win last week Darren Ford was not as successful driving his GT12, watch out for him in the next few weeks when he gets it set up!

Another very exciting evenings racing.

Team Galbraith dominate the leagues and Darren Ford leaves everyone for dust.

This was the final round of the current league and in the Mardave class division 3 Joshua Galbraith after his break from racing last week took maximum points by being fastest qualifier and best in the final which won him division 3 – well done Josh a fine performance. Roy Matthews got the better of Courtney Orme this week but did not make up enough ground to overtake him in the league so the final league positions were Courtney second and Roy third.

In division 2, despite Lee Bishop’s recent tremendous run of victories he missed out racing this week (was the pressure too much?) and Paul Galbraith was the champion with some excellent driving and maximum points from the evening. Looks like team Galbraith are the ones to beat at present!.

Division 1 was keenly contested with Darren Ford making a return after missing several weeks, he also had a maximum point evening which included a tremendous drive in the final to achieve 55 laps which was 1 lap better than the GT12 class – great driving. Richard Parker was the division 1 winner with consistently good driving throughout.

In the GT12 class the best 6 from 7 results counted for each driver as the league started a few weeks later than the mardave class, some great racing during the evening with Keith Heathcote being fastest qualifier just ahead of David Simpson and Louis Parker third.  In the final Keith won again and a fine race by Louis gained him second place – well done Louis!

Despite not racing this evening Dave Tomlinson was the GT12 league winner with Bob Harley second and Louis Parker third.

Remember it is round 2 of the Superleague next week which runs throughout 2014 on alternate months with the drivers best 5 from a possible 6 weeks results to count.

Lee is top Mardave Class driver once again!

Qualifying

The penultimate round of the current league and Lee Bishop set the early pace in round 1 of the mardave class followed by Paul Galbraith and Mike Simpson. The order changed in round 2 with Mike leading, Paul second and Lee third. However in the last qualifying round Lee put in a great performance to be fastest qualifier, Paul second and Mike third. Rob Hambridge and Jenson Butlin took fourth and fifth spots. In division 3 Courtney Orme was again the driver to beat, with Roy Matthews second.

In the GT12 class round 1 Keith Heathcote was fastest, closely followed by David Simpson and Dave Tomlinson just one lap down.  David Statham took over the top place from Keith after round 2, David Simpson’s evenings racing was soon over after a failed servo.  In the last qualifing round Dave Tomlinson moved up into second place, so the order on the final grid was David Statham, Dave Tomlinson and Keith Heathcote.

Track

An interesting test of driving skills with a very slippy section near the rostrum offering little grip and making accelerating and braking tricky.

Finals

With several retirements there were just two eight minute finals this week.

Lee Bishop was by far the quickest achieving 40 laps with Paul Galbraith and Mike Simpson being second and third respectively 2 laps down. Jenson Butlin had an excellent drive to take fourth place on 36 laps.  Courtney Orme repeated his qualifying heat performance to finish ahead of Roy Matthews once again.

The last race of the evening was the GT12 final which was an excellent race, David Statham won with 44 laps, Keith Heathcote was second on 42 and a great drive from Chelle Snowden assured her of a third place finish.  Another great race!

Lee Bishop leaves everyone trailing in the club mardave class.

After qualifying in second place behind Richard Parker, Lee had an absolutely storming “A” final to win with 42 laps which was a clear 2 laps ahead of the rest of the field.  A tremendous battle took place behind Lee with Richard Parker taking second place, Mike Simpson third, Graham Oxford fourth and Paul Galbraith fifth – all on 40 laps with just 3 seconds between them all – close!

Jenson Butlin won the “B” final with 36 laps, Courtney Orme continued his fine run of form to be second on 33 laps, Joshua Galbraith was third on 31 and Roy Matthews fourth a further 3 laps behind.

Despite the very tight track some very fast times were achieved in the GT12 class, David Simpson was top qualifier, Dave Tomlinson second and Bob Harley third. This was also the finishing order in the final with David Simpson winning on 47 laps, the fastest lap time being set by Dave Tomlinson.

Track

A track with some very tricky sections this week.

Can Lee Bishop win the final two remaining rounds in the league to complement his present six wins out of six to win division 2 and achieve the maximum possible 328 points?

NO PRESSURE LEE !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bob Harley leads his Team to victory!

There were five teams of three drivers entered for the team event, the team captains being Dave Tomlinson, Chelle Snowden, Louis Parker, Bob Harley and Daniel Williams.  There were four six minute rounds with the sum of the individual teams drivers laps being counted as the team score.

After the first round Bob Harley’s team were leading on 78 laps, Louis Parker’s 72 laps and Dave Tomlinson’s 71 laps.

The second round saw Bob’s lead cut to four laps on 151 with Louis and Dave joint second place on 147 laps.

Bob’s team extended their lead again in round three to six laps scoring 229 with Louis 223 and Dave 222, setting the scene for an exciting final round with the winning team to get a free weeks racing.

With all the team captains racing in the final race of the last round, the pressure was on as it was still possible for any of the top three teams to win.  A loss of power on Louis Parker’s car put him out of the race which lost his team the chance of second place, Dave Tomlinson went on to wins the race with Bob 1 lap down which was good enough to secure the overall team victory. A good evenings racing, a very close result.

The fastest driver of the evening was Dave Tomlinson driving his Mardave GT12 who achieved 30 laps, with Bob Harley and Chelle Snowden on 29 laps.  In the club Mardave Class Richard Parker was top scoring 29 laps with Mike Simpson and Lee Bishop both getting 28 laps each.  All the drivers had very creditable scores which made for an exciting finish!

Congratulations to Bob Harley, Mike Simpson and Jenson Butlin on winning.

Track

The track was extended to the full length of the hall this week, it is back to the size last used at the Drakelow venue in 2003.

Qualifying

Six minute qualifying heats.

As usual Richard Parker was the fastest qualifier in the club  Mardave class, Lee Bishop was on top form again to take second place and Paul Galbraith was third.

The pace was fast in the GT12 class with David Statham coming out on top, Dave Tomlinson second and David Simpson third.

Track

A wider track design this week

Finals

Eight minute finals again this week.

Mardave Class

Alex Barry was the winner of the “B” final with 37 laps, Courtney Orme took second place on 35 and Roy Matthews third with 33 laps.

The “A” final was a great race, Richard Parker took the lead from pole position on the grid and went on to win despite a great challenge from Lee Bishop who finished 1.65 seconds behind, both drivers on 44 laps.  Paul Galbraith also had a good race to finish in third place just one lap down.

GT12 Class

The “B” final was an excellent race, Louis Parker took the lead after getting past the pole position driver Bob Harley and with some very tidy driving went on to win with 46 laps, Bob was second with 45 laps and Daniel Williams third on 44.

The “A” or perhaps more aptly named this week the “Dave” final saw the fastest four drivers of the evening battle over eight minutes of very quick lap times. David Statham was leading when a loose wheel nut forced a pit stop, David Simpson took advantage and after overtaking Dave Tomlinson went on to win the race on 48 laps.  Dave Tomlinson took second spot on 47 laps with Dave Tomlinson Jnr third. A super race but a commentators nightmare – a Dave was bound to win.

Qualifying

Richard Parker was again the fastest qualifier in the club  Mardave class with Paul Galbraith second and Mike Simpson third.

David Statham was best in the GT12 class with his Mardave, Dave Tomlinson was second and Louis Parker third.

Track

A narrow but fast design

Finals

Eight minute duration finals again this week.

The Mardave “B” final was a very close race between Roy Matthews who got his transmitter problems sorted out and Joshua Galbraith.  Both drivers achieved 42 laps with Joshua being first to the finishing line, Roy second and Courtney third just 1 lap down.

Josh was lapping quickest and went on to win with 34 laps with some great driving, Jack was second just one lap down on 33 and Jenson took third place with 32 laps.

Richard Parker had a convincing win in the Mardave “A” final scoring 49 laps with Mike Simpson chasing and finishing second 5 seconds behind. Chris Ward took third place with 47 laps.

The GT12 “A” final was fast and furious, David Statham managing a tremendous 54 laps, Dave Tomlinson 52 and Chelle Snowden 51. A great race to watch!

Lee Bishop “finally” hits the top!

Qualifying

Richard Parker was the fastest qualifier in the club  Mardave class with 31 laps, followed by David Simpson and Lee Bishop on 30 laps and a further three drivers on 29 which set things up for some exciting finals.

David Statham once again was best in the GT12 class with his Mardave scoring 32 laps, Dave Tomlinson made 31 and Bob Harley 30.

Track

A wider track this week

Finals

Eight minute duration finals this week.

The Mardave “B” final was a battle between the three “Js”, namely Joshua Galbraith, Jack Cook and Jenson Butlin.

Josh was lapping quickest and went on to win with 34 laps with some great driving, Jack was second just one lap down on 33 and Jenson took third place with 32 laps.

Lee Bishop continued his sparkling run of form by winning the Mardave “A” with a tremendous 41 laps, pushing pole position driver Richard Parker down into second place on 40 laps and David Simpson third on 39.

The last race of the evening was the GT12 “A” final and David Statham led the field away from pole position and for the first three laps seemed to have the race under control. Dave Tomlinson had other ideas though and took the lead on lap four only for David Statham to regain the lead three laps later.  Things stayed this way until lap 16 when Dave got past and into the lead once more and eventually winning on 43 laps being six seconds ahead.  Behind these two Bob Harley and Louis Parker were also very close, both finishing on 40 laps, Bob taking the third place by eight seconds.

Winter League

This was round five, details of the current positions are in the league page.

Qualifying

Darren Ford was the top qualifier in the Mardave class with Richard Parker challenging hard, both drivers completed 34 laps and David Simpson was third with 33.
Lee Bishop continued his challenge to win promotion back to division 1 with some excellent driving and was fastest in division 2 achieving 32 laps, Paul Galbraith was second with 31 and Rob Hambridge third on 30.
Josh Galbraith made 28 laps in division 3 with Courtney Orme on 27 and Roy Matthews 26.

In the GT12 class David Statham showed everyone a clean pair of heels with 36 laps, Dave Tomlinson was second on 35 and Chelle Snowden third on 34 laps.

Track

A Dave Tomlinson design this week with a tricky section to test the drivers.

Finals

Courtney Orme had the best time in division 3 with 32 laps, Josh being second with 31 and Roy third on 30.
Another fine display of driving from Lee Bishop earned him 39 laps in a very exciting race, Paul Galbraith was on 37 and Rob Hambridge 36.
A disaster for Darren Ford who was unable to start in the “A” final due to a broken transmitter, Richard Parker was the best in the Mardave division 1 with 39 laps, Mike Simpson second on 37 and David Simpson third with 29 after retiring from the race.

In the GT12 class David Statham won with 41 laps, a fine performance from Louis Parker gave him second place also on 41, and Bob Harley was third on 40 laps.

Anothe rgreat evenings racing

Tuesday 25th February

Darren beats all the GT12 class cars with his Mardave!

This was the first week of running a GT12 class in addition to the usual club spec Mardaves and it was interesting to compare their performance on what was quite a twisty track.

Qualifying

Darren Ford driving his Mardave was by far the fastest on a tricky track and completed 32 laps, four more anyone else in the class and two better than the top GT12 driver. There were four drivers on 28 laps, separated by less than two seconds, Mike Simpson, Lee Bishop, Daniel Williams and Paul Galbraith.

In the GT12 class Bob Harley scored 30 laps, David Statham 29 and Chelle Snowden 28.

 Track

A larger track design this week with plenty of bends to test the accuracy of the driving.

Finals

The two classe were combined for the finals.

Courtney Orme was the fastest Mardave driver in the “C” final with 23 laps, Joshua Galbraith was one lap down on 22, followed by Roy Matthews with 20 laps.

The “B” final was a “Team Parker” dominated race with Richard Parker winning on 27 laps and Louis second also on the same lap. A good drive by Paul Galbraith earned him third place with 26 laps.

Darren Ford lead off from pole position in the “A” final and continued his fine driving to win with an impressive 32 laps in his Mardave with GT12 drivers David Statham and Bob Harley taking second and third places with 31 and 30 laps respectively.

A good start to the superleague which runs throughout the year on alternate months with drivers best five from a possible six scores to count.

Darren Ford, Lee Bishop and Courtney Orme all scored maximum 41 points in their respective divisions, with David Statham scoring 40 in the GT12 class.