August 2nd 2009 Round 7 FEKC Club Championship
The August meeting saw the welcome commission of full electric supply for the Barton Stacey site, along with the opening of a new clubhouse, signing on, Clerks Office and changing area and yet we were expecting the on track action to overshadow off track advancements.
Minimax had Piers Hickin pole, with Tyler Weedon alongside and Tonykart shod Matt Duffett sitting on third, Hickin got a good start and looked to move clear, Duffett followed Hickin through and by turn 1 had pushed Weedon down to third. For the first half of the race Duffett looked for every opportunity to squeeze past Hickin at Midgetts and Haynes loop, both youngsters posted near identical times, however toward the end of the race Hickin eked away a small lead to take the chequered flag from Duffett. Behind the battling front pair Weedon found himself coming under pressure from Kieron Gifford, who with a day to forget had started at the back of the grid, yet managed to close on Weedon and get through with three laps to go to take third place and consolation of fastest lap.
In Senior TKM all three heats had been a battle royal between Dan Bushell and George Lovell with Lovell taking two wins and Bushell the other, yet nothing more than a kart length ever separated the pair, with Jonny Goddard pushing them both hard to provide some great racing. Lovell sat on pole, Bushell alongside with Goddard in third, Lovell perfect start into Haynes Loop in first with Bushell and Goddard tucking in behind. For first 5 laps Lovell from Bushell and Goddard just dropping back slightly, lap 6 Lovell failed to come out of Whingers which looked to play completely into Bushell’s hands, Goddard behind spurred on and equalled Bushell’s pace and bettered in the final few laps, on the line Bushell took well deserved win from Goddard and Martin Kirby taking third place. Lovell had consolation of fastest lap albeit only 1/100th second quicker than Bushell and Goddard showing how close TKM racing remains on pace.
For Formula Blue Robin Brotherwood looked to be heading for the win until a faulty plug connection intervened allowing Ron Shone to take the lead and hold it all the way to the line to take first place in what could nearly be a Masters, Masters class ? Well done Ron!
Cadet Libre grid had David Wright’s WTP on pole with Matteo Zanneti’s Comer alongside, with the Comers of Jordan Richards and Sam Stansbury behind. Zanetti got the better start tucking inside Wrights WTP for the first corner, behind Richards was the loser in the first corner and found himself pushed wide with many karts recovering. This gave Wright and Zanetti the chance to pull clear pushing each other all the way to the line exchanging the lead on no fewer than ten occasions, on the line Zanetti held off Wright by 1/10th second. Behind the front pair the Honda shod drivers were looking strong, Championship leader Jason Duffett tangling with a Comer put paid to his chances of a podium on the day, Bradwyn Jones secured third on track and first Honda home with a lonely race by pulling away from the field behind.Harry Sturt, starting on row 7 moved through the field to eventually come across the finish line in fourth place with some solid overtaking to manage second Honda behind Jones, just behind Sturt a spirited drive from Marcus Boyd from ninth to fifth to take second WTP. Sam Stansbury managed second Comer with some technical problems and did well to hold sixth place on track from the closing Honda of Yukinori Ishii and Max Bird’s Comer
Junior Max grid continues to swell and today Jack Mayle sat on pole with some solid drives throughout the day, Zak Price alongside, Price got the better start and never looked back with fastest laps by a fraction, secured top spot on the podium. Charlie Turner who had started on row two slotted into second early in the race and looked to be closing on Price, with a few laps to go Price just seemed to ease away slightly to see Turner take second place home from third placed man Jack Drinkall, polesitter Mayle alongside Drinkall on the finishing line fourth. Top five finishers were separated on lap times by 1/10th second to show how close the class is and a difficult ace to predict who will win!
The combined Rotax 177 and 177 Masters had Paul Warrener on pole take a lights to flag victory never looking challenged for the race duration to secure a fine win. Charlie Watson on second was caught napping at the start when another “Master” of Kieron Woolgar followed Warrener through leaving Watson out wide for the first corner, Woolgar took first Masters with Watson in second. Chris Hartridge after an earlier race exclusion from first place due to some “Carlos Fandango” wheel widths started in last place, yet each lap managed to edge his way through to secure second place 177 from Gareth Hardy in third.
An appeal delayed the start of Rotax, under way first corner scuffle saw a few front runners having to try recovery drives to make up, poleman Barry Thomsit had all the action behind which allowed him to pull clear and pull away from the field, Scott Smart starting second was coming under pressure from Jonathan Drabble by mid point, behind Michael Parsons seemed the only driver to equal Thomsit’s pace managed to pass Martin Collins just as a bad accident saw Gemma Batstone thrown into the barriers at pit corner rendering the race declared at lap 9. This left the order as Thomsit, Smart, Drabble from Parsons and Gemma was fit enough to watch the last races of the day in what looked to be a serious accident, thankfully proving to be not the case.
The visiting Europa grid saw poleman Philip Stone drive away from his fellow drivers to take first place!
Last race of the day Devil Take the Hindmost, and was well placed for Adam Worley and Jordan Richards who had a final that did not reflect their skill or pace on the day, Worley early on got into the lead and never looked catchable. Richards had pulled through to second and just seemed to drop back in the latter stages, by which time David Wright’s Arrow had caught him up, however Worleys lead at this stage was unassailable and the youngster took a well deserved first win in an event that the cadets all try extra hard to win.