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InKart - Round Six
Daytona Milton Keynes
Juniors
The Juniors kicked off another exciting round of InKart with the heats as followes: In Heat One Rayaan Malik began the day with a commanding win, finishing 1.6 seconds ahead of Arel Kesimgil. Jacob Noble took third, just six tenths further back. In Heat Two, returning champion Tom Justice took victory by 1.2 seconds from Nathaniel Garai, with Connor Mitchell completing the top three, ten seconds off the lead. In Heat Three, Jacob Kent claimed the win in front of Noble, who secured another podium and locked in his A Final spot. Michael Oxtoby-Page crossed the line third, 7.8 seconds behind. The final Junior Heat allowed Malik to take his second heat win of the day in a close battle, edging out Justice by three tenths. Charlie Wiltshire finished third, narrowly holding off Garai by half a second. The Junior B Final featured a thrilling battle between Mitchell and Oxtoby-Page. A late move from Mitchell saw him lose the back end slightly, allowing Oxtoby-Page to take the win. Mitchell was just a second behind, with Shuban Sellaturay in third, 9.6 seconds further back. While the Junior A Final delivered one of the best races in InKart history, with the entire field fighting for the lead at various stages. Rayaan Malik completed a perfect day with a composed win under immense pressure from the pack. Noble finished second after a late move on Justice, who held on for third by just two tenths from Garai. Kesimgil, Wiltshire, Fleming, and Oxtoby-Page followed closely, all within a second of the podium.
Cadets
In Heat One, Ryan Cafferkey dominated, finishing five seconds ahead of Charlie Marden. Joshua Pink came home in third. In Heat Two, Gillen Townshend took a narrow win over Leo Sibthorpe, with just three tenths separating them at the flag. Teddy Mullan finished third, 13 seconds back. In Heat Three Kimi Densham delivered a commanding performance, winning by six seconds. Marden and Mullan were split by just a tenth in the battle for second. In the final Heat, Townshend claimed another victory, this time ahead of Lily Catignon and Sibthorpe, who completed the podium. Mullan was in a class of his own within the B Final, taking the win by five seconds. Logan Farmborough impressed with a strong drive to second, while Amelia-Alice Barreau fought back from early contact to finish third. While the Cadet A Final was a tense, high-level scrap with all drivers in the mix. Townshend produced a superb defensive drive to take victory, with the top five separated by less than a second. Sibthorpe claimed second, Marden third, and Cafferkey, Mullan, Densham, and Catignon followed closely behind.
Daytona Sandown Park
Juniors
The Juniors delivered exciting action across all four heats as drivers got up to speed. Heat One was won on track by Leger Dimitrou, who crossed the line just 0.007 seconds ahead. However, Andrew Thomson was awarded the win after Dimitrou received a post-race penalty. Abhay Parmar finished third, only two tenths back. Jason Bond and Luka Teneishvili fought hard over eighth place for most of the race, finishing less than a tenth apart.
Heat Two saw a dominant drive from Felix Sheldon Heywood, who won by just under nine seconds. Adam Telford also pulled clear of the chasing pack, beating Leo Betts to second by a massive thirteen seconds. Meanwhile, George Pitch, Oliver Whitaker, Ben Porter and Tyler Orridge staged an epic four-way battle over fourth place, finishing just 1.1 seconds apart.
Daniel Harman took victory in Heat Three by just under five seconds. He was joined on the podium by Heywood and Telford in second and third respectively, though post-race penalties saw their positions reversed. Orridge completed the top four.
In Heat Four, Dimitrou claimed his second on-track win of the day, edging out Parmar by two tenths. Thomson secured third to complete a strong haul of points in the heats. Orridge, Bond and Pitch battled hard over eighth place, finishing with under a second between them.
The B Final was dominated by Harrison McNally, who opened a nine-second gap early on and cruised to victory. Teneishvili held off Tara Herm for second, the pair separated by just three tenths at the flag. McNally advanced to the A Final as a result.
The A Final was the standout race of the day, with Heywood capping off his excellent form by winning by a commanding 9.3 seconds. Harman followed him home in second, completing a consistent day, while Telford rounded out the podium.
Cadets
The Cadets were just as dramatic as the Juniors. Lucio Vaval took a narrow win in Heat One, holding off Sebastian Mejer by four tenths. Max Haywood snatched third place, finishing just two tenths behind Mejer.
Heat Two saw a victory for Edward Siberry, followed by Senna Khosrowpanah and Amanze Nwosu in second and third respectively. The trio were fairly spread out due to interference from faster-lapping Junior traffic.
Nwosu backed up his earlier result with a win in Heat Three, crossing the line one second ahead. Siberry narrowly beat a hard-charging Mejer for second, the pair separated by just under a second.
Ted Hayward dominated Heat Four to win by nine seconds. He was joined on the podium by McNally and Vaval, who finished just a tenth apart in a close fight for second and third.
The B Final brought more drama. Arno Nurijanyan and Oscar Bradley battled for the win, with Nurijanyan crossing the line half a second ahead. However, a small coming together with five laps to go resulted in a post-race penalty, handing the win – and A Final qualification – to Bradley. Ethan Davis completed the podium in third.
The A Final was filled with action. Khosrowpanah emerged victorious, with Mejer just one second behind in second place. Nwosu narrowly missed out on the runner-up spot, finishing two tenths behind Mejer in third.
Daytona Tamworth
Juniors
In the B Final, James Stevenson put on a storming drive in the B Final after a difficult qualifying left him starting second-to-last. With the A Final in his sights, he had to find a way past a resilient Jayden Steatham. Despite numerous attempts, Steatham defended flawlessly—until the final corner of the race. While lapping a Cadet, Steatham was caught out by a late-breaking move, spinning him around and handing the win to Stevenson. Steatham recovered for second, while debutant Seamus Soon impressed with a strong third-place finish. Three title contenders dominated the Junior A Final: Noah Johnson, Reuben Potter, and Harry Kennedy. Kennedy looked to challenge Johnson early on, but the decisive factor became lapped traffic, something we've seen often since the introduction of the Cup format. Potter handled it best, pulling out a three-second lead to take the win. Behind him, Kennedy held off Johnson in a tight scrap for second place.
Cadets
George Marriot was the class of the Cadet B Final. Unlucky to be there in the first place, after qualifying with the exact same time as Logan Thacker, he made amends with a dominant performance to earn a deserved place in the A Final. Roshan Bachada took a brilliant second place in only his second round of InKart, showing major improvement. Cristiano Guedes was classified third following a penalty for Logan Staunton. Jack Dowding was in a league of his own during the extended Cadet A Final, pulling clear of Freya Lally with consistent pace and race craft. Joseph Thomlinson, fresh from graduating Daytona Tamworth’s Race School, impressed everyone on debut by finishing third and showing great composure in his first competitive outing.
Thursday Night League - Round Six
Daytona Milton Keynes
SODI
In qualifying, Barry Morris took yet another Pole Position as he looked to tighten his grip at the top of the championship. Starting from second place was George Benson, who was just five hundredths off Morris’s pole time, with Adam Pughe a couple of tenths back in third. In the Heavyweights, David Rollins secured Pole Position by five tenths over Ash Chivers in second place, with Agastya Lahkar a further couple of tenths back in third. In the Race, Morris delivered a lights-to-flag victory, taking the win and Fastest Lap, finishing 3.2 seconds ahead of Pughe, who managed to make his way past Benson. Charlie Csepreghi claimed the final spot on the podium as Benson slipped to fourth. There was an exceptionally close battle between Rollins and Chivers for the Race win, with the two separated by just two tenths at the line. Ultimately, Rollins once again prevailed, taking the win and the Fastest Lap, with Chivers settling for second. Richard Danby worked his way through the field to pick up the final podium spot.
DMAX
James King claimed yet another Pole Position by just a tenth of a second as he shared the front row of the grid with his brother, Ashley Mayston-King, who delivered an exceptional lap to start second and take Pole Position in the Heavyweights. Championship leader Nathan Boyle started third on the grid, with Dawid Sniezko in fourth. In the Race, it was once again domination from King, who secured the victory by ten seconds and set the Fastest Lap, making it five out of five perfect rounds. However, with ten rounds completed and only four drop rounds allowed, it may still not be enough to dethrone Boyle at the top come the end of the season. Boyle initially finished second on track, but a penalty for a start infringement saw him drop down to fifth place. Lee Schnitzler inherited second, and after a last lap move on Sniezko, Adam Hawtin claimed the final podium place. Mayston-King also dominated the Heavyweights and achieved an exceptionally impressive third place overall. Paul Studd narrowly edged out Charlie Newman for the final podium spot, with the two separated by just five tenths.
Daytona Sandown Park
The Thursday Night League at Sandown Park returned to the Grand Prix layout for Round Ten, with both our SODI and DMAX drivers looking to secure vital points in their respective championships.
SODI
In the SODIs, it was Ayan Roy who narrowly took Pole Position, beating Zack Gut by just 0.019 seconds, with Vivek Bhalla only 0.024 behind and settling for third on the grid. Roy made a strong start, pulling a decent gap early on. Gut struggled off the line, briefly dropping to fourth place, but quickly recovered to retake P2 on Lap One. Gut initially found himself under pressure from Bhalla, the pair battling closely for several laps. However, Gut eventually managed to pull away and open up a small but crucial gap. Ayan Roy crossed the line in first, with Zack Gut second, but both were disqualified post-Race for failing to meet the weight requirement. This promoted Vivek Bhalla, who had originally crossed the line in third, to the win. Harry Pickles was elevated to second, and Alfie Penengell rounded out the podium in third. Bhalla also claimed the Fastest Lap.
DMAX
In DMAX qualifying, Charlie Foster set the pace with the Fastest Lap, narrowly beating Ellis McKenzie, who had to settle for second just 0.032 seconds adrift. Thomas Williams and Jack Redfern completed Row Two, only 0.051 and 0.096 off Pole respectively. Foster didn’t get away cleanly, getting swamped by front-runners through Turn One on the opening lap. Although he managed to retain the lead, both Adam Palmer and Oscar Homerstone were caught out, with the pair ending up facing the wrong way. McKenzie, Callum Bendelow, and Alfie Shrubb battled hard for second place through much of the Race before the charging Williams, who had dropped back early on, came through the pack. Foster crossed the line to take victory, six seconds clear of the field. Williams claimed second in the closing laps, narrowly beating third-placed McKenzie by just four tenths at the line. Callum Bendelow edged out Jack Redfern for fourth, the pair separated by just two tenths. In the Heavyweight class, Warren Gomm took a commanding win by ten seconds, rounding off an almost perfect round. He was joined on the podium by Eyston Vaughan-Huxley and Kyle Jackson. Fastest Laps went to Jack Redfern in the Lightweights and Warren Gomm in the Heavyweights.
Looking Ahead
Round Ten was one to remember. The Thursday Night League returns to Sandown Park in three weeks for Round Eleven, as we switch to the Alternate layout.
Daytona Tamworth
We are heading into the business end of the Thursday Night League season at Daytona Tamworth; Round Ten promised excitement and certainly delivered.
N35-ST
David Sumner, competing in the Heavyweight class, took overall victory by one and a half seconds ahead of Lightweight winner Louis Roberts. Despite leading every single lap, it was far from an easy run for Sumner, who had to defend on several occasions during the twenty-minute contest. Roberts, meanwhile, was locked in a tight battle for the Lightweight win, with Joseph Smith gradually closing in to make it a fierce contest, just three tenths separated them at the line. They were joined on the podium by Fin Imber, who drove a consistent race to secure third. In the remaining Heavyweight standings, James Estrop made a strong case for championship contention by beating Brandon Gathercole to second place by nine seconds.
DMAX-GT
‘Interesting’ is perhaps the best word to describe the DMAX action, where Lucas Gathercole claimed both overall and Lightweight victory by nine seconds, also securing the Fastest Lap of the Race. Post-Race penalties shuffled the order behind, but Ky Storor kept his nose clean and finished second in the Lightweights – fifth overall. He was joined on the podium by Cordell Hayles, who continues to impress since stepping up to DMAX karts a few months ago. In the Heavyweight race, Joe Collier was handed a penalty which cost him victory, handing the win to Aaron Short, both drivers chasing their first win of the season. Luke Mallard completed the podium in third, having kept his race clean and consistent.
Looking Ahead
Both championships have been blown wide open, and we look forward to welcoming drivers back on 29th May for the next thrilling round of this enthralling Thursday Night League season.
Photos:
For all Daytona Championship photos and more, please click here.