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Thursday Night League - Round Two
Daytona Milton Keynes
Round Two of the Thursday Night League championship saw 30 drivers in the Sodi SR5 category and a full grid of 24 DMAX drivers all battling it out around the Cliff Drop and Bus Stop variation of the Daytona Milton Keynes Circuit.
SODI
In the Lightweights, Adam Pughe took pole position from current reigning champion Barry Morris who chased, just two-tenths behind in second. In third, a further few hundredths behind, was Richard Danby who took pole in the Heavyweight category by six-tenths over Ash Chivers with Ben Swabey just two-thousandths behind in third.
In the race Charlie Csepreghi managed to charge his way from fourth on the grid to the race victory, narrowly managing to edge out Adam Pugh by just two-tenths of a second - the two formidable racers in a postcode of their own, with the next driver a further 12 seconds behind. Jacob Csepreghi, despite finishing fourth overall, took the final spot on the Lightweight podium by just four-tenths over Morris.
Danby impressed in the race, driving to take the victory in the Heavyweights as well as third place overall. While Chivers narrowly managed to get the better of Swabey for second place with the two separated by just a couple tenths.
DMAX
Adam Hawtin took pole position by just a couple of tenths over James King with Dom Balasaitis a further few tenths behind in third.
Danby was looking to take his second win of the day, starting where he left off in the SODI battles and picking up pole position by a margin of six-tenths over his closest rivals - Robert Banister in second and Harry Mason in third.
Despite Hawtin leading the early stages of the race, it was King who just about managed to get the race win after a close battle between himself and Balasaitis, who finished just a couple tenths behind in second with Hawtin taking the final step of the podium in third.
Danby dominated in the Heavyweights, taking fourth place overall and the race win by 20 seconds over Banister who came home in second place with Mason rounding out the podium.
Daytona Sandown Park
Thursday Night League at Sandown Park returned to our Grand Prix layout for the first time in Season Two. The drivers were fired up and ready to expand on their championship hopes in Round Two.
SODI
Indy Welch took pole position on the Sodi grid by a marginal 0.029 ahead of Peter Tilev in second. Reece Harris took third as the fastest from the Heavyweight class.
Welch got away well at the front of the field to lead the pack at the end of lap one. He was followed by the big battle of a whopping nine karts, stretching from Ryan Bentley in second all the way down to Alfie Pettengell in ninth. Due to a full course yellow this battle would still be going strong at the halfway point in the race, with Bentley making a decisive move down the inside at turn six to reclaim P2 where he would stay. Both Welch and Bentley pulled away to create their own respective gaps over one another and the field in chase to solidify their positions. After 23 laps of thrilling racing, Welch crossed the line to claim victory, with Bentley taking second just under five seconds behind. Peter Tilev narrowly beat Reece Harris to the final overall podium spot, with Harris taking the win in the Heavyweight class. The minimum weight requirements added some post-race drama. Both our race winner, Welch and third place driver Tilev came in underweight and lost their spots. This promoted Bentley to the win and Theo Wadsworth up into second. Last seasons runner up Vivek Bhalla rounded out the Lightweight podium. James Krestovnikoff managed to fly under the radar to finish second in the Heavyweights with Nikolaos Ochtaras rounding out the podium.
DMAX
In the DMAX class, Alfie Shrubb took pole position, beating Ellis Mckenzie by just over a tenth. Ian Del-Pizzo lined up third with Oscar Homerstone rounding out the second row. Warran Gomm was our highest place Heavyweight driver in P12 with Eyston Vaughan-Huxley and Zack Llewellyn-Morris not far behind.
The race was full of drama yet rather uneventful. Mckenzie would took the lead early on where he managed to stay. Shrubb was left to fight with Del-Pizzo over second place, a battle which would come down to the wire. Front-runner, Homerstone picked up a three place post race penalty after contact with Fredrick Burden on lap five, which saw his good finish of fourth turned into a P7. Hope Wood, Jaden Girard-Shepherd and Konstantin Abakumov also found themselves picking up penalties for various cases of contact across the race. Despite all of the drama behind, it was Ellis Mckenzie who took the win ahead of Ian Del-Pizzo who narrowly beat Alfie Shrubb by half a second. Eyston Vaughan-Huxley narrowly took the win in the Heavyweights, beating rival Warren Gomm by just three-tenths. Finally, with Zack Llewellyn-Morris rounding out the podium in third.
The second round of the Thursday Night League's second season saw yet another night full of drama and excitement. Drivers in all classes put on a show and making their personal statements for their championship fight. The drivers will return for Round Three on our Alternate Layout, on the 4th of September.
Daytona Tamworth
We returned to Tamworth for the second round of Thursday Night League where strong race conditions and a north-westerly wind saw a busy track of formidable drivers take to the stage and do battle in another evening of championship karting.
N35-ST
Qualifying was really close overall in N35-ST class, seeing Kyle Turner take the Lightweight and overall pole position just 0.079 ahead of Brandon Gathercole, who led the Heavyweights moving into the final Sprint Race.
In the main event, Gathercole took the lead in the early stages and never looked back, taking victory both in the Heavyweight class and the overall race runnings, with a 7 second gap ahead of his closest class competitor as well as a fastest lap half a second clear of anybody else. Mckenzie Senior took a strong P2 finish in Heavies, with Jordan Schofield finishing in P3. Turner came home to win the Lights class with P2 overall, however, not without fierce challenge from Dylan Morrall, who finished less than a second behind Turner at the flag - their race long battle capturing much of the attention from the spectators present. This is not to discredit the efforts of Charlie Walmsley-Ryde who came home with a strong P3 in the Lightweights, making a statement on track we excitedly wait to see continued in the latter rounds of the season.
DMAX
In DMAX, Lucas Gathercole took a dominant pole position, half a second clear of the rest of the field. Joe Collier took pole position in Heavies (fourth overall), just a few tenths off the Lightweights ahead of him, no mean feat and not often seen in races at this level.
Much like his brother in N35-ST Heavies, Gathercole led from lights to flag, going on to dominate the Lightweights. Following five seconds behind, Sinclair Greene in P2 and Jayden Giles in P3. Collier maintained his Heavy pole to win by 7 seconds with Will Kenny and Sonny Zacharias closing in to take P2 and P3. Collier showing some outstanding pace managing to get involved in the Lightweight battle for the overall top three positions.
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