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SuperChamps - Daytona Milton Keynes
The sixth SuperChamps round took place on a wet day. Rainfall during the night covered the track with a layer of water, making it challenging for the drivers out on circuit.
SODI
Current InKart championship leader Tom Justice managed to transfer his skills over to the SODI SR5 karts, taking pole position for the sprint by 1.024 seconds over Alfie O’brien in the Lightweights. It was Richard Danby who had an impressive performance in qualifying as he picked up third overall and was the highest on the grid in the Heavyweight category. His nearest rival, Charlie Fenton, was a further second off in sixth place overall.
O'Brien used his wet weather skills, which he demonstrated in round three, to win the sprint race and set a record for fastest lap time. This gave him the opportunity to start on pole for the feature race, while Justice finished second after a strong performance, only 2.5 seconds behind him. He ended further twenty seconds ahead of Charlie Fenton, who won the Heavyweights after a lengthy struggle with Danby. Dom Zaremba and Max Lindgren completed their respective class podiums.
O’Brien yet again stormed to the victory in the Feature race finishing twenty-three seconds in front Justice who took second place. However, both drivers received penalties for excessive use of track limits. Justice dropped to second and with multiple infringements from O’Brien, he dropped to third position. With these penalties it meant Freddie Jenkins took the race win as he looked to get back into the fight for the championship round after both Csepreghi brothers struggled to pick up the same points as they usually do.
In the Heavyweights it was yet again Fenton who just held on to take the race victory in front of Danby who took his best result of the season so far. Barry Morris took third place after struggling in the earlier sprints however he was still far out in front in the championship.
DMAX
It was a drying track for qualifying, meaning the drivers were constantly improving out on the circuit as they started to find grip. Ashley Mayston-King took the pole finishing one second in front of his brother James King who was a further 1.3 seconds in front of Luca Brooks in third.
King took the win in the sprint race as he looked to try and make his way up into the lead of the championship with only a handful of rounds left. Karlis Elmanis took second place as well as the fastest lap finishing just 1.7 seconds in front from Mayston-King who took third place overall and the win in the Heavyweight category.
For the feature race the track had begun to dry leading to patchy conditions out on the circuit. For this race it was all about trying to find as much grip as possible.
Ethan Pritchard mastered the conditions taking the race win 2.7 seconds in front of Edgar Azevedo who went on to take second place on track, however two penalties for contact saw him drop back down into fourth position. Luca Brooks as a result, inherited second position with King just four seconds back in third as he tied with Azevedo for the lead of the championship, going into the final three rounds of the season.
Mayston-King took his fifth win of the season as he looked unstoppable at the front of the championship within the Heavyweight category. Taylor Campbell picked up second place which was her best result of the season.
SuperChamps - Daytona Tamworth
With winter finally starting to show itself, the SuperChamps drivers were met with a cold and greasy track for round six of season three at Daytona Tamworth. A return to the D40 format, a favourite for many of the drivers, would see a 10-minute practice session, followed immediately by a one-lap qualifying, before a lengthy forty-minute race. Two large grids lined up for a potentially championship-deciding event.
N35-ST
It was a first pole position of the season for Cordell Hayles in N35 Lightweights. A regular in midweek open sessions, that extra track time deemed to pay dividends as he took P1 by an entire second from stablemate Sinclair Green, with current championship leader Oliver Noakes in P3. In Heavyweights, it was a commanding performance from Chris Cleaver, P3 overall and over a second and a half clear of the next Heavyweight, Josh Wynn. Reigning champion Kristine Kolodziejski lined up P3 in Heavies and P9 overall.
Cordell followed his pole position with arguably the best drive we’ve ever seen from him. Leading from the front, he disappeared into the distance, never looking back. In the opening laps, he was multiple seconds clear of anyone else, and he took the Lightweight victory by just under twenty-three seconds from Leo Jackson and Lucas Gathercole, both of whom kept it clean in a race of attrition. In Heavyweights, Cleaver was the only driver able to come anywhere near Cordell, finishing just six seconds off the overall win and nearly fifty whole seconds clear of Kolodziejski, who was P2 in Heavies. Newcomer to the championship Karol Kaminski was an impressive P3 on debut.
DMAX-GT
Guess who was on pole? Yep, it was Alex Jackson, taking it by a comfortable eight tenths of a second from Luke Dodman. It was very close from P2 downwards, with Neil Hampson just getting the better of Toby Mawdseley on row two. In Heavyweights, the big story was the pre-known absence of championship leader Matt Ellis, which would open the door for a new winner in Heavyweights regardless of the result. Alex Hague was the leading Heavy, with Tom Duffy in P2 and Demetri Wade in P3.
The race saw a stringing out of the pack, with Dodman taking the lead early on from Jackson, those two breaking away at the front of the field, before swapping round as we approached the halfway stage. Joseph Simcock managed to move up from his midfield start, and slowly began to chip away at the gap to the top two. However, there was high drama as a full course yellow period just minutes from the end caused the pack to bunch up, leading to a shootout in the closing laps for the win. Despite his best efforts, including going two-wide through Turn five on the final lap, Dodman didn’t quite have enough to dethrone Jackson, who crossed the line to take not only the win, but a second consecutive DMAX-GT Lightweight title! Huge congratulations to Jackson, and his celebration on the in-lap showed what it meant. Just behind the top two, Simcock was always there-or-thereabouts but couldn’t quite improve on P3. In Heavies, it was Tom Duffy who got the better of Jackson to take his first-ever DMAX Superchamps round win, with another podium finish for Demetri Wade.
One championship decided, 3 to go! With dropped rounds starting next time out, join us on Saturday 7th December for Round 7, when we return to the Heats format!
InKart - Daytona Sandown Park
Dry conditions greeted our drivers for the fifth round of InKart at Daytona Sandown Park, and it was set to be a fantastic morning of racing.
Cadets
In the heats for the cadet category, Sebastian Mejer had a straightforward time progressing into the A-Final. He was a singular point ahead of Amanze Nwosu, who also qualified at the end of the two heats also winning in both of his races. There were some other drivers finishing very well in the early stages. Marcus Cooper and Ed Sibbery – both drivers squeezing through into the A-Final with sixteen points gained from their races.
In the B-Final, series debutant Lily Catingon won dramatically after finishing the first lap in fifth. She slowly climbed to fourth, then cut her way through the podium places to eventually finish one and a half seconds ahead of the pack. Her promotion to the A-Final was secured. As for second and third, Luka Teneishvilli and Milan Pilay both had very strong drives – though did not quite manage to challenge Catingon towards the end of the race.
Keeping up her fantastic progress, Catingon managed to take a podium position in the A-Final as well, an incredible performance from the debutant. As for the win, there was a cracking scrap between Marcus Cooper and Sebastian Mejer, two drivers who did well in their respective heats. Now duelling in the A-final, Cooper was able to take victory but by just one tenth of a second. He made a wonderful overtake on lap eight, and managed to hold on to victory in the closing stages.
Juniors
Our junior heats were very close, with fastest lap being all that separated the pole sitter from his partner on the front row of the grid. Jamie Warner started on pole, however, as he took nineteen points from his two heats, Felix Sheldon-Heywood also managed to gain nineteen throughout his morning of racing. Similar to the cadets, it was close further behind, as it was all down to tenth position were within a couple of points of each other. Plenty of other drivers had to rely on their fastest lap for their spaces in either the A or B Final.
In the B-Final, Maximillian Walton won in a relatively straightforward manner. Despite only being six tenths of a second ahead at the line, and not fastest on track, he completed a light to flag victory in a cool style. Sarah Telford was not quite able to get herself into the promotion spot, narrowly missing out despite an impressive defensive drive to stay ahead of Zoe Cattett and Tara Herm, two drivers that finished just over a second back from the leading pair.
Heading through the A-Final, Walton was not as fortunate as the drivers at the very front of the field due to their incredible pace. At the top, it was another lights to flag for Jamie Warner, though he similarly was only nine tenths of a second in the lead. Second-place starter Felix Sheldon-Heywood managed to finish in the runner-up spot, with the two of them lapping rapidly that they gained nine whole seconds on third place, which was occupied by Daniel Harman, thanks to some good defending in an intense scrap with Ethan Critchley.
At the end of the fifth round of InKart, both of our championships are wide open – with one of them being separated by literally nothing at the very top of the order. We look forward to welcoming all our drivers back soon to continue the championship hunt.
Thursday Night League - Daytona Milton Keynes
It was a very chilly day for round nine of Thursday Night League with temperatures reaching below zero degrees, meaning drivers needed to make sure they had some warm gloves going into the round.
SODI
The cold weather didn’t deter the dominant Barry Morris who picked up yet another pole position, setting the fastest lap by over four tenths to David Rollins who he started alongside on the front row of the grid. Richard Danby was just eight thousandths of a second behind in third place.
In the race it was no different, with Morris yet again dominating the race, finishing 11.8 at the front of the field. He picked up his sixth win of the season and fourth in a row as he had now one hand on the trophy. Danby and Rollins had a thrilling battle with the pair finishing just three tenths at the flag, but it was Danby that took the spoils as he extended his gap in second place to ten points over Rollins.
DMAX
James King took pole position by an impressive three tenths over Jamie Tiley-Gooden as he looked to finally take his first win in the season. The previous seasons champion still struggles to pick up a race win despite finishing on the podium four times with his lowest position so far being fifth place. In third it was Nathan Boyle who looked to make his way into the top three within the championship.
King held his lead into the first corner despite coming under significant pressure from Tiley-Gooden. He picked up his first win of the season finishing 7.5 seconds in front of Tiley-Gooden who secured second place and kept his gap of forty-four points at the lead of the championship. Lee Schnitzler took the final spot on the podium after managing to get past Boyle in the earlier stages of the race.
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