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Thursday Night League, Round Eight
Daytona Milton Keynes
A mostly dry Daytona Milton Keynes greeted the Thursday Night League drivers as 22 entrants descended for another round of championship racing, this time on the International layout.
Just as SODI Qualifying got underway, rain began to fall, quickly coating the circuit. In the Lightweights, Adam Pughe set the early pace with a 1:46.653 before the worsening rain allowed Barry Morris to take control of the session, topping the class with a 1:44.154. In the Heavyweights, Michael Bowles secured pole with a 1:45.236. David Rollins followed in 2nd on a 1:45.380, with Ash Chivers completing the top three on a 1:45.547. As green lights illuminated the grid and the main Race began, both categories made a clean getaway. In the Lightweights, Barry Morris led from the start and retained the position at the end of lap one, with Charlie Csepreghi in 2nd and Pughe in 3rd. In the Heavyweights, Rollins led initially from Richard Danby and Chivers. Lap Three saw close battles in the Lightweight midfield, with Larkin and Clarkson exchanging places, as did Smith and Walker-Mitchell. In the Heavyweights, Danby moved into the lead, pushing Rollins down to 2nd. Chivers then grabbed 2nd on lap four as the pair continued to scrap. Despite the rain intensifying, the lap times improved. Morris posted a 1:43.624 before Chivers lowered it again with a 1:42.836. At the flag, Morris took the Lightweight win ahead of Csepreghi and Pughe. In the Heavyweights, Danby claimed victory, Bowles finished 2nd, and Chivers took 3rd.
Rain persisted into the DMAX session. In the Lightweights, Nathan Boyle set the early benchmark with a 1:33.857 before Jacob Csepreghi delivered a 1:32.994 on his final lap to secure pole. Boyle’s 1:33.043 placed him 2nd, with Adam Hawtin taking 3rd on a 1:33.767. In the Heavyweights, Daytona veteran Bobby Trundley took pole with a 1:33.433. Michael Kemsley lined up 2nd on a 1:34.094, and Charlie Newman completed the top three with a 1:37.394. A clean rolling start got the race underway. On Lap One, Dawid Sniezko moved into 4th, pushing Wylie-Mackay down to 5th. In the Heavyweights, all drivers held station during the opening laps. By Lap Five, Csepreghi moved into the overall and Lightweight lead, with Hawtin up to 2nd. Sniezko climbed to 3rd before Wylie-Mackay retook the place on Lap Six after a tight battle. A Turn Nine incident dropped Lightweight driver Johny Frankham from 8th to 11th. Heavyweight driver, Newman suffered a similar issue, losing 3rd place to James Peace after becoming stuck at the same corner. A full-course yellow on the final lap due to an incident at Turn Six locked the order. At the end of the days racing, Csepreghi won the Lightweights, with Hawtin 2nd and Boyle 3rd. In the Heavyweights, Trundley took the win, Kemsley finished 2nd, and Newman completed the podium.
Daytona Tamworth
With the season into its final chapter, we returned to Daytona Tamworth on a cold November night for the Eighth Round of the season.
In the N35-ST classes, Abz Hussain was on pole position in a competitive front row, where it appeared that Charlie Walmsley-Ryde would be his main competition. He sat just three tenths behind Hussain and an incredibly competitive Qualifying time set the stage for some interesting battles in the Race. In the Heavyweights, the battle would surely be between championship rivals Mckenzie Senior and Brandon Gathercole. Heartbreak struck as Hussain could not keep up his Qualifying pace in the Race, and despite being the fastest man on the track over the course of the twenty minutes, he was only able to manage fifth. After 20 minutes of competitive racing, Rory Oldfield-Kelly came out on top after a stunning recovery drive, calmly holding off Walmsley-Ryde who had to settle for second. They were joined on the podium by Adam Brown. The Heavyweights was won by Mckenzie Senior, who was absolutely dominant ahead of Brandon Gathercole and Brent Deeley.
Lucas Gathercole took yet another pole position in the DMAX class, six tenths of a second ahead of Nihal Joye and Will Kenny at the end of ten minutes of Qualifying racing. Luke Mallard topped a very competitive Heavyweight class, where he was joined on the front row by Chris Dane. Into the race, Gathercole went on to dominate, as he has done many times this season. He was seven seconds ahead of Nihal Joye at the end of the race, though it was Joye who took the fastest lap of the race and denied Gathercole the extra point. Jack Davis was third, in his season debut - just five tenths ahead of a charging Will Kenny at the end of the race. Our Heavyweight fight saw Mallard drop to second by three seconds at the end of the race, Chris Dane taking victory. Joe Collier was ahead of his brother, in third, despite a five second time penalty bestowed upon him early on in the race.
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