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Milton Keynes
SuperChamps
SODI
Heat 1: The day kicked off with a spectacle of close-quarter racing with the top 4 drivers being covered by just 1.6 seconds. The drivers pushed each other to the limit, with Daniel Varlan emerging victorious by a razor-thin margin of just 0.08 seconds over Luca Brooks. Justin Elliott claimed the 3rd position, closely followed by Harry Asher in 4th.
Heat 2: The second heat was even closer with the top 4 being covered by less than a second. Luca Brooks initially secured the win on the track but incurred a penalty, promoting Harry Asher to the top spot. Daniel Varlan secured yet another strong finish in 3rd, while Justin Elliott maintained his position in 4th.
Finals: Daniel Varlan started from pole after showing great consistency over the heats. Alongside him, Luca Brooks prepared to challenge fiercely from 2nd on the grid, with Harry Asher and Justin Elliott poised for battle just behind on the second row of the grid. Harry Asher got a sluggish start and drop to 4th, leaving him on the back foot as he tried to secure yet another race win. Daniel Varlan and Luca Brooks were locked in a thrilling battle for most of the race as Varlan tried to keep Brooks from taking the lead. With 8 minutes to go Brooks managed to seize the lead, gradually extending his advantage to a commanding 3-second gap and manage to hold on to take the race win. Meanwhile, Asher staged a remarkable comeback, narrowly missing out on 2nd place to Varlan in a heart-stopping drag race to the finish line. Justin Elliott, although relatively quiet throughout the final, showcased his prowess to secure the 4th position overall, claiming the Heavyweight victory, while Dylan Jenkins trailed closely behind to clinch 2nd.
DMAX
Heat 1: In the opening heat, Ashley Mayston-King displayed his determination, clinching victory as he aimed to surpass his previous 2nd place finish. Aiden Miller secured 2nd place, just two-tenths ahead of Sebastian Musicka in 3rd.
Heat 2: In the second heat, Justin Elliott demonstrated his prowess once again, claiming first place and aiming to replicate his earlier success in the SODI races. Championship contender Lee Witney closely followed in 2nd place, maintaining his pursuit of the title. Scott Woosey secured 3rd position, establishing a significant advantage over the battling pack behind.
Final: Ashley Mayston-King got away well from pole as he looked to try and take his first win in a final. There was massive battle behind off the start as everyone looked to try make up places in the early stages of the race.
There was drama as rain suddenly fell on the track causing all the drivers to lose grip and many to go wide and lose positions as a result, Harry Thrower fell foul to the sudden change in the conditions as he understeered of the track and ended up spinning on the grass, dropping him to the back of the field. The rain would clear up very quickly allowing the drivers to slowly build up their speed again. Ashley Mayston-King would survive the conditions and the pressure from behind to take his first race win in a final by 5 seconds, Aiden Miller took his best result of the season in 2nd place, Lee Witney took 3rd place and extend his Championship lead going into the final round.
DMAX Lightweight
Heat 1: The first heat of the day would see a thrilling battle between all the drivers with each of them being in the lead at a point in the race. After the dust settled it was Phillip Baboolal who took the win from championship leader James Bettison in 2nd and Lewis Barton in 3rd.
Heat 2: Heat 2 would be a little tamer at the front with Ethan Pritchard taking the win by 2.5 seconds as he looked to close the gap in the championship. James King would take 2nd place a further 7 seconds in front of the pack behind. James Bettison took 3rd after a monumental battle between 4 drivers as they were covered by just 6 tenths of a second as they crossed the line.
Final: It was all about the battle between the top two in the championship of Ethan Pritchard and James Bettison in the final, who were looking to pick up as many points going into the final round of the season. Pritchard ultimately took the race win by just 3 tenths over Bettison however, Bettison would take the fastest lap of the race gaining him an extra point in the championship with the battle going down to the wire. A little bit of a lonely race for Phillip Baboolal as he took 3rd, a further 5 seconds in front of James King who had a further 8 seconds in front of the karts behind.
InKart
It was a very bright day for the penultimate round of the Inkart championship as all the drivers would look to pick up as many points as they could before the final round. An absence from the championship for this round would be current cadet championship leader Jacob Kent who missed a round due to other racing commitments.
Heat 1: The first victory of the day in the juniors would go to Tyler Rickard who showed impressive pace and some great defensive driving to hold of Zayn Perry and a fast-charging Charley Murray. In the cadets, Dexter Hazeldine would take the win over a race long battle with Gillen Townshend, the two being separated by only 3 tenths across the line. Last round’s A final winner Seth Sydney held off Leo Sibthorpe to take 3rd place.
Heat 2: Heat 2 would yet again see a familiar winner in Blake Southan who was looking to continue his form after wrapping up the Junior Sprint League title earlier in the day. Lewis Bowey showed some very impressive pace to take 2nd place, 4 seconds ahead of Brandon Edwards in third. In the cadet class Alexander Karadzhov took the race victory over George Taylor who finished 7 seconds behind. Jacob Noble would finish in a lonely 3rd place as he had a significant gap to the karts behind.
Heat 3: The third heat of the day would finish with a drag race to the line with Zayn Perry managing to pip Tudor Geanta to the win by just four hundredths of a second. Tyler Rickard picked up a 2nd podium of the day as he looked to secure himself in the A Final. The Cadet race wasn’t quite as close as Gillen Townshend picked up the win, 10 seconds ahead of his closest competitor Seth Sydney in 2nd place, Charlie Marden showed some impressive consistency to finish in 3rd.
Heat 4: Arthur Caluch took the win in heat 4 by just four tenths of a second over Brandon Edwards. However, Edwards dropped down to 3rd as contact earlier in the race saw him given a penalty. Blake Southan made his way through the field and inherited 2nd place due to Edwards' penalty. Alexander Karadzhov yet again took the race win in a dominant finish as he looked to pickup as many points in the championship as he could over the absent Jacob Kent. Jacob Noble finished one better than in heat 2 to finish in 2nd place with George Taylor only two tenths back in 3rd.
B Final:
The B Final saw Charley Murray and Liam Weatherall leave the other competitors behind and battle for the race win in the juniors. Murray would take the spoils over Weatherall by just over two tenths of a second and picking up maximum points in the B final.
Micheal Oxtoby-Page showed great consistency to finish 3rd, 10 seconds in front of Jaden Dodoo-Ankrah in 4th, Abbie Boyd finished in 5th place after some unlucky contact with a cadet driver saw her spin round. Harry Ward and Harvey Preen finished 6th and 7th respectively to round out the juniors.
In the cadets it would be a first ever final win for Charlie Marden who at only 8 years old is one to watch for the future as he improves with every round. Ryan Cafferkey would show some great defensive driving to hold off Leo Sibthorpe to take 2nd place. Jack Bailey and Amelia-Alice Barreau would finish 4th and 5th and round out the cadet B final.
A Final:
It was a thrilling battle for the lead between the two championship rivals of Blake Southan and Zayn Perry with each driver pushing each other to the limit and setting some blisteringly quick lap times, however disaster would strike for Perry as contact with a cadet driver saw him spun round and fall 8 seconds back to Southan.
Southan took yet another race win and have one hand on the championship going into the final round. Despite the spin Perry would finish in 2nd place and take the fastest lap of the race, earning him an extra point towards his championship fight. Brandon Edwards just managed to hold off Lewis Bowey by just a tenth of a second to take 3rd place. Tudor Geanta finished not too far behind the two in 5th with Arthur Caluch in 6th. Tyler Rickard sadly retired from the race due to heavy contact with another driver, fingers crossed for the youngster who showed some exceptional pace throughout the day.
Alexander Karadzhov as he had done all day would dominate the A final in the cadets taking the race win and fastest lap taking the maximum 61 points for the round, closing the gap in the championship to just 3 points and really capitalizing over Jacob Kent who missed the round. Gillen Townshend would finish in 2nd place and also pick up points and close the gap making it a three-way fight for the championship going into the final round of the season. Dexter Hazeldine would finish in 3rd place in front of Jacob Noble who had an impressive drive. George Taylor and Seth Sydney would round out the grid in 5th and 6th.
Junior Sprint League
The sun was beaming down on the drivers for the penultimate round of the Junior Sprint League championship.
All eyes were on Blake Southan, poised to potentially clinch the championship with a strong showing. There would be a notable absence of the Csepreghi twins, who would miss the round due to prior racing commitments.
The stage was set as Southan seized pole position over the grid with a staggering lead of over a second from his closest rival, Cooper West.
Behind them Jos Bardell lurked just three tenths adrift in 3rd, promising a fiercely contested race. As the lights went out, Southan stormed off the line, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. Behind him a ferocious battle ensued among Cooper West, Max Lindgren, Jos Bardell, and Arthur Caluch, each vying for the remaining spots on the podium, swapping positions with every twist and turn of the track.
It was a champion's drive for Blake Southan who dominated the race, finishing in a different postcode somewhat half a minute in front of his next competitor, a truly fitting way to sum up what has been a dominant championship charge in which he won all but one round up until this point.
Meanwhile, the dust settled on the skirmish for the remaining podium places, with Caluch emerging victorious despite a last-corner lunge from Bardell. Cooper West and Max Lindgren fought valiantly but settled for 4th and 5th, respectively, while Owen Turpin rounded out the top 6.
Thursday Night League
SODI
It was a very wet race for round 6 of Thursday Night League at Daytona Milton Keynes after a thunderstorm earlier in the day left the track soaked. but who would bring the thunder and lightning and take the coveted race win.
Qualifying was full of yellow flags as drivers tried to adjust to the very wet conditions out on track, this led to ever improving lap times as drivers adapted to the conditions.
Championship leader Charlie Sheldrake would have the pole for most of qualifying, but Richard Danby would jump him after setting a blisteringly quick lap time, 6 tenths in front of Sheldrake. Ash Chivers would finish in 3rd, a second off the pole.
It was Danby who would get off the line well and would lead the opening lap from Sheldrake, the grid would manage to survive all of 5 corners until a few spins at the front of the pack left drivers dodging the spun drivers.
Championship regular Michael Bowles would have a spin on the 2nd lap and drop all the way down to 18th place denting his fight to climb up the points standings.
At the halfway point Sheldrake would manage to make a brilliant overtake onto Danby to scythe his way into the lead to try and maximise his points yet again.
The race would end up coming right down to the wire as Sheldrake was held up by some backmarkers cutting his lead to just a few tenths but would manage to hold on and take the race win and the fastest lap, giving him the full 26 points and extending his championship advantage. Danby would finish in 2nd place after a valiant drive just 3 tenths back from the win. Ash Chivers would round off the podium in 3rd. Oscar Furby who was 2nd place in the championship would have a disastrous round as a penalty for going too quickly under yellow flags would leave him outside of the points.
DMAX
It was just as treacherous in DMAX Thursday Night League as the more powerful engines made it even more difficult to control in the wet weather.
Daytona veteran Barry Morris used all his experience to take the pole from newcomer to the championship Archie Snell who took 2nd despite a spin earlier on. James King would take 3rd place in qualifying as he looked to extend his gap in 2nd place and try and catch championship leader Lee Schnitzler.
Archie Snell would take the lead off the start as an impressive move on the wet line allowed to him to go round the outside of Morris at the first corner. It was chaos further back as drivers were still struggling to the very tricky track conditions.
Morris was pushing hard to try and take back the race lead, setting the fastest lap of the race by 5 tenths on just the 2nd lap. However, maybe he was pushing too hard as a mistake left him in a puddle and dropping to 4th place.
He managed to make his way back past Schnitzler at turn 9 and would get James King a lap later after King spun at turn 10 whilst trying to defend his position.
With all the battling behind Snell had manage to build up a comfortable lead, however this would be cut into after he was held up by a lapped kart and would be left to only a few tenths as Sam Berry stopped on the back straight bringing out a full course situation, allowing some of the drivers to close right up to the back of him.
After a few laps the incident was cleared and we could get back to green flag running for the last two laps of the race, Morris was determined to take back what he lost at the opening corner and was right on the back of Snell going onto the final lap. However, there would be a cruel twist of fate as an incident on the final lap between Morris and King saw both drivers drop out of the podium places.
This incident would allow Snell to breeze to the line and take the win, 3 seconds in front of Schnitzler and Paul Studd who had inherited the podium positions. Morris would manage to hold onto 4th position with King in 5th and Ashley Mayston-King in 6th leaving the top 6 covered by just 7 seconds at the end.
Tamworth
SuperChamps
It was another sunny spring day for the penultimate round of the first Superchamps season of 2024 at Daytona Tamworth, with both championships still well and truly up for grabs at this stage of the season.
N-35 ST
For some reason, the grid was probably the fastest it had ever been in the previous round of the season, with the lap record being very nearly breached by multiple drivers throughout. This time around, there was a very similar story – and qualifying was incredibly close. Baxter Rawlings ended up going to the top of the session ahead of James Holliday, by just about four tenths of a second. They were joined in the top three by Neil Hampson, who wasn’t quite able to breach the 1:02 barrier but still showed some promising pace. As for the heavyweights, it could promise to be a championship crowning day for Jacob Connellan – who started the day with a wonderful lap going fifth overall.
Heading into the first race, Baxter Rawlings lost the lead into the first corner – and Neil Hampson did not look back, despite being under pressure for the entire race, barely taking a racing line that wasn’t defensive, Neil was able to scrape victory by nine hundredths of a second. He was followed by Baxter Rawlings and James Holliday, all three of them being within one hundredth of a second of each other on their average lap times throughout the race, a remarkably close result. In terms of the heavyweights, Jacob Connellan took another dominant victory but this time his main competitor, Xiaofeng Yang, was only two overall places behind.
With such a competitive grid, the final was set to be amazing – and it delivered some of the best racing of the year so far. Baxter Rawlings, Neil Hampson, Ned Morris, and James Holliday all going four wide for the lead at one point in the race. The racing was made even more intense because of a one place advantage by contact penalty given to Neil Hampson for an ABC against James at turn 4. At the end of the race, Baxter Rawlings took a hard-fought victory ahead of Neil by just six tenths of a second (though demoted a place to third) – Ned Morris finishing third on track but second in the results. Jacob Connellan wrapped up the championship mathematically with a victory ahead of Xiaofeng Yang – topping of a remarkable season in the heavyweight class.
DMAX-GT
Despite being wet in the early stages of the session, qualifying soon dried up and it created another very close affair. Jack Middleton ended up on lightweight pole by just two hundredths ahead of championship leader Ben Smiles, with Tom Duffy sitting in third – still only a tenth off the pace. It was very close back to fifth, with Josh Gora and Benjamin Tomkinson-Gray both only two tenths off the pace. As for the heavyweights, Richard Lavender started his day of strongly by getting pole, ahead of the very quick Darren Holliday. Greg Chapman made up the rest of the top three, setting up a very interesting round for the heavyweight class.
The sprint race saw Josh Gora take a dominant victory by four and a half seconds ahead of Ben Smiles and Jack Middleton. The three of them were briefly in a battle with the likes of Benjamin Tomkinson-Gray and Richard Lavender, with a very close battle for a significant portion of the race. In terms of the heavyweights, there was a great drive and victory for Richard – who was within the overall top five. He was able to get the batter of Darren Holliday by about a second, with Greg Chapman finishing third in class – ninth overall.
There was another huge battle for the lead in the final race of the day, with much of the same protagonists as before. This time, there was incredible misfortune for Benjamin Tomkinson-Gray who suffered an unlucky mechanical failure whilst battling for second. In the end, there was a cracking fight at the very end of the race – a turn 12 dive being enough for Josh Gora to sneak victory by four tenths of a second. The entire top four were only separated by six, with Ben Smiles and Jack Middleton rounding off the podium. Darren Holliday won in the heavyweights, a classy drive to take a win. Second and third were Greg Chapman and Stuart Corr, gaining a few points on Richard Lavender who unfortunately had to retire from the race.
Thursday Night League
Intermittent spells of rain meant it was set to be a very challenging round of Thursday Night League at Daytona Tamworth, with two very healthy grids set to take to the track over the course of the evening.
N-35 ST
Qualifying for the N-35 ST race saw a blisteringly quick lap from Blake Southan, who’s 1:23.249 was enough to go nine tenths of a second faster than his main championship rival, and current Superchamps champion, Jacob Connellan. Thierry Hopkins wasn’t quite on the pace of the top two, but this was understandable considering the amount of traffic on the circuit, but he was able to squeeze into the top three, just two tenths of a second faster than the very speedy Benjamin Tomkinson-Gray.
Heading into the race, Blake Southan held the lead at the very start – but frustratingly could not quite build a gap to a charging Jacob Connellan. Jacob put the race leader under immense pressure for the first few laps, eventually taking advantage of back marker traffic to send one down the inside of Blake – a very brave move that gained him the lead of the race. From this point, Jacob spent the whole race trying to defend from Blake – eventually taking victory by just four tenths of a second. The two of them were really quick, gaining a sizable gap to the next kart. Thierry Hopkins – who finished third on the road. He had a nice battle with Benjamin Tomkinson-Gray, though went deep on the brakes into turn seven and made contact with Ben, putting Ben down the order and giving Thierry a one-place penalty. This meant that Alex Rakowski took the final spot on the podium.
DMAX-GT
For the DMAX race, the track was starting to dry up a little bit – but there was still enough water to make it extremely tricky. Setting a great lap towards the end of the session, Abi Sanders put it on pole with a 1:19.296 – about three tenths of a second faster than Max Housley. The gap to Richard Lavender in third was only about nine tenths of a second, which is remarkable considering the amount of traffic (17 karts on the circuit) and the difficulty of the conditions out on the track.
The race saw a dominant performance from Abi Sanders, who ended up winning by just under thirteen seconds ahead of Max Housley. Max would have felt that he had a good chance of battling with Abi (his best lap only being about six tenths off) but he fell behind Richard Lavender in the early stages. Richard proved very difficult to overtake, but was eventually overtaken by Max – who couldn’t quite close the gap to Abi. Richard then turned his attention to putting up staunch resistance against Josh Gora, who put a lot of pressure on him in the second half. Richard got it slightly wrong into turn three with just five laps to go, spinning around and unfortunately knocking himself out of contention. This promoted Josh onto the final podium spot, a really patient drive to secure his trophy.
It was overall another really exciting night of racing at Thursday Night League, and all drivers will be excited to return on the 11th of April for the next round.
Sandown Park
SuperChamps
DMAX Heat 1
Heat 1 got underway with Archie Bullard leading from the front. Our championship leader took matters in his own hands in this heat and led every single lap of the race all while having an immense battle with Luka Nic. These two drivers really showed their class as they pulled away from the rest of the field. They were bumper to bumper or side by side around every single corner of the track for every single lap of the race. Their battle towards the end did let 3rd placed driver George Lawlor catch up but ultimately it was not enough, the heat ended with Archie winning, Luka in 2nd and George in 3rd. A word needs to be given to William Tidnam, a heavy class driver but finishing 4th on track surrounded by lightweight drivers.
DMAX Heat 2
Heat 2 got underway but an incident in turn 1 led to a red flag being waved. Mark Hensler had an unfortunate accident as the drivers bunched up going into the first turn causing the red flag to come out. This led to a slightly mixed up grid as we got going again and Mark was given the all clear by the first aid trained staff on site. Once we got back underway It was Antionio Sholin who impressed at the front, having a very similar race to Archie in the heat before he led from the front and did not look back taking victory after 12 laps. Keo Derrick gave a very impressive drive from 2nd place holding off Archie Bullard for every single lap until the final lap of the race where archie made his move to claim 2nd position. Keo came home in 3rd. 4th place again went to William Tidnam who was on fire this weekend and not letting any of the light drivers have an easy time of it.
DMAX Final
The Dmax final got underway, it was another masterclass from our top 2 drivers Luka Nic and Archie Bullard, pulling away from the rest of the field once again. However, 3rd placed driver Max Sheldon Heywood knew if he stayed in striking distance than there was a good chance that he could capitalize on the battle in front. This came to fruition on lap 14 where he pounced on Luka who I don’t think was expecting it and took 2nd and looked to close up on Archie in the lead. The final few laps were a joy to watch from race control as these drivers looked joined at the hip going through every corner side by side. On the last lap on the final corner after Max had taken the lead from Alfie, Alfie decided to make a huge lunch into the final corner, unfortunately pushing max very wide. This gave the opportunity for Luka to swoop by in a “their goes Hamilton” moment as he took the victory across the line. Archie ultimately gaining a 1 place penalty for the move. The final podium was Luka Nic in p1, Max Sheldon Heywood in p2 and Archie Bullard in p3.
William Tidnam won the heavy class rounding off a perfect weekend for him winning both heats and the final. Olly Cooper Welton cam home in 2nd after an impressive showing and Justin Hammond rounding off the podium for the heavy class.
SODI Heat 1
Heat 1 got underway in our Sodi class with Jack Redfern putting on a show for the spectators leading every lap and pulling away from the pack eventually finishing 8 seconds clear of the rest of the field. Alfie Shrubb and Freddie Funnell in 2nd and 3rd had a immense battle from start to finish, swapping positions throughout the race but it was Archie the came out on top taking 2nd only 3 tenths clear of Freddie in 3rd.
SODI Heat 2
Our second heat saw a similar layout to our first but this time is was Matthew Turner taking advantage of being at the front of the field as he led every single lap however it was a little less straight forward for him as he had a very fast Freddie Funnel sitting behind him for the whole race. The two drivers were going round in tandem but the defensive positioning of Matthew saw him threw in the end to take the win. Freddie came home in 2nd and Jack Redfern took 3rd. A impressive drive from jack considering he started 7th and managed o cut his way through the field.
SODI Final
In he final Matthew Turner was on pole, Alfie Shrubb in 2nd and Jack Redfern in 3rd. As the lights turned to green Matthew got a good start and held off an early move from Alfie but by lap 3 Aflie took another chance and this time made it stick, claiming the lead of the race. The top 3 drivers were once again joined at the hip for the whole race with 4th placed Freddie Funnel also getting involved from time to time. 2nd and 3r changed positions throughout the race and this let Alfie focus on what was in front and not behind. Alfie took the flag after 18 laps of racing. Matthew Turner kept 2nd place after a great battle with Jack and that’s how the top 3 finished. Freddie lost out to a very fast Fin Ions over the last few laps with Fin finishing tantalisingly close to the podium.
Thursday Night League
We welcomed drivers to a ever changing track condition for round 6 of our Thursday Night League here at Daytona Sandown Park.
DMAX
As drivers got underway they quickly found out that the track wasn’t as dry as it looked as drivers modified their styles to the conditions. One of the drivers that adapted very quickly was Archie Bullard as he started to pull away from the rest of the field on average half a second a lap quicker than the next fastest driver. Charlie Foster our second placed driver also adapted well pulling away from 3rd place but not being able to catch Archie had a bit of a lonely race. That was up until lap 14. On the back straight he unfortunately had a mechanical failure with his battery, quick thinking by our marshals got him going him going again quickly but he had dropped down to 7th place by the time he was green flag racing again. Ian Del Pizzo had a good race from 5th making his way through the field slowly but surely taking 4th on lap 12 and securing a podium positions on lap 14 after being later on the brakes into turn 6. It finished With Archie winning and clear of the rest of the field by 23 seconds, Simonas Punter finished 2nd after starting 4th on the grid and our final podium place went to Ian Del Pizzo.
SODI
Round 6 got underway with Jules Larking taking command of the race early on. He was the fastest driver to adapt to the tricky conditions here at Sandown and led every single lap from start to finish taking a commanding victory in superb fashion. Similar can be said of our second placed driver Daniel Fazzone who started and stayed in 2nd for every single lap of the race tucked in behind Jules but just not being able to make a impression on our leader eventually finishing 4 seconds behind Jules. Our 3rd placed driver was Daytona regular Luka Nic who again kept his position from start to finish and finishing another 1.5 seconds behind Daniel in 2nd.
Photos:
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