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Sandown Park
Jamie Chadwick Series: FIRST ROUND!
The sun was out as we welcomed 32 SODI drivers and 16 DMAX drivers down to Daytona Sandown Park on a glorious morning to start our new Jamie Chadwick women only series. As the drivers arrived they were weighed in for their specific class and then greeted by our marketing team for their professional head shots. There was a sense of anticipation in the air as the drivers checked out their competition before heading into the briefing.
As the sun heated up the track the SODI drivers took to their karts and got ready for their qualifying session. After 10 minutes out on track the drivers were learning as they go to try and put down their fastest lap time possible, by the end of the session Lucie Shuckford claimed pole position, Lily Jeffs in second and Emily Lloyd rounded up the top 3. From 4th place we had Chloe Mcnally, 5th went to Keira Boylan, 6th Emma Rabbage, 7th Mia Caruso, 8th Ella Wroe, 9th Nina Ferreira and 10th Alyona Nikolaeva. All drivers were very closely matched however with only 6 tenths separating the top 10.
As we got into the Sprint Race, Lucie Shuckford led us off the line and did not look back as her and Lily Jeffs stormed away from the rest of the field building up a couple of second gap very quickly. These two drivers were putting on a show for the audience in attendance as they were bumper to bumper round every corner every lap of the race. Lucie led up until lap 10 (the penultimate lap) and that’s when Lily made her move she dove up the inside and took the lead in a great move under the brakes. She led for the rest of that lap and the last lap to take the flag by lap 11 and claimed the first victory of the day for the SODI. 3rd placed driver Chloe Mcnally had a lonely race as she started 3rd and kept 3rd for the whole race. Ella Wroe came home in 4th another 2 seconds off Ella and our top 5 was rounded up by Emma Rabbage.
Our feature race kicked off with Lily Jeffs leading from the front with Chloe Mcnally very close behind as these two drivers had been getting to know their driving styles very well thanks to the close battles they had been having. Lily led for most of the opening laps until lap 6. Chloe made her move on the brakes and took Lily up the inside with a brave move on the brakes. It was short lived though as only 2 laps later Lily took the lead back off Chloe showing her attacking skills behind the wheel, until 1 lap later where Chloe took the lead again showing the wonderful battle and respect that these two drivers were showing each other as they battled around Daytona Sandown Park. The drama was not over though as on the last lap of the race Lily made her final move taking the lead with only a few corners left to go and taking the flag with an almighty win, Chloe raced her heart out and we got the impression in the pit lane that that battle could of gone either way. Lucie Shuckford came home in 3rd after having a great race herself starting in p5 and battling though the field to take the final podium spot. 4th place went to Ella Wroe once again showing her speed to stay in the top 5 for two races in a row and finally our top 5 was rounded out by Nina Ferreira.
DMAX
As we got into the Dmax qualifying there was a tense atmosphere in the air as the drivers turned their switch on in their head that turns them into racing drivers. As they headed out onto a sun soaked track the times started to tumble down as the drivers got used to a lovely dry track ( a rarity over the last few months). After the 10 mins was up Amelia Rizvi was the one showing the other drivers how its done setting down a pole position lap time of 45.728 seconds, Rhianna Purcocks claimed the 2nd spot on the grid and finally Daytona regular Hope Wood claimed 3rd.
From 4th place we had Abi Sanders, 5th Raj Kular, 6th Abigale White, 7th Julia Stankowiak, 8th Kristine Kolodziejski, 9th Chloe Day and 10th Scarlet Hallett.
Amelia Rizvi led from the front in our DMAX fleet and never looked back setting some very impressive lap times right from the off. The lap times she was putting down would be competitive in our elite SuperChamps championship to tell you how fast she was driving. It was no surprise then that she led every lap and took victory 8.5 seconds clear of the rest of the field in a dominate display. Rhianna Purcocks came home in second after starting p3. She kept p3 for most of the race until lap 9 where she decided she would be later on the brakes than Daytona regular Hope Wood and take 2nd position. Hope kept 3rd for the rest of the race and rounded off our podium. 4th place went to Abi Sanders who had a bit more of a lonely race starting 4th and staying in that position every lap until the flag and finally 5th place went to Abigale White who started 6th made up a position early and then kept 5th for the rest of the race.
Our feature race was once again dominated by Amelia leading from the front and not looking back once again finishing the race nearly 5 seconds clear of the rest of the field. 2nd place went again to Rhianna Purcocks who had a lonely race in 2nd not changing position for the whole race but finishing a satisfying second. Hope Wood took the final spot on the podium for the end of day celebrations as she showed her consistency not letting anyone behind her near her rear bumper but not quite fast enough to close the gap to 2nd place Rhianna. Abi Sanders took 4th only a couple of seconds behind Hope and just 1 second ahead of 5th place Abigale White.
What an absolutely amazing day here at Daytona Sandown Park to kick off the Jamie Chadwick Series and we hope to see you all for round two at Milton Keynes.
Thursday Night League
We welcomed drivers to round 7. As qualifying finished Archie Bullard lined up in pole position as Karlis Elmanis lined up with him on the second row, Charlie Foster joined them in 3rd to round out our top 3.
As we got underway, the lights turned green Karlis lost a place to Daytona regular Luka Nic who stormed up into 3rd place. Archie and Charlie took off out in front Archie keeping first with Charlie promoting himself to second. Charlie and Luka having a amazing battle behind always separated by under half a second as both these drivers know Sandown Park like their back of their racing gloves so no inch was given. By the end of the race they were 2.5 seconds behind Archie in first who was having a lonely race out in front. By the time the top 3 crossed the line Archie took the victory with Charlie coming home in second only 1 tenth ahead of Luka, an enthralling battle for the spectators watching on from the decking. Karlis came home in 4th after not letting any other places fall through his fingers 4 seconds off the leader and 2 seconds behind Luka.
SODI
The SODI Qualifying grew to a close it was Rafael Blanco-Bush that claimed pole position with Ayan Roy hot on his heels in second, a impressive drive from the young driver. P3 went to Matthew Frost, 4th Luka Nic who was competing in both DMAX and SODI this evening the top 5 was rounded out by Julia Stankowiak.
As the race got underway Rafael did not look back and started to pull away from the rest of the field, he started putting time between the battles going on behind and finished the race after a very fast and mature drive to claim victory in round 7 TNL. 2nd place went to his friend and fellow racer Luka Nic. A shout out must be given to Luka after getting onto the podium for both SODI and DMAX in the same night. It was not straight forward for Luka as he started p4 climbed to p3 on lap 6 then claimed p2 with only 3 laps to go. 3rd place went to Matthew Frost finishing 7.3 seconds off the lead. He had his issues in the race though at one point dropping down to p7 on lap 6 but flighting his way back through to claim p3 on the final lap of the race.
Tamworth
Thursday Night League
The seventh round of the first season of Thursday Night League at Daytona Tamworth took place on the nicest day of the year so far, with two big grids of DMAX and N-35 karts set to take to the track.
N-35 ST
Qualifying for the N-35 race was close, but there was an interesting dynamic between Jacob Connellan in first and Blake Southan in second, who found themselves battling on track during the session, meaning that whilst their lap times were very close together - it was very tricky for either of them to go particularly quickly. In the end, Jacob put it on pole but only by a tenth of a second to Blake. The third-placed runner was Thierry Hopkins, trying to build a little bit of momentum to make his championship hopes a little bit stronger. Craig Nash and Tim Avery were not a million miles away, two drivers in contention for the podium no doubt heading into the race.
The race started perfectly for Jacob, who was able to capitalise on a battle between Thierry and Blake to build a little bit of a gap to the karts behind. This was a gap that was enough for him to continually build on throughout the race, setting a very impressive 1:02.4 on his way to a one and a half second victory. Blake Southan was the next driver, trying all he could to catch up to Jacob throughout the twenty minutes, but not quite able to catch up to the charging race leader by the end of the race. They were joined on the podium not by third placed Thierry Hopkins, but by Tim Avery due to a penalty gained by Thierry for a bump and pass in the early stages of the race. Tim was only a tenth of a second off getting him on track, so was never far off in any case.
DMAX-GT
Traffic was by far the largest factor in the DMAX-GT qualifying, with a huge train covering about nine karts making getting a clear lap incredibly difficult. Mark Rollinson took what therefore may be classed as a surprise pole position, going two tenths of a second faster than the championship contending Josh Gora. Abi Sanders made up the rest of a very competitive top three, going only two hundredths slower than Josh.
Into the race, Mark proved that there was no fluke in his qualifying pace, and took his first win of the season in fine style, but was under immense pressure all race long from Josh Gora. In the end, Josh was just three tenths of a second down on the race leader, the two of them having a fantastic scrap all race long. The final driver on the podium was Abi Sanders, who herself is in the championship hunt and would absolutely take a haul of fifteen points at this stage in the season.
Photos:
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