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Tamworth
SuperChamps
For round three of the season, we introduced a new format of Superchamps at Daytona Tamworth – with both N35 and DMAX drivers expecting to take part in a battle of solo endurance, a forty minute ‘D40’ race.
N-35 ST
One-shot qualifying proved to be exciting in the N35 class, with heavyweight driver Kristine Kolodziejski taking pole position by a tenth of a second to Zak Bolton. Both of their mid 62 second lap times are particularly impressive considering the one-shot nature. Jessica Swannell made up the rest of the top three, with Jacob Connellan starting in fourth in his bid to make it eleven straight sweeps in the heavyweight class.
Plenty of battles took place throughout the course of the forty-minute contest, however none of them were at the very front of the field. Zak Bolton took a stunning victory of about ten seconds to Nikodem Benonski – who made a fantastic charge through the field to make his way into second spot. A penalty was given to Tom Justice, demoting him down a position – promoting Keelan Arnold into third. As for the heavyweights, Jacob Connellan was dramatically overtaken on the final corner of the final lap by Kristene, bringing his unprecedented streak of sweeps to an abrupt end. He still carries the championship lead, so will not feel too disheartened. They were joined on the podium by Jacob’s long-time rival Xiaofeng Yang, who has shown a lot of improvement in recent months – running within the top five at stages in the race.
DMAX-GT
In DMAX-GT qualifying, Jacob Holley strung together a really strong lap to put it on pole position by a commanding five tenths of a second. He was ahead of Alex Jackson, who’s front row start made him hopeful of gaining the championship lead after this round. They were joined in the top three by Season 2 N-35 Lightweight champion Neil Hampson. As for the heavyweights, Kristene put it on pole in an effort to try and pull of a very impressive feat of endurance, doing both of the races. She was ahead of William Hitchcock, her only rival in the heavyweight class.
Jacob Holley dominated the race, completing his first ever Superchamps Grand Slam, a wonderful result for a driver certainly on the rise. His fourteen second victory was not straightforward, as he has to negotiate a restart in the early stages due to a red flag on the second lap. He was ahead of Alex Jackson, who did enough to take the championship lead. There was drama in the battle for third, as Neil Hampson fell victim to a dramatic late Richard Lavender overtake, Richard sealing third. The heavyweight battle saw Kristene dominate, being involved in an intense scrap with Dhena Rohan, Thomas James, and Jack Middleton. She was comfortably ahead of William Hitchcock, who did well to keep a consistent pace throughout the race.
We return to something more familiar in a few weeks time, as the drivers get ready to take on the cup race format once again.
InKart
We returned to familiar territory for round three of Inkart at Daytona Tamworth, with the heats format coming back, for the first time this season in pleasant and dry conditions.
The first heat started with a three-way battle for the lead involving Harry Fitch, Rhys Kings, and Theo Laverty. Harry was able to get himself into the lead of the race on circuit, but was demoted at the line due to a bump-and-pass penalty, giving Theo Laverty the win. Rhys Kings was very close himself, but ended up having to settle for third – still a pretty good result in his quest for A-Final qualification. In the cadet field, Henry Gordon took a dominant victory of about ten seconds ahead of Jayden Steatham. Ethan Guest drove strongly, but was only capable of third, he would hope that better things would come in the later heats.
Next out was the second heat, and Zachary Smith showed why he is the reigning cadet champion through a victory of about eighteen seconds to Cordell Potter-Hayles in second. An interesting battle unfolded behind between Kodi Francis-Brown and Seb Thompson, with Kodi eventually taking the final podium spot. It all unfolded in the cadets, however, where Jack Charles-Bailey and Joseph Smith had a very intense battle. They swapped position numerous times throughout, Joseph eventually getting the better of a drag race to the line.
Harry Fitch made up for his penalty in the previous heat, winning by six tenths of a second to Reuben Potter. Reuben proved he had some impressive pace in the heat, having to do a bit of a defensive job against Edgar Azevedo – who finished in third. There was a totally different story in the cadet race, where Ethan Guest climbed back up to the top step, winning by eleven seconds ahead of Harry Kennedy. Even though this result was by no means bad, Henry Gordon was slightly frustrated to finish in third as it meant he would have to rely on his fastest lap to ensure A-Final qualification.
Our final heat of the day saw another dominant drive from Zachary Smith, who managed to get into the 62 second laptimes, a really impressive feat for a Junior kart. He was ahead of Seb Thompson, who was also having a pretty decent round, being of about equal distance to Zachary ahead as he was to the very quick Cordell Potter-Hayles behind. Consistency was key for Jack Charles-Bailey in the cadets, who’s second runner-up finish of the day meant he would be making an appearance in the A-Final. This time, however, he was runner-up to a recovering George Marriot, who showed pretty good pace throughout.
A lot of drivers would consider themselves unlucky to be in the B-Final, considering the strength of the field at this round, but those who did get in made it a very entertaining race. Reuben Potter was the dominant force, winning by seventeen seconds ahead of Joshua Lewis, with Sebastian Simmonds-Vaughan having a really good scrap with Joshua – being only about three tenths of a second behind at the line. All cadet drivers were right together in the race, battling for pretty much every single lap of the thirteen that they completed. Jayden Steatham eventually got the best of them however, being joined on the podium by Harry Kennedy and Joseph Smith.
We saw a new lap record in the A-Final, set by Zachary Smith. His 62.622 would be considered competitive in the faster N-35 class, but it was set in a Junior and was set on his way to a twenty-one second victory ahead of Edgar Azevedo. Edgar had a really tough time battling Theo Laverty and Harry Fitch, but picked his moments perfectly to get the second spot, even if he did only finish a few hundredths of a second ahead of Theo. Ethan Guest was able to win the cadet race, doing a fantastic job after his earlier setbacks. Unsurprisingly, his runner-up was the very talented Henry Gordon, the two of them battling for much of the race. They were joined on the podium by George Marriot, who just about got ahead of Jack Charles-Bailey.
The end of the A-Final meant that another successful round of Inkart was in the books, and we look forward to welcoming all drivers back in a couple of week’s time for the next round of this exciting season.
Sandown Park
InKart
Junior A final
As the drivers got ready to start their Cup race for round 3 of Junior InKart here at Daytona Motorsport the sun was shining down on the start finish straight. The drivers were put into their grid spots and it was Jamie Warner who had qualified on pole and was ready to set the grid off.
As the lights went out Jamie got a great start and fired down into turn one not letting anyone up his inside. After this Jamie put his head down and started putting in the impressive lap times, he was on average about 3 tenths quicker every lap than the pack behind him and soon drove off into the distance leading every lap to take victory 25 mins later. Another quick mention on Jamie he stayed on after InKart had finished and broke the lap record for may in our SODI Karts, a very impressive day out for the young driver. P2 cam in the form of Ellis Mckenzie who had a great race himself, Ellis was 4th on lap 1 but slowly made his way through the field taking 3rd by lap 3 and 2nd by lap 9 after a lovely move on the brakes down into turn 6. Ellis then put his foot down and gained a 4 second lead over 3rd place when he crossed the line to finish. P3 was in the hands of Max Miller. Max started p2 but dropped down to p4 in the opening stages of the race and stayed there for over half of the race just biding his time. As we approached the end of the race he made his move with 3 laps to go and again a move late on the brakes and up the inside put Max back up into the podium places as he crossed the line. P4 went to Leo Edger and your top 5 was rounded out by Leo Ingarfield.
Junior B final
The Junior B final got underway and it was Aleksander Kozuch that laid down the marker early after qualifying in pole position. He was not finished there though as after lights out he showed what he could do and started to pull away from the rest of the field. He did not look back either and by the end of the 25 minutes of racing he was well over 10 seconds clear of the rest of the field and took victory in great style. 2nd place went to William Bradbery who had a great race with 3rd placed Ethan Critchley. These two drivers were bumper to bumper or side by side the entire race but some great defending by William and great kart placement meant that there was no way for Ethan to pass and that’s how the top 3 finished. P4 went to Kaiden Mercer and our top 5 was rounded out by Jack Edger.
Cadet A final
The Cadet A final got underway, little did the spectators know that this race was going to be very tight and fun race. The top 3 of 1st place Adam Telford, 2nd place Sebastian Mejer and 3rd placed Felix Heywood as we got underway pulled away from the rest of the field very quickly as they showed their dominance in the Cadet class. Adam and Sebastian battling constantly as 3rd placed Felix just bided his time in 3rd. this went on for every single lap of the race until the closing moments where Felix decided it was time to try and make a move after studying the lines of the 2 drivers in front for the whole race. On the last lap Felix made his move and was later on the brakes than Adam after taking notes all race and slipped up the inside to take 2nd place. Your top 3 finished Sebastian p1, Felix Heywood p2 and Adam Telford in p3.
Cadet B final
The B final got underway and it was Ted Heywood that was making the impressions early in the race. He started in p4 but was making up positions very quickly, Ted made a great move for p3 on lap 4 and 4 laps later he dispatched p2 with a lovely late move on the brakes to get him past. On lap 10 he made his move for the lead with another daring move on the brakes showing how much control he has over his kart to not spin in these heavy braking zones. As soon as he took p1 he was away and dint look back taking the win 10 laps later. P2 went to Max Walton, max was in p2 for the opening stages of the race and had some great battles out on track and he actually crossed the line in p4 but due to penalties from the drivers in front got promoted to a strong finish of p2. P3 went to Sean Whelan, Sean was leading for the first part of the race but slipped down to p3 on lap 10 after loosing out in a battle. On lap 19 though he made his move for 2nd place with a daring move however by the time he got to the line it was a p3 finish for Sean.
Photos:
For all Daytona Championship photos and more, please click here.