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SuperChamps - Daytona Sandown Park
Round 4 of Superchamps saw the first appearance this season of the GP format, with a second successive appearance of the Alternate Layout. A foggy morning led to an initially damp track that dried quickly throughout the event.
SODI
In the ten-minute qualifying session, current Heavyweight championship leader Reece Harris led the way. He was three-quarters of a second ahead of the leading Lightweight driver, Harry Skinner.
Reece Harris led the first fifteen minutes of the Sprint Race, but as the track dried, he came under increasing pressure from Frederick Burden, who had gotten off to a strong start from fifth on the grid. Unfortunately, Burden then attempted an opportunistic overtake at the end of the straight, spinning Harris and earning himself a three-place deduction. He finally won the race on the track, but the penalty propelled Harry Skinner to the overall victory. Despite the incident, Reece Harris maintained the Heavyweight title.
It was the fastest laps set in the Sprint that set the grid for the 25-minute Feature Race. While only finishing P5 in the Sprint, Jasim Abdulhameed started on pole position alongside Harry Skinner. Despite leading for the opening portion, Abdulhameed didn’t quite have the pace to hold on. Burden made up for his error in the sprint, moving to the front and winning by a comfortable five seconds from Skinner and Abdulhameed. In the Heavyweights, Reece Harris battled with Olly Cooper-Welton in the opening third but made a good escape to secure another maximum points. Sam Roy completed the Heavyweight podium.
DMAX Lightweight
It was a surprise pole position for Amelia Wolf in the DMAX Lightweights, jumping to P1 with her final lap of the session just two tenths clear of Thomas Williams and Archie Bullard.
After keeping the lead through the opening corners, Wolf was involved in an incident with Williams as they battled for the lead, gaining the latter a three-place penalty ABC T/O penalty, and promoting Bullard into the lead. Halfway through the race, it began to drizzle, but Bullard showed some excellent mixed weather driving skills by winning by a comfortable eleven seconds. Luka Nik and Adam Palmer were promoted to the podium, while Williams was dropped to P5.
Having set the fastest lap of the sprint, Bullard then lined up on pole for the feature alongside Wiliams. An incredibly competitive race followed up and down the field, with most of the grid’s best laps separated by less than four tenths of a second. Despite a strong effort by Williams and Nik, Bullard was able to establish a slight lead early on. With improved traffic management, Bullard was able to win by less than three seconds, which would have been less if Williams and Nik hadn't begun battling for P2 on the final lap.
DMAX Heavyweight
Former Lightweight front runner Karlis Elmanis made the switch to Heavies for this round, and his quality showed through, claiming pole position by a convincing half a second ahead of Andreas Demetriades and Mike Bennett.
In the sprint, Elmanis led off the front, but some less-than-ideal traffic allowed Kieran Hyde-Moody to keep him honest in P2. He was the only driver able to stay anywhere near, with current Heavyweight championship leader Tristian Buirski over ten seconds behind Elmanis in P3.
In the feature, Elmanis continued to demonstrate his pace. After dropping to P7 on the opening lap, he made short work of the upper midfield and proceeded to once again disappear off the front, setting lap times that wouldn’t have been out of place in the Lightweight races, winning by just under nine seconds from Andreas. After suffering an incident in the sprint, he made up for it by winning a four-way battle with Mike, Tristan, and Kieran.
Halfway through the championship now, and with good points gained by key contenders, the tops of the standings are really starting to take shape.
SuperChamps - Daytona Milton Keynes
It was a bright and early morning for round four of SuperChamps with the winter sun in full force, meaning tinted visors were on almost every helmet.
SODI
Tudor Geanta set a blisteringly quick lap in qualifying, taking pole position by six tenths over anyone else out on the circuit, with a 1:13.392. Charlie Csepreghi followed in second place, with his brother Jacob just two tenths back in third. In the Heavyweights Charlie Fenton continued from where he left off last week, to take pole just in front of championship rival Barry Morris. Richard Danby, despite being twelfth overall, started third in the Heavyweights.
Charlie Csepreghi put up a strong effort, grabbing the lead early in the race and winning it by fourteen seconds over his brother Jacob, making it a Csepreghi 1-2. Geanta and Freddie Jenkins battled it out every lap till the flag, with Jenkins prevailling by only three tenths of a second above Geanta for the last podium position.
Drama started early in the Heavyweight’s race when Fenton made a late dive into turn ten and sent his championship challenger Morris reeling. As a result, both dropped down the order, and Fenton returned the position to Morris to avoid a penalty. They both maintained their lead for the Heavyweight title despite the contact, however more contact was seen. This time between Fenton and Owen Turpin resulting in the latter getting stuck in a tyre wall. Fenton was given a three-place penalty for this, and the driver retired shortly before the session ended.
This allowed Morris to cruise home to a well-deserved win and extend his championship even further at the top of the order. Chris Whiteman had a fantastic drive through the field after starting right at the back to make his way up into tenth overall and pick up second in class, Danby yet again took third, keeping his podium streak running.
DMAX
Clawing back after a kart issue in the final round, which sent him to the back of the field, James King took pole position in the Lightweight division. Edgar Azevedo started in second, alongside King on the front row of the grid, with current championship leader Ethan Pritchard, just a tenth back in third.
In the Heavyweights, it was yet again Ashley Mayston-King who took the pole by two tenths over Scott Woosey in second, and Myles bate just a little bit further back in third.
King took a clean sweep in the Lightweight division after leading every lap and taking the fastest lap at the end of the race. He also made amends for his bad luck in the previous round by moving past Azevedo in the championship and closing the gap on Pritchard by just four points. Harry Asher scythed his way through the field to take well-earned second place, finishing just three seconds behind King and twenty-eight seconds ahead of Pritchard, who crossed the finish line in third place but was demoted to fourth for excessive use of track limits promoting Azevedo up into the final podium spot.
Mayston-King also took a clean sweep through the race and extended his lead at the front of the championship as he was beginning to look uncatchable at the top of the order. Woosey yet again, had an impressive drive to come home in second despite being spun out by another driver early on in the race. Bate came home to pick up the last trophy of the day in third.
Thursday Night League - Daytona Tamworth
Round 8 of Thursday Night League took place on the evening of Halloween, and it was a spookily clear and cold night. With several new faces and the return of some old ones, the grids lined up on a dark and dry tack.
N35-ST
In qualifying, it was championship leader Sam Chaplin who battled with TNL and Superchamps round winner Jude Lillyman for pole, at one point sharing identical lap times. Lillyman took the spoils by just over a tenth from Chaplin, with third place going to the familiar face of Simon Stansfield, taking part in his first championship event at Tamworth since February.
During the race, Lillyman and Chapman continued to be the class of the field, breaking away early on and never being separated by more than a second throughout the race. They were nose-to-tail for much of the running, with their best laps separated by less than a tenth of a second. In the end, Lillyman just managed to hold off Chapman by seven tenths of a second across the line, the latter doing enough to stay with Lillyman, but never able to get close enough for a move. Simon Stansfield rounded out the podium ahead of championship regulars Nihal Joye and Brent Deeley, but over ten seconds behind the top two.
DMAX-GT
It was a familiar face at the top of the qualifying order, with championship contender Ben Foden making his first appearance since round five. He was a good half a second clear of Stansfield, one of the several drivers doing the N35/DMAX double feature. Tom Duffy was in P3, ahead of Sam Chaplin and Sonny Zacharias.
Lap one started smoothly, before a misjudgement by Zacharias on Stansfield caused a multi-car collision at the near-flat-out on Turn three, bringing out the full course yellow and prompting a re-grid. Zacharias was handed a three-place ABC T/O penalty, which was applied to his grid position, dropping him down the order. The second start was much cleaner, with Foden leading Duffy, who’d got the jump on Zacharias. Duffy did very well to stick with Foden for the majority of the race, but the raw pace and consistency of Foden proved too much, winning by just over five seconds and setting the fastest lap, taking his third win and sixth podium of the season. Stansfield rounded out the podium, a good ten seconds back from Duffy, making it a double podium ahead of a good recovery drive from Zacharias in P4 and Chaplin in P5.
The clocks have gone back, and the drop rounds begin! These last four rounds will be all about delivering solid points, to get rid of the stinkers from earlier in the season. It’ll be fascinating to see how this affects the championship order!
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