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Jamie Chadwick Series - Daytona Sandown Park
The penultimate round of the Jamie Chadwick Series took place on Saturday at Daytona Sandown Park. The weather conditions may have been cold, but the championship fight was red hot with at least one of the championships set to be decided on the day.
4-STROKE
SODI qualifying started the day, and just a hair’s width decided the title of pole position. There was just one thousandth of a second between Keira Boylan and championship leader Lily Jeffs, with Boylan edging the top spot. They were joined in the top three by Alyona Nikoleava, behind by just one tenth.
During a ten-lap contest of the first race, five tenths separated the entire top three. Lilia Scatchard carved through the field in the first few laps to climb into second position, however, the race victory just alluded her as she failed to get past the eventual winner, Nikoleava. The top three was rounded out by the championship leader Lily Jeffs.
A win in the final race meant that Lily Jeffs secured herself a second consecutive Sandown Park round victory as she wrapped up the SODI championship in style. Her pace throughout the second race was very impressive, gaining six seconds to runner-up Nikoleava, though a post-race penalty would mean that Amelia Charlesworth finished in the second and Nikoleava in third. Keira Boylan was able to get herself into fourth position.
At the end of the day, Lily Jeffs took another round victory through her fastest lap only, with Alyona Nikoleava in second. Amelia Charlesworth was just four points back thanks to taking the fastest lap of the round.
DMAX
Amelia Wolf took pole position in a thoroughly entertaining DMAX qualifying session, where the top six were within five tenths of a second of each other. The positions were jostling and changing throughout, but it was Abi Sanders who eventually got second position, with Rhianna Purcocks slotting into third, just two tenths deciding the top three.
Our first DMAX race was an absolute cracker, as the top five chopped and changed throughout the twenty laps that the race ended up running. On circuit, Abi Sanders took an impressive victory after battling with Amelia wolf throughout the first half of the race. However, both drivers received penalties during their battle – with Sanders being demoted out of the top three. In her place, Rhianna Purcocks took victory. There was a good battle behind, as Hope Wood stole second place from Julia Stankowiak in the final corner of the race, finishing just a tenth ahead at the line.
Purcocks won for a second time in the second heat, this time by just three tenths of a second. Regardless of margin, she still secured the sweep of the round – which served as massive progress towards claiming the championship trophy. Stankowiak was second, not quite managing to challenge for the race lead in the closing, stages but still showing very good pace throughout. The top three was completed by Abi Sanders, who demonstrated a very strong recovery after a disappointing end to the first heat.
Reviewing the overall results, Rhianna Purcocks was in command throughout – taking a round sweep with the fastest lap to boot as well. Julia Stankowiak was eight points back in second, but crucially two points ahead of Hope Wood, who’s strong finish in the first heat helped her sneak into the final podium position.
Purcocks now finds herself top of the DMAX standings, ahead of Hope Wood and Amelia Wolf. The final championship race between Purcocks & Wolf will be the decider, with just three points between the two drivers when two drop rounds are considered. That takes place on Saturday 14th December at Daytona Milton Keynes.
SuperChamps - Daytona Milton Keynes
SODI
In the first heat of the day, the heavyweight contenders were right at the top of the field. Charlie Fenton managed to get the best of Barry Morris in second, who finished just a tenth in front of Lightweight championship leader Jacob Csepreghi. He took the win in the Lightweights as he looked to extend his lead at the top of the championship. Liam Weatherall and Abbie Boyd picked up the final spot on the podium within their respective categories, while Zuzanna Michalowska, made her Milton Keynes SuperChamps debut and took second place in the Lightweights.
In the second heat of the day, it was a Csepreghi 1-2 with Charlie just managing to pip his brother Jacob to the heat win by just 1.7 seconds at the flag. Chris Whiteman took third overall and picked up the win in the Heavyweights with Dom Zaremba in second and Morris in third. Owen Turpin took the final spot on the podium in the heat for the Lightweights finishing fourth overall just behind Whiteman.
Three drivers fought for the top position in the final, with Morris and the Csepreghi twins both competing at the top of the order once more. Despite being in the Heavyweight category, Morris was attempting to take the overall race win.
It was Charle Csepreghi that repeated his performance in heat two to take the race win by just a tenth over his brother Jacob, with a drag race to the line. Morris took third overall and the win in the heavyweights, looking to be unstoppable at the top of the championship as he made it four out of five wins this season. Freddie Jenkins took third in the Lightweights and picked up an extra point for the fastest lap as he looked to remain in the championship fight going into the closing stages of the season. Chris Whiteman picked up second place in the Heavyweight category. Just a couple seconds in front of Abbie Boyd who took home a well-deserved third place and her first podium, despite it being only her third round in the championship.
DMAX
Heat one saw Championship contender Edgar Azevedo take the first win of the day as he looked to capitalise on the absence of Championship leader Ethan Pritchard. Lewis Barton came home to take second place with Harry Asher just a little way back in third.
In the Heavyweights it was Myles Bate who took the heat win just six tenths in front of championship leader Ashley Mayston-King, who was looking to close in on his first title after dominating so far this season. Scott Woosey was just a further four seconds back in third.
James King took the second heat win. Making up for his result in the first heat which saw him involved in an incident behind the front trunners. Azevedo yet again managed to pick up some good points for the championship, finishing 4.5 seconds back on King in second. Luca Brooks rounded out the top three.
Mayston-King took the second heat in the Heavyweights, ten seconds in front of his closest rival, Scott Woosey. He took second place by just a tenth over Bates in third.
In the final, Azevedo narrowly beat King to the flag as he secured his best round of the season and with the absence of Pritchard, he jumped from third to first in the championship. King also moved his way up into second place in the championship and took the extra point for fastest lap which proved to be crucial with how tight the battle for the championship is. Asher showed his consistency to pick up yet another podium in the season.
Mayston-King yet again proved unstoppable at the front of the field, taking the race win by fourteen seconds over his closest rival, almost having one hand on the trophy as he took his fourth win of the season. Bate came home to take second place as he brought himself level with Woosey for second in the championship. Seb Goldsmith had an impressive final race to pick up the final spot on the podium.
InKart - Daytona Tamworth
The morning of Round Six of InKart at Daytona Tamworth dawned, grey and drizzly, however the track dried up before any major on-track action. Featuring a substantial single grid of sixteen drivers split evenly between Cadets and Juniors, this round would be the last one before drop scores start becoming a factor.
It was a return to the Cup format for this event, meaning a fifteen-minute practice, which would have no bearing on the rest of the event but would be a good chance for the drivers to get warmed up, before a green flag is waved to commence the vital 5-minute qualifying session. The results from this determine the grid for the 25-minute race, where the points are handed out.
Cadets
Leonardo Palagi, who currently sits P1 in total points scored this season (before dropped rounds), took pole by just eight hundredths of a second ahead of championship contender George Marriott, who is trying to recover after suffering his first non-win of the season last time out. Just over a tenth behind Marriott, Jessica Kirby, who finished on the podium for the first time in the previous event, was a strong P3.
With the top three being as close as they were, it promised an entertaining race, and it certainly delivered! George Marriott stole the lead off Palagi on lap one and held it for much of the race. Despite both Palagi and Kirby being slightly faster than Marriott, neither could really mount a solid attempt for the lead as they were too busy battling with each other. The first of the two big moments of the race was when a race leading Junior (see below) went for an overenthusiastic move on Marriott as he came round to lap the Cadets, dropping Marriott down to P3. However, displaying the same high level of racecraft he’s had all season, it was barely a lap before Marriott found himself back in P1, where he finished the race. In the dying stages of the race, Palagi went for a lunge on Kirby that didn’t quite work, earning him a one-place penalty and dropping him off the podium, promoting winner-from-last-time Henry James up into P3.
Juniors
It was a truly dominant pole position for championship contender Alfie Kells, who was P1 by a scarcely believable 1.1 seconds. What made this even more impressive was the closeness of the rest of the field, with the gap between P1 and P2 the same as between P2 and P7. William Jenkinson and Reuben Potter completed the top three.
Despite pressure in the first few laps, Kells managed to break away from the rest of the Junior pack, displaying the same raw pace he had in qualifying, eventually winning on track by just under thirteen seconds to Potter. However, it was Kells who got involved in the incident with our leading Cadets (see above), so the one-place penalty he acquired dropped him behind Potter. Despite losing the battle for P2, William Jenkinson had P3 locked up, before not slowing down enough for a yellow flag and earning himself a one position penalty, promoting Noah Johnson to the podium.
As we enter the closing stages of the season, both championships are still up for grabs, and any additional points gained via dropped rounds could be the difference between walking away the victor or not. Stay tuned!
InKart - Daytona Milton Keynes
For the first time this season the sun was out for round 5 of the InKart at Daytona Milton Keynes, with the format of the day being the cup format.
It was Brandon Edwards who took an impressive pole position in the Juniors, just a few tenths in front of newcomer Connor Mitchell, who was in second with Matthew Swatton just a further three tenths off in third.
In the Cadets, Gillen Townshend obtained pole position once again, with Charlie Marden starting in an impressive second place, and Arel Kesimgil rounding out the top three just a little bit behind.
In the B Final, Jacob Noble won by four seconds over Holly Garrat, who finished in a well-deserved second place, and was another ten seconds ahead of Nathaniel Garai, who went on to take third place after an excellent defensive drive to hold off Ethan Steng, who finished fourth.
Caden Kavanagh won the Cadets race, just ahead of Amelia-Alice Barreau, who finished on the podium in the B Final. Alicia Waterhouse finished third, marking her first podium of the season.
The first lap of the A Final was chaotic due to a sudden downpour that caused a major pile-up into the second corner of the track because the drivers were unaware of their lack of grip. Edwards, the polesitter, was one of the drivers involved and unfortunately retired from the race as a result of the incident.
The changeable conditions lead to an epic battle for the lead with the drivers having to master the conditions to try and take the race win, but from the back row of the grid it was Zayn Perry who went on a charge through the field to take the victory by ten seconds over the rest of the field
Further back, championship leader Tom Justice was putting up the defence of the season after holding back five different drivers as he looked to stay on the podium. On the final lap, Swatton just managed to make his way past Justice for second place with Justice clinging onto the podium in third.
In the cadets it was yet again Townshend who went on to take the race win as he looked to close in on his first championship. Kesimgil finished just a little way back in second with Marden picking up his first A Final podium of the season after an epic battle with Ryan Cafferkey.
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