Race Reports

Daytona Championships (14th-20th) June

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Thursday Night League – The Final

After another huge season of racing across all three venues, we look back at the highlights and cover the explosive final races at Birmingham, Milton Keynes and Surrey. In a season where new faces have burst into the spotlight and returning favourites have climbed the ranks, one thing remains the same: great driving, come rain or shine.

Daytona Milton Keynes

SODI Lightweights

In a competitive season the SODI Lightweight class has been particularly captivating. Leading into the Final Round, four drivers are in contention to win it. Barry Morris appears to be the favourite after taking the most rounds, however, the points difference around the podium is minimal. Challenging Morris to the top spot is Adam Pughe and the Csepreghi brothers, Jacob and Charlie, who occupy P2-4 in the Championship standings respectively.

In the final, Adam Pughe claimed pole position in the Lightweights as he aimed to snatch second place in the championship from Charlie Csepreghi, who could only qualify sixth. Max Michalski lined up alongside Pughe in second, with George Benson just a couple of hundredths behind in third. In the race, Pughe did exactly what was required to secure second in the championship, taking the race win. However, it came down to the wire and he edged out Csepreghi by just two points after Csepreghi delivered a brilliant drive to finish second. Oli Kite rounded out the podium and set the fastest lap of the race.

SODI Heavyweights

The SODI Heavyweights has seen an incredibly strong performance from David Rollins, accruing a substantial lead over the last eleven rounds to produce a 70-point lead between himself and P2. A feat rarely reached in any Championship on the Daytona roster. After missing two rounds each, P2-3 are made up by Ash Chivers and Richard Danby whose records speak for themselves. Both have got several P1’s across the season and made a great account of themselves on track. Similarly, Agastya Lahkar should be mentioned in this vein, with a consistent race record and some very respectable podium drives, this could be a name in contention for Championship leadership in coming seasons.

In the Heavyweights final, newcomer Ben Swabey took a surprise pole ahead of David Rollins, who had already secured the championship title. Agastya Lahkar qualified third, just a tenth behind. Swabey converted his pole into a race win, holding off Rollins by just half a second at the chequered flag. Michael Bowles impressed with a superb drive into third place, while Lahkar narrowly missed out in Fourth.

DMAX Lightweights

Unsurprisingly in the DMAX Lightweights, Daytona Milton Keynes mainstay James King has won every round he’s driven in, earning fastest lap to boot. Beginning his championship career with Daytona in the Thursday Night League it’s great to see King still making an appearance to keep the front runners humble. One such driver challenging King on the field is Nathan Boyle, currently leading the standings in this division. Boyle has given King a run for his money at every race they’ve driven together at, leading to one of the two taking P1 at every round except the penultimate of the season where a surprise performance by Dawid Sniezko earned him P1 in what could very well be the best underdog story of the season. The Championship team has highlighted Sniezko’s improvement this season, putting on some solid performances after his late entrance in the ninth round while simultaneously competing in the SuperChamps series. As it stands leading into the final round Boyle and King hold P1-2 while another Daytona Milton Keynes face, Lee Schnitzler sits in P3.

James King secured yet another pole position in the Lightweights final, this time by an impressive margin of four tenths over Dawid Sniezko. King led the race from the start and appeared to take the final win of the season. However, post-race drama saw him disqualified for being one kilogram underweight. That handed victory to Sniezko, who made it back-to-back wins in the championship. Julia Stankowiak delivered one of the drives of the season, charging from the back of the grid to finish second, while Nathan Boyle capped off his championship-winning season with another podium in third.

DMAX Heavyweights

Ahsley Mayston-King has been a force to be reckoned with in the DMAX Heavyweight division. He has won every round he’s been in apart from one, where Paul Studd, who has also performed incredibly well, took the top spot. In a season where almost every driver in the top ten has taken a podium, the final is sure to bring fireworks to Daytona Milton Keynes.

In the Heavyweights final, David Rollins took second on the class grid behind Mayston-King (who qualified third on a field made up of both Heavyweight and Lightweight drivers), with Charlie Newman in third. Just seven points separated the two heading into the final, meaning that if they finished in those same positions, Newman would clinch third in the championship. Following his incredible qualifying form, Mayston-King was untouchable, taking a commanding victory ahead of Rollins. Despite finishing ahead on the road, Rollins couldn’t quite secure third in the championship, as Charlie Newman narrowly held onto the final spot on the overall podium.

Daytona Sandown Park

For the final round of Sandown’s Thursday Night League, the DMAX and SODI groups were split across alternate weeks for maximum drama. First up were the DMAX drivers, with 13 of the highest-performing competitors battling it out for the win.

DMAX Lightweights

In qualifying Jack Redfern secured pole with a 46.455, just 0.1 seconds ahead of Ellis McKenzie. Championship leader Charlie Foster qualified in fourth, knowing that simply finishing the race would be enough to seal the overall title. In the race itself, Redfern and McKenzie got away cleanly from the front row, but further back, Adam Palmer was caught in an incident with Callum Bendelow while contesting third. Palmer dropped through the field and spent the rest of the race attempting to reel in the leaders. Bendelow held second place until the final two laps, when McKenzie found a way through. Redfern led from lights to flag and claimed victory, also clocking the fastest lap with a 46.448.

DMAX Heavyweights

Only three drivers featured in the Heavyweight class, but it was still a close-run battle where Warren Gomm took pole ahead of Eyston Vaughan-Huxley and Matthew Parker in qualifying. The main race developed into a tight duel between Gomm and Vaughan-Huxley, with the pair finishing in that order, separated by just 1.5 seconds. Championship winner Robert Guymer was absent, having already clinched the title at the previous round.

SODI Lightweights

The SODI finale delivered just as much excitement, with the Lightweight and Heavyweight drivers both putting on a show. Frankie Matwiejczuk claimed pole in qualifying by 0.185 seconds over the rapid Zack Gut. The second row featured title contender Vivek Bhalla and championship leader Fin Ions. In the final race Matwiejczuk got away well at the start, pulling a small gap as Gut and the others fought behind. That advantage didn’t last long, Gut closed in and the two swapped positions multiple times, which allowed Bhalla to join the lead battle. But the three-way fight quickly changed when Gut clipped the wall out of the final corner, losing momentum and falling to fifth. That left Matwiejczuk and Bhalla to battle for the win, with a massive 10-second gap to the rest of the field. Behind them, the fight for the final podium spot featured Gut, Fin Ions, and DMAX regular Oscar Homerstone. Gut ultimately came out on top, finishing third ahead of Ions in fourth and Homerstone in fifth. Matwiejczuk crossed the line first, a second ahead of Bhalla. However, post-race weight penalties reshuffled the results: Vivek Bhalla was promoted to first, newly crowned champion Fin Ions moved up to second, and Alfie Pettengel, who had spent the race dicing with a Heavyweight, was promoted to third.

SODI Heavyweights

Sam Roy took pole position in qualifying, with Matthew West and Reece Sheppard starting second and third. In the race, Sam Roy delivered a commanding performance, taking victory by over 10 seconds. West, battling among the Lightweights for most of the race, finished second. Sheppard rounded out the podium in third.

Daytona Tamworth

N35-ST Lightweights
Jude Lillyman has been the standout driver of the class. After winning his first four races of the season and heading into the final more than 50 points clear of P2, he looks like the clear favourite to take the championship. That said, this season has seen a host of great battles throughout the N35-ST Lightweights, with drivers showing up consistently and delivering performances they should be proud of. A special mention goes to Serge Harjau, currently in P4 going into the final round. A relatively new face at Tamworth, Harjau has impressed since joining in Round Two, including a P1 finish in Round Eight. Se Jennings has also been a quiet success story. Graduating to championship racing for the first time after regularly attending open sessions, Jennings sits inside the top ten going into the final, with several top five finishes to his name. His rapid development has been particularly exciting for the championship team at Daytona Tamworth.

In the final, less than a tenth of a second separated the top three in an intense N35 qualifying session. Sergiu Harijau secured pole position by just four hundredths ahead of impressive debutant Abz Hussain. Charlie Walmsley-Ryde returned to the grid and managed to go third. Remarkably, the top eight were covered by just seven tenths of a second. Despite the tight qualifying, there was only one driver in contention for the win once the race got underway. Harijau built an eight-second advantage over the twenty-minute race, securing a grand slam by also setting the fastest lap, a blistering 60.194. The battle behind was where the intrigue lay. Abz Hussain fought valiantly to hold on to second but was eventually overhauled by Fin Imber, who charged through from outside the front two rows. Hussain then turned his focus to defending third, which he successfully did, a very impressive debut result.

N35-ST Heavyweights
This class saw a season-long three-way battle between James Estrop, Brandon Gathercole and Anthony Delaney. Delaney took an early lead with wins in Rounds Two and Three. Estrop, despite missing the first three rounds, arrived in style, claiming dominant victories in Rounds Four, Seven, Eight, Nine and Eleven. Gathercole has been the model of consistency, with wins in Rounds Five and Six and regular podiums that see him in P2 going into the final. David Sumner also deserves recognition for his incredible drive in Round Ten, his only win of the season. Though he’s only raced a handful of rounds, he’s made a strong impression.

The final saw, Brandon Gathercole took the win, but it was second-placed James Estrop who claimed the championship title. They were joined on the podium by Brent Deeley, though his result wasn’t quite enough to snatch third place in the championship from Anthony Delaney.

DMAX-GT Lightweights
Lucas Gathercole has been making a name for himself in this class, keeping Daytona podiums in the family while maintaining strong consistency on track. He enters the final round with a comfortable lead over Kyle Storor, Ben Foden and Jude Lillyman, who occupy P2 to P4 respectively. However, it’s still all to play for with drop rounds and vital points in the final race potentially shaking up the battle for the top spot.

In their final outing of the DMAX-GT Lightweights this season, Jude Lillyman claimed pole by just a tenth of a second, a vital result in his bid to snatch third place in the championship at the final hurdle. Ky Storor joined him on the front row, with SuperChamps regular Joseph Simcock lining up third. The race was a tense one. Simcock crossed the line first but was judged to have overtaken under yellow flags, resulting in a penalty that handed victory, and a place on the championship podium, to Ky Storor. Simcock was demoted to second. Lillyman also benefited from a post-race penalty, moving ahead of Jamie Tiley-Gooden after a bump-and-pass manoeuvre by the latter. Lillyman’s result kept his championship hopes alive right to the end. The eventual champion, however, was Lucas Gathercole, who sealed the title with a solid fifth-place finish in class.

DMAX-GT Heavyweights
This division has largely been dominated by one man: Tom Duffy. After winning the first seven rounds in a row, he’s taken P1 in all but two races this season. Still, the efforts of Luke Mallard and Sonny Zacharias should not be overlooked. Both have shown up consistently and delivered strong performances, and their progress deserves recognition.

In the Heavyweight final, Luke Mallard dominated to take a commanding win. Aaron Short, starting from the back, delivered perhaps the drive of the season to take second, while Sonny Zacharias completed the podium.

SuperChamps – Round Seven

Daytona Milton Keynes

In the SODI class it was Max Lindgren that took pole position in the Lightweight field by just 9 thousandths of a second over Charlie Csepreghi, with Tom Justice just a further tenth of a second back in third.

Barry Morris took pole in the Heavyweight field by just a couple of tenths over Charlie Fenton in second place with Freddie Jenkins just a couple hundredths off in third.

C. Csepreghi managed to just about hold off Oli Kite and his brother, Jacob Csepreghi to take the race win by just four tenths of a second. It was even closer though for the two behind with Kite narrowly edging out J. Csepreghi by just 3 hundredths of a second after a drag race to the line.

In the Heavyweights it was Morris who took the sprint win by just 6 tenths over Fenton with Jenkins a further 2 seconds behind in third.

In the final race it was Justice who managed to take the win by just a couple of tenths, ahead of C. Csepreghi who topped off a good points scoring day with a well-earned second place. Behind them it was J. Csepreghi who just beat Kite to the flag by 5 hundredths of a second after their second drag race to the line, however, a penalty for J. Csepreghi saw the positions switch and Kite take the final podium spot.

Morris dominated in the Heavyweights taking the victory by 6 seconds over Jenkins who finished in second, Fenton had a difficult final race finishing 10 seconds behind Jenkins but still managing to take the final spot on the podium.

In the DMAX class, Samuel Spencer took pole position by an impressive margin of 3 tenths over Dawid Sniezkoin second and Championship leader James King in third.

In the Heavyweights it was Scott Woosey who took pole as he closed in on his first Dmax Championship trophy. Ashley Mayston-King was in second with Joe Rivera in third.

Spencer managed to pick up the sprint race win by 1.9 seconds over King who managed a fantastic recovery after hitting a tyre wall early in the race but still managing to recover to second place. Luka Nik managed to pick up third place a further couple of seconds.

Woosey dominated the Heavyweights taking the win by 10 seconds over Mayston-King in second and Rivera in third.

Spencer made it a perfect round picking up the win and the fastest lap to take maximum points, Dawid Sniezko took second place with Julia Stankowiak managing a fantastic drive through the field to take the final spot in the podium.

Woosey took the race win by 3 seconds over Mayston-King who put up an exceptional defensive effort to try and hold onto the victory, but it just slipped through his grasp as he dropped down to second.

InKart – Round Seven

Daytona Tamworth

The penultimate round of Inkart at Daytona Tamworth was shaping up to be one of the most exciting yet. With a fully booked Junior grid, the event required three separate grids to run across a gruelling heats format.

Juniors

With three grids in play, six heats were run in total, and the battle for finals placement couldn’t have been much closer. With just three finals spots up for grabs, making it into the A-Final was understandably the biggest challenge. In fact, all five drivers who qualified for the A-Final finished their two heats with an identical total of 19 points. Meaning their grid order was determined by their fastest laps. Reuben Potter and James Stevenson led the way with outstanding performances, locking out the front row.

In the C-Final, Alex Zajdowicz claimed a sparkling victory ahead of Rosco Rowe and Eugene Fishlock, the latter demoted from second due to a penalty received during the race. Zajdowicz progressed to the B-Final, where he put in a strong showing to finish fifth. The B-Final win, however, went emphatically to Oscar Mallett, who finished six seconds clear of Athena Cooper. The main battle on track was between Cooper and William Jenkinson for second place.

Reuben Potter continued his remarkable consistency this season with a dominant A-Final win, finishing eleven seconds ahead of James Stevenson. Harry Kennedy rounded out the podium, an excellent result in terms of his championship campaign.

Cadets

In the Cadet class, Jess Kirby narrowly secured A-Final pole ahead of Freya Lally, with Rocco Jackson and Jack Dowding tying for the second row. The B-Final was topped by Roshan Bachada, competing in only his second round.

Despite his strong starting position, Bachada couldn’t hold back the returning Henry Gordon in the B-Final. Gordon charged through the field to take a spectacular victory. Bachada ultimately finished third, a strong result, with Ryan Cafferkey slotting into second.

In the A-Final, Jess Kirby wasn’t quite able to convert her pole into a win, dropping to third as fellow Jamie Chadwick Series driver Freya Lally claimed victory. They were joined on the podium by Rocco Jackson.