Week Thirty Nine
To view podium photos, follow our Twitter @daytonamsport
Sandown Park
SODI SuperChamps
The SODI category saw a busy start on lap one as Jack Redfern, starting from 2nd place on the grid and Antonio Sholin, who began in 4th place, found themselves in a tyre wall at the end of turn 2. Although both drivers managed to recover, they plummeted down the race order.
They both mounted an impressive recovery drive, steadily making their way back up through the ranks. Meanwhile at the front of the pack, Oscar Cole and Archie Cole engaged in a thrilling battle for the lead, with the gap between them remaining incredibly tight throughout the race. This battle created a noticeable gap to the second group of drivers, comprising Jack Harrison, Steve Hannon, and Jonathan Fuchsel, with Tristan Buirski tailing closely behind.
Jack Harrison, who had started from the 10th position on the grid, showcased remarkable consistency as he steadily progressed throughout the race. Upon catching up with Steve Hannon, the two drivers worked together to keep moving forwards.
As the race progressed, Jack Redfern on his own recovery mission, re-entered the mix of drivers contending for the 3rd position on the track. Steve Hannon and Jack Harrison engaged in some intense battles, which ultimately allowed Jack Redfern to slip past them. He then closed the gap to the Cole brothers ahead and successfully overtook them on the penultimate lap.
During the final moments of the race, Oscar Cole held the lead ahead of Archie. However, Archie made a late lunge up the inside, causing Oscar to spin out, earning himself a 3-place grid penalty.
After disqualifying drivers who were underweight, it was Jack Harrison who emerged victorious, followed by Jonathan in second place, and Steve in third.
DMAX SuperChamps
The race kicked off with Tom Brown starting from pole position and Archie Bullard alongside him. Archie found himself squeezed on the outside during the initial moments of the race, allowing Bobby Trundley, who started from 3rd, to make an excellent start. Bobby engaged in an intense battle with Tom Brown, with both drivers fiercely contesting the lead for about 3 or 4 laps in the early phase of the race. Eventually Bobby managed to overtake Tom and establish a comfortable lead.
As the race progressed, Bobby gradually extended his lead over Tom, who was then challenged by Tobin Leigh, starting from 4th on the grid. Tobin caught up with Tom and engaged in a competitive battle for position. Although the two remained closely matched, Tobin eventually succeeded in pulling ahead.
Throughout the race, Bobby continued to dominate the heavy’s category, leaving Archie Bullard to lead of a pack of karts that included Frederic Navarro and Zakaria Syed. Archie maintained his lead in this group, while the other two drivers frequently swapped positions behind him.
Later in the race, George Lewis delivered an impressive performance, climbing from 10th place during the early stages of the race. Gradually, he caught up with and passed several competitors, ultimately reaching the group led by Archie Bullard. George's ascent also brought Finley Hart into contention. Despite his remarkable effort, George managed to overtake all the drivers in the group except for Archie Bullard. In an attempt to pass Archie on the final corner, George made contact that was deemed not entirely clean, resulting in a single-grid-place penalty. This setback dropped him to 4th place in the lights category.
Throughout the race, Bobby Trundley consistently posted the fastest lap times on the track.
SODI Thursday Night League
Luka Nik came very close to securing pole position, but in the final moments of qualifying, Rafael Blanco-Bush and Jack Harrison both made exceptional efforts to snatch pole position, with Jack emerging as one of the only drivers to break into the 52 second bracket.
As the race commenced, Jack Harrison executed a superb start and initially seemed poised to establish a commanding lead. However, Steve Hannon managed to navigate through the pack, engaging in an exhilarating battle with Jack for the lead.
The race featured intense battles across the entire field, with a higher number of yellow flags than usual.
There was a large crash on the last lap of the race with one driver going under a tyre wall! Fortunately, the driver emerged unharmed.
DMAX Thursday Night League
During qualifying, an incident prompted a full course yellow flag. Despite the disruption, Tom Brown managed to translate his earlier practice pace into a stellar qualifying performance, securing pole position. TJ Enver secured the second position on the grid.
As the race commenced, Archie Bullard seized an opportunity on the race start, swiftly advancing to the second position on the very first lap. Tom Brown displayed exceptional skill by flicking his kart into turn 6, a move that Archie Bullard later emulated in an attempt to gain precious time, which occurred on lap 9.
Remarkably, the top four drivers consistently recorded lap times in the low 46-second range, with Tom Brown, Archie Bullard, TJ Enver, and Logan McAlister demonstrating their prowess.
Carl Grocott engaged in an enthralling battle with Jamie Warner for several laps, adding excitement to the mid-pack action. Jamie Warner executed an impressive move on Ethan Cloke during the race.
By lap 11, Tom Brown had established a commanding lead, consistently extending the gap between the first and second positions to 3.25 seconds.
Charlie Foster exhibited efficient navigation through backmarkers, ensuring he didn't lose precious time in the process.
However, on lap 14, an incident unfolded as Archie and TJ collided at turn 6, allowing Tom Brown to pull away further and permitting the fourth-place driver to enter a three-way battle for the second position.
Logan McAlister managed to overtake TJ but was unable to complete a successful pass on Archie. Archie showcased superior traction on the exit of the corner, maintaining his position while leaving Logan McAlister in his rearview mirror.
For Thursday Night League photos from this round, visit Daytona's Pixpa.
Milton Keynes
SuperChamps
Last Friday, on a cool but clear evening in Milton Keynes we welcomed thirty drivers back to the circuit for Round 3 of SuperChamps. The layout this for this week was ‘Cliff-Drop’ which incorporates a tricky off-camber chicane between the traditional seventh and eighth corner of the international layout. All of our championship leaders were in attendance and Jamie Tiley-Gooden, Carl Stephens, Harry Asher and Tom Illingworth all set about defending and hopefully extending their championship lead.
In what was an action-packed sprint DMAX shootout it was dominated by one man, and that man was Jack Stewart, a long-time Daytona regular and he was able to take overall victory by 2.5 seconds over fierce rivals Dom Balasaitis and Jamie-Tiley Gooden in second and third respectively. In the Heavyweights, Carl Stephens was able to pull away from the chasing pack and won convincingly after a well-executed drive, Barry Morris, Aiden Miller and Sebastian Musicka all fought hard, but Barry Morris came home in second place, with Aiden Miller completing the sprint shootout podium.
In the SODI shootout race, Harry Asher led comfortable from lights to flag, and took victory by a commanding 10 seconds over Daniel Munro in second place, and Adam Green in third. In the SODI Heavyweight class, Scott Woosey returned to the top step after a stellar drive and a 5 second buffer back to Ollie Walker in second, and Harry Clifford in third place.
The DMAX Feature race contains a plethora of outstanding driving, Jack Stewart was almost able to take the overall lead at the start, but Jamie Tiley-Gooden did exceptionally well to hold on to the lead. This lead that he would hold onto until the end of the race and take victory by 6.5 seconds over Dom Balasaitis in second place, who performed a fantastic overtake on Jack Stewart to secure it, Jack came home in third and is inching towards that top spot! In the heavyweight category, Sebastian Musicka drove beautifully and took victory over Carl Stephens by 0.4 seconds, third place was Iain Riley who was six seconds behind but recovered well after a difficult shootout race.
The SODI Feature race was dominated by the immensely talented Harry Asher who once again secured 61 points and took first position, Daniel Munro also drove very well and a consistent drive secured him second position, 14 seconds behind Harry. Third place was Adam Green with another solid performance but will for sure be hoping to move closer to the top step! In the heavyweight category, Scott Woosey conquered and won his category by 5 seconds over Daytona veteran Ollie Walker in second place, third place was Harry Clifford after another consistent and well measured drive.
Tamworth
InKart (FINAL ROUND)
The final round of Inkart Season 2 took place in early September. Despite there being no juniors in place, giving Blake Southan the championship over there, there would still be a lot to sort out throughout the Cadet field, with around 8 drivers in contention for the title.
Tom Justice and Zayn Perry appeared to be the protagonists early on in the day, with Tom taking a narrow victory over Ethan Guest in group 1’s first heat. Henry Gordon finished a few seconds back in third, finishing well ahead of 4th placed Thomas Baxter. Zayn was not able to respond to Tom’s early pace in his first heat, though was able to still finish on the podium after a fantastic battle with second and first placed finishers Noah Hobson and Zachary Smith. The gap throughout the top of the field was only 3 tenths of a second.
Justice’s response in his second heat of the day was to finish second, from the rear of the grid, and only 6 tenths of a second off of Ethan Guest. Henry Gordon would finish in third, a few seconds back after a battle of his own with Joseph Smith. Group 2’s second race was expected to continue the Justice-Perry rivalry however it was 8th placed in the championship Noah Hobson who clung on to victory by 3 tenths of a second ahead of Zayn Perry and Theo Thomas (the top three battle in group 2 as intense as before). When dropped rounds were taken into account, it suddenly appeared that Noah Hobson had a genuine chance of mounting a late championship challenge.
There was not a great deal up for grabs in the B final in terms of the championship, but Joseph Smith would have been delighted regardless to take home a trophy in a spectacular 13-second victory as the rain started to sprinkle down. He took advantage of the misfortune of others, with Ted Hitchman and Jack Charles-Bailey rounding out the rest of the podium.
Inkart’s Cadet Championship trophy was the prize up for grabs in the A-Final, and with Zayn Perry and Tom Justice both finishing outside of the top 5, Noah Hobson’s 4 tenth of a second victory was enough to take home that trophy despite him starting the day in 8th position. Ethan Guest had a strong finish to the season in second, with Theo Thomas rounding out the podium.
