Penultimate championship round at Glan-y-Gors fell on the 8th October, and how lucky have we been with the weather? Surely it shouldn`t REALLY be mild and dry in October, in North Wales? But it was, even the cows in the adjoining fields were stood all day (a sure sign of dryness!!), in fact, at one point, we were treated to a cow `race`, obviously feed time, as they positively sprinted across the ground towards their watering hole. Most unusual, I`ve never seen cows running like that before.

Anyway, that`s the farming and weather report for growers out of the way, let`s get back to the karting. It was one of those meetings where everyone seemed to have a spring in their step, certainly Lorraine McFarlane, our grid marshall, who, following her little incident at the start of the September meeting, was showing a particuarly neat turn of foot and no ill effects, and, of course, the Clerk of the Course, Val Lord, who appears to be on a mission to cover every inch of the circuit in as short a time as possible, no doubt surprising several drivers along the way!

There are also several championship issues still to be decided which will now go right down to the wire at the final meeting in November and, given the circumstances, all credit to the drivers who, it has to be said, produced a far better day than the September meeting, no red flags on the day and relatively few incidents is very nice to report as the championships reach their crescendo.

Another nice little addition to the day was the presence of the visiting R.A.F. M.S.A Championship for their final round of the season, providing us not only with some good clean, competitive racing throughout the day, but also a very entertaining presentation at the end. On behalf of MBKC, I would just like to add that we would all be delighted to see you all back for a championship round at some stage during the course of next season.

A great tone was set for the afternoons finals with the Cadet opener.
Champion elect, Luke Hughes has had a fabulous season in this, only his second full year in the sport. At times he has looked virtually unbeatable and, so it had seemed today, as he collected all the heat victories. It wasn`t the biggest Cadet grid we have had this season with just thirteen making the visit, but their were some good young drivers there, with, in addition to Hughes, Ryan Burns, Jacob Hunstone, Daniel Sweeney, plus improving drivers Bradley Ord and Henry Hunter all with claims. Hughes it was on pole, but he soon found himself under pressure initially from Hunter, then from Burns and, as the laps counted down, it became a real dogfight between the two of them as Hunter began to drop back a little to settle for a comfortable third spot ahead of Ord. An epic last lap saw the two of them virtually locked together and coming through the Carousel and up to the final turn either could still have taken it, but it was Burns who just found that little extra up to the line to take a marvellous, and very popular victory by just 0.070secs.

It is a pretty rare occasion where we see Junior Formula Blue either at Three Sisters or here at GYG, but today we did have a small group of three running at the front of a split grid with Junior TKM and, if proof were needed that small grids don`t necessarily mean mundane racing, then surely this was to be it. Curtis Roberts was a busy young man on the day, also competing in Junior Rotax Max, and he quickly headed the trio during the early stages, but it was always very close between all three with Stephen Philip never far from his rear bumper and Alan Young also well in the picture throughout. As the race wore on, Philip was starting to look more and more dangerous and he finally eased past on lap 9, pulling away from Roberts a little in the final couple of laps to take the victory by 0.979secs, Young a little way back in third.

Junior TKM, despite being low on numbers throughout the year, is really bubbling up to a amazing finale, with Simon Porter, Richard Wilson and James Tunnicliffe all very much in contention for the major prize although, it has to be said, Tunnicliffe is most definitely the young man in the ascendency.
Entering the championship later than his rivals, he has produced a number of stirring performances to sneak into third place, and now, just a few points behind Porter and Wilson, he must surely be favourite to take the spoils, although, of course his rivals will be doing everything they can to prove that prediction wrong. Today he was pretty much unstoppable, running away with the final to take it lights to flag by just over 7secs from Wilson, with Porter a further 4.5secs back in third place.

Junior Rotax Max saw the consistent Josh Butcher start on pole with Joshua Slade alongside, and Butcher it was who quickly took up the lead and never really looked like being headed. Alex France took up a very comfortable looking third place with Ben Arnold in fourth and that was how it turned out, Butcher taking a solid victory by some 1.480secs and looking a really good bet now to take the championship, although Arnold and Slade still have an outside chance if Butcher should make any serious slips on the final day.

TKM Extreme has produced a remarkable turnaround both here and at Three Sisters during the last two years, although today was not the greatest entry of the season with sixteen competitors. The championship is going to the wire involving two drivers who have really made great strides throughout this season. Oliver Slade and Mike Booker have been major players throughout the season, both winning races at various stages and enter the final round with just five points seperating them. Today they certainly had the march on their rivals as they stormed away at the front, quickly pulling out a huge advantage over the rest of the field. It was Slade who held the advantage, though never by much from Booker, who really has made a pretty seamless transaction into the senior class this season. On this occasion however, it was Slade who held on for a hard fought and deserved victory by just 0.270secs over Booker, with Lawrence Hilton almost 5secs back in third spot from Gem Wainwright in fourth.

Rotax Max too provided a fairly weak grid, numbers wise, at this meeting with only fourteen entries, but, all the main players were there in this years championship with Kirk Cattermole, Stephen Bentley, David Hogg and Robert Parry all contesting this race. It would be a major surprise however, going into the final round, if Hogg was not to add to his already record total of seven club championships at MBKC. He couldn`t win today, having to settle for third place after a really good battle with old sparring partner Parry, but he would have been happy enough with that going into the final race. At the front, we were treated to a good contest between Bentley and Cattermole, with Bentley, who already has one victory under his belt this season, leading for much of the race and looking like he would add to his earlier success, but, it was Cattermole who had the final say, easing ahead on the penultimate lap and then pulling away to take his first victory of the season by 0.817secs.

Minimax is another class where the championship is going to the wire, with Josephine Ferrada, Becky Blease-Dudley, Joe Charlton and Stephen Batho all still in with chances on the final day of the season.
Today Ferrada looked unstoppable, heading off from pole and quickly pulling out a large advantage over the pack, in fact by lap 4 it was clear that, barring problems, she was going to take this victory by some distance and, eventually, she did by a massive 5.516secs. It was a great battle for second spot with John Pike, Blease-Dudley and Charlton having an intense battle. In the end it was Charlton who just got his nose ahead of Blease-Dudley and Pike to take it, Batho was a slightly disappointing sixth, but it really is all set up for the final day.

Possibly my favourite class of the season here at GYG, despite it never being one of the bigger grids, has been the Formula Blue class, largely of course due to the constant battles involving the `TibiKartTrio` of Matt and Ash Davies along with Sam Pollitt, and what a great finale this one is going to be. Just seven points will seperate these three going into the last day, with Pollitt on 302, Matt on 299 and Ash on 295. Another terrific battle ensued all day between the three of them, but the final saw Ash Davies and Pollitt get away almost as one and quickly pull away from Matt Davies and the rest of the pack. It was seat of the pants stuff, and nose to bumper all the way, but at the end it was Davies who just held it together to take the flag just 0.219secs ahead of Pollitt, Matt Davies almost 3secs down in third place. Those of a nervous disposition should maybe look away at the November meeting.

Last, but by no means least, we had the pleasure of hosting the final round of the RAF MSA championship, which, I must confess was a new one to me, and I think to most others, but it proved to be a really enjoyable and competitive class, providing some excellent racing throughout the day. It was a mixed grid, largely made up of Lynx engines, but with a few Rotax thrown in and, hopefully maybe we will see the return of this visiting championship again next year at some point.
One or two drivers had done well all day, with Luke Bourne, Marcus Ramsden, Ashley Prime and the series organiser, Dean Maratty all doing well in the heats. In the final however, after an early mistake by Bourne, it was left to Ramsden to take up the running, and what a great job he made of it, powering ahead and never looking in any danger, taking the victory by 6.671secs from Maratty and Bourne.

Should be a great finale in November, whatever you do make a note in your diary and get down here to sunny GYG to witness some real edge of the seat racing.

Report by:  Mel Tipton

Results

CADET
Ryan Burns  (Zip/Comer)
Luke Hughes  (Zip/Comer)
Henry Hunter  (Zip/Comer)

JUNIOR BLUE
Stephen Philip
Curtis Roberts
Alan Young

JUNIOR TKM
James Tunnicliffe  (JKH/TKM)
Richard Wilson  (JKH/TKM)
Simon Porter  (Venom/TKM)

JUNIOR ROTAX
Josh Butcher
Joshua Slade
Alex France

TKM EXTREME
Oliver Slade
Mike Booker
Lawrence Hilton

ROTAX MAX
Kirk Cattermole  (Cat/Rotax)
Stephen Bentley  (Tony/Rotax)
David Hogg  (Sodi/Rotax)

MINIMAX
Josephine Ferrada  (Intrepid/Rotax)
Joe Charlton  (Intrepid/Rotax
Becky Blease-Dudley

FORMULA BLUE
Ash Davies  (Tibi/Iame)
Sam Pollitt  (Tibi/iame)
Matt Davies  (Tibi/Iame)

RAF MSA
Marcus Ramsden
Dean Maratty
Luke Bourne

< Prev		Next >