So, there we were, that was it. The end of the series. The end of a long hard nine months.

Firstly, of course, MBKC would like to offer it`s thanks and congratulations to everyone involved, the drivers of course, that goes without saying really, they have put on the most marvellous series, but also to ALL the army of unseen personnel behind the scenes who have given up their time to ensure that the series has gone so smoothly, the marshals, observers and lapscorers, who, I must say, seem to get younger with every passing year. To Alan Taddei and his team at PSC productions, including Ben and Sam the presenters,for their superb coverage of each round which has taken karting TV coverage on to the next level and, finally, but most importantly, to the MBKC members who didn`t do the series and often saw their Saturday afternoon practice severely curtailed, but fully understood what the club was trying to do for the image of UK karting and accepted the situation without complaint, surely the most loyal group of members in the UK, and the club would like to thank you all for your continued support and patience.  To sum up, EVERYONE, take a bow!!!

If I was to say it was a strange sort of afternoon, then it was for all the best reasons. There is always a tinge of sadness in a way when any series comes to an end, be it a club championship or a `higher profile` championship such as this. We had been threatened with the worse weather imaginable, torrential rains and very high winds, but, as I`ve said so many times in the past, we don`t work to standard weather patterns here in Wigan, a quick flick of a switch in the office, and there we were, instant sunshine, and, amazingly after the amount of water that had been put down during the preceeding few days, a virtually dry track, except for the little steam of water that runs away from the valley over the start of the hairpin.

The racing was, in the main, quite amazing. As always, we started with the cadet class, and this was really the only one of the four classes where the championship was effectively still up for grabs. Going into this final round, just 6 points seperated leader Daniel Sweeney from third placed Luke Hughes, these two sandwiched by Ryan Burns. Even fourth placed Connor Llewellyn had an outside chance at 12 points adrift.......it really was race on. Series newcomers Alexander Albon and James Appleton were on the front row and quickly powered away into a pretty much unassailable lead and had a good battle between themselves, the lead swapping on a few occasions before Albon took it up again and held on to take the victory from Albon by 0.062secs, but, perhaps a little sadly for the front two, all the interest was in what was happening behind, championship leader Sweeney, starting from the rear, was having the day from hell. Having received a warning flag on the opening lap, it simply went from bad to worse. By lap 6 he was still only running in 14th spot and, no doubt trying that little bit too hard, overcooked it coming up to the hairpin and ended up on the grass. He did get back into it, but it was effectively race over, as he finished a lap down in 21st position. Burns too seemed to be struggling a little in the early stages and, of course, fully aware of what was at stake, began to pick his way methodically, but quite slowly through the pack, but, by lap 8, he was still only running 12th. By now clearly realising that it wasn`t going to be enough, he really upped the ante, quickly moving into 8th place, and finally picking his way through another few spots, past Llewellyn in the final stages to finish a very respectable 5th, but would it be enough?, well, that would be down to Hughes. He had started the race, as he so often does, in spectacular fashion. No thoughts of picking his way through slowly and methodically, he was going for it big style, and by lap 2, he had incredibly made his way up to 7th place, and it only looked like getting better when, by lap 5, he was running third. He clearly wasn`t going to get to the leaders, but that didn`t really matter, by now he had bigger problems to contend with in the shape of Joe Byrne. The young lad from Somerset just wouldn`t be shaken off and wasn`t going to give up that third podium spot lightly, and what an amazing battle it became in the last few laps before, going into the final lap, Byrne regained it from Hughes, but, as they approached lunar for the final time, Hughes had just got his nose ahead again. Coming up to take the flag, Byrne had another final lunge and, it was so desperately close, even the lapscorers and the timing equipment couldn`t seperate them. In the end, Hughes had just shaved it by one thousandth of a second, which equates to, I believe, 26mm........pretty close you would have to say.  Back in lapscoring, the computers were glowing hot as the final championship positions were being worked out. Finally it was announced that Burns and Hughes were incredibly TIED on 248 points each, but Hughes was champion, having won two rounds, whilst the ultra consistent Burns had no wins despite his terrific season. Take a bow boys, what a amazing end to a fantastic Cadet series. Well done also to Llewellyn, Sweeney, Byrne and David McNicoll, who made up the first six places in the overall championship.

Next up we had the Minimax class and, in theory anyway, this was a much simpler equation. With a 25 point advantage going into the last round, the young Telford based driver, James Theodore, surely could finish just about anywhere and land the title comfortably, not, of course, that such a scenario would ever be in the mind of Theodore, this lad loves to race, and you could bet that, from the rear of the grid, as he`s been since the second round of the championship, having never been headed, he would be going for it again to round off the series in style. In only her second race of the series, it was Pippa Coleman making the best start from the front of the grid and quickly pulling out a large advantage that would prove decisive as she went on to take an excellent lights to flag victory by 2.508secs from Jamie Fegan, who had taken up 2nd spot as early as lap 3.

Quite rightly, all eyes were on what Theodore was doing further down the field and, he was doing fine, picking his way through the pack, before coming up to his old sparring partner Joe Boullen who was running in third place. A good little battle ensued, but nothing was going to stop Theodore today, and as he slipped through into third spot, the question became, going into the final lap, could he get to Fegan? It was certainly getting close at the line, but Theodore had to `settle` for third and, which is a testament to his application, he completely forgot about his planned celebration as he took the flag, so hard was he concentrating on catching Fegan. Never mind though, his Dad, Tony, made up for it with an amazing leaping celebration which will surely see him in hospital for a hernia operation before Christmas. Well done James Theodore......and well done too to Joe Boullen, Roy Anderson, Josephine Ferrada, Shanade Gress and Matt Gibson, who made up the championship top six, and provided us with a host of memorable moments throughout the series.

Third up on the menu was the Junior Rotax Max class and, again, this was a pretty clear cut picture going into the final round. Joe McKeand might not have won a race, but he had certainly been consistent, amassing 235 points, 15 more than his nearest rival, John Stewart. It really is proof that consistency counts, in that, had it not been for one poor round in May, Stewart would have probably gone into this final round as championship leader. Another driver who will be rueing earlier decisions is Daniel Murphy. The former cadet and minimax MBKC club champion did the first round of the series in minimax, before, on weight related issues, joining the championship in round two. Surely a decent haul of points would have seen him also right at the head of the championship.

So many ifs and buts, but none of this would be worrying McKeand, he was in the box seat, and could plan his strategy to take the championship. From pole spot, Benji Hetherington took up the initial advantage, but he soon began to drop back, as Tom Fawcett, Robert Gilmour, Josh Butcher, Liam Fenwick, Matt Hartley and Curt Holmes all began to flex their muscles. It was, effectively, race over for Gilmour on lap 7, when a spin on Rodgersons straight saw him collide heavily with the tyre barriers, but, by now Fenwick had come through to take up the lead from Hartley and, as the race wore on, he was able to stretch his advantage to take a pretty comfortable win by 1.924secs from Hartley, Fawcett, Holmes and the championship No2 Stewart, who took fifth spot. Meanwhile, McKeand was running his own race, the champion elect knowing just what he needed to do, and coming home safe and sound in 11th spot, to round off his fantastic series as 2006 Motors TV champion.......well done Joe McKeand, take a bow also John Stewart, Daniel Murphy, Ross Wylie, Tom Wrigley and Ryan Tod, the championship top six drivers.

Finally, it was the only senior class of the series, TKM Extreme, and it was James Duxbury who held all the aces going into this last round with an 11 point advantage over Paul Monks, with Luke Caudle, Phil Smith, Anthony Lester and Matt Bell all close behind. Again, lots of ifs and buts........ What if Bell had done that one solitary lap in August where the series clashed with the Fulbeck S1 round and, as Caudle did, had picked up 20 extra points? What if Phil Smith, winner of two and three, had picked up more points in rounds one and four? All kinds of conundrums, but, it was Mr Consistency, Duxbury, the winner of two rounds himself, who was there looking down at the rest. As the race began, it was Stevie Napier, with only two previous races in the series, who started off on pole and quickly roared off into the lead, followed by the ever improving Jamie Crease. Whether Napier would have held on to his advantage we will never know, because, as early as lap 3, he was forced out with mechanical problems. By now, it was Bell stamping his mark on the proceedings as he took up the reigns, still from Crease in second, but, by now, all eyes were firmly on Duxbury as he picked his way through the ranks. By now, with two laps still to go, Bell had stormed off into the blue yonder, and like the previous round, took a handsome victory, this time by the enormous margin of 9.708secs, and again, having done so well in these final two rounds, must have been asking the question again.....if only? The big question now was, going into the final lap, could Duxbury get past Crease for 2nd place. The answer was, yes he could, edging through at turn three to take the runners up place today, but not for the championship. Congratulations to James Duxbury, Motors TV Champion for 2006, and richly deserved too. Congratulations go also to Luke Caudle, Matt Bell, Paul Monks, Phil Smith and Dean Golba, the drivers making up the championship top six.

So there we are, the end of this inaugural series. Lets hope that next years Motors TV Karting Challenge, in its new format, is just as exciting as this one has been.

Roll on 2007!!!

Report by: Mel Tipton

RESULTS

CADET
Alexander Albon
James Appleton
Luke Hughes
Joe Byrne
Ryan Burns
Connor Llewellyn

MINIMAX
Pippa Coleman
Jamie Fegan
James Theodore
Joe Boullen
Ross Anderson
Jordan Holmes

JUNIOR ROTAX MAX
Liam Fenwick
Matt Hartley
Tom Fawcett
Curt Holmes
John Stewart
Josh Butcher


CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL STANDINGS

CADET

Luke Hughes*	248
Ryan Burns	248
Connor Llewellyn	239
Daniel Sweeney	236
Joe Byrne	231
Davd McNicoll	214

*Hughes champion on race victories

MINIMAX

James Theodore	288
Joe Boullen	262
Roy Anderson	247
Josephine Ferrada	243
Shanade Gress	242
Matt Gibson	221

JUNIOR ROTAX MAX

Joe McKeand	259
John Stewart	250
Daniel Murphy	242
Ross Wylie	237
Tom Wrigley	236
Ryan Tod	220

TKM EXTREME

James Duxbury	269
Luke Caudle	254
Matt Bell	252
Paul Monks	252
Phil Smith	249
Dean Golba	239

 

< Prev		Next >