CLUB100 Sprint championship - Round 5 - Clay Pigeon - May 27th

Lightweights

Introduction and Qualifying

After a glorious sunny day on the Saturday for the Endurance, the drivers arrived at the circuit after lunch to find the rain still falling as the Premier and HW drivers finished off their respective finals. Championship rivals Jon Pethick and Andrew Smyth arrived with two wins apiece whilst Vince Bond knew that the wet conditions would suit him, likewise for Oliver Allwood and Keith Segal.

It was perhaps no surprise to see Vince Bond on pole after a win and two seconds whilst Trevor Fowell proved his second in the wet at Buckmore (Round 1) was no fluke by joining Bond on the front row ahead of championship leader Pethick. Steve Townsend had a good run in the heats to take a career best 4th on the grid ahead of Oliver Allwood and the very impressive David Palmer who had won two heats along the way! Simon Young and Keith Segal shared row 4 ahead of Dan Gore and Rob Yates whilst a few front runners were finding it a little tougher including Smyth (14th), Darren Pullen (16th) and Gibson (18th) whilst Michael Perfect and Alan Beckley made up the back row of the grid.

Richard Higham and Martin Joyce shared the front row of the B final ahead of newcomer Faye Briggs and James Norris, the latter having a slight fall from grace after finishing third in the A final at Rye House! Ashley Davies and Tony Simpson were not fairing much better as they lined up together on row 3 ahead of Colin Beckey and Richard Smith whilst having a nightmare on his home circuit was poor Jim Rutledge who had been off in every heat and hence found himself on grid 13 but somehow ahead of the likes of Seth Deuchar (15th) and Andrew Osbourne (17th).

B Final

From grid 2, Martin Joyce tried to go the long way around polsitter Richard Higham, the two of them side by side down the straight with Higham just managing to hang onto the advantage to head Joyce, Ashley Davies and James Norris at the completion of lap one whilst Tony Simpson’s miserably day ended with a spin at the horseshoe joined on the opening lap by Shaun Carter. By the end of lap 2, Higham had a one second advantage over Joyce with Davies close behind, the top three already 3 seconds clear of Norris, Ross Britten (up well from grid 9) and Andrew Green who was going like a train, up to 6th from grid 11 after just two laps!

A mistake on lap 3 dropped Davies away from the two leaders although he remained safe in third thanks to Ross Britten spinning away his chances on lap 4, the latter having moved into 4th on the previous lap. On lap 5, Higham threw it all away with a needless spin at the hairpin whilst Joyce also dropped down the order with a spin, all of which elevated Davies into the lead with Norris now second some 6 seconds behind the race leader. Green was now third and closing in on Norris with Jim Rutledge finally coming to life and up to 4th ahead of Andrew Osbourne, Colin Beckley and Seth Deuchar.

Davies rattled off the last 4 laps for an easy win whilst Green moved ahead of Norris on lap 7 for second but made little impression on the race leader. Norris ran out a comfortably third ahead of Rutledge who was just grateful to finish a race without an incident! Osbourne was 5th on track but a two place penalty dropped him to 7th elevating Colin Beckley to 5th ahead of newcomer Faye Briggs, Osbourne, Joyce, HIgham and Shaun Carter.

Star Drive - Andrew Green - made good progress from grid 11 to finish second just 3.5 seconds behind the race winner.

A Final

Nothing short of a win was going to do for polesitter Vince Bond and he served intent with a blistering opening lap leaving the rest to squabble over the places. Jon Pethick dived inside Trevor Fowell at the hairpin and then set off after Bond in what looked like a repeat of their round 1 duel! At the completion of lap 1 it was Bond with a 1.4 second advantage over Pethick, Fowell, Steve Townsend, Oliver Allwood, Keith Segal and Simon Young, the entire field making it an incident free opening lap! On lap two, Fowell dived back past Pethick into the hairpin only to run wide and allow Pethick, Townsend and Allwood through and allowing Bond to increase his lead to around 2 seconds by the end of the lap. Once again, Pethick set off in chase of Bond and gradually left Townsend and Allwood to battle over third place, the two of them swapping places over the next few laps although the pair of them were also keeping Pethick honest in second.

At the completion of lap 4 it was Bond with a slightly reduced lead over Pethick, Townsend and Allwood, these four a few seconds clear of Steve Kite who had charged through to 5th ahead of Fowell, Segal, Richard Lee and Young. On lap 5, Segal spun his chances away and elevated Palmer to 7th, the latter having dropped down to 10th in the opening laps but now making progress back towards the top 6. Up front, the gap between Bond and Pethick remained fairly constant around 1.5 seconds but Pethick was having to contend with the attentive Townsend and Allwood, these three tied together as they battled over second place. Kite was now a couple of seconds down the road in 5th ahead of Fowell and Palmer with Lee down in 8th ahead of Darren Pullen and Andrew Smyth who were gradually working their way up the order.

Bond managed to maintain his 1.5 advantage over the final few laps to at last (in 2007..) run out the race winner with fastest lap to boot. Pethick ground to a halt exiting the chicane on the final lap to hand second to Allwood, the latter having rounded Townsend on the final lap with Kite now promoted to 4th ahead of Fowell and Palmer. Smyth salvaged 7h after a steady drive through the pack ahead of Pullen, Andrew Green (up well from grid 24) and James Akehurst. A subsequent investigation into Pethicks problems proved negative and hence he was not given his points back as the organisers could not find any permanent problems with the kart, none of which was any consolation for Pethick who had seen valuable points disappear with the finish line almost in sight.

Star Drive - Steve Townsend - really raised his game all day long and was rewarding with a great third in the A final.