CLUB100 Sprint championship - Round 10 Bayford Meadows – October 14th

Heavyweights

Introduction and Qualifying

The penultimate round of the C100 Sprint championship was hosted by Bayford Meadows and after yet another very wet race at the previous round (Clay) the drivers were relieved to have a glorious sunny autumn day at which to resume the championship battle. After winning at Clay, James Childe had moved into pole position in the battle for the HW title although John Thompson and Marc Laukham were right there with him whilst Jamie Bird, Barney Langley and Peter Harris were now really rank outsiders unless they scored well over the course of the last two rounds.

With nothing to lose, it was Barney Langley that stormed to pole position with two fine wins and a fourth place, a win in the final vital to keep him in the title hunt. Marc Laukham lined up alongside after looking his usual rapid self in the heats whilst row two consisted of some new emerging HW talent in the form of Rookie endurance racer Darren Price (in only his second Sprint) and Gavin Burton who had excelled in his three heats. Martin Gurnett had a solid run through to 5th ahead of Andy Todd whilst Phil Kendall had at last qualified near the front which unfortunately would rob the spectators of one of his hard charging drives from the back in the final! Title contender James Childe had suffered at the hands of Spencer Fortag in the heats, and had to be content with 8th ahead of Steve Jennings and John Thompson who himself had picked up a 4 place penalty himself for knocking Pete Harris into a spin in heat 1! Harris himself could do no better than 13th whilst poor Jamie Bird seemed off the pace as his title challenge slipped away, the latter starting 18th.

Chris Wright lined up on pole for the B final ahead of Lee Wiggins, Vince Cogzell and Peter Kay, the latter once again not doing himself justice during qualifying! Nick Portlock and Peter Brunton shared row 3 ahead of Jon Cooper and Robin Bartholomew whilst Colin Till and Steve Harris lined up together on row 5. Only 16 drivers in the B final with Wayne Scott and Nick Reynolds bringing up the rear with plenty of work to do in the final.

B Final

Polesitter Chris Wright led the pack into turn one with Vince Cogzell slotting in behind as the entire pack all made it safely through turn one, only for Steve Harris to fall off at turn two! Steve was joined by two more spinners over the course of the opening lap, these being Lincoln Redding and Peter Brunton all three restarting at the back as the leaders completed lap one with Wright heading Cogzell, Lee Wiggins, Nick Portlock and Peter Kay although the latter would slice inside Portlock at turn one on lap 2. However, within a few corners Portlock had forced his way back past Kay, the latter dropping another place to Jon Cooper before the lap was over.

By the end of lap 2, Wright had a one second advantage over Cogzell who was being kept honest by Wiggins in third as the top three edged clear of Portlock, the latter’s case helped by a tense battle between Kay, Cooper and Robin Bartholomew. Unfortunately this was not to last as Kay and Cooper tripped over each other on lap 4 dropping both of them to the back of the field and leaving Portlock with a healthy advantage over Bartholomew who was now a lonely 5th some three seconds ahead of Ben Whibley, Rob Childe, Cameron Saunders and Colin Till. At half distance it was Wright who was maintaining his one second advantaged over Cogzell, the latter now pulling clear of Wiggins and Portlock. Bartholomew remained a lonely 5th ahead of Whibley whilst the only half decent battle continued to be the dice for 7th between Childe, Saunders and Till whilst Cooper was recovering rapidly and catching the battling trio in front.

Nothing much changed in the second half of the race thus it was Wright that ran out an easy winner ahead of Cogzell whilst Wiggins finished some 8 seconds further back in third with Portlock gradually closing in over the final stages but sensibly content to take 4th place ahead of Bartholomew. Whibley had managed to pull clear of the battle between Till, Saunders and Childe which was resolved in favour of Till ahead of the fast recovering Cooper, Saunders and Childe. Bunton fought back to 11th ahead of Wayne Scott, Redding a dejected Kay and Nick Reynolds.

Star Drive – Jon Cooper – with his early hopes of qualifying dashed, he still battled on and fought back up to 8th.

A Final

Barney Langley knew a win was crucial and also knew he had to beat rival Marc Laukam into turn one but as the polesitter focused on edging across the track to keep Laukham at bay he left the door open for Darren Price who punished him with a neat outbraking move into turn one! Laukam edged out Langley into turn three but the latter was quickly back to second as the front row men battled over second place allowing the impressive Price to edge clear up front! By the end of the lap Price has a one second advantage over Langley who was already visibly holding up determined Laukam with Martin Gurnett snapping at their heels in 4th ahead of Andy Todd, Gavin Bunton, Phil Kendell and Steve Jennings.

On lap two Laukam dived back past Langley into the hairpin only for Langley to return the compliment two corners later, this battle allowing Price to extend his lead up front whilst Burton was up to 5th and looking menacing behind Gurnett. A bit further back James Child, John Thompson and Peter Harris were trying to fight there way up the order, up to 8th, 9th and 10th respectively by the completion of lap 2 whilst Jamie Bird seemed to be really struggling in the mid field as his championship aspirations slipped away. On lap 3, Laukam finally made a decisive move past Langley and managed to edge away leaving the latter to fend off Burton who had fought his way into 4th ahead of Gurnett, Todd, Childe, Thompson and Jennings.

Once through into second, Laukam started to eat into Price’s two second lead very rapidly and by the start of lap 6 he was with the early leader and looking to move ahead. Langley remained third but was now (lap 6) some three seconds further back and having to contend with the attentive Gurnett and Burton, the latter having gotten through to third only to make a mistake and slip back to 5th! Todd was in the mix back in 6th and himself having to fend off Childe, Thompson and Jennings as a train of 8 karts battled over third. On lap 7 Laukam neatly outbraked Price into turn three and everyone then expected him to disappear having caught Price so quickly although the latter was about to discredit that particular theory!

For a couple of laps Laukam did indeed edge away but then Price started to eat back into Laukams lead setting up an enthralling finish. Langley was hanging on for all he was worth in third but Burton was now back into 4th which became third on lap 8 when he once again fought his way past Langley, this time making it stick. Gurnett remained 5th with Childe now 6th ahead of Thompson with Todd back to 8th place but this would be as far as the two other title contenders would get as Gurnett gamely hung onto his 5th place! Back at the front and defying all odds, Price had caught Laukam, looking for way back past much to the surprise of Laukam who now had a real battle on his hands up front. On lap 10 Price made a move on Laukam but the latter saw him coming, gave him some room and just emerged still in front - just!

Despite some further Price heroics on the final lap, Laukam defended well and hung on gamely for his third win of the season to give himself the upper hand in the championship whilst Price finished just 0.21 behind in a brilliant second place. Burton edged clear of Langley for a fine third place whilst the polesitter looked a tad miserable as he trailed home 4th ahead of Gurnett, Childe, Thompson, Jennings, Todd and the highest SHW driver Stuart Robbins in 10th place.

Star Drive – Darren Price – an outstanding performance in only his second ever sprint, leading for half the race and nearly stealing the win back over the final few races.