Sprint Summary, Round 11

Premier Sprints

With 4 drivers still in the title chase, the pressure was on in the final Premier sprint race.

Great qualifying heats saw Oliver Allwood take pole for final 1 with contender Brian Trott joining him on the front row. In terms of the other title contenders, Kieran McCullough was 3rd, Jamie Jakins 7th and Stuart Symonds 14th.

Lee Clackett took the lead and had a race long battle with Parmveer Nijjar. McCullough fell back to 7th but importantly ahead of Trott and Symonds. Jakins retired on lap 5. Back at the front and Clackett held off Nijjar to win by 0.2s

Final 2 saw flying Finn Sami Seppala take pole with Daz Teal 2nd. Symonds and McCullough were 3rd and 4th with Trott 6th and Jakins a lowly 16th.

Seppala led until lap 8 when a nerf from Jon Lisseter dropped him to 14th. While Lisseter continued on his merry way to victory, Jakins and Symonds worked their way up to 2nd and 3rd. Trott was a solid 5th. With Jakins 2nd, McCullough, running 8th, needed to finish 6th. In true Club100 style, he despatched Darren Teal on the last lap and nipped past Allwood on the last corner of the last lap. A tie on points with Jakins but he takes the championship by virtue of more race wins.

Heavyweight Clubman

You could cut the tension with the proverbial knife as the Heavyweight Clubman teams took to the track. Title favourite Ian Blake took pole for final 1 with rivals James Taylor 3rd, Geoff Symonds 4th and Jon Maycock 7th.

It was an easy lights to flag win for Blake as he held off Taylor for the whole race. Mark Oliver scored a fine 3rd place while Maycock kept his chances alive with 4th. Geoff Symonds could only manage 8th and needed a miracle in final 2.

It would be an interesting climax as final 2 saw all the title protagonists found themselves at the back. Harry Landy took pole ahead of Jose Soler and Adam Nakar. Symonds was the first of the contenders in 9th with Blake 13th, Maycock 14th and Taylor 18th.

Veteran Mike Bodnar took the lead at the start and cruised ahead of the pack. However, all eyes were on the championship battle and Symonds was 5th and Blake 7th. Taylor and Maycock had a coming together which ended their title hopes. With Symonds needing to win with Blake lower than 8th, Blake pretty much had it in the bag as Bodnar continued to ease out up front to take victory ahead of Mark Oliver and Jose Soler. Blake secured 6th which was more than enough to secure him the title.

Heavyweight

There was a light mood around the Heavweight sprint paddock. With the championship long since decided, there was still a strong contingent of 49 drivers present at the final round.

Stephen Docker lined up on pole for the A final ahead of Myles Sharman, Mark Burrell, Gareth Lewis and Paul Jennings.

Mark Burrell was the big loser at the start but Docker and Sharman both got away cleanly and Docker soon started eking out a nice lead over the chasing pack. Aside form a number of position changes in the mid-field, it stayed pretty steady at the front with Docker pulling out a 4s lead over Sharman who was holding off Lewis for 2nd. Paul Jennings was a solid 4th at the flag ahead of Nick Portlock – returning after a long absence and fully recovered from his battle with cancer. He finished 5th and won the Super Heavyweight class.

Lightweight Clubman

There was rather a party atmosphere in the Lightweight Clubman sprint. Added to the usual Club100 camaraderie, the final race of the season looked like being a fun one.

Final 1 saw Darrel Boyle secure pole ahead of Tim Clark, Geoff Saunderson, Eddie Hall and Danny Hurlock.

Boyle was soon shuffled down the order and looked to be struggling. Clark took the lead but was passed by Saunderson, Hurlock and Hall on lap 2. Hall passed Hurlock 2laps later and he and Saunderson disappeared into the distance. Further back and Scott Martin climbed up to 3rd but was given a penalty for punting Glen Beard off. This promoted Tim Clark to 3rd behind Saunderson and Hall.

Final 2 and Saunderson was on pole ahead of Hall, Ross Britten, Shawn Hollingsworth and Danny Hurlock. Saunderson led away while Hall was pushed wide at turn 1 and dropped to 7th, retiring soon after with a broken exhaust after being assaulted by Carl Watt. Hollingsworth despatched Hurlock and Saunderson on lap 4 and held the lead until the chequered flag. Hurlock scored an impressive 2nd with Saunderson 3rd.

Lightweight

Stephanie Walters took pole position for the Lightweight sprint race. Lance Drummond was 2nd and Kristakis Sales, Niall Quinn and Alex Vincent rounded out the top 5. New champion Andrew Johnson was 8th.

Walters made the most of her pole to lead round the opening lap. Drummond paid the price for starting on the outside and dropped to 5th. Johnson was up to 6th by the end of lap 1 and 5th by the end of lap 2. Walters held the lead until lap 7 but an incident dropped her near the back. Johnson, already up to 3rd, took the initiative and forced his way into the lead, jumping Vincent in the process. He maintained this for the final few laps to take his 5th win of the season ahead of Niall Quinn and Ray Norris.