Club 2000 | Round 7 | 4 June 2022

redlodgekarting
Jun 17, 2022
6 min read

Club2000 returned to normality this round and it was a great day. With a larger number of entries than usual, the track was busy and there was no shortage of great racing. There was a threat of rain throughout the day, however it only sprinkled for a short amount of time, leaving the track dry for the most part.

Honda Cadet

Although there were a lot of entrants, the cadets were quite uniform this round. This isn't a bad thing by any means and it was due to the great quality of driving up and down the grid. The top three were in a league of their own with the trio not exchanging positions once for the entire day. Teddie Cooper (79) took away the fastest lap - a 46.395 in heat 3.

After a great last lap in qualifying, Lewis Riley (90) took his first Club2000 podium in the first heat without much pressure from behind. Nathan Gange (89) was on the second step and was putting pressure on Teddie (79) on occasion. He didn't manage to pass, though, so Teddie (79) took away maximum points, extending his championship lead.

Ethan Okoro's (34) pace has been steadily improving each month with Round 7 being his best performance so far. After starting the day in 7th, he made a couple of moves to take him up to 5th by the final. In the final, he had a good battle for 4th with Alfie Rich (27) and ultimately came out on top when he took the chequered flag.

Towards the back of the grid, novices Jack Neve (33) and Freddie Firmin (16) were racing each other quite closely. At some points, it was so close. In the final, the pair came together twice; Jack (33) partially climbed up Freddie (16) and soon after, the pair clashed and Jack (33) received a B/W warning.

Results

1st – Teddie Cooper (79)

2nd – Nathan Gange (89)

3rd – Lewis Riley (90)

4th – Ethan Okoro (34)

5th – Alfie Rich (27)

Clubman Results

1st – Archie-lee Bullock (14)

2nd – George Phillips (44)

3rd – Zachary Plumb (10)

4th - Harlie Cooper (82)

5th - Herbie Wiggins (58)

Minimax

We were pleased to see many of the drivers who attended the double-header had stayed with us for Round 7. Despite there just being four entrants (not including the Junior TKM who joined them) there was some great racing. With Will Rogers (53) not in attendance, Alex Chlebiej (7) took the lead in the championship after the weekend by 6 points.

Harry Clogger (72) had a good weekend overall despite a couple of setbacks. At the beginning of heat 3, his chain dropped but he still took pole in the final. On the first lap of the final, he spun on the first corner and dropped to the back. After passing Alex (7) around the Esses and pulling off a great switchback onto Will (66) out of Senna, he took the lead and stayed there until the end.

Results

1st – Harry Clogger (72)

2nd – Will Archer (66)

3rd – Alex Chlebiej (7)

4th - Ben Bourne (12)

Junior Rotax

Again, with Mojos in short supply, the tyre choice was quite open which mixed up the grid and promoted some great, close racing. Even when it began lightly raining, all the drivers kept it on the black stuff and coped well.

Jason Ducis (16) has improved a lot since he joined us in round 3 considering he took 2 wins and a close second this round. Jenson Weston (34) joined him towards the front and the pair had some proper close racing between them, especially in the second heat.

With a few first-corner spins throughout the day, some unfortunate drivers suffered while others stayed clear and gained a few free positions. Adam White (13) was one of these unfortunate drivers. He qualified pole and his hard work was thrown away when he was caught in a pileup around Senna in heat 1. Since then, he was constantly pushing towards the front, setting the fastest lap in each heat while doing so. In the end, despite the knockbacks, he took a well-fought third place.

Elliot Reed-hughes (95) was having a corker of a day, battling with the front runners until the third heat when he had contact with Seamus Cox (79) which dropped him to 10th. Despite starting 4th in the final, he seemed to have engine issues and unfortunately dropped to 12th when the chequered flag came out.

Results

1st – Jason Ducis (16)

2nd – Jenson Weston (34)

3rd – Adam White (13)

4th – Sam Cooper (44)

5th – Seamus Cox (79)

Junior Prokart

The Junior Prokart trio were back again this round with no special guests. Despite this, they had a decent day of racing. Oscar Coughlan (62) looked particularly quick on the starts throughout the day and, in retaliation, Rocky Clements (23) resorted to some strong defending when launching off the line. In heat 3, his defence slipped and Oscar (62) powered past to take second into the first corner. A couple of laps later, Rocky (23) defeated Oscar's (62) defence and took 2nd back with a nice move up the inside into Senna.

Results

1st – Alfie Campbell (40)

2nd – Rocky Clements (23)

3rd – Oscar Coughlan (62)

Senior Rotax

Despite some of the regulars not being in attendance this month, it was a great round. In each race, there was a different winner including Harry Canham (55) who joined us for the first time this year.

In the first heat, it was a messy start. Out of the 11, only two drivers kept their starting positions after the first lap. Charlie Flux (86) got tangled up and suffered the most - the contact dislodged his rear bumper and he was forced to come in after starting in 2nd.

Kieran Barber (34) had a great third heat and held second for a while. Coming into Senna, Harry (55) made a deep lunge to the inside and, as Kieran (34) took the outside line, the entire pack behind Harry (55) followed him through. He unfortunately lost 6 positions around one corner. Soon after, coming into Paddock, there was a big pileup between 3 drivers. With the red flags out, everyone was checked over and the results were called.

In the final, only 5 of the 11 drivers managed to finish the race! With over half of the grid having mechanical issues, we didn't see much of a race. Bryn Evans (77) and Harry (55) had a good battle for the lead, though. Coming into 180, Bryn (77) made a brave lunge but Harry (55) got a better exit and powered away ahead.

Results

1st – Harry Canham (55)

2nd – Bryn Evans (77)

3rd – Matt Davey (85)

4th – Charlie Flux (86)

5th – David Duncombe (46)

Senior Rotax 177

We had an 18 kart grid of 177s this round and, as expected, there was brilliant racing. We began the day with a spectacular start as everyone funnelled neatly into Senna. On the second lap, Trevor Palmer (36) got stuck into his monthly job of mowing the grass but unfortunately lost quite a few positions in doing so. Lloyd Bell (100) and Peter Smith (22) had a proper waft on. Peter (22) lead the way each lap and the pair found themselves in 5th and 6th by lap 5. After a few laps of close racing, Lloyd (100) lunged to the inside of Peter (22) into 180, surprising him and bashing wheels. Peter (22) unfortunately ran onto the grass and Lloyd (100) had a B/W given.

Despite a difficult start for Sol Patience (66) in the first heat, he impressively made his way from 14th to 6th in just 9 laps. In the second heat, he started 3rd and took the lead almost immediately. With Peter (22) then behind him, he began defending hard and managed to keep his 2nd place. A couple of laps later though, Lloyd (100) made a nice move around the Esses and took it from him. Stavros Athanasopoulos (55) had some great pace and passed 4 drivers within the first 2 laps.

In heat 3, coming into Senna, there was a pileup between Trevor (36), Stavros (55) and Richard Raymond (2). With the unlucky three dropped to the back, Aston Sharp (3) gained a whopping 8 positions on the first lap. Just a couple of laps later though, he retired from the race. There was a lot happening in this race so it was hard to single-handedly keep track!

The final was a lot calmer. Since Peter (22) had gone home, Sol (66) was promoted to 3rd for the start. He managed to pass George Friday (52) on the start and began defending well against him. On lap 6, George (52) passed and demoted Sol (66) to 3rd.