Forest Edge Race Report Southern Championships Day One Report by Nick Lomas Electronic data supplied courtesy of Alpha Timing Day one of the Southern Championships is for the first time incorporating the very popular format of timed qualifying, seeing the fastest take the top grid positions for pre-final. The grid for final being determined by the finishing place achieved in the pre-final. Some purists say this system stops pure racing, with the fastest having to come through the field, never the less, timed qualifying is a very exciting format to be involved in, normally only hundredths of a second separating a large number of competitors. IAME CADETS Timed qually saw Clayton Ravenscroft, Toby McDonald, Klaas Kooiker, Ben Wooldridge and Callum Bradshaw take the top spots, with only some three tenths of a second separating the top ten. Pre
As expected the pre-final saw the quickest taking the top spots. Wooldridge, Bradshaw, McDonald, Kooiker and Ravenscroft separated by 1.51 seconds. A strong drive from Brandon Lovell, grid twelve comes through to sixth. Nice to see strong contingent of novice plate drivers involved, namely Fairclough, Morgan, Rowledge, and Benge. Once again with the fastest starting at the front, the result was Wooldridge, Ravenscroft, Bradshaw, Kooiker and McDonald. These drivers finishing some 5.37 seconds ahead of sixth place Luke Francis, putting themselves in a great position for day two of the S.C. Honda Cadets Timed Qualifying Guy Cunnington, Ryan Taylor-Trueman, MatthewHerbert, Ruben Brown and Ben Burgess taking the top spots, however only 1 second covered the top nineteen competitors. Pre
Saw Cunnington, Herbert, Brown, Taylor-Trueman and Harry King from ninth on grid taking the top spots, some 3.97 seconds covering the top five. Lewis Foster, Blu Clarke and Zak Oates all having good drives on novice plates. Once again as expected the top spots taken by Cunnington some 2.3 seconds from second Brown, King, Herbert and Taylor- Trueman with only 3.37 seconds covering top five. MINI MAX Timed Qualifying Samuel Pooley, Tommy Foster, Bradley Barrett, Daniel Lamport and Olli Caldwell taking top spots, with only 0.9 seconds covering the top nineteen places. Pre The top spots taken by Pooley, Foster, Lamport, Harry Gooding and Jordan Collard. Gooding and Collard with great
drives from 6 th and 7 th grid positions. Jai Hadley having good drive with several competitors although still on novice plates. Pooley, Collard, Lamport, Foster and Luc Oliver taking the honours, some 8.07 seconds separating top five. JUNIOR MAX and JUNIOR X30 This class was looked forward to with particular interest, Ben Blick having dominated for some time, being chased down each meeting by Fletcher, Trueman and the return of Sam Stansbury having been very successful at Forest last year and racing very well this year at Shenny. We all waited the outcome with baited breath. Amongst the grid three junior X30 competitors in this emerging class. Timed Qualifying As expected the junior X30 s were faster than the junior max karts, with Philip Hanson, Alfie Brown and Josh Pickford finishing in close proximity covered by some two tenths.
The junior max class saw a great qualifying from Fletcher Trueman followed by Stansbury, Blick, Tom Knill and Mathew Humphries covered by only some three tenths. Pre The junior X30 saw Brown, Hanson and Pickford with some good quality racing. The junior max saw Stansbury, Blick, Humphries, Trueman and Jake Blackledge. This was a great effort from Blackledge who has not been racing much this season and has been absent from Forest for some time. The junior X30 result was the same as pre-final Brown, Hanson and Pickford. We look forward to this class building up in the future, although short on numbers excellent racing being had by all. Junior max saw Stansbury, Blick, Oli Ellis-Richardson from tenth on grid, Blackledge and Trueman. With a strong drive from James Reid on novice plates. 125 ROTAX
Timed Qualifying Myles Potter, Kieran Gifford, Daniel Dunham, Ben Hamlet and Jamie Drabble took the top spots, with only 0.99 seconds covering the top fifteen places in this highly competitive class. Pre Gifford, Hamlet, Nathan Harrison, Potter and Dunham taking top spots with 2.17 seconds covering the top five. Gifford, Harrison, Hamlet, Elliot Hall and Scott Wylie taking the top positions. Rotax 177 MAX and MASTERS Timed Qualifying In the 177 class Dominic Russell, Jonathan Drabble, Chris Wright, Oliver Smith and Andrew Cole took the top spots.
Masters saw the returning Matt Martin quickest from Paul Bell, Gary Anderson, Melvin Francis and Paul Cook. Pre 177 saw Drabble, Russell, Smith, Cole and Michael Kent taking the honours, whilst in masters Paul Bell, Martin, Richard Renshaw, Francis and Royston Byles taking top slots. 177 saw Russell, Cole, Michael Kent, Alex Rowley and Smith taking the coveted places whilst in masters it was Bell from Martin Francis, Christopher Wesemael and Wright. 125 GEARBOX Timed Qualifying Henry Easthope, James Glennister, Charlie Roberton, David Baldwin and Nick Jenkins were the pace setters with top novice Daniel Arlott setting a very credible time.
Pre Easthope, Glenister, Roberton, Baldwin and Arlott taking top places. Arlott being very impressive still on novice plates taking fifth in a very strong field. Once again the usual protagonists at the front Easthope, Glenister, Roberton, Baldwin and a fine drive from grid thirteen for Joe Sumner to finish fifth. Daniel Arlott with another strong drive in seventh place, once again top novice. 250 Gearbox Timed Qualifying Spencer Chappell, Roy Beal, Nigel Steed, Kenton Ashforth and Rob Randall were the pace setters. Pre Unfortunately with only four finishers, the honours went to Chappell, Ashforth, Steed and Randall.
Once again only four finishers saw Chappell, Steed, Ashley Goodliffe and Randall cross the line. Sunday 1 st June ROUND FOUR FEKC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP INCORPORATING DAY TWO OF THE SOUTHERN CHAMPIONSHIPS. Day two would see a return to the traditional format of heats and a final, with those S.C. competitors who had not done so well in the timed qualifying phase of Saturday hoping for a good improvement in grid position for the Sunday finals. IAME CADETS Heat One Callum Bradshaw, Klass Kooiker, Ben Wooldridge, Toby McDonald and Brandon Lovell took the honours, with a strong drive from Deagan Fairclough being top novice. Heat Two Callum Hague, Wooldridge, Harry Foster, Kooiker and Bradshaw taking top places, fastest novice Zak Rowledge. Heat Three
Clayton Ravenscroft, McDonald, Bradshaw, Wooldridge and Foster taking top places with Fairclough taking top novice spot. Bradshaw, Foster, Lovell, McDonald and Kooiker taking top spots. Fairclough taking top novice. Honda Cadets Heat One Harry King, Tom Law, Charlie Knight, Brody Trayhorn and Alexander Page take top spots with Lewis Foster taking fastest novice, Heat Two Guy Cunnington, Jake Cranstone, Tom Law, Ethan Perry and Ruben Brown in the top spots with Blu Clarke in top novice positions. Heat Three Mathew Herbert, Alex Eades, Harry King, Ryan Taylor- Trueman and Charlie Knight taking top spots with Blu Clarke taking top novice. Heat Four
Brown, Taylor-Trueman, Ben Burgess, Cunnington and Mathew Herbert taking top spots, with Lewis Foster taking best novice place. With a very large competitive grid, having had four heats, it was anyone s guess who would come out on top, with some outstanding performances from several of the top drivers. Cunnington, Taylor-Trueman, Herbert, Brown and King was the final result of this spectacular performance of the up and coming drivers. MINI MAX Heat One Samuel Pooley, Luc Oliver, Harry Gooding, Tommy Foster and Mason Ruff taking top spots. Jai Hadley best novice. Heat Two Ethan Haynes, Jenson Brown, Olli Caldwell and Oliver taking top spots. Jai Hadley best novice. Heat Three Collard, Oliver, Pooley, Caldwell and Jenson Brown taking the top spots with Jai Hadley top novice.
Junior Rotax and Junior X30 Heat One Junior X30 saw Alfie, Josh Pickford and Philip Hanson taking the top spots. Whilst junior max saw Ben Blick, Olie Ellis- Richardson, Sam Stansbury, Ryan Luscombe and Mathew Humphries taking the top spots. Unfortunately the only novice - James Reid had a DNF. Heat Two The junior X30 saw only two finishers Pickford taking win from Hanson, the junior max saw Fletcher Trueman taking win and fastest lap. Stansbury, Blick, Jake Blackledge and Tom Knill filling the rest of the top spots. James Reid taking top novice. Heat Three Heat three saw the junior x30 boys come in Brown, Pickford, Hanson. Whilst junior max saw Stansbury, Dominic Shepherd, Lawrence Boyington, Jake Blackledge and Blick filling top spots.
The X30 finished with Brown taking win over Hanson and Pickford with a great demonstration of race-craft, in this exciting new formula. The junior max grid finished, with Stansbury coming out on top, from Blick, Trueman, Blackledge and Shepherd. Best novice being James Reid. 125 ROTAX Heat One Heat one saw Daniel Dunham, Myles Potter, Tyler Weedon, Taylor Adams and Nathan Harrison taking top spots. Fastest lap going to Potter. Heat Two Kieran Gifford took win from Ben Hamlet, Jamie Drabble, Nathan Harrison and Scott Wylie. Fastest lap going to Dunham Heat Three Gifford, Elliot Hall, Potter, Hamlet and Dunham taking top spots. Once again Dunham taking fastest lap. Gifford takes win with fastest lap, from Dunham, Potter, Harrison and Hamlet. Rotax 177 and Masters
Heat One The 177 class saw Oliver Smith, Buster Mepham, Joe Jessup, Michael Kent and Scott Clee taking top spots with Matt Martin, Melvin Francis, Mark Smith, Mark Redding and Richard Renshaw taking the top spots in masters. Colin Kent best novice. Heat Two The 177 class saw Matt Barnes, Chris Wright, Ben Slater, Christopher Wesemael and Alex Rowley taking the honours. Heat Three 177 class saw Jonathan Drabble, Michael Kent, Wright, Wesemael and Scott Clee in the top positions. Masters saw Mark Redding, Rob Roddy, Royston Byles, Chris Hartridge and Melvin Francis taking top spots. Heat Four The 177 class saw Dominic, Andrew Cole, Oliver Smith, Matt Barnes and Buster Mepham in the top spots. Masters saw Paul Cook, Gary Anderson, Mark Argent, Richard Renshaw and Royston Byles taking the honours.
In this hotly contested class, there were numerous drivers who could come out on top and shine in the final. 177 saw Oliver Smith, Jonathan Drabble, Chris Wright, Michael Kent and Matt Barnes taking the honours. In the masters we saw Rob Roddy, Melvin Francis, Matt Martin, Paul Bell and Gary Anderson taking the top spots. The best novice going to Keith Hebard. 125 GEARBOX Heat One Heat one saw Henry Easthope, Charlie Roberton, James Glenister, David Baldwin and Nick Jenkins in the top spots. Best novice going to Simon Kierstan. Heat Two Heat two saw Easthope, Glenister, Roberton, Baldwin and Jenkins in the top spots. Best novice going to Daniel Arlott. Heat Three Heat three saw Glenister, Easthope, Baldwin, Roberton and Joe Sumner taking the spoils. Daniel Arlott taking best novice once again.
The final saw Glenister, Easthope, Nick Jenkins and Steven Handford victorious, whilst Daniel Arlott completed a fine weekend being fastest novice. 250 GEARBOX Heat One In this small but very competitive field, we saw Spencer Chappell, Ray Thomas, Ashley, Roy Beal and Nigel Steed taking the honours, although it was unfortunate to have four DNF s in this heat. Heat Two Chappell once again took heat two from Thomas Steed, Beal and Kenton Ashforth, with three DNF s Heat Three Thomas demoted Chappell to second with Christopher Morris, Steed and Mathew Duncan in the top slots. The final saw Chappell once again from Thomas, Steed, Roy Beal and Rob Randall.
This saw a conclusion to the race proceedings. Drivers, mechanics, helpers, officials and spectators alike now had to wait, whilst THE SWORD OF DAMACLESE final points were tallied to see which driver in each class would take the coveted and well sort after S.C. plate. Forest Edge its committee, members, helpers, the MSA, marshalls and spectators, once again made this prestigious event a great success. The competitors delivered extremely high standards of driving at this event which is seen as one of the most supported and valued meetings on the UK karting calendar. A great big thank you from the club to all concerned. Without a great number giving up your free time to make this event not just happen, but improve year on year. A special thank you to all the drivers, helpers, parents etc. from other clubs, who make the event extra special. You must now look to FEKC website to see the proud owners of the 2014 S.C. plate. Thank you all.