COVKARTSPORT . . .
The Established Low-Cost Steppingstone Into Motorsport Founded In 1996
The full Ancaster circuit hosted the final round of the 2009 Covkartsport championship with all the championships still up for anyone to stake their claim for. A large amount of guest drivers also joined at this round to stir up the action and might be showing their hand ready for the 2010 season.
Junior Winners: Connor Hambleton, (2nd) Jack Macaulay (Junior Winner) and Jack Wallace (3rd)
JUNIOR:
With 19 drivers entering the junior class for the final round, it meant that all the drivers would be racing each other at once. This meant that one bad race and you could be scoring single figure points, which is what the championship contenders would not want. 2009 Welsh open champion (joint) Connor Hambleton returned before his move to cars next season and did not disappoint. He produced three strong drives to take second overall and finishing his karting on a high. Our best wishes are past on to him and we hope to see him do well next season. Back to the races and the top novice battle was very close with both Ben Davis and Josh Butcher being equal on points going into Ancaster. Both drivers had their dramas during the day and Ben Davis managed to win the second race in dominant style. As it turned out, as the rest of the season had, Davis and Butcher finished the day with the same amount of points so it went down to what scores the drivers would drop. As it turned out, there was only three points between them on dropped scores but this was enough by Josh Butcher, who has now claimed the junior novice title in 2009. Ben Davis was a worthy contender for the crown but unfortunately he had to settle for a very strong second place. Jack Wallace made sure of his second in the championship with a third overall at Ancaster but he was yet again beaten by Luton based Jack Macaulay. Macaulay has been quick since the word go and has won half of his races this season (without counting Red Lodge).
He has also taken the most ‘fastest laps’ in the club with a total of ten out of 18 races.
The final race victory of the season went to the new junior plus champion Ciaran MacDonald. This gave him fourth on the day, just missing out on a podium but ends what has been a great season on a high. The rest of the top ten were Mark Wylie-Mackay in seventh, Luke Doig in eighth, Kaine Boswell in ninth and tenth went to Chris Steele. All these names have been strong contenders this year and have all finished in the top ten in the junior class. Other names of note from this year’s championship are Michael Anthony and Jaime Taylor, who have finished 3rd and 4th in the junior novice championship, and Chris McCarthy, who was always there or there about in the results.
Lightweight Winners: John Stanton (2nd) and Winner Gary Jones.
LIGHTWEIGHT:
The lightweight class has been very competitive all season and the final round at Ancaster was no different. Gary Jones stormed to victory with three second places and a very consistent weekend. He also took the fastest lap of the day in the class and was only one of two people get below the 66 second barrier, the other driver being guest Darelle Wilson. Second overall went to John Stanton, who has been quick all season and lead the Lightweight plus championship from start to finish. Another two wins at Ancaster meant he has matched Jack Macaulay in winning nine out of his 18 races. Third and the final place on the podium was claimed by Stuart Bickley. He put in a flying final race to win the last race of the year, which helped him claim the “driver of the day”. 2008 junior champion Ash Carter put in a great drive in the final race to come from the back of the field to 3rd which helped him to 4th overall and to finish a tough season on a high. Chris Angus had his best result of the season with 6th place. This meant he finished as top novice in a good first season that saw his break through victory in the Welsh open meeting at GYG. Graham Wallace wrapped up the lightweight title by one point from Gary Jones and David Whitehouse raced well and claimed 9th overall, which helped him overtake Kieran Rochell to 4th in Lightweight plus. Adam Wheeldon took tenth, which helped him finish just behind Jones and Wallace for his best Covkartsport season since his debut. Stuart Corr and Daran Pazzaglia took second and third in the lightweight plus class and the only other driver to win a race in the day was former heavyweight champion Steve Smelt, who returned to the series.
Heavyweight Winners: Derek Yates (2nd) Vince Cogzell, (Winner) and Peter Horsley. (3rd)
HEAVYWEIGHT
17 drivers arrived at Ancaster looking to win the final three heavyweight heats for the year. All the drivers would be on the grid so only three lots of 20 points were on offer. The first victory was taken by guest driver Dean Davis, who has shown good speed to be a contender if he enters the championship next year. The other two heats went to two of the quickest men this year, Vince Cogzell and Peter Horsley. These two men were also battling for the championship as they arrived. With both taking a win each, the other result would decide the title. The title and the round victory went to Vince Cogzell. This is Vince’s fifth title in the heavyweight class. Derek Yates returned after missing the Rye House round to claimed second with Peter Horsley finishing third to take second in the championship. Richard Middleton finished third in the championship after a strong season and Shaun Jobson just missed out on the heavyweight plus title to Frazer Edge. Peter Realf (8th in class) and Paul Miles (6th in class) took seventh and eighth and Ian Patrick won the heavyweight novice title ahead of Peter Mason. Absent Championship organiser Nick Stanley finished 9th in the class even though he missed two rounds and we all wish him a speedy recovery and will be looking forward to seeing him back on track when he is better.
Race Reports: DAVID WHITEHOUSE.
Photographs: PETER REALF PHOTOGRAPHY.
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Round 6: Rye House Kart Raceway,
JUNIOR CLASS
With the championship being so close in the junior class, this round gave one of the top few drivers to pull a small points lead for Ancaster. This turned out to be local driver and current championship leader, Jack Macaulay. The Luton based driver managed to take two heat wins and a sixth place on his way to overall victory in the event. He also managed to take fastest lap to complete a near perfect day, where the only slip up was a quick 180 degree spin when avoiding an already spun driver. It was also a good day for Luke Doig, who took a win on his way to second on the day. His good day, and fifth overall for Jack Wallace, meant that the championship is well placed for Ancaster. Macaulay leads Wallace (on drop scores) by six points with Doig only one further back. Chris McCarthy took third overall and Ciaran MacDonald claimed a strong fourth overall to continue his strong season. James Spreadbury took sixth and seventh went to the Josh Butcher, who closed up on Ben Davis in the battle for top novice. These two drivers are now equal on points going into the final three races. Boswell and Jamie Taylor rounded out the top ten and each scored good points but it is Macaulay, Wallace and Doig who everyone will have their eyes on as they all go for the 2009 junior title.
LIGHTWEIGHT CLASS
A field of 21 drivers came to stake their claim for the Rye House lightweight title. Championship leader John Stanton kept his consistent points scoring going but not well enough as Graham Wallace took overall victory with one heat win and two seconds. Gary Jones scored an overall second place with two heat wins and Adam Wheeldon kept up his strong scoring rate with third. Dermot Lehane missed out on beating Wheeldon but lost out on fastest lap and Daran Pazzaglia claimed a heat win on the way to fifth, which is his best result since moving into the lightweight class. Stuart Corr kept the pressure on Stanton for the lightweight plus title by driving to another good result in sixth overall. Winter champion Ashley Carter scored only his second win of the season, his first being in the first race of the season and Ryan Carney continued his improvement with another top ten position. Ian West made his first appearance since round one and broke into the top ten with some good results in his three races with Mike Weygang and John Stanton finishing a point apart in tenth and eleventh.
These results mean that any one of six drivers could realistic win the title at Ancaster. None of these six may win the final round as this class has probably been the most competitive all year. Any driver could win and that could have an effect on the championship.
HEAVYWEIGHT CLASS
A first overall victory of the season went to Robert Jobson, who was also nominated as “Driver of the day” by the Covkartsport team. This moved Robert up into third in the championship and gave him the chance to win the title at Ancaster. Richard Middleton claimed second overall (two heat wins), which adds another trophy to his growing collection this season and championship leader Vince Cogzell took third, who also won two heats. Peter Realf juggled running the day and racing well to take a strong points haul followed by Peter Horsely, who is the closest contender to Cogzell in the championship. Shaun Jobson kept both family members inside the top seven with Dave Bickley, Frazer Edge and guest driver Dean Davis rounding out the top ten.
Vince Cogzell is taking a strong eight point lead of Horsely into Ancaster and is favorite for the title, but with Robert Jobson and Rich Middleton and Paul Miles within twenty points of lead, anyone could win and even contest for the 2009 Covkartsport Overall title.
The final round is at the Ancaster circuit on the 15th November where the 2009 champions will be crowned.
As the series returned to Glan-y-gors Park after the summer break, the regulars were joined by a number of guests and former champions to compete for Welsh Open title and the chance to lift the silver "Welsh Dragon" Trophy. Ryan Lindsay and Paul Cox have won the overall title between them three times in the history of the series. A dry day with high overcast cloud created almost perfect racing conditions.
Junior Class :
But no-one could beat the two guest drivers, Lewis Jones and Connor Hambleton. Jones took three seconds out of his races to show good control and to take advantage of others’ mistakes, whereas Hambleton claimed the junior open title with three wins out of three and maximum points.
In the championship, Luke Doig closed down Macaulay and Wallace so that they are all covered by one point with Ben Davis top novice in fourth. Junior plus leader is Ciaran Mcdonald in sixth overall. Well done to Michael Anthony for claiming his first win with Covkartsport.
After missing a couple of rounds earlier in the season, James Taylor won another race after “losing” two wins at the voided Red Lodge round. Just think where he could have been if he had not missed those two rounds? Taylor managed to claim second overall with Gary Jones successfully taking the last step on the podium but the day belonged to returnee Ryan Lindsay, who won two races and gained a very close second, to take first place in his first round since claiming the title at Sutton last year.
It was the day for past champions as Paul Cox took the lightweight plus podium, with David Whitehouse in a season’s best in second. Carney took third after his race win and Daran Pazzaglia fought well in his first races in this class, after dropping down a weight category.
With two rounds left, a race win covers the first six drivers in the championship with any of them looking like champions. Will it be the consistent Adam Wheeldon, Stuart Corr or Graham Wallace, the experience of Bob Moss or the flamboyant style of Gary Jones who can close down John Stanton at the top of the table?
Ryan Lindsay also proved to be the fastest & most consistent driver in all three classes on the day achieving a 53.33 in his last race, his other two races included a 53.38 & 53.36.
Senior Heavyweight Class :
The Junior Class races were very competitive but again the main names stood out from the crowd. Jack Macaulay, Jack Wallace and Ben Davis were all near the front again but with such close racing, other drivers also produced good drives. Luke Doig kept up his consistent season with another large tally of points, the same for Chris Steele and Chris McCarthy. Ciaran McDonald and Kaine Boswell kept up their strong battle for the junior plus title, with some close battles. It was also good to see that many of our less-experienced Juniors are now driving really well: William and Michael Anthony, Aaron and Adam Naraido, Simon Patrick and Mark Wylie-Mackay to name but a few!
The Senior Lightweight Class lived up to the rest of the season so far with yet another front runner, James Taylor, who had missed Hooton and GYG, returning to the series to run at the front of the field all day. Graham Wallace ran well until his final race of the day, where he suffered off the line from second, and ended up in a tough fight with Adam Wheeldon and David Whitehouse. Ash Carter and Gary Jones kept their strong results rolling with good drives, while Stuart Lindsay was unlucky to injure his hand while going off the track to avoid a spinning kart. This prevented him from competing for the rest of the day but will be hoping to return at the Welsh Open in September.
The Senior Heavyweight Class was a tough class to call at the start of the day but Peter Fowler produced three clean and competitive drives to claim the “Driver-of-the-Day” award from our Race-Day Committee. Frazer Edge and Rich Middleton drove well all day along with Daran Pazzaglia and Vince Cogzell. The first heavyweight race produced a great race-long scrap between Steve Thornton and Derek Yates whilst Peter Realf and Paul Miles produced a superb clean battle in the final race of the day, with both drivers showing strong respect for each other. Shaun Jobson won this race with Nick Stanley in 2nd from 5th on the grid although some thought that Nick’s defensive driving was too strong with Peter Horsley unable to get by.
On a day where championship leaders could have taken chances to sprint away, our Race-Day-Committee gave out a few penalties to drivers for different reasons. This is something that is taken seriously in the series to try and produce good, clean racing. Unfortunately, after the results were calculated at the end of the event, it became noticeable that there had been a technical fault with the computer, with random positions being accorded to some drivers throughout the event. This was due to a problem inside the circuit’s own computer/timing system and, as it was producing random errors, it could not be corrected. After much discussion between the organizers and the circuit it was decided that the results would, unfortunately, have to be voided! So the points from these 3 races will not be counted towards Championship totals. However, all drivers will keep their attendance points from this round and those few points could make all of the difference at the end of the season!
Make sure that you book your place, in advance, for our next round (5) as it is also our “Welsh Open Championship” event on 27th September. Have a good summer break folks!
Report by COVKARTSPORT Race Reporter: David Whitehouse.
REPORT:
Click here for Martin Stone's Digital Video slant on this event
The fast Hooton Park track hosted the third round of the Covkartsport championship with mixed weather during the day. There was yet another good entry of nearly 70 drivers. With such a close championship, every driver felt they were in with a chance of winning the round.
SENIOR LIGHTWEIGHT PODIUM (above): Adam Wheeldon, John Stanton & Ashley Carter.
JUNIOR CLASS:
All the drivers arrived at Hooton Park to try and take the victory in the junior class. Jack Macaulay and Jack Wallace lead the way again with the experienced Wallace pipping Macaulay to overall victory though Macauley did take fastest lap in class with a really hot 45.640 seconds. Ben Davis managed to equal Macaulay's points total by being the only driver to take two heat wins but lost out on second due to a slower lap time. This result leaves all three drivers equal at the top of the championship table. Luke Doig kept up his good form to take 4th place with dark horse, Chris Steele, taking a victory in his final heat to move himself up to 6th in the championship despite having missed a round. The other driver to score one win on the day was Josh Butcher, whose first race restricted his final position to 8th overall. Ciaran Mcdonald and Michael Antony produced good drives on their way to 6th and 7th respectively, which allowed Mcdonald to leap over Kaine Boswell in the battle for second in junior plus. With only 16 drivers attending the Hooton Park event, which could be due to the British GP being on, it gave other drivers a chance to shine but the main championship contenders shone through and will be fancying themselves at Red Lodge in three weeks time.
SENIOR LIGHTWEIGHT:
John Stanton took two clear heat victories to become the overall winner at Hooton Park. Adam Wheeldon moved up to third in the championship with second overall, just ahead of reigning overall champion Ash Carter. Graham Wallace drove well in the wet and just missed out on the podium by credit of a slower lap but added two more wins to his season total. Novice driver Jackson Willett finished fifth and claimed the fastest lap of the day in the process with a stunning 45.270. He was justifiably awarded the 'Driver-of-the-Day' trophy on only his second appearance in the series. Other heat wins went to Gary Jones (6th Overall), series returnee Stuart Bickley (7th) and Stuart Lindsay (17th). Former championship leader Bob Moss finished down in 15th but stays in the top four in the championship and with a long way to go, he can never be counted out. Stuart Corr and Ryan Carney both produced good drives to creep into the top ten overall and will be hoping to continue their strong form to Red Lodge, but it's Stanton and Wallace that lead the way heading to Suffolk for round four.
SENIOR HEAVYWEIGHT:
Four-time Covkartsport champion Vince Cogzell claimed the top spot in the heavyweight class. He took advantage in a wet first race to pull away from the field and never looked back. A first and a second later in the day confirmed his victory. Second, and only on lap time, went to Peter Horsley. This moves Horsley up to fourth in the title race. Third went to Rich Middleton for the second event in succession. Richard also took the fastest lap for the heavyweights with a lap of 46.380seconds. Fourth went to championship leader Kieran Rochell, who is now joined at the top by Cogzell. Robert Jobson took a superb fifth overall with Peter Fowler, returning after a round away, was sixth. The other heat victory was taken by Derek Yates, who suffered in the rain in his first heat but fired back with a 1st and a 2nd to finish eighth overall. Nick Stanley, Paul Miles and top Heavyweight plus driver Frazer Edge rounded out the top 10. Championship contender Daran Pazzaglia finished in 20th place but he was not helped by a non-finish due to a broken track-rod in his first race!
*The next round is Round 4 at Red Lodge N'r Bury St Edmunds
By COVKARTSPORT Race-Reporter: David Whitehouse.
Photos by Peter Realf Photography.
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REPORT:
Above: Circuit owner, Tracey Davies (on left) together with our winners and Driver-of-the-Day Ben Davis (centre) shaking hands with former COVKARTSPORT multiple Champion, Honorary Life Member and Formula-4 driver Paul Cox who kindly presented the winning trophies. All photo's at R2 by Nick Stanley.
Jack Macaulay and Jack Wallace both showed their hands by coming away from the previous round with three victories each. The rest of the field was looking at ending this run at Glan-y-gors. Winter series champion Macaulay managed to take an overall victory, even after getting pushed into second in his final race, to make it 5 wins from 6 races. Luke Doig took a strong second to match his point score from round one with Chris Steele taking two victories on his way to third overall. Top novice was Josh Butcher, who managed to finish 4th after taking his first win of the season. Other victories were claimed by "Driver Of The Day" Ben Davis (2) and Adam Watkins with Wallace taking 6th overall. Chris McCarthy and Kaine Boswell scored solid points to keep their championship charges going.
This puts Macaulay in the lead of the championship, after only dropping one point all season and Wallace keeping 2nd ahead of Doig. Top novice is Josh Butcher in 4th and McCarthy, Boswell, Ciaran Mcdonald and Davis keeping the heat on as the racers move on to Hooton.
SENIOR LIGHTWEIGHT:
Experience continued to be key to this years’ series with championship leader John Stanton continuing his stunning form to take two more wins at Glan-y-gors. Unluckily for him, it was only good enough for 4th overall on the day. Victory went to the most experienced driver in the field, Bob Moss. With one win out of the three, it was consistency which helped. Second place went to Stuart Corr, who managed to take three second places from his three races. Stuart Lindsay managed to shake off his bad luck to take third with all the top three scoring the same amount of points. Only their best laps split the three of them. Adam Wheeldon produced strong races to stay near the top of the championship with Mike Weygang taking two victories on his way to 6th. Other wins went to Graham Wallace, Dermot Lehane and novice Jackson Willett. Strong drives gave Shane Anderson 11th and Brian Taylor 9th.
With such a close championship this year, Stanton’s 4th on the day drops him to 2nd in the title race, but still leading the lightweight plus class. Graham Wallace is in 3rd with the two Stuart’s, Corr and Lindsay, closing the gap. Wheeldon is 6th after a strong start to the season with Gary Jones dropping to 7th. Top novice is Shane Anderson in 10th but it is Bob Moss who takes the championship lead to Hooton but with such a strong field, will we have yet another new leader after the next round?
SENIOR HEAVYWEIGHT:
With front runner Peter Fowler not attending in Wales, it was up to someone else to challenge Daran Pazzaglia’s lead in the championship. Kieran Rochell certainly managed this by taking three wins on the day, the only driver to do so although he is now dangerously close to having to drop into the Senior Lightweight Class! Former winter champion Vince Cogzell also staked his claim for the title lead with two victories, which gave him second overall on the day. Richard Middleton had his best performance of the season to finish third, whereas Daran had to settle for fourth with three strong drives. Paul Miles was strong all day but was pipped to fifth by Nick Stanley, who took his first victory of the season whilst not in the best of health. Local driver Derek Yates may have expected more from the day but can be pleased to improve on his Sutton score, keeping himself in a strong title position and at the top of the “Fastest Laps” table. Peter Horsley took a victory on the way to eighth and Frazer Edge was the best Heavyweight Plus driver in ninth. Click here to see Martin Stone's On-board Video of one of the heavyweight races: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgFhYDL1pzI
FASTEST LAPS:
The fastest drivers of the day in each class were, in the Juniors Chris Steele managed a 42.410, only a fraction slower than that with a super quick 42.700 was Senior Heavyweight driver Kieran Rochell but taking the fastest lap of the day was Senior Lightweight, John Stanton, who managed a brilliantly quick time of 42.140!!
With all the championships so close, Hooton might be a point where one driver will stamp their authority on the title race, or will more drivers close and make this the most exciting championship in years?
The next round is Round 3 at Hooton Park N'r Elesmere Port, Cheshire
By COVKARTSPORT Race-Reporter: David Whitehouse.
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REPORT:
Photos: Peter Realf Photography.
Perfect weather greeted the drivers and spectators as they arrived at Sutton Circuit, Leicestershire for the first round with the winter series drivers hoping to hold off the newcomers and returnees alike. Jack Macaulay, Peter Fowler and Ashley Carter were all looking to keep up their strong performances from the winter racing, where they became champions of each of the classes, but with 66 drivers overall signing on in the morning, the fields would be large and competitive.
JUNIORS:
The juniors were the first group up with a wide spread of novices and experienced racers lining up on the grids and producing clean and exciting races. With 6 of last years top-10 progressing into MSA racing (with their own karts) and not returning to the junior grid, the field was wide open. On a day when no-one dominated in the other classes, Jack Macaulay and Jack Wallace displayed their skills in all three of their races by scoring the full 60 championship points each. Chris McCarthy returned to take one victory and two second places to get his championship off to a good start with Luke Doig also doing the same on his summer series debut. 2008 top junior novice, Rachel Jenkins, produced a great start to her season by taking her first ever COVKARTSPORT victory in dominant style also achieving the day’s fastest and second-fastest laps for the junior drivers. Kaine Boswell and Josh Butcher looked promising with two podiums on their way to being the top novices in the junior class but received some stiff competition from Harrison Jones and Jake Domleo, in a 4-kart battle which could continue throughout the season. James Spreadbury returned to the series with a solid run but it was Wallace and Macaulay who started their seasons the strongest and will be the ones to catch in
LIGHTWEIGHT:
2009 winter champion Ash Carter arrived at Sutton looking to retain the overall title he won last summer but faced some strong competition in the lightweight class. With eight different winners, this season looks to be even more open than last season. Series returnee Danny Henney put in strong performances to build up to a victory at the end of the day and the same can be said of debutant, Gary Jones, who managed to creep ahead of Henney by one point. Shane Anderson and Stuart Corr scored some good points, with
HEAVYWEIGHT:
A strong field turned up for the heavyweight races with three former champions in the field. Four times champion Vince Cogzell managed a victory on his return and Nick Stanley claimed two podiums. The final former champion, Peter Realf managed a victory in the last race of the day after suffering earlier. Stanley might have caught Daran Pazzaglia in the opening race of the day but made a move on Kieran Rochell where he nudged Rochell’s kart a bit too strongly overtaking him at the in-field hairpin. Even though both drivers continued on track with no real loss of impetus,
DRIVER-OF-THE-DAY.
There were some exceptional performances at Round 1 and the shortlist was whittled down to Bob Moss, John Stanton, Daran Pazzaglia, Rachel Jenkins, Jack Wallace and Jack Macauley and we were unable to decide at the track. However, in our post-race de-briefings it became apparent that, because of her excellent improvement, young Rachel Jenkins was the unanimous and popular decision. Rachel will be presented with her trophy at the start of Round 2.
For the most part the racing was competitive, fast and to a very high standard with the Juniors being exemplary. However, the 3-man Race Day Committee had to impose several penalties in the Senior Classes for both weaving and avoidable contact. These penalties ranged from three 1-point deductions for isolated offences to two 10-second (5-place) demotions. The organisers felt that these penalties were appropriate and that no disqualifications were necessary although they wished me to relay the following statement:
“The organisers are very aware that COVKARTSPORT is reliant, for its survival, upon the excellent support of the rank and file membership – the vast majority of whom pay for good clean enjoyable racing. We will therefore always impose penalties upon individuals for unfair driving, in the case of witnessed incidents, in order to protect our core-membership. Our racing standards are generally good but we need to actively protect where we are able to do so".
The next round is GYG in
Press this link: NEXT EVENT for details.
By COVKARTSPORT Race-Reporter: David Whitehouse.
