NKRA Championship, Penultimate Regional Round, with Giles, Read & Quirke victorious.
The threatened showers never materialised and the racers competing in the penultimate round of the NKRA Regional Championships, which incorporates the BLUE Challenge, enjoyed fierce competition in the dry conditions.
Devon Giles, only just old enough to compete in the Cadet Honda class took an unopposed win.
Rhys Read and Sam Mitchell fought it out right up to the flag in the Junior BLUE class, with the lead in the Final changing several times. It was Read, however, who emerged victorious from Mitchell with Jamie Bradfield coming in a strong 3rd.
In the senior section of the BLUE classes, the absence of Joey Foster ( work) and Dave Watts ( Wedding) completely changed the complexion of the competition. Add to that ‘Reed’ issues experienced by Anth Cleal in the final, which opened up the race. The grid for the final read Cleal on Pole with Mike Bell opposite. Kieron Quirke and Sylvain Vessier took up row 2, with Steve Groves and Robin Stoddart-Stones directly behind. From the lights, it was Cleal followed by Vessier, Bell, Quirke and a rapid starting Tom Parker. Two laps in and a broken ‘reed petal’ removed Cleal from the fight at the front and he slipped back to thirteenth spot. Bell immediately took the lead followed by Quirke and Parker. These four swapped positions over the next laps until lap ten when Quirke made it to the front. A place he held to the flag, despite the consistent attention Bell and Parker. The three finished the race covered by a blanket of under 1 second ! Only two seconds behind, Dave Waldron had a fantastic result waiting to pick up the pieces if it all went ‘wrong’ directly in front of him. Vessier finished 4th but was immediately given a 5-second penalty afterward, for contact during the race. This demoted him to 8th position. Two notable drives came from Chris Lord, who finished 9th from a 16th grid place and Harry Smithson who came home 10th from a 15th start. As a consequence of the absentees and race result, Cleal moves back into the Championship lead with Bell in 2nd and Quirke in 3rd. Parker and Vessier make up the top five.
In the Master sub-class, it was Waldron who took the overall win from Cleal and Stoddart-Stones. Cleal maintains his lead in the Championship from Nigel Vickery and Paul Alexander.
The Blue Legend section was taken by Stoddart-Stones, scoring a light-to-flag win from O’Neill, on 5 points. Chris Underhill finished directly behind, with 6 points. It is Underhill, however, who extends his lead over Lord and Stoddart-Stones.
The revelation of 2022, Tom Parker, recorded a 0 points victory in Blue Top Weight, from Ron Shone and Mark Cook. Parker extends his lead in the Championship, with Ben Joseph and Phil Shears in second and third respectively.
The Regional Championship comes to a close next weekend (10th July) at the Clay Pigeon Raceway. With the difficulties that a ‘back-to-back’ set of race meetings brings, racers, especially those capable of finishing the Championship in the top 20, will be preparing and double-checking everything. For some, who may be practicing on the Friday prior to the race day, there is only a four-day turnaround.
The NKRA wishes everyone, on the 30th year anniversary, the best of luck at the forthcoming ‘Final Regional Round’, at Clay Pigeon on July 10th. See you all there!
For more information and up-date points please go to the results page on www.planetkarting.uk website or CLICK HERE