BELL WINS BIG AT CLAY PIGEON
Mike Bell took full advantage of issues shared by the other front runners in order to clean up at round 4 of the NKRA Formula BLUE Challenge on 5th July 2026. Joey Foster, Stuart Gray and Leanne McShane were away at the British Formula One Grande Prix at Silverstone, gambling on their drop options being sufficient to keep that at the front. Bell had other ideas ! He turned in a near flawless day achieving both Pole position and the race win. James Dawkins , having won 2 heats, would have been in the mix, but endured engine issues in the Final. Tom Parker would equally have scored well but suffered a puncture just a couple of laps from the end of the race. Phil Waters experienced carb issues in the Final and limped home to finish a credible 6th. Hot on Bells’ heels was new boy Jeff Elliss, these two were well clear of the pack when the chequered flag was waved ! Nigel Vickery drove extremely well to secure both 3rd on the track and 3rd on the days’ totals. Hannah Dawkins drove equally well, sitting in 4th, when she, in turn, fell foul of engine gremlins. In the end, Bell won with a minimum ‘clean sweep’ of zero points, followed by Jeff Elliss on 4 points. Vickery came 3rd with 8 points followed by Tom Parker on 10 points. Equal 5th were James Dawkins, Ron Shone and Phil Waters on 13 points apiece.
In the Challenge itself, Bell now leads with 19 points. Gray sits in 2nd place on 22 points with Vickery in 3rd on 29 points. Waters and Foster take up 4th & 5th on 32 points with Waters having the better drop option.
In the BLUE Master sub-class, Bell wins with Zero points, Vickery 2nd with 6 points, Parker 3rd with 8 points followed by Shone, Waters & James Dawkins on 10 points each . Gray maintains his overall lead on 16 points with Bell in 2nd close behind on 18 points. Vickery moves up to 3rd on 26 points, waters slips to 4th with 28 points and Foster brings up the top 5 on 30 points.
Vickery achieves minimum points in the Veteran sub-section with Shone finishing 2nd on 4 points, Mark Elliss 3rd on 5 points & Graham Joseph 4th on 9 points. Gray maintains, by virtue of using up his drop option, the series lead on 4 points with Vickery in 2nd spot on 8 points. Shone maintains his slender advantage over Mark Ellis for 3rd & 4th respectively. Graham Joseph brings up the top five.
In the Legend sub-group, Shone scored a minimum zero points win from Mark Elliss & Joseph. It is Gray, however, who maintains the overall lead on 4 points, Shone 2nd on 8 points, Elliss 3rd on 13 points & Joseph 4th on 19 points.
Despite suffering a tyre puncture in the final, Parker still managed the overall win, with 3 points. Equal 2nd were Waters and Shone on 4 points. Max Gunter 4th on 9 points and Alex Fortune 5th on 11 points. It is Waters who heads the group in the overall standings with a total of 11 points. 2nd is Max Gunter on 14 points with Parker 2 points behind in 3rd spot. Shone is 4th on 17 points and McShane 5th on 19 points.
Danny Elson had a positive day in Junior BLUE where, for most of the day he matched and often bettered the performances of the Seniors.
Racers now have a 7 week gap before the penultimate round to be held at Dunkeswell on August 22nd and 23rd. There is, however, an IndyBlue TnT, round 3 and theTwo Counties round 3 to be raced at Clay Pigeon on Saturday 25th July for those who wish to fill the gap to enjoy another day’s racing.