CLEAL snatches the NKRA Regionals in the last round.
The last National Kart Racing Association Regional round was held along with the South West Championship at Mansell Raceway on 27th August. In a dramatic turn around Harry Smithson, who held a 5-point lead over Anthony Cleal before the weekend failed to start in Heat 2. He still had good results in the other pair of Heats but as a consequence of the dropped one managed a grid start of P6 for the Final. Cleal, however, scored well in his heats and would start 2nd in the Final, cutting the points deficit to one point, so all Cleal had to do was beat Smithson in the Final to win the Championship. Following the lights change Cleal dropped to 3rd and Smithson was up to 4th, so the game was on !!
Into lap 2 and Cleal was up to 2nd. A lap later Smithson had squeezed into 3rd place. At the front, the two MAC Karts of Foster and Cleal raced as though they were as one! Cleal managed to pass Foster on lap 6 and held it to the end, with Foster glued to his rear bumper. Smithson hadn’t given up and finished only 1.5 seconds adrift. The Regional Title was Anthony Cleal’s again. Behind the front three, Mike Bell maintained his pace to finish 4th with Paul Alexander in a creditable 5th place.
Cleal and Foster also shared the Master sub-class, again with 2 points each. Alexander took 3rd Spot but only 1 point ahead of Chris Lord. Stuart Adam finished 5th. Overall, Cleal wins the Regionals from Alexander, Alex Kemp, Dave Waldron and Steve Groves.
In the Veteran section, it was Cleal taking a clean sweep at the front with Alexander and Lord sharing 2nd place from Waldron, Groves and Rob Mortimore.
In the last of the age category sub-classes, the Legends, Lord was the clear winner, 2nd on the day was Robin Stoddart-Stones from Ron Shone and John Hartshorne. It was Hartshorne, however, who claimed the yearly title from Shone by the narrowest of margins, 1 point. Had the scores been equal, Shone would have won by virtue of his superior drop option. Stoddart-Stones finished 3rd overall.
Paul Alexander won the day in the Top Weight class from Stuart Adam. In the overall results, it is David Waldron who emerges as Champion from Rob Mortimore and Ron Shone.
With the regional rounds now over, competitors now prepare themselves for the Grande Finals, which are scheduled for the 23rd and 24th of September at Mansell Raceway.
In the Cadet Honda Class, Devon Giles secured an unopposed win.
The Junior Blue class experienced a complete run around where Alfie Lenton secured pole from Rudie Winslow-Morten and Jack Gillett. In the Final, however, Lenton spun, on a damp patch, going into the first bend. Winslow-Morten held the lead until lap 8 when he pulled into the pits reacting to a faulty engine temperature sensor display readout! A greatly improved Gillett won the Final with a recovered Lenton only 0.9 seconds behind!
FOR A FULL LIST OF RESULTS AND POSITIONS PLEASE CLICK HERE
FOR AN ENTRY INTO THE GRANDE FINAL PLEASE CLICK HERE