RACE REPORT NKRA GRANDE FINALS 6th & 7th SEPTEMBER 2025 at the Clay Pigeon Raceway.
Having already won the formula BLUE Challenge Championship, David Watts cemented the 2025 race season with a win over Billy Thomas in the NKRA Grande Finals, albeit by the narrowest of 1 point margin.
The competitors racing in this year’s NKRA Grande Finals had to ‘survive’ 4 Heats over two days before reaching the final. The Heat winners were (1) David Watts, (2) Dean Smithers, (3) Stuart Gray and (4) Billy Thomas. The ‘Final’ grid thereafter found Thomas on pole with three drivers sharing points for 2nd place. According to regulations, they were separated by the results of ?
This, crucially, gave Watts opposite pole with Stuart Gray 3rd and Mike Bell in 4th. the 3rd row had Dean Smithers and Nigel Vickery side by side. Smithers feeling particularly hard done by as in heat 4 he incurred a 5 second penalty for a drop nose cone but for that he would have sat on opposite pole and the end outcome to the Grande Finals could have been so different ! but that’s racing !!
From the start Watts tried a risky move going around the outside of Thomas in bend one. It paid off and he claimed the lead. Just behind, Smithers outgunned Bell for 4th and Gunter claimed 6th from Vickery and Robin Stoddart-Stones. Little changed until lap 4 when Gray out braked Thomas for 2nd and set off in pursuit of Watts, who had established a little buffer. The race then settled down with Watts setting a consistent pace which, try as he would, Gray could not improve on. By the time of the chequered flag, the front five were spaced out by a couple of seconds apiece. The close racing came from Gunter and Vickery competing over 7th place and John Hartshorne racing for 9th spot. Watts took the flag a worth winner on the day, followed by Gray, Thomas, Smithers and Bell.
When the scored points were all added together, Watts was able to celebrate the overall win, but it was Thomas in 2nd place a mere one point behind. The next three drivers shared the same points, so it went to countback where Gray claimed 3rd from Smithers and Bell.