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Thrilling season finale at Welsh karting club meeting
publication date: Dec 15, 2011
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author/source: Craig Llewellyn and Hardy Rodde
The
final round of Llandow Kart Club's summer championship took place under cloudy
skies but, for the 79 drivers taking part, there was plenty of action - and
tension - on-track to keep them warm.
The
only class with nothing resting on the final result was the Bambinos, but the
eight youngsters involved still continued to impress. |  | Split into two groups, as
has become the norm in recent months, the honours went the way of Brooklyn
Thomas and Alex Austin respectively, both repeatedly setting the best time
among their peers. For
the remainder of those present, their classes had titles and trophies at stake,
although some classes were a lot more closely contested than others.
Perhaps
the closest of all featured the most heavily supported class on the bill -
Honda Cadet. Having featured strong numbers all season, the category again
turned in 19 entries, with the various title contenders all present for the
showdown. Brandon Patrick proved to be the boy to beat, winning the opening two
heats before settling for third in the other, but he was back on form in the
final, taking the chequered flag by just under two seconds from Ryan Edwards.
The mighty effort was not quite enough, however, as Edwards' own top three consistency
proved enough to claim the crown by a mere six points. Ross Thomas was third
overall after completing the final podium of the year.
The
championship battle in Comer Cadet was a little more clear-cut, with Lewis
Griffiths holding a comfortable lead heading into the finale. He started
strongly too, claiming heat one and finishing third in the others before
returning to the top step of the podium in the main event. The visiting Tommy
Foster claimed the other two heat wins, with Louis Griffith-Walker also
finishing ahead of Griffiths, but had to settle for runners-up spot in the
final. Lucas Wynne finished fourth in three of the day's outings, which proved
sufficient to conform him as number two for the season, with Griffith-Walker
third overall.
Honda
Junior once again featured just two entries, but novice Ben Stevens was never
likely to deny the experienced Monty Gorridge either success on the day, or
overall for the season. Having already overhauled early season leader Dan Jones
- who missed the second half of the year - Gorridge ran out an easy champion.
Junior
TKM and MiniMax ran together on track at the season finale, but were very much
focused on their own championship battles. In the former, Ross Chell and Scott
Morris surprisingly failed to lock horns as they had all season, each posting a
mix of results through the heats.
In the final, however, Chell (above) showed his pace
by not only leading his own class, but also catching and passing the two
MiniMax runners who had started some way ahead on track. It was a fitting way
for the youngster to cement the title, with Morris doing enough to claim
overall runner-up honours, even though he finished fourth on the road. Joe
Phillips and Yousuf Ashraf both came home ahead of the strikingly liveried
Morris kart, with Ashraf finishing third in the points.
MiniMax,
meanwhile, went the way of Lewis Malin in each of the four races, confirming
him as champion for 2011. Rob Ellis provided his only opposition on the day,
and duly finished as runner-up in the title race.
Junior
Rotax again saw Macaulay Austin beaten in the opening heat before bouncing back
to stamp his authority on the small field. Josh Gray won the first race, before
then finding Ben Davies keen to get into the fight for positions, the latter
eventually establishing himself as second-best on the day. Austin
unsurprisingly claimed the title by a decent margin, with James Johnson - the
only other driver to contest every round - in second place overall, but Gray
caem up just short in his bid for third in the standings, ending the year just
17 points behind the absent Jordan Hawkins.
| | Senior
Honda may have enjoyed a minor resurgence in numbers throughout 2011, but
no-one could deny Simon Evans (right) a second straight title. No doubt buoyed by his
breakthrough success in 2010, Evans claimed a remarkable 37 wins from 40 races,
and only needed to turn up at the finale to be crowned. Multiple champion
Gareth Lewis gave vain chase throughout the season, but also had to fend off
the likes of |  | Chris Lipscombe, Jamie Warren and Danny Griffiths at the final
round, with Warren claiming third in the standings after joining Evans and
Lewis on the podium.
Senior
Rotax returned to strength for the final round, with 18 karts turning out over
its two categories, and Josh Collings showed what had been missing during his
two-month absence by claiming three wins from four races, including the final.
Commitments to other series, however, meant that the reigning Junior champion
was not a factor for overall honours, with Chris Davies duly taking the title
by a solid margin over Matthew Dowers.
Davies won the race not taken by Collings,
with Dowers, Dean Arthur and Sebastian Hutchinson all enjoying top three heat
results, before Paul Cleaver and Gareth Taylor joined Collings on the final
podium Hutchinson's results were enough to confirm him in third place on the
season, with David Entwhistle also overcoming Collings in the final standings. Wayne
Stone claimed another Rotax 177 crown with three wins from the day's four
races, seeing off Simon Wheeler both on the day and in the championship. | Results
| |
BAMBINO
- 1
1.
Brooklyn Thomas
2.
Marco Costanza (CRG)
3.
Alex Carrafa
4.
Matthew Martin
| BAMBINO
- 2
1.
Alex Austin (Zip)
2.
Jakob Chamberlain
3.
Jack Broughton
4.
Matthew Rees
| CADET
HONDA
1.
Brandon Patrick (Project One)
2.
Ryan Edwards (Project One)
3.
Ross Thomas (Wright) | CADET COMER
1.
Lewis Griffiths (Zip)
2.
Tommy Foster
3.
Louis Griffith-Walker
| HONDA
JUNIOR
1.
Monty Gorridge (7Kart)
2.
Ben Stevens | JUNIOR
TKM 2-STROKE
1.
Ross Chell (Jade)
1.
Joe Phillips
2.
Yousuf Ashraf | MINIMAX
1.
Lewis Malin
2.
Rob Ellis (Tonykart) | JUNIOR ROTAX
1.
Macaulay Austin (Tonykart)
2.
Ben Davies
3.
Josh Gray (CRG) | SENIOR
HONDA
1.
Simon Evans (7Kart)
2.
Gareth Lewis (7Kart)
3.
Jamie Warren (Wright) | SENIOR
ROTAX
1.
Josh Collings (CRG)
1.
Paul Cleaver
3.
Gareth Taylor (Tonykart)
| | ROTAX
177
1.
Wayne Stone (CRG)
2.
Simon Wheeler (CRG) |
LLANDOW
KART CLUB CHAMPIONS 2011
| | Cadet Honda
Ryan Edwards | Junior TKM
Ross Chell | Senior Honda
Simon Evans
| Cadet Comer
Lewis Griffiths | Mini Max
Lewis Malin | Formula Rotax
Chris Davies | Junior Honda
Monty Gorridge | Junior Rotax
Macaulay Austin
| Rotax 177
Wayne Stone | | | |
| © Words by
Craig
Llewellyn & photos
Hardy Rodde
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