Team Simpson hit the top in qualifying
Mike Simpson wins the Mardave final, the wheels come off for Lee Bishop
Kevin Flamson was on pole for the GT12 “C” Final but is beaten by Courtney Orme
Dave Tomlinson cruises to victory in the GT12 “B” Final
James Hart wins the GT12 “A” Final after a great race with Louis Parker

Racing in an anticlockwise direction this week for a change demanded extra concentration for the first few races.

Qualifying

Mike Simpson was the fastest qualifier in the club Mardave class with 29 laps a full six seconds ahead of Lee Bishop with Glyn Butlin third a lap down.

In the GT12 Class not to be outdone by his dad David Simpson was the top qualifier by just 0.04 seconds ahead of James Hart in a thrilling final qualifying round, both drivers getting 35 laps which was two laps better than the remainder of the field.
Darren Ford was in third place, still setting up his new car.  There were good performances from several drivers including Dave Tomlinson and Kevin Flamson.

Finals

First up was the Mardave final with Mike Simpson on pole for a change and Lee Bishop in second spot after spending some time to ensure his car was fully prepared for the race.
Mike got away to a clean start with Lee in hot pursuit, everything changed on lap 2 however when the wheels came off for Lee, or one wheel actually requiring a minute in the pits to replace ending his chances of winning. Mike went on to win and there was a good race for second place between Glyn and Jenson Butlin with both drivers finishing on the same lap, Glyn taking second place.

In the GT12 “C” Final Kevin Flamson was under pressure on pole position after being three laps faster than everyone else in the qualifying, however Courtney Orme with one of his best drives for a long while was determined to win and eventually got past to take the victory. Kevin was second on the same lap and Alwyn Hodges third a lap down. Good race!

In the GT12 “B” Final Dave Tomlinson produced some consistent, quick laps to take an easy win, Craig Parry was second and Daniel Williams third also setting the best lap time.

The GT12 “A” Final produced some drama with pole position driver David Simpson soon out of contention following a racing incident. A storming drive by Louis Parker starting from the back of the grid soon moved him up through the field. The race was then between Louis and James Hart, these two drivers being two laps ahead of everyone else. In the end James was first over the finishing line one second in front of Louis, Darren Ford was third. A very exciting race to watch with some excellent driving.

Next week is round 3 of the current winter league.

The Christmas trophy meeting produced some very competitive driving on a narrow fast flowing track, there were three five minute qualifying heats followed by an eight minute final.
Photographs of the winners are in the Gresley 2014 section of the gallery

Qualifying
In the club mardave class Lee Bishop was the top qualifier with 29 laps followed by Mike Simpson also 29 laps and Paul Galbraith 28 laps.
James Hart was best in the GT12 class on 37 laps, his nearest challenger David Simpson was one lap down and just ahead of Darren Ford.

After the qualifying rounds the club Chairman Rob Hambridge presented the trophies for the Autumn League and also the 2014 Superleague.

Finals

Mardave “B” Final
Jake Galbraith had a convincing win a full two laps of second placed driver Joshua Galbraith and a good performance from Roy Matthews secured him third place.
Well done to new member Jack Walsh who finished with a very creditable 32 laps in his first trophy meeting, better watch out for him in a couple of months time after some more practice.

Mardave “A” Final
Lee Bishop was on pole position and quickly pulled away from the rest of the field to establish an early lead, behind him it was very close between Mike Simpson, Paul Galbraith and Glyn Butlin. Lee seemed to be coasting to an easy victory when a slight error on lap 41 allowed Mike to make up ground resulting in a race for the line which Lee crossed just 0.16 seconds ahead to win, Mike being second and Paul third. A great finish to the race!

GT12 “C” Final
Courtney Orme was on pole and made the most of the advantage with some good driving which resulted in a runaway victory a full four laps of second placed driver Alister Hart, Kevin Flamson was third another lap behind.

GT12 “B” Final
Some quick lap times and steady driving earned Dave Tomlinson a win with 55 laps, Chelle Snowden and Bob Harley had a great battle for second place with Chelle finishing just 0.36 second ahead to take the second spot.

GT12 “A” Final
This was the last race of the evening and James had a flawless race to win on 55 laps and setting the equal fastest lap time with Darren Ford who finished with 58 laps. Louis Parker finished third with another good performance and was only 0.02 seconds slower on his best lap time.

After all the equipment was stored away the trophies were presented.

Merry Christmas to all members.

Super Louis wins the 2014 Superleague GT12 Class in style
Lee Bishop is the club mardave class champion

Qualifying
A dazzling display of driving from Louis Parker in the qualifying rounds earned him the top qualifier spot and pole position in the “A” Final together with setting the fastest lap time of 8.17 seconds. James Hart was second just 0.57 seconds behind, both drivers getting 36 laps, Darren Ford was third on 35 laps.

In the Mardave club mardave class Paul Galbraith was fastest with 29 laps, Lee Bishop was second 0.41 seconds slower and a great performance from division 2 driver Joshua Galbraith gave him third place.

Finals
GT12 “A” Final
The GT12 “A” Final was very exciting to watch with Louis Parker and James Hart being closely matched and lapping faster than everyone else, Louis had the lead for most of the race and again set the fastest lap time but in the end James managed to get ahead and win, both drivers finishing on 55 laps. Darren Ford was third on 53 laps – great driving!

GT12 “B” Final
A good performance from Chelle Snowden saw her win on 51 laps, fastest driver in the race Nick Bruty finished second on 50 laps together with third placed driver Mitch Howard.

GT12 “C” Final
Alister Hart was the winner with 37 laps (did he have some coaching from James?), Alwyn Hodges took second place a lap down and Courtney Orme was third.

Mardave “A” Final
This was the closest race of the evening with Paul Galbraith leading off from pole position followed by Lee Bishop, the race was very keenly contested and at the finish it was Lee who was first across the finishing line to win by 0.08 Seconds from Paul.  Wow that was a really close finish!
Joshua Galbraith had a tremendous race and finished in third place, all the first three drivers getting 43 laps.

The final leading league positions were:-

GT12 Division 1
Winner   Louis Parker
Second  Bob Harley
Third      Darren Ford

GT12 Division 2
Winner   Jack Cook
Second  Courtney Orme
Third      Nick Bruty

Mardave Division 1
Winner    Lee Bishop
Second   Mike Simpson
Third       Paul Galbraith

Mardave Division 2
Winner    Jenson Butlin
Second   Joshua Galbraith
Third       Roy Matthews

Lee Bishop wins the mardave class with maximum points, Paul Galbraith is now the league leader
Jake Galbraith takes over the lead in division 2 from Jenson Butlin
James Hart beats Darren Ford this week to become the GT12 league leader, Darren is in second place and Louis Parker moves up to third
Mitch Howard now leads division 2 ahead of Dave Tomlinson and Bob Harley
Rob Hambridge consolidates his lead in division 3 with Courtney Orme up to second place and Kevin Flamson third

The second round of the current league produced some good racing and saw many changes to league positions.
Remember it is the best six from a possible eight round scores to count.

Next week is the final round of the 2014 superleague.

Darren Ford makes a fine start to the new league in the GT12 Class
Nick Bruty, Mitch Howard and Chelle Snowden are joint leaders in division 2
Rob Hambridge gets maximum points and is top of division 3 with Jack Cook in second place
Mike Simpson with his brand new bodyshell (a yellow one for a change!) wins the Club Mardave final
Jenson Butlin takes an early lead in division 2

The start of a new league on a narrow track due to the christmas decorations in the hall.

Darren Ford and James Hart battled it out all three qualifying rounds with some very close racing, overtaking being difficult on the small track. Darren withstood some severe pressure from James to take the pole position for the final, David Statham was third and Louis Parker fourth.
In the eight minute final it was a similar story with Darren winning once again, James was second and a good drive from Louis Parker secured him third place.

In division 2 Dave Tomlinson was the top qualifier followed by Bob Harley with Nick Bruty third. In the final however Dave’s car failed on the first bend and Bob Harley also had to retire after 23 laps. A fine race by Chelle Snowden took advantage of the situation to win with Mitch Howard second and Nick Bruty third.

Rob Hambridge after even more adjustments to his car was top qualifier and best division 3 driver in the finals to get maximum points, Jack Cook was second and Courtney Orme third.

In the club mardave class Glyn Butlin was the fastest driver in qualifying with Mike Simpson and Paul Galbraith close behind only a few seconds separating the three of them. In the final Mike Simpson took an early lead and held on to it until the finish line, Paul Galbraith was second and Glyn Butlin third.
In division 2 Joshua Galbraith was fastest in qualifying, ahead of his brother Jake. It was Jenson Butlin however who came out on top in the final and Roy Matthews took second place with Joshua failing to record any laps.

A good start to the League, round 2 is next week, for all the details see the “results” page.