Great GT12 A Final with James Hart winning just ahead of Darren Ford
Ashley King wins the GT12 B Final, Matthew Minto is second
Nick Wallace is first in the GT12 C Final, Matt Popejoy is the top division 3 driver
Paul, Jordan and Jake Galbraith take the top three places in the V12 Mardave Final to make it a Galbraith whitewash
The Winter league trophies were presented by the club chairman.
How many Galbraith’s does it take to roll up a carpet? – find out later in the report.

A good start to the new league with the best eight from a possible ten weeks scores to count for each driver. Both the overall qualifying and final positions each week count, 20 points for best qualifier in each division, 19 for second etc, in the finals an additional point is added for the best driver in each division making 21 points, 19 for second etc.

Track

Things were very close after the three qualifying rounds with James Hart leading by just under two seconds from Darren Ford, both drivers on 27 laps.
Dave Tomlinson was the leading division 2 driver scoring 25 laps, Ashley King and Chelle Snowden were one lap behind.
Matt Popejoy was best in division 3 with 19 laps followed by Alister Hart on 18.
In the Mardave V12 class the first four drivers were all on 21 laps, Paul Galbraith was fastest, Mike Simpson second, some fine driving from Jenson Butlin earned him third place and best in division 2 with Jordan Galbraith also close behind.

Before the finals there was a trophy presentation for the winter league, James Hart retained the GT12 division 1 title

Yes the club chairman won one this time! – he has now been promoted to division 2

See more photographs in the gallery section.

The first final was the Mardave V12 and Paul Galbraith made a good start from pole position to lead the race until lap 16 when Jordan Galbraith overtook and hit the front for the next seven laps after which Paul regained his lead and went on to win with 35 laps, Jordan was second and Jake Galbraith third. A clean sweep of all the first three places by team Galbraith – well done!

Nick Wallace was the winner of the GT12 “C” Final and having finally sorted out the handling problems with his car Matt Popejoy was second giving him maximum points in division 3, Alister Hart and Courtney Orme were third and fourth respectively.
The “B” Final saw a disaster for pole position driver Dave Tomlinson when his motor pinion came loose at the start of the race, Chelle Snowden took an early lead followed and a most exciting race followed with little between all of the drivers. Matthew Minto briefly took the lead on lap 14 only to see Ashley King come past on the next lap. Ashley held on to the lead to win with Matthew a close second and Chelle third.
The “A” Final produced one of the best races of 2015 so far, Darren Ford made a great start to shoot into the lead with Gavin Maciver second and James Hart in third place. Darren was driving very quickly and accurately, James moved up past Gavin who was also overtaken by Louis Parker to get into third place. James hit the front on lap 18 but Darren was not beaten yet and retook the lead four laps later. There then followed a tremendous display of driving from Darren and James with Darren holding on to the lead for another 10 laps before James got past and went on to win with 43 laps, Darren finishing just 1.21 seconds adrift and Louis in third place a lap down.
What a race to watch, it was greeted with a round of applause from the other drivers.

Did you guess the answer correctly?

Yes it takes three and judging by the photograph a lot of thought goes into it.

Louis Parker wins the GT12 A Final with Dave Tomlinson in second place
Ashley King takes the GT12 B Final ahead of Bob Harley
Matt Popejoy wins again in the GT12 C Final with a good drive from Alwyn Hodges in second place
Paul Galbraith wins the Mardave V12 Final for the second week running, Mike Simpson was second

An ordinary clubnight prior to the start of the new Spring League next week when the trophies for the 2014-15 winter league will also be presented.

Track
A very tight and twisty design this week.

Qualifying

Louis Parker was the top qualifier after three rounds with David Simpson in second place four seconds behind, both drivers put in some good times with Louis getting the fastest lap of 9.16 seconds to Davids 9.19
There were good performances from Chelle Snowden, Dave Tomlinson, David Statham and Ashley King who were all two laps down on the leaders.
In the Mardave V12 class Mike Simpson was best qualifier on 26 laps, Paul Galbraith was second five seconds down and also setting the fastest lap of 11.02 seconds to Mike’s 11.05

Finals

Louis won the GT12 A Final and after a great race Dave Tomlinson took second place in front of Chelle Snowden who was third, the fastest lap went to David Simpson with 9.16 seconds.

New member Ashley King won the B Final after a great race with Bob Harley who finished second.

Matt Popejoy had yet another victory in the C final with Alwyn Hodges finishing in second place.

The Mardave V12 final saw Paul Galbraith eventually overtaking pole position driver Mike Simpson after several laps of very close racing to win, Mike was second and Jordan Galbraith an excellent third.

REMEMBER THE SPRING LEAGUE ROUND 1 IS NEXT WEEK

 

James Hart wins the GT12 “A” Final with Louis Parker in second place
Dave Tomlinson wins ahead of Ashley King in the “B” Final
Nick Wallace wins the “C” final by seven laps, Matt Popejoy was second
Paul Galbraith won the Mardave V12 final with Mike Simpson second in a Galbraith sandwich

Track
A great track design this week

Qualifying
After two rounds of qualifying Louis Parker was in the top spot being three seconds quicker than Jame Hart with Chelle Snowden third two laps down.
James Hart found an extra lap in the final qualifying round to take pole in the A final, Louis remained in second place and Gavin Maciver moved up to third position.
In the V12 mardave class Mike Simpson was fastest with Paul Galbraith second and Jordan Galbraith in third place.

Finals
The Mardave final was first where Mike Simpson was on pole followed by a full complement of Team Galbraith drivers Paul, Jordan, Jake and Joshua.  Jordan made a great start and took the lead early in the race which he maintained until six minutes into the race when his dad Paul took over. The final two minutes were close but Paul was first across the line followed by Mike and Jordan who were separated by 0.4 seconds, all three drivers getting 45 laps with Jordan setting the fastest lap.

The GT12 “C” final saw Nick Wallace steadily build up a lead over the rest of the field to score an easy win on 47 laps and complete the fastest lap. A quickly improving Matt Popejoy was second on 40 laps and Alister Hart took third place on 38 laps, both these drivers making some impressive overtaking along the way.

The GT12 “B” final was keenly contested between Ashley King, Dave Tomlinson, Bob Harley and Nick Bruty.  Ashley held the lead until lap 7 when Bob Harley stormed by, these two were then neck and neck with less than a second between them up to lap 18 when Ashley regained the lead once again. Ashley seemed to have the race in the bag leaving Bob and Dave to battle for second place with Dave eventually getting past Bob. With less than 30 seconds to go until the end of the race disaster struck for Ashley and Dave Tomlinson seized the chance to take the lead and crossed the finishing line ahead of Ashley to win with Bob Harley a fine third. Exciting stuff!

Having been pushed hard in the qualifying James Hart had a much easier time in the GT12 “A” final where he was leader from start to finish completing a magnificent 57 laps setting the fastest lap of 7.99 seconds, the only driver to beat 8 seconds.
Behind him there was a titanic battle for second place between Louis Parker and a very much in form Gavin Maciver. Louis maintained second place up to lap 32 when Gavin briefly got by only to be retaken the next lap. Not to be outdone he quickly got back into the lead which he held until two corners from the finish when Louis executed a breathtaking overtaking manoeuvre perfectly to win by just 0.2 seconds. Gavin was seen to be shaking his head afterwards saying “there was no gap – how did Louis get through”
A great finish to an enjoyable evenings racing.

James Hart wins the GT12 League with Darren Ford second and Louis Parker third
Mitch Howard is the division 2 champion, Dave Tomlinson is runner up and Chelle Snowden third
Rob Hambridge wins division 3, Courtney Orme took second place and Alister Hart was third
In the Club V12 Mardave class Mike Simpson was the winner with Paul Galbraith second and Glyn Butlin third
Division 2 was won by Jake Galbraith, Jenson Butlin was second and Joshua Galbraith third

Track

A good evenings racing, in the qualifying James Hart was fastest in the GT12 class with 28 laps followed by Louis Parker, David Simpson, Darren Ford and Gavin Maciver all on 27 laps, with less than 3 seconds separating them.
In division 2 Chelle Snowden was in top form to be best with 26 laps, Dave Tomlinson, Bob Harley and Nick Bruty were all close behind with 25 laps
Rob Hambridge was the top driver in division 3 scoring 23 laps, Ashley King and Nick Wallace got 22 and Courtney Orme 21

In the club Mardave class Mike Simpson was top with 23 laps followed by Paul Galbraith with 22 laps
Jenson Butlin was the best division 2 driver with Jake Galbraith second, both on 22 laps

The first final was the Mardave class, Mike Simpson was on pole but a disaster on the first bend put him down to fourth place with Jake Galbraith taking the lead. After struggling in the qualifying Glyn Butlin had got his car sorted and overtook Jake on lap 6 to go in front and lead the race until lap 16 when Mike Simpson regained first place. There then followed a great battle between Mike and Paul Galbraith with Paul faster but unable to get past despite a final attempt on the last straight he crossed the finishing line 0.21 seconds behind – what a great race to watch!
Joshua Galbraith had a good drive to finish ahead of Jenson Butlin to be best in division 2 – well done Josh.

In the GT12 “C” Final Ashley King had a convincing victory being five laps ahead of second placed driver Matt Popejoy with Courtney Orme in third place.

Next was the GT12 “B” Final with fastest qualifier Chelle Snowden leading the field away from pole position on the grid, but Nick Bruty got past her following a slight error and lead for the next two laps. Things were very close and it was Dave Tomlinson took the lead on lap 4 but was unable to keep ahead of Chelle who was in dazzling form. Nick Bruty was also very much still in the race and he hit the front on lap 10 but Chelle then stepped up a gear, regained the lead on the next lap and built up a comfortable margin lapping everyone to win. Dave Tomlinson was second and Nick Bruty third.

After the excitement of the previous race could the drivers in the GT12 “A” final provide an equal amount of entertainment – we were not to be disappointed!
James Hart was at the front after starting from pole on the grid, Louis Parker challenged him hard with David Simpson a little way back in third place. On lap 10 Louis took the lead and then followed a great display of driving from Louis and James for the next 19 laps with little room between them at high speed. James eventually regained the lead and went on to win setting the fastest lap in the process, Louis finished a fantastic second place and David Simpson third. What a great end to the evenings racing!