News Archive: June 2013


25/06/2013

MSA S1 SERIES ROUND 2 AT GLAN ‘Y GORS

Oliver YorkIt was a lesson in how to turn adversity into triumph. Diminutive Owen Byatt may not have come away from Glan ‘Y Gors with a race win under his belt, but in both finals he produced the kind of gutsy display that won applause from all who witnessed it.

In varying weather conditions, Zach Robertson, Tom Wood, Jack Armstrong and Oliver York filled the top four Timed Qualifying slots. York was mightily relieved that his engine problems throughout Friday and Saturday morning appeared to have been solved. He duly finished 2nd behind Wood in Heat 1 with Tyler Chesterton and Will Pettitt making up the top four. Next time out it was Wood’s turn to finish 2nd as Lewis Thompson claimed the win.

Sean Butcher finished 3rd ahead of Ethan Hawkey. Thompson’s day took a turn for the worse when he ran into Alex McDade in Heat 3. It promoted him initially into 3rd position whilst causing Alex to lose eight places. However, this incident caused Lewis to be excluded. York won this one by a matter of inches from Alex Quinn with Teddy Wilson and Zach Robertson finishing some distance behind. After being excluded in Heat 2, Byatt was classified 37th out of 38 contenders and started the “B” Final off grid 11. He finished this race in 2nd place behind Joe Turney, with Tyler Chesterton 3rd. Having started from the pit lane, Jack Armstrong thought he’d done enough to qualify but was deemed to be a lap behind. This promoted Wesley Brown into 4th position.

York made a perfect getaway in FINAL 1 hotly pursued by Wood and Quinn. On the opening lap of this race, Byatt gained no less than 16 places and found himself lying 13th. After two or three more laps he was up into 5th slot, immediately behind McDade and just 40 yards away from the race leader. York came under increasing pressure from Wood as Quinn dropped back slightly. McDade dropped a few positions as Byatt, Pettitt and Dexter Patterson all slipped past him. Pettitt moved up into 4th place but lost out to Byatt and a hard charging Thompson on the last lap.

York was first away once again in FINAL 2 but Quinn lost out to Byatt for 2nd spot. Byatt hit the front for a while although it didn’t take long for York to assume command once again. Quinn followed through into 2nd and together the top three pulled well ahead of everyone else. Kiern Jewiss replaced Thompson in 4th position as Teddy Wilson entered the fray. Slowly but surely York and Quinn were able to establish a gap over Byatt. In the final phase of this race Quinn put York under all sorts of pressure but couldn’t quite find a way through. Byatt’s tenure on 3rd place came under threat from Thompson, Wilson and Jewiss, but he managed to hold on until the chequered flag.

“Tom and Alex put me under pressure in both finals, but I was able to defend my position,” said a delighted Oliver York who now holds a 33 points advantage over Quinn in the championship table. “It’s difficult to break the tow on this circuit and I had to defend hard for the last two laps.” Owen Byatt was delighted with his podium place. “It was all down to the start in Final 1,” he pointed out. “I got hit from behind but it actually helped me as I was pushed past quite a few karts.”

 

RESULTS

 

FINAL 1

1. Oliver York (Fusion); 2. Tom Wood (Fusion Jr); 3. Alex Quinn (Fusion Jr); 4. Owen Byatt (Fusion); 5. Lewis Thompson (Fusion); 6. William Pettitt (Fusion)

 

FINAL 2

1. York; 2. Quinn; 3. Byatt; 4. Thompson; 5. Teddy Wilson (Next Gen); 6. Kiern Jewiss (Next Gen)

 


12/06/2013

LGM CADET CHAMPIONSHIPS ROUND 4 AT GLAN Y GORS

Situated within the Snowdonia National Park about 20 minutes drive from Betws Y Coed, Glan Y Gors is a beautiful circuit that can lay claim to being amongst the very best in Britain.

That was a view endorsed by LGM supremo Mike Mills as he gazed down from the balcony outside a very well appointed restaurant on Friday afternoon. It was Mike’s first visit to the Welsh circuit and he came away very impressed with what he’d seen. On a rather less positive note, the amount of dust accumulating in various team awnings produced one or two grumbles but, this apart, most people had good things to say about the circuit.

Unfortunately, favourable comments aren’t always translated into race entries and several meetings scheduled for 2013 had already been cancelled through lack of numbers. With two Super 1 Rounds, for Rotax and MSA classes, due to take place in June, this particular meeting was never going to be short of entrants. Apart from 46 Little Green Man contenders, a further 114 drivers turned out in other classes

The computer system at GYG forced a departure from normal arrangements. Instead of allocating each driver a front, middle and rear grid in three Heats, starting positions were determined by Timed Qualifying sessions. William Pettitt, Oliver York and Zach Robertson all got below 49 seconds in the first session. However, their times were eclipsed in the next one by a super quick Teddy Wilson. Next up were Kiern Jewiss and Alex Quinn. George Price and Mario Mills both had mountains to climb after they were excluded in this session.

Wilson served notice of his intentions by duly winning the opening Heat although Jewiss certainly made him work hard for it. In fact it was Tyler Chesterton who finished ahead of everyone having missed out a section of the circuit. This omission resulted in him being docked a lap. Some 40 yards further back, Ethan Hawkey took 3rd spot ahead of Pettitt. It was that man Wilson who claimed victory in Heat 2 with Herbie Grout hard on his heels. Oliver York and Tom Wood had a good battle for 3rd spot but Zach Robertson was involved in a collision midway through this race that cost him around 10 seconds and more than 20 places.

York claimed victory next time out, followed by Pettitt, Quinn and Grout. Wood came within 100 grams of taking 2nd spot but his argument with the scales resulted in an exclusion. Owen Byatt, Mario Mills, Luca Molinaro and Fraser Fenwick all qualified via the “B” final. Evan Smillie lost 2nd spot in this race by incurring a 5 place penalty. So they lined up for the “A” Final with Wilson claiming pole position alongside York. Pettitt shared row 2 with Grout, while Jewiss and Hawkey sat immediately behind. Due to concerns expressed at PF a week earlier, the top ten qualifiers were required to run with controlled fuel.

Pettitt made a lightning start from 3rd place on the grid, but York found himself forced out wide, thus letting through a train of ten karts or more. Wilson, too, was compromised on the opening lap and dropped down to 5th spot. Quinn slotted in behind Pettitt and took over the lead soon afterwards. Pettitt dropped down the order as Alex McDade went through into 2nd place. Jonny Edgar replaced McDade and tucked in tightly behind Quinn. Almost immediately, however, he was swallowed up by the karts of Grout, McDade, Pettitt and Wilson. Quinn was holding on grimly at the front before both Grout and Pettitt found a way through.

At around half distance Pettitt took over 1st place from Grout, with Wilson, McDade and Quinn following closely behind. Edgar suddenly looked vulnerable as both Hawkey and York overtook him. York went past Hawkey to take 6th spot and Edgar followed him through. McDade was the next driver to fall into York’s clutches and he moved into 4th place almost immediately afterwards by overtaking Quinn. With four laps remaining, Grout went through into the lead and Pettitt came under strong pressure from Wilson for 2nd place.

After emerging as one of the likely winners, Quinn was now struggling for pace, dropping down to 6th behind Edgar. The top three drivers had broken away by this stage, but it was anyone’s guess as to which one would actually win. Wilson hit the front and Pettitt seized 2nd place, while Edgar went past York to claim 4th position. They began their final tour with Wilson under strong pressure from Pettitt and Grout. With the chequered flag in sight Grout made an ambitious attempt to overtake Pettitt that succeeded in delaying both drivers by a full second or more.

Officials subsequently deemed Herbie’s move to have been rather too ambitious and he was docked five places. York had got back in front of Edgar and was promoted to 3rd spot on the podium. Quinn dropped four spots on the last lap as Hawkey, McDade, Lewis Thompson and Tom Wood all went past him. 1st place in the Privateer’s Cup had been settled after just one lap when Tyler Chesterton retired. This provided Jack Brailsford with a morale boosting win. 3rd place was claimed by Abbi Pulling who had finished 5th in the “B” Final.

 

RESULTS

1. Teddy Wilson (Next Gen); 2. William Pettitt (Fusion); 3l. Oliver York (Fusion); 4. Jonny Edgar (Fusion); 5. Ethan Hawkey (Fusion Jr); 6. Alex McDade (Eclipse).

 

PRIVATEER 

1. Jack Brailsford; 2. Tyler Chesterton; 3. Abbi Pulling (Gillard)

 

BEST TURNED OUT KART; Abbi Pulling.

POLE POSITION PRIZE; Teddy Wilson.

FASTEST LAP AWARD; Teddy Wilson (49.30 secs)

BEST PAIR; York & Brailsford

 

All trophy winners on Zip karts unless otherwise stated

 


10/06/2013

WILSON IN WALES, BECOMES THE THIRD DIFFERENT WINNER.

TEDDY WILSON.  POLE, FASTEST AND THE WINNERTeddy Wilson has become the third different winner at the GYG circuit in superb style, for the first time, time qualifying was used for the two heats, to decide the grid for the grand final. Nextgen motorsport driver Teddy Wilson was the man on form, fastest in TQ and managing to win both of his heats, the other heat win going to Oliver York. The stage was set for an epic final. Wilson Pole, York 2nd, William Pettitt, Herbie Grout 3 & 4 respectively. The lights went to green on the sun drenched welsh circuit, and it was Pettitt that took the lead, followed by an impressive Alex Quinn who started on grid 7, Wilson had an awful start dropping to 7th and York even worst, down to 11th. Last round winner Kiern Jewiss who and done well to grid up 6th had a small spin at the top of the circuit taking him out of the running and placed him down in 29th place. By lap 5 Quinn looked strong, with Herbie Grout now pushing for the lead. Eclispe motorsport driver Alex McDade had shown form and moved to 3rd, Wilson carefully making his way back up to the front now back in 4th. Grout had a brief spell in the lead, but by passing slowed the pack allowing more to join on the leading train, Pettitt then showed he wanted to lead and did so for the next 6 laps, with Grout following, Wilson meanwhile had moved up again and was now 3rd and in the lead group of 7.

 

GYG PODIUM  Rd.4:   2. WILLIAM PETTITT (FUSION)   1. TEDDY WILSON (NEXTGEN)   3.  OLIVER YORK  (FUSION)

The final two laps, Grout made another move for the lead, with Wilson taking advantage and followed through, so on to the last Lap, Wilson took the lead back from Grout, but this time Pettitt following him through. Grout had a long lung from a little far back and hit the side of Pettitt pushing him wide, however Grout was issued with a 5 place penalty for the collision. At the flag Wilson took a superb, controlled win from Pettitt, York managed to recover to score yet another podium, Jonny Edgar made the best of the last lap to finish 4th overall, with Ethan Hawkey & McDade 5th & 6th. Grout with his penalty eventually finishing 7th. Jewiss from being 29th on lap 1 made a creditable finish in 13th. Leading Privateer Tyler Chesterton had a race to forget, being the only non finisher, out on lap 1. Scotlands Jack Brailsford was the victor at GYG with a 22nd overall, 3rd of the privateers was Abbi Pulling who was 31st overall and also won the best turned out kart award. Teddy Wilson, got the pole, the race win, and the fastest lap, to be the first to score a maximum points, and moves him right up in the series. Post race interview, Wilson dedicated his win to his ‘dad’ Andrew for all his support, which bought a tear to the many eyes watching. This is half way point in the LGM and its off to Buckmore Park next.


04/06/2013

Jewiss keeps his cool in the heat

Kiern Jewiss

Kiern Jewiss on the top spot

Kiern Jewiss drove to a superb victory at the 3rd round of the LGM series. Jewiss had the perfect weekend in the beautiful Lincolnshire sunshine by taking pole position in very full heats, along side him was championship leader Alex Quinn, with William Pettitt on grid 3 and a fantastic effort from leading privateer Tyler Chesterton on grid 4. After a few warming up laps the race was finally under way with the field managing to spread themselves out, Jonny Edgar was the biggest loser at the start having to take avoiding action and spinning on the grass. Quinn and Pettitt took an early lead with Jewiss dropping back to 6th place. The race was made up of two’s all trying to push one another. Mid race Jewiss looked to be struggling with pace and a gap had appeared, 6th looked to be the best for him. Oliver York, Tom Wood & Ethan Hawkey who showed great pace in the heats, all started to close on the two leaders. With 2 laps to go, defence mode kicked in and the front pace slowed, now it was a Fusion team freight train and nothing could go wrong, could it ?

 

The final lap, and it looked as if any one of the five could win, but as the places changed and everyone being so close, it happened, Hawkey and Quinn had come together involving everyone, Jewiss mean while, safe in 6th saw everything and took avoiding action driving up the inside to take the lead on to the final straight. With both hands punching the sky, Jewiss took the win with York pushing him over the line, Wood took 3rd, with Herbie Grout also making use of the shunt to finish 4th. Probably the best race we have seen this year, but it does mean that York now heads the championship, Wood moves up to 2nd, and Quinn with his two wins down to 3rd. Next stop Wales !