Exciting race weekend at Whilton Mill in the Blue Challenge’s penultimate round.
James Dawkins wins the Final in Formula Blue, Harry Smithson wins the day with 4 points and Anthony Cleal takes over the Championship lead from Joey Foster by 5 points!
With an impressive grid competing in Round 6 at Whilton Mill, where the top 12 were all present, Formula Blue had yet another race winner in James Dawkins. He qualified 5th and gradually picked off those ahead until lap 8 when he slid past Stuart Gray taking a lead that he held until the chequered flag.
Gray finished 2nd having qualified in 4th. Anthony Cleal snatched 3rd place on the line from Harry Smithson. Scott Lay finished 5th. In the Championship, Cleal takes over the lead from Joey Foster, who having qualified in 7th was up to 4th when on lap three he rolled to a halt with a broken carburettor shaft. Callum Jobson had a faultless race day qualifying 6th and finishing 6th, thereby maintaining his challenge in 3rd overall. Dawkins moves up to 4th in the Championship followed by Smithson and Gray.
In the Master sub-class, Dawkins won the day ahead of Cleal, both on 3 points. Gray finished 3rd just 1 point behind. Max Gunter takes 4th place with a 5th start place and 4th place finish. Alex Kemp and Leanne McShane shared 5th position on 14 points each. Cleal maintains his lead in the Championship from Foster, who despite his DNF remains in 2nd spot. Dawkins closes in for 3rd place followed by Gray, then Steve Groves completing the top 5.
Gray wins the Veteran sub-section by virtue of his race position, despite sharing minimum points with Cleal. Paul Alexander finished 3rd on the track and 3rd in the points. David Goode came home in 4th place, both on track and in the points. Graham Joseph claimed 5th, highlighting his steady improvement throughout the year’s race programme. It is Cleal who leads the Championship from Gray, Groves, Alexander and Waldron.
Gray completed a stunning weekend by dominating the Legend sub-class. His pole and track win giving him a minimum Zero points. 2nd on the track and in the points was David Goode, recovering from his accident in the previous round at Fulbeck. 3rd was Joseph, who took this meeting in his grasp beating Ron Shone into 4th on the track. Gray is now well clear in the overall points from Shone, Joseph and Goode.
Dean Smithers and Alex Fortune scored equal points in the Top Weight group but Smithers took the win, on the track, finishing ahead of Fortune, 3rd on the day was Shone. Fortune maintains his Championship lead from Alexander, Shone, Rob Mortimore and Smithers.
In the Junior Blue Class, Jacob Felton raced off the back of the Senior grid. From there he enjoyed a period of passing experience forging forward from 22nd on the grid to finish 9th on the track. Although in a mixed grid, he scored minimum points for the Junior class, where he extended his lead in the Championship, over the current champion Alfie Lenton.
The Championship racers now have 5 weeks to take stock before the final round of the Blue Challenge at the Clay Pigeon Raceway ( in Dorset) on the weekend of August 4th. After this they look forward to the NKRA Grande Finals for the Formula Blue, Junior Blue and Honda Cadet at Dunkeswell Race Circuit ( in Devon) on the weekend of the 24th and 25th August.
For CHAMPIONSHIP DETAILS CLICK HERE
For RESULTS TO DATE CLICK HERE
For photos of the 2023 champions at the awards presentation evening CLICK HERE