NKRA FORMULA BLUE & JUNIOR
BLUE CHALLENGE GRANDE FINALS
AT CLAY PIGEON ON SEPT 13 & 14th 2014
After being let down at the last minute by the original host club in Scotland, the Clay Pigeon Club was selected after several southern clubs offered shelter to the Formula Blue classes, so they could run their final round of the year.
Formula Blue Final – first bend of opening lap
Due to high numbers competing over the weekend the first heats were run on the Saturday. Heat 1 of the Senior Blue class saw Ian Branfield take the victory after a strong battle through the pack from 9th on the grid. Kevin Ford managed to make up a place to take second but man on the move was Ross Adamson who fought his way through from 18th on the grid to take third. Duncan McLeod also laid down his intent with a 4th place finish from a 17th place start!
In heat 2 Branfield did it all again, this time from 19th showing he would be a force to contend with over the weekend. Ross Adamson was again up in the top 3 but this time taking second place with Duncan McLeod claiming third.
Ross Adamson – Winner – Formula Blue & No. 1 Plate
The action further behind was coming from pre-race favourite Martin Wheeler in 6th and Blue returnee Danny Rice in 7th. Equally spectacular was the performance of novice Matt Turner in finishing in 14th. Having travelled down from Scotland Brian Lees must have wondered it was all worth it as he recorded his second non-finish. The father and son Dudley duo never made the grid still busy changing bent axles. Keith Platt continued struggling with an unfound ignition /carburetion problem and failed to make the start lights. By 6pm, all the driver had returned their controlled tyres to Park Ferme and set about preparing their outfits for the 2nd day of racing.
Sunday morning dawned dry, albeit a little cooler than Saturday. Rob Mortimore and David Goode joined the fray having, due to pre-arranged commitments, missed Saturdays two heats. Into heat three and something near normal service was resumed as Duncan Mcleod scored his first victory of the weekend with Ross Adamson showing real quality to record his third top three finish of the weekend. Martin Wheeler made the podium for the first time in the heats to record a third place. It was the turn of novice Dominic Turner to shine in this heat.
Duncan McLeod – Winner – Formula Blue – Master
He progressed from grid 27 up to 16th whilst his brother ended up track side having made contact with a decelerating Stoddart-stones unfortunately badly damaging his kart in the process. It was heat four that saw Ross Adamson achieve the breakthrough he had been battling for all weekend when he took the victory with a commanding drive from Pole Position. Duncan Mcleod , despite all his experience could find a way past and crossed the line a mere 1.5 seconds adrift. Danny Rice recorded his first top three finish of the weekend to take third.
Stuart Gray – Winner – Formula Blue Veteran
With the heats decided, it was all to play for in the final with Adamson and McLeod lining up on the front row. Branfield and Ford took up row 2 with Wheeler and Rice occupying grids 5 & 6 . McLeod got the better start and dropped Adamson to second and looked to be settling in for the win. It all got a bit worse for Adamson when Ian Branfield got past him. Digging in Adamson, regained the place the following lap and set about reeling in Mcleod taking him on the last lap to snatch the victory. McLeod had to settle for second with Branfield taking third. In fourth was Martin Wheeler who after a strong but consistent season had to settle for 2nd overall in the year’s Championship. Having had a faultless year, Martin and his team were, no doubt, disappointed that their only problems had to manifest themselves at the Finals. Behind this leading group were Stuart Gray, Danny Rice and Brian Lees locked together only separated by only 0.37 seconds. Lees having had a disastrous Saturday, was really racing well on the Sunday. The Final was no different with him making places the whole race to finish 7th from a grid start of 13. The best novice was Dominic Turner finishing in 14th.
Ron Shone – Winner – Formula Blue Legend
In the Junior Blue class, Jake Calvert was dominant in the early laps to break through the pack to take the lead in heat one on lap 3. Pole man, Thomas Massarella had to settle for second with Luke Lattimer in third. Heat 2 was almost a repeat result of heat 1 and Calvert again came from fourth to take the victory with Massarella taking second. However, it was Taylor Waldron who paid for this, dropping from pole to finish third. Sunday morning saw Calvert make it a hatrick of wins taking a lights to flag victory. Massarrella also made it a hatrick of second places although he probably wasn’t as happy as Calvert! Lattimer took another third place showing the closeness of the top 3 drivers. Heat 4 and Calvert was demonstrating that it didn’t matter where he started as he collected his fourth victory of the weekend after starting second. Lattimer recorded his third top three finish with second place whilst Massarella was left to collect third place. By the time it had come to the final, the smart money was Calvert to make a clean sweep of wins and that is what it looked like as he led the pack from the lights to the final chequered flag of the day. Lattimer battled past Massarella to record a well earned second place with Massarella finishing third. However, Calvert was dramatically excluded from the final for a technical issue, with a non-compliant carburettor manifold, promoting Lattimer to the top step, Massarella into second and a grateful Nathan Wells into third.
Luke Lattimer – Winner – Junior Blue & No. 1 Plate
Overall it was a fitting final round of the year for this exciting class and the close competitiveness of both classes bodes well for a successful 2015 season.
RESULTS
JUNIOR BLUE POINTS
1st Luke Lattimer 3 + 0 = 0
2nd Thomas Massarella 2 + 2 = 4
3rd Nathan Wells 4 + 3 = 7
FORMULA BLUE
1st Ross Adamson 0 + 0 = 0
2nd Duncan McLeod 2 + 2 = 4
3rd Ian Branfield 3 + 3 = 6
4th Martin Wheeler 5 + 4 = 9
5th Stuart Gray 7 + 5 = 12
6th Kevin Ford 4 + 8 = 12
7th Kaite Helps 9 + 9 = 18
BLUE MASTER
1st Duncan McLeod 2 + 2 = 4
2nd Stuart Gray 7 + 5 = 12
3rd Kevin Ford 4 + 8 = 12
4th Brian Lees 13 + 7 = 20
BLUE VETERAN
1st Stuart Gray 7 + 5 = 12
2nd Kevin Ford 4 + 8 = 12
3rd Brian Lees 13 + 7 = 20
BLUE LEGEND
1st Ron Shone 11 + 19 = 30
2nd Nigel Pritchard 15 + 22 = 37
BLUE TOP WEIGHT
1st Duncan McLeod 2 + 2 = 4
2nd Ian Branfied 3 + 3 = 6
3rd Brian Lees 13 + 7 = 20
4th Rob Mortimore 16 + 13 = 29