Race Report: 2023 NORTHERN Championship
R4 @ GYG
GYG, as it's affectionally known, is an amazing ribbon of tarmac set into the stunning Welsh hillside and always produces great racing. However the weather is often a factor, as was the case at Round 4 of the TKZ Northern Championship. Although we didn't have proper rain, there were smatterings of drizzle throughout the day and the sight of the 'Slippery Surface' flag was a common occurrence, but as is usual at GYG, the track dried out very quickly when the moisture stopped falling. But it did mean that drivers had to be super aware of the constantly changing conditions out on track.
BAMBINO
In the Pre-Final, Joshua Adotey put in a dominant performance with a lights to flag victory, consistently pulling away from Jayan Prakashin in 2nd little by little each lap. Lucas Cossley came home a solid 3rd and Lexi Hall, in her 1st ever race, kept it on the grey stuff to finish 4th. In the Final, Jayan raised his game and stayed with Joshua throughout the race, the two drivers just inches apart. Lap after lap on the long runs up the hill, both drivers tucked their heads down to reduce the drag, Jayan tucking in behind Joshua to benefit from the slip steam effect.
As the they approached the finish line on the last lap, they were coming up to lap Lexi, and Joshua momentarily lifted. Meanwhile, Jayan kept his foot in and jinxed to the left of the slower Lexi, and as they crossed the line the scoring system showed that Jayan has crossed the beam less than a 10th of a second ahead to take the win. Lucas came home 3rd again, recovering from an earlier spin in the damp conditions, and Lexi finished 4th, doing well in only her 2nd race in slippery conditions.
CADET
Jacob Underhill started pole in the Pre-Final and made a slight gap for himself in the early stages but dropped out of contention on lap 6, leaving Archie Loveridge to take up the lead which he held to the flag. Cory Chapman initially dropped from 2nd at the end of lap 1 to 6th by the end of lap 2 but fought his way back up to 2nd at the finish. Luc Jardine did well to bring it home 3rd from 5th on the grid and Zayn Perry had a busy race getting up to 3rd at one point, up from 5th on the grid, before finally coming
home 4th. In the Final, Archie and Cory battled it out at the front, with great racecraft exhibited by both drivers, racing nose to tail for the whole race, Archie withstanding the pressure throughout to take the win by just half a second. Jacob fought back up from 5th on the grid to finish well in 3rd by slipping past Zayn Perry on lap 5, with Luc Jardine in 5th place.
JUNIOR LIGHT
Toby Percival started pole in the Pre-Final but on lap 2 Archie Hogan slipped past for the lead which he held to the chequered flag. Jan Zarobkiewicz also then got past Toby on lap 5 to promote himself to 2nd place at the line. Meanwhile, Josh Gora and Andreea Brahariu Musteata had steady races to finish 4th and 5th respectively. In the Final, Jan managed to pass Archie on lap 1 to move into the lead, but on lap 2 they swapped places again and Archie went on to take a dominant win, his first in TKZ I believe.
It was a close battle between Toby and Josh, just 3/10th of a second separating them at the finish line, Toby just ahead for 2nd, Josh in 3rd. After the early challenge for the lead, Jan came home 4th, 5 seconds adrift and Andreea finished 5th in only her 2nd TKZ event.
JUNIOR
The Pre-Final was a busy affair, with Max Davies initially leading before Ethan Waters moved ahead mid-race to take the win at the flag. Meanwhile, the battle for 2nd reached a climax on lap 7 when Salvador Newman went for a gap to the inside of Max at the flat out right hander after the start/finish straight that quickly disappeared. The resultant contact dropped both drivers and Dylan Fitzhenry out of contention leaving Joe Griffiths to pick up 2nd position and Oliver Pikula 3rd.
The Final was a less dramatic affair, Ethan taking a lights to flag victory with Alfie Lambert finishing less than a second behind for 2nd having moved up the field from 4th on the grid. Joe held onto 3rd until the final lap when Max just slipped through to take the position, half a second separating the two drivers. While also on the final lap, Salvador managed to despatch Dylan for 5th place.
See all your standings on Alpha here and get in touch with Mark here, the photographer, for all your images from the weekend.
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