2010

photos by Andy hankin Ovalpix.com

With a good turn out of cars we was in for a good meeting, newcomer to GP Midgets Carl Checkley started at the rear of the field, But on the front row was the two men who have dominated the GP Midgets this season Jonathon and Daniel Pooley, row 2 Steve Young and Cliff Bunn who had brought out his new machine (which look very much the part) decided to start at the rear of the field so moving Neil Clarke up one. One man missing from the grid was the current World Champion Klaus Kilianski who decided not to defend his title. There was however overseas representation with former champion Toni Scheepens making the journey from Holland.

As the green flag got the cars away it was Jonathon who took up the lead from Daniel with Steve Young third Marc de Land past Neil Clarke by the to move up to fourth, Mark Hodges also pass Neil coming out of turn 2, Steve Dawson andToni Scheepens slotted in behind Neil followed by Andrew Bilby, Pete Dorrell, Lee Hazeltine, Leon Retchless, Andrew Lewis, Carl Checkley, Cliff Bunn and at the rear Luke Retchless who was out for the first time in the VW. But at the front the Pooley brothers were pulling away from the field, by lap 6 they was lapping the tail end cars, Steve Young started to close in on the leaders while they were held up in traffic, Marc de land was coming under pressure from Mark Hodges by lap 11, Daniels car was starting to over heat and spill water from the rear of his car onto the track, this took Marc de land by surprise going into turn one and slid very wide to allow Mark Hodges and Steve Dawson through, Daniel pulled to the infield shortly after to retire from the race this left Jonathon out on his own, But Steve Young had not given up on winning this and was putting in some quick laps and started to close the gap, Andrew Lewis was having a battle with Leon Retchless who manage to pass Andrew with 5 to go, Neil Clarke was keeping Andrew Bilby behind him, But Andrew was coming under pressure from Pete Dorrell, with 4 to go Marc de land claimed back fourth spot from Steve Dawson by going round the out side on turn 2, The last lap saw Jonathon get stuck in back marker this allowed Steve to close the gap down to six car lengths but it was Jonathon who cross the finish line to take his second World Final win, Steve Young a well deserved second with Mark Hodges third.

1st Jonathon Pooley. 2nd Steve Young 3rd Mark Hodges 4th Marc de Land 5th Steve Dawson 6th Neil Clarke 7th Andrew Bilby 8th Pete Dorrell 9th Toni Sheepens 10th Leon Retchless

Heat one With all the cars lined up in graded order it was Andrew Lewis who took up the lead. Lee Hazeltine made a good start and was soon challenging Andrew for the lead, Pete Dorrell wanted some of the action so he made it a three car battle for the lead on laap two. Marc de Land moved up to fifth by going around Leon Retchless on turn 3 & 4, Toni Sheepens was trying to fend off Jonathon Pooley but Jon had the speed coming out of turn 4 to power pass down the home straight. Steve Young was closely behind followed by Mark Hodges, Andrew Lewis was still leading from Lee Hazeltine But Pete Dorrell was now coming under pressure from Marc de Land and Jonathon Pooley going into turn one Marc took the out side line to pass Pete just as Pete`s suspension broke with only inches to Spare Marc managed to miss Pete and the Northampton wall but Jonathon was in Marc`s slip stream and could not stop driving over NO15 rear wheel and landing on the side of Marc`s car , race was stopped while the cars was removed to the infield, on the rolling restart Andrew was leading from Steve Young and Mark Hodges, who both passed Andrew by the end of lap 8, Andrew Bilby and Toni Sheepens had a couple of laps wheel to wheel with Toni coming out on top by lap 11, Luke and Leon Retchless was having there own battle a little further down the field and chasing down Lee Hazeltine who was in eighth, Carl Checkley was having a great drive in seventh in only his second race in the midgets, But it was a win for Steve Young another good drive to keep Mark Hodges at bay.

1st S.Young 2nd M.Hodges 3rd T.Sheepens 4th A.Lewis 5th A.Bilby 6th N.Clarke 7th C.Checkley 8th L.Hazeltine 9th L.Retchless 10th Luke Retchless.

Once again Andrew Lewis took up the lead, Luke Retchless was starting to get to grips with his VW and made a good start from Lee Hazeltine and Pete Dorrell. Leon went a little wide going into turn 1 allowing Marc de Land to nip up on his inside, but Leon fought back going up the back straight and managed to re-pass Marc by boxing him behind Lee Hazeltine, this allowed Mark Hodges and Jonathon also to pass, these two was in a league of there own as they made there way through the field into first and second, Mark went wide going through turn 3-4 and this is all Jonathon needed to pass on his inside, Mark fought back by taking the outside line but again went wide allowing Jonathon to pull clear. With 6 to run the yellows came out after Neil Clarke lost his nose cone after a coming together with Leon Retchless, so we had a sprint finish on the Green flag and Mark Hodges took the lead from Jonathon for half a lap but Jon had the inside line and managed to pull clear, Back in eighth Andrew Bilby was battling with Luke Retchless for the last points scoring position Luke tried to pass going down the back straight but had to give Andrew eighth spot. But it was Jonathon who managed to win from Mark Hodges.

1st J.Pooley 2nd M.Hodges 3rd S.Young 4th M.de Land 5th A.Lewis 6th P.Dorell 7th T.Sheepens 8th A.Bilby.