The first round of the Kick Energy Ardent Winter Series was held on the 16th and 17th of October. The first round of this brand new series has already become the most popular Winter race in the UK, attracting 160 entries for each meeting! The meeting has attracted top names such as British National Champion Chris Grainger, former World Champion Andy Moore and Worlds and European Podium racers Elliott Harper and Olly Jefferies. Despite the huge entry list, the meeting was ran very smoothly and on schedule by the BRCA guys Roger Cosgrove and Kris Kennedy. Unfortunately Andy and Elliott couldn't attend the first round due to being at the ETS race, but they will be back for Round 2!
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Qualifying TC 13.5
In round 1 of the 13.5 Class it was no surprise to see John Dawson at the top of the list, the man who owns the raceway and has put so much effort into making it one of the best indoor tracks in the world! His XRAY T3 managed a 25 in 307.02 closely followed by local drivers Nigel Shaw (also running an XRAY T3) and Liam Brookes, Just missing out on a 25 lapper was Chris Swallow in fourth and Zak Finlay fifth. The only change of the top five in round 2 was Zak Finlay swapping places with Chris Swallow. The final round of qualifying saw John hold on to TQ but moving up to second was Liam Brookes this moved Nigel Shaw down to third and with a good last run Ian Plimmer moved up to fourth which moved Zak Finlay down to fifth
Top 10 after qualifying were:
1. John Dawson - XRAY T3
2. Liam Brookes 3. Nigel Shaw - XRAY T3'11
4. Ian Plimmer
5. Zak Finlay
6. Chris Swallow 7. Bradley Sellars - XRAY T3
8. Andrew Keen 9. Will Stuart - XRAY T3
10. Ben Putt
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Qualifying TC 10.5
In the 10.5 Class James Hart took TQ in the round with a time of 26 / 308.48, second and third were drivers Ryan Edwards and Kyle Branson who were both running XRAY T3s. Fourth was Aaron Morley with David Hall in fifth. In round 2 neither James or Ryan improved their first round time but Luke Hobson put in a reasonable time to move him up to third, similarly Zak Smith improved, although 5/100ths slower than Luke. Darren Lee moved to 5th a further two and a half seconds behind Zak. The third round of qualifying saw James and Ryan stay first and second with a good run David Hall moved up to third which in turn moved Luke and Zak down to fourth and fifth respectively.
Top 10 A finalist were:
1. James Hart 2. Ryan Edwards - XRAY T3
3. David Hall
4. Luke Hobson
5. Zak Smith 6. Kyle Branson - XRAY T3
7. Charlie Ware - XRAY T3
8. Darren Lee
9. Sam Clifton
10. Aaron Morley
Qualifying TC Modified
In the Modified Class It was Jonathan Aird and his XRAY T3 who TQâ™d the round with a time of 26 / 308.38 second was Ben Cosgrove returning to touring cars after a summer break from this class, third a further 8/10ths back and another XRAY T3 was Stefan Chodzynski then in fourth Chris Grainger and fifth was Matt White. Round 2 saw Olly Jefferies do the first 27 lapper 27 / 310.58. Jonathan Aird improved his time and was second with Stefan Chodzynski also improving his time to be third. Round three the top three remained the same, Chris Grainger improved his time to move him up to fourth and Ben Cosgrove down to fifth.
Top 10 A finalist were:
1. Olly Jefferies 2. Jonathan Aird - XRAY T3
3. Stefan Chodzynski - XRAY T3'11
4. Chris Grainger
5. Ben Cosgrove
6. Matthew White
7. John Pape
8. Brian Eldridge
9. Paul Pinkney
10. Steven Fuller
13.5 First leg saw some great battles between John Dawson, Liam Brookes and Zak Finlay. Unfortunately the pole man suffered very bad luck and finished down the order, leaving Liam Brookes to win from Zak Finlay. Nigel Shaw put in a good performance with his T3'11 that he'd only just built the previous day. He showed how fast it was straight from the box!
10.5 saw a close race between James Hart and Ryan Edwards. Ryan's car looked locked down and he was driving really well, he just couldn't find a way past the super consistent James Hart. In the end James took the win from Ryan and Luke Hobson.
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10.5 final results:
1. James Hart 2. Ryan Edwards - XRAY T3
3. Luke Hobson
In modified, Olly got off to a good start in the first leg, leading the pack away he was shadowed by Jonny Aird and Stef Chodzynski for most of the race. This is how it finished after super clean driving by all three of the top guys, who made no mistakes and finished in qualifying order. The 2nd leg was a bit scruffier, Olly won the final again by some distance as the drivers behind fought for 2nd and 3rd. Once again Jonny and Stef finished 2nd and 3rd respectively, which means two XRAYs on the podium again! Stef was another driver who received his T3'11 only days before the meeting, showing the potential of the new car on it's first meeting!
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Mod final results:
1. Olly Jefferies 2. Jonathan Aird - XRAY T3
3. Stefan Chodzynski - XRAY T3'11
Photo's courtesy of Andrew Keen and Ardent Raceway.
