Tag Archives: Don de Graaff

2016 Race Reports, 2016 Round 11/12 : Silverstone

2016 Silverstone Race Report

2016 K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship, Rounds 11 & 12

Words: Josh Barrett
Featured Photo Credit SJN Photography

The longstanding championship battle between Patrick Fletcher and James Bark hotted up further at Silverstone for rounds 11 and 12 of the K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship, where Bark took a duo of victories to close the points margin to just four between the pair, once drop scores are taken into account.

Round 11

An incident-filled opening lap of race one caused a red flag, where Trevor Gregory was turned into the pit wall off of the start and was collected by his Father, Bill.  Further around the lap Arron Sharp was turned around and collected by Martin Ward, eliminating Sharp.  To top of the melee, Arron’s brother Scott had already been taken out of the race as his bonnet accidentally flew open on the green flag lap, smashing the windscreen.

An eight minute plus one lap restart followed with Bark, Fletcher and Phil Wright at the head of the pack – an occurrence which has been fairly regular this season.  They finished in that order despite some challenges from Fletcher.  A strong run from Don De Graaff saw the former Formula Renault racer take fourth, from 13th on the grid.  Nick Garner and George Williams completed the top six, with the latter driver running fourth in the early stages.  Former kart racer Charlie Turner took seventh in his first car race, aboard the Andrew Tibbs-run Clio.

Round 12

Bark took another lights-to-flag victory in race two.  Wright got the better of Fletcher at the start, but the positions switched on lap four which meant an identical podium to Saturday’s encounter.  Mark Balmer took an impressive fourth, ahead of Garner and Scott Sharp.

The final outing for the 2016 K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship is at Rockingham on 11th September, where the championship will finally be decided.

Original content from 750 Motor Club

2016 Race Reports, 2016 Round 7/8 : Snetterton

2016 Snetterton Race Report

2016 K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship, Rounds 7 & 8

Words: Josh Barrett
Featured Photo Credit SJN Photography

The fourth meeting of the 2016 K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship was affected by rain with a sodden track on Saturday and light drizzle on Sunday catching drivers out.

Round 8

A very slow start for pole man Patrick Fletcher dropped him to sixth before he’d even entered the first corner.  That allowed championship rival James Bark to head the field, although he was hit by a late-braking George Williams.  Bark held a big slide and continued to lead.  Williams continued to have an eventful race with some slides and a spin at Coram before finishing fifth.

Bark held off a charging Phil Wright to win.  The recovering Fletcher came third, just a couple of seconds behind the winner.  Andrew Tibbs grabbed fourth with Williams and Nick Garner behind.  Garner passed Scott Sharp on lap two, the latter fell down the field to 12th after being muscled off the circuit at Oggies.

Round 9

Fletcher and Bark were well clear of anybody else in race two after Wright retired with an engine issue. The pair ran nose-to-tail for the majority. With drizzle falling for the last couple of laps both ran wide thanks to slides but Fletcher held on – giving the two main championship rivals a win a piece in Norfolk.

A crazy battle occurred behind. Williams was the first victim as he went off the track at Hamilton into retirement.  Don De Graaff duly moved from sixth to third with Scott Sharp chasing.  Sharp lost out to Nick Passmore at Brundle on lap three with Passmore making a great move around the outside.

Sharp didn’t fancy staying fifth for long so reversed the positions at Montreal on the following lap.  Both were quickly made aware of Tibbs – who had started 11th.  By the end of the sixth lap he had passed them both.  He challenged De Graaff into Riches but the ever greasier surface caught him out.  The pair made contact with a pair of retirements being the unfortunate consequence.

Sharp came through to claim his first Clio podium with Trevor Gregory chasing him to the flag.  Passmore had dropped back, which helped to gift Nick Garner and Martin Ward a top six finish.  Simon Donoghue was also involved in the battle for third and claimed a career best finish of seventh.

The next outing for the 2016 K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship is at Anglesey on 16th/17th July 2016.

Original content from 750 Motor Club

2016 Round 3/4 : Castle Combe, Photo

Castle Combe Photo: SJN Photography

Gallery

Rounds 3 & 4 of K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship from Castle Combe.

NB : all images are copyrighted protected and must not be used without written permission from SJN Photography.

2016 Race Reports, 2016 Round 1/2 : Donington

2016 Donington Race Report

As a strong grid of Clios took to the track for the first time this year at Donington Park, it would have been natural to expect that 2015 title contender Patrick Fletcher and eventual champion James Bark would be ones to watch.

Yet with the top ten places in qualifying separated by less than a second around the National Circuit, the opening meeting kicked off what looks to be a season that’s closer than ever in the K-Tec Racing Clio 182 Championship.

Round 1

Bark started race one on pole but Fletcher lining up alongside Robert Armitage on row four, with last year’s tied pair now separated by George Williams, Philip Wright, Mark Balmer, Don De Graaff and Pete Morgan.

As the flag dropped for race one however it was the 2015 championship’s 10th placed man Martin Ward who made the most of the sprint to turn one, finding his way up to fifth at Redgate from tenth on the grid.  Bark took control of the race but only as the frontrunner of a tightly-knitted pack, initially holding off Williams until lap five when Wright reversed their positions for second and third places.  By this point Ward had dropped to seventh and Fletcher had made his way through to tag onto the back of the leading pack, setting the fastest lap along the way.

A good battle was hotting up through the mid-race distance between the number 14 car of Trevor Gregory and former stock hatch frontrunner Scott Sharp, with the pair going side by side in the drop down through Craner Curves.  Various positions looked in jeopardy after fluids were laid down on lap nine, yet at the flag the race duly went the way of Bark to start his 2016 campaign, with Wright in second place and Fletcher getting the better of Williams on the last lap to close in and take third.  De Graaff placed fifth with Gregory sixth.

Round 2

The first few grid slots were occupied by much the same cars in the second outing of the day, where the top eight remained close but ordered until lap four, with an order of Bark from Williams and newly promoted Fletcher, then Wright, De Graaff and Ward.

It wasn’t long though until the Bark and Fletcher rivalry was going wheel-to-wheel, with the pair side by side through Coppice but also sharing their space with the now-omnipresent Wright and De Graaff.  Bark dropped to fifth initially but soon fought back, taking third at Redgate and by the penultimate lap he’d managed to come out at the head of the battle.

The defensive driving from the trio however left enough breathing space for Fletcher to notch up some consistent pace; sufficient to pull a lead that would prove impossible for Bark to rein in before the end without any mistakes or traffic.  As the flag came out for lap 11, the race duly went the way of Fletcher, from fastest lap-setting Bark and DeGraaf, then Wright, Williams and Ward close behind.

In a reverse to race one results, Scott Sharp just had the better of brother and Club newcomer Arron for ninth and tenth places, and there was little to separate Richard Thirbin and Terry Roughton across the line for 11th and 12th.

Original content from 750 Motor Club