The final round of the Clubman 2 series was as action packed as anticipated. Although there was plenty of Clubman-e entries booked in, only two of them had a realistic chance of the title. That was Steve Baggley and Ryan Keaton. There was however a lot of close battles further down the table to cause tension throughout the pits.
QUALIFYING
It was Baggley who TQ’d the first round of qualifying, but just 0.16 seconds from Keeton! Christopher Sale was having a better qualifying session this week in third. Rich Wheeler and Keith Hardiman we best of the rest. Positions and times didn’t really change through the rounds, but the on track battles were in full swing. So much that they were slowing down the times. It was clearly a track layout for the finals.
THE FINALS
James Gratton-Smith took a lights to flag victory in the C final from Richard Varley who appear to be having setup issues. The B final was the full of action with James Hutson taking an early lead. He definitely had the fastest car but a few mistake mid race allowed a more consistent Calvin Hadley to catch-up. The pair would exchange the lead a few times before Hadleys cleaner run would pay off and award him the victory. Hutson finished in second with Chris Socks completing the podium.
For the A final all eyes were on the close battle between Baggley and Keeton. However, it was Sale who took an early lead after Baggley jumped the start and Keeton made a mistake on the opening lap. A third of the way into the race and the fireworks really started to light up the final. The trio were constantly changing positions with slight mistakes and epic overtakes. None of them seemed to have an advantage and it was all to play for going into the last lap. Just like round 5 it was a 3 three race to the start of the straight. Sale had a great run through the last corner but it just wasn’t enough to claim his first win. It was Keeton who pipped him again, this time by just 0.44 seconds. Baggley was even closer to him making the trio split by just 0.6 seconds! But that wasn’t as spectacular as the shock they all got when they realised Rich Herring (Clubman 20t class) had sailed past them during all the battling. Herring position didn’t count in terms of the championship so Keeton took a winning score of 100pts.
THE CHAMPIONSHIP
So as the dust settles on the final round, the championship is complete with Baggley taking the honours and successfully defending his title. Keeton narrowly missed out by just a point in second. Behind them was another good rivalry between Wheeler and Sale. Sale moved up an impressive 6 places to steal third place from him. Keith Hardiman was another racer rocketing up the tables on the final round, he jumped 5 places into 5th. 6th was taken by a very consistent Chris Socks, he defended the place from the ever increasing Calvin Hadley and James Gratton-Smith.
So that’s another action packed Clubman series in the books. We hope you’ve all enjoyed the close wheel to wheel action the 27t class has provided. Thank you to all the racers that have taken part to make it a success. We hope to see you all back for Clubman 3!