Well, you really couldn’t make it up. Here we all were, Gold Cup day again at Three Sisters, the paddock crackling with anticipation, the Saturday night barbecue had been and gone and we were all ready for the most prestigious meeting on the MBKC calendar. To mark the event, the club had, for the first time in its history, changed the format of the meeting to that of a national event, ie, timed practice, two heats, pre-final and final, a move which had been welcomed by everyone, and what happens? Well, this is Wigan, so it rained, and then it rained, and then it rained a bit more, all this at the very tail end of June. It was of no consolation whatsoever to hear reports coming in that, just three miles down the road, it had stayed dry all day, and it proved conclusively, if proof were ever needed, that unlike Spain, the rain in Wigan falls mainly on the kart track.

We didn’t start off too badly, getting virtually all the timed practice sessions in, just a problem in Rotax where some bits of rain made the track slippery on slick tyres and they were brought in 3 minutes early, but that was the mere prelude to the monsoon that followed and, for about an hour and a half, the heavens opened and the rain came down like stair rods, with the wetmeisters, Chris Kasch and Andy Potter dancing jigs of delight in the paddock.

As it went on though, it soon became pretty obvious to everyone that the meeting was in real danger of simply not happening as parts of the track were submerged in up to six inches of standing water. It was actually very much shades of Gold Cup 2000, which in fact WAS cancelled due to rain. I have certainly never seen that amount of water fall on the track in such a short period of time. The sandbags came out, and the mopping up operation began as the rain finally abated, and what a job officials and members did, sweeping up the water, clearing partially blocked and unable to cope drains. Everyone was so determined that the meeting was not going to be lost to the elements, that the weather Gods must have taken pity and the sun began to peep through the gloom, then, finally came the announcement that everyone had wanted.

Obviously, with a three hour delay, the heats were lost, but the pre-finals and finals would be run. Take a bow everyone who helped to get the track back into raceable condition, you were the real stars of the day. So, no heats sadly, but thank goodness we were finally racing, and it was straight into the pre finals and then on to the finals. The first final of the day was to have been the cadet final, but the weather again was intervening and, with the track drying up rapidly by now and the cadets caught up with tyre choice problems and wanting to switch, they were sent out but then instantly red flagged to come in and change rubber, but, with one eye on the time, it was decided to get straight on to the second final of the afternoon and place the cadet final to the back of the
programme for the second month in a row.

Therefore the first final of the afternoon came in the Junior Rotax Max class, and what a quality field we had here. Daniel Lloyd and Amanda Lassu, 4^th and 6^th respectively in last seasons National Championships were there along with all the quick regulars, such as Joe McKeand, Ryan Singleton, Daniel Murphy, Ross Wylie, James Theodore, Josh Butcher, to name but a few. The entry was also spiced up by the rare return of Ryan Denton and Alex O’Sullivan.

McKeand had taken the pre final from O’Sullivan to put themselves on row 1, with Singleton and Lassu on the second row, and it was quickly O’Sullivan getting into his stride after a messy start which saw McKeand in trouble and finally unable to finish any better than 12^th. Lloyd came through from row 3 to take up 2^nd place. Lassu too found problems, unable to do better than 9^th spot, with Singleton holding on to his 3^rd place grid spot in reletive comfort, although never able to put any sort of pressure on the front two.

O’Sullivan, as we have seen on many occasions in the past is a very cool customer once in the lead, and there was literally nothing that Lloyd could do to stop him taking the victory by the margin of 0.984secs, Singleton holding off Wylie fairly comfortably to grab the last podium spot.

Next up came the TKM Extreme final, and again a field of real quality was entered, not quite as strong as it might have been perhaps, but, nonetheless still some top drivers in there, including Phil Smith, Paul Monks, Ross Davie, Ben Sutton to name but a few, and also with the rapidly improving regulars like Dean Golba, Chris Kasch and Jake Coward likely to be a danger, it made for a really mouth watering prospect. Disaster struck for Smith as
he was unable to start the pre final, leaving him at the back of the grid for the final. Monks it was who took the pre final comfortably from Sutton, Kasch taking an excellent third from Jamie McBlain. Golba had been really unlucky, going well in 2^nd place before a broken bumper forced him out after 8 laps.

So, Monks it was on pole with Sutton alongside, with Kasch and McBlain on row 2, and whilst Monks made the perfect start, it was another disaster for Smith. Desperately trying to make up places from the back, he was almost instantly black flagged after coming into contact with a back marker, ending his interest completely.

Monks, having not won a Gold Cup race in five attempts must have really thought it was his day, as, by lap four he had a huge advantage, but, nothing is ever certain in racing and, on lap five, he got a bit too much tyre on to one of the kerbs through the valley section of the circuit and he too snapped his rear bumper, bringing out a black technical flag. So the jinx continued for the luckless Bury based driver.

Ross Davie was having a great drive from row 3, and following the demise of Monks, he quickly forged ahead into the lead and soon had a huge advantage, a great drive too from position 9 on the grid saw Coward move into 2^nd place, with Sutton a comfortable 3^rd, and that was how it finished, Davie completing a superb victory by the margin of 3.318secs over Coward with Sutton taking the last podium place. Mention must be made too of Golba who
arguably had the drive of the final in many ways, coming back from 23^rd on the grid to finish a superb 6^th.

Next up saw the Minimax class, with a grid of 28 contesting. Some big names here too, with Billy Albone making the long trip from Bedfordshire and, along with the likes of Lee Bourner, Roy Anderson, Danny Harwood and current club championship leader Jacob Hunstone all in the hunt, it looked a fascinating contest, but, in reality it became rather a one man show as Albone gave a masterclass of how to handle a drying circuit to optimum effect. He took the pre final by the margin of 3.682secs, then did virtually exactly the same thing in the final, taking that by 3.587secs and never looking in any danger whatsoever. In fact the field was soon pretty strung out right down the numbers, with Bourner coming through into 2^nd spot and keeping it comfortably. There was a bit of interest in the last podium place, Harwood taking it from Stuart Sellars.

Not a bad grid of 12 Junior TKM’s had entered and, as their final began, it seemed to be all about championship leader James Tunnicliffe and the fast improving Edward Harrison, although there were other quick drivers too.
Harrison had taken the pre final, Tunnicliffe finishing 3^rd, split by Liam McGregor, but the final was red flagged at the start following a nasty looking accident involving the young Scottish driver, Lisa Playfair, just as she was entering the valley section. There was some worry as she was lifted on to a stretcher and placed in an ambulance, but thankfully, later reports indicated that she was shaken, but otherwise alright, and asking about
racing at Larkhall next week! They obviously make these young lasses tough in Scotland!

The restart saw Harrison away well, but, after Ross McGregor had received a black flag, Tunnicliffe moved into the lead and, whether Harrison had a slight engine problem, or his set up wasn’t quite right, was unsure, but he dropped off the pace in the later stages, or perhaps that is doing a miss-service to the exploits of young Tunnicliffe, already a seasoned veteran of this Three Sisters track at such a young age.

Another of the little sub plots of the day, and another contender for driver of the day, saw another Scottish driver, Jonathan Elliott, who had not been able to start the pre final so had been forced to start from the back, picked his way superbly through the pack to edge past Harrison and take a superb 2^nd place. No doubting the victor though, Tunnicliffe cruising home by some 3.210secs

Always a keenly anticipated event is the Rotax Max class. A full grid and some quick drivers here, Dan Chesters and Matt Bedford, both ex club champions here, and both going well in this years championship, were up against the likes of Kirk Cattermole, Peter Baybutt, Tom Stackhouse and Liam Fenwick to name just a few. Also making interesting returns were seven times MBKC club champion David Hogg, ex Junior champ Sam Pollitt, and Super 1 Formula A driver Daniel Cammish making a rare visit back to Three Sisters.

Bedford has always been one of the quick drivers, but he has really been on his mettle this season, the Sodi chassis seeming to suit him perfectly, and he took the pre final, but he couldn’t repeat the feat in the final, going well initially and moving into 3^rd place, before contact saw him lose a number of spots, eventually finishing 9^th.

A driver I didn’t mention earlier was the ex Junior and Senior TKM champion, James Duxbury, who is now doing well in the Rotax S1 championship, but back at the Three Sisters track today that he knows so well and where he seen so many triumphs in the past, and he took second place in the pre-final, before getting off to a flyer in the final to quickly move ahead of Bedford and Chesters and, in reality, as we have seen so often before, never offering so much as a sniff of a chance, driving superbly to bring it home 2.222secs ahead of Chesters, with Hogg both delighted and surprised to take a fairly untroubled 3^rd place ahead of Dominic Najafi who took an excellent 4^th place. Another nasty accident involving Fenwick and Jack Whelan on lap 7 ended with both drivers walking away rather gingerly, again, hopefully they are both alright.

Next up, slightly unfortunately back on to a split grid because of time issues following the long break after the Junior TKM incident saw the Rotax Max 177 class running on a split with Formula Blue.

The 177 class is really starting to look incredibly threadbare these days, with just nine entries for this Gold Cup meeting, but even so, it still provided one of the days truly great stories. Mark Jeffries, who we only see very fleetingly these days at Three Sisters, had previously won two Gold Cups over the years in the 177 class, and incredibly, he came out on top again, after Mark Thompson had taken the pre final, Jeffries drove a pretty much perfect race, he wasn’t the quickest on the circuit, Milan Mach took that honour, but Jeffries knows the circuit will enough to settle into a rhythm that was just too much for Thompson in 2^nd place and a very close Mach in 3^rd, Jeffries taking an incredible, and perhaps, unique, third Gold Cup by the margin of 1.472secs.

Meanwhile, starting just behind the 177 class, after what wasn’t a particularly good split at the start came the Blue class, fortified these days by really good looking entries, 20 today and some really competitive looking challenges, with the likes of Andy Potter, Paul Phelan, Ian Walmsley, Chris Taylor and Nicky Taylor, sporting the No1 plate, it looked
like we would get some good racing and it certainly did not disappoint, probably providing us with the race of the day.

It was pretty hectic at times as the Blue drivers quickly became entangled with the supposedly quicker 177 class, but Walmsley had taken the pre final and he was prety determined to get his nose in front early in the final, but it was Nicky Taylor who had the upper hand in the early exchanges, but by lap 3, Walmsley got it back slipping under Taylor at turn 1 and then really beginning a great defensive performance. Potter had battled through into 2^nd for a time, before Taylor and the Scottish driver Cameron Craig, who also drove a terrific race, both edged through, but Walmsley was hanging on for grim life in the lead, a couple of times gesturing furiously at 177 drivers who were holding him up, or maybe he was just waving nicely at them, I don’t know.

He was hanging on in the final stages like a Rottweiler with a bone, as Taylor tried everything he knew to get past, but it wasn’t to be, Walmsley punching the air with delight as he took it by the narrowest of margins, just 0.111secs from Taylor, with Craig in third and with the consolation of the fastest lap, Potter taking fourth. Well done to Ian Walmsley, MBKC Gold Cup winner at last.

Last race of the day was the Cadet final, which had been put back from the opener, and what a great entry we had here, 32 drivers making up the entry, and some big names too, with Luke Hughes back, along with Abigail Gerry and
Connor Llewellyn, these alongside the likes of Ryan Burns, Bradley Ord, James Appleton and a host of other quick young drivers really looked like providing a great finale, and we certainly weren’t disappointed.

Alex Walker and Dan Sweeney were on fire in the pre final, Walker just edging it, with Llewellyn and Gerry making up row2 for the final. There was a big pile up at the start, but the front runners were not involved and it was Walker who got away well with Llewellyn, Henry Hunter, Hughes, Appleton and Sweeney all in pretty close attendance. It was looking pretty good for Walker at the mid point with Sweeney by now in 2^nd and, as the laps wore on Appleton got himself right into the picture.

With the final lap board out it was a frantic battle between Walker, Appleton and Sweeney, with Hughes and the others by now way too far back to make an impression. Anyone of the three could have taken it going into Lunar for the final time, but coming up to the flag it was Appleton who just found that little nudge to take him over the line from Sweeney and Walker, the official distance shown as just 0.040secs, with Walker 0.034 back in third, quite, quite amazing stuff to round off the day.

Once again, a massive well done to everyone who won trophies, you can truly call yourselves champions, and again a massive thanks to the army of unseen helpers and officials who battled the heights of adversity to make sure that everyone got some racing in, and made sure that I could actually prepare this report.

Report by: Mel Tipton

CADET
James Appleton  (Zip/Comer)
Dan Sweeney  (Zip/Comer)
Alex Walker  (Zip/Comer)

JUNIOR ROTAX MAX
Alex O`Sullivan  (Intrepid/Rotax)
Daniel Lloyd  (Octane/Rotax)
Ryan Singleton  (Intrepid/Rotax)

TKM EXTREME
Ross Davie  (JKH/TKM)
Jake Coward  (H2H/TKM)
Ben Sutton  (JKH/TKM)

MINIMAX
Billy Albone  (Tony/Rotax)
Lee Bourner  (CRG/Rotax)
Danny Harwood  (Gillard/Rotax)

JUNIOR TKM
James Tunnicliffe  (JKH/TKM)
Jonathan Elliott  (JKH/TKM)
Edward Harrison  (ARC/TKM)

ROTAX MAX
James Duxbury  (Gillard/Rotax)
Dan Chesters  (Intrepid/Rotax)
David Hogg  (Sodi/Rotax)

ROTAX MAX 177
Mark Jeffries  (Octane/Rotax)
Mark Thompson  (CRG/Rotax)
Milan Mach  (Kosmic/Rotax)

FORMULA BLUE
Ian Walmsley  (Birel/Lynx)
Nicky Taylor  (PCR/Iame)
Cameron Craig  (Octane/Lynx)

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