The Clubman 4 series started with a bang at Eckington. The Clubman-E class was once again well received with 14 racers ready to battle for glory, The Mini-E wasn't as popular as last season but it was still as close as ever.
Qualifying
Both Classes were extremely close for TQ. In Mini-E it was between Joshua Rose and Rob Fox for the championship pole. Fox got the gap down to just a second but he couldn't out pace Rose. Clubman-E was a straight battle between ex champion Steve Baggley and reigning champion Ryan Keeton. Baggley was looking the most consistent in the early rounds but it was Keeton who set the fastest time in Q3 to take the overall TQ.
Finals
The Mini-E final was a short lived battle with Fox suffering some bad luck on the opening few laps which left Rose with a strong lead. From there Rose managed the 5 minutes perfectly for an opening win.
Clubman-E C final promised to be a good battle between season rookie Dave Raynolds and Rian Luke with his new chassis. The pair made a great start breaking away from the pack, but Luke definitly had extra pace and looked a lot more comfortable. He took an impressive victory with Reynolds second and Brian Jones completing the podium. The B final was a very chilled final, the trio of Dave Jones, Peter Gill and Scott Cruickshank set off in grid order and pretty much stayed that way for the whole race.
The A final promised to be a good one, it would also be a true show of pace with no handicap tyres in sight. Keeton got a great start but Baggley was hot on his heels and looking fast. But he pushed too hard, too early and made a costly mistake on lap two which pushed him down to the back of the pack. Chris Sale moved into second place but only to watch Keeton slowly ease away. It would be a lights to flag victory for Keeton with Baggley just managing to recover back up into second at the end. Sale had a solid final behind him to take the final spot of the podium.
The Team Championship
The was a lot of excitement in the pits about the team championship. Teams were hard at working out how best to maximise points with team liveries. With some of the favourite teams missing racers for round one, it looks like the championship is going to be very exciting. The current list of names are all to be confirmed and we should start seeing some cool liveries at the next round. For now it's the team of Chris Sale and Rich Wheeler who take an early lead.
It's great to have the Clubman series back in action at Eckington. The atmosphere in the pits was excellent as usual and the on track battles are always entertaining. Round 1 and the championship results can be found on rc-results.com. Round 2 will take place in two weeks.
RC-Results - Sheffield RC Racing - 12/02/2024 - Eckington - Clubman 4 - Round 1