The Daytona DMAX 2018 Championships raced off the grid on Sunday for Round 1 of the new season – with a record entry of 162 drivers across the six classes. Daytona Milton Keynes hosted the biggest and fastest ever Daytona DMAX Championship round and the Buckinghamshire circuit saw amazingly close racing in the Winter sunshine.
A sell out grid for the Light Endurance saw 32 drivers head out onto the circuit first for their qualifying session as the track dried following the misty start to the day. As the chequered flag fell, it was Dante Dhillon on Pole but Race Control then confirmed that five drivers had been penalised for failure to slow under yellows and Dante, Max O’Shaughnessy, Kameron Khan, Ethan Livingstone and Stephen Westwood found themselves at the back of the grid – with Cameron Noble inheriting Pole Position and Sam Hampshire lining up beside him for the first race of the day.
An epic one hour race ensued with Max O’Shaughnessy, showing why he’s the reigning Champion, making it from 30th on the grid to take the win by 5 seconds from a very impressive Harrison Pughe, with Cameron Noble converting his Pole into third place.
Next up, the Inters also had a record 32 drivers qualifying but it was series stalwart Chris Hackworth who took the coveted Pole Position by just 0.08 seconds from Chris Alcock – the pair a massive 0.6 seconds ahead of Bobby Trundley and Nuno Costa who lined up on the second row.
The Inters provided another superb race as the now fully dry track saw lap times below 65 seconds for the top four drivers. Hackworth pipped Alcock to the win in the dying moments of the race – winning by just 0.266 seconds after an hour on circuit. Trundley held on to third from a fast charging Owen Jenman who missed out on the podium by just 0.6 seconds.
The Heavy Grid also saw 32 drivers fighting it out for qualifying – with returning driver Jamie Pender stealing Pole from 2017 Champion Tomek Zaustowicz by just 0.082 seconds. Lee Witney and Rob Bennett lined up behind the front row with just 0.2 seconds plotting the top four drivers.
The Heavy Enduro Race was stopped after twenty minutes as the marshals dealt with an incident on track but resumed after a lengthy delay for an additional 20 minutes racing. At the chequered flag, Jamie Pender took the win by a huge 8.349 seconds from Xian Campbell who held Tarik Almou off from second by just 1.287 seconds. Nick Rowland was the leading Super Heavy Driver.
The Heats classes enjoyed similarly exciting and close racing throughout the afternoon. In the lights it was Jack O’Neill and Fraser Brunton who lined up on Pole for the
Final, with O’Neill converting his Pole into a win, Ben Leslie moving from 4th on the grid to second at the flag just ahead of Kameron Khan who started 9th on the grid.
The Inters class saw Trundley on Pole alongside Alcock, with Lacey and Coppin behind them. Twelve laps later and Trundley and Alcock held onto the their start positions but a superb race behind them saw Jordan Taylor pip Lacey and Coppin to the third step of the podium.
The Heavy Class saw a number of black flags for contact throughout the heats – with the Final Grid being headed up by Alex Pritchard on Pole, Rob Bennett beside him. Almou and Pender lined up on the second row. Pender made it a convincing double win with first place in the Final, beating Pritchard by a huge margin (13.474 seconds). Pritchard somehow kept Zaustowicz behind, beating him to second by just 0.013 seconds at the flag! Richard Newton took Super Heavy honours.
With 162 drivers racing in the first round, the Daytona DMAX Championships have proved themselves to be the UK’s premier Arrive and Drive two stroke Championship. Championships Tables and Race Results will be online shortly on the Results Pages and the Highlights Videos of all six classes will be published on the DMAX TV Page in just a few days.
The second round of the Daytona DMAX Championship is at PF International in Lincolnshire over the weekend of 17th/18th March – spaces are already very limited across lots of classes so make sure you have reserved your place before the classes sell out. Call Mark on 033 033 27870 to ensure you are on the DMAX grid.