2015 Nankang 5Club MEV Series – Croft Report
Jun 9, 2015 9:12:44 GMT
johnp, BobN, and 1 more like this
Post by Stewart on Jun 9, 2015 9:12:44 GMT
The 5Club Racing MEV MX150R Series was in action at Croft within the 750 Motor Club Sports Specials field and Chris Lovett was the man to beat posting the fastest two times in qualifying to ensure he was at the front from the get go!
Race 1
A nice clean getaway from Lovett left Kevin Dengate and Stewart Mutch battling for second spot. Mutch had the jump on Dengate and led through Hawthorn but a lift through the chicane saw Dengate launch past on the straight.
Further back Darren Griffin, who out-qualified Russell Clark managed to keep Clarks more powerful Supercharged MX150R at bay for 3 laps until, while encountering a recovering Mutch, Clarke took advantage of Mutch barging past Griffin to take 4th spot, helped by Griffin’s spin on lap 5.
In John Potter’s first race of the 2015 season, he found the new-comer Sylvia Mutch a force to be reckoned with after she out-qualified him and led for the first 3 laps until he finally made an overtake stick.
Lovett was a runaway winner in Race 1, having spent most of the race hustling the faster Sports Specials cars as he finished just outside the top 10.
Race 2
The grid lined up the same as race 1 with only Potter and Sylvia Mutch swapping places. A blistering start from Clark was quickly reigned back in when he spotted the green flag being waved. All was set for an exciting race 2!
Lovett made another perfect start while Dengate had been receiving some coaching from his team mate on launching which saw him bog down off the line and Stewart Mutch get the place. This time it wasn’t given up so easily and both Mutch and Dengate spent the next 5 laps changing places until Mutch put a car between them and eased away to hunt down the orange dot of Lovett’s car in the distance.
Clarke made a good start with Griffin hanging on close through the first lap but the extra power on the straights made short work of Griffin and pulled out a comfortable 10 second gap by the end of the race.
Sylvia Mutch made a slow start allowing Potter some space for the first lap but with determination in her eyes she closed the gap to less than a second on lap 2. A mistake on the exit of Sunny Out saw her get a wheel on the grass spinning her out and allowing Potter to pull away and keep the place.
Lovett crossed the line well ahead of second place Mutch to claim his second victory of the weekend with Dengate less than a second behind Mutch in third.
Check out Motors TV on the June 11th for coverage of race 2 prior to heading to Lincolnshire’s version of the Nürburgring on June 20-21st.
Words: Joshua Barrett and Stewart Mutch
Pictures: Jonathan Elsey (www.jonelseyphotography.photoshelter.com)