After a long winter of testing and preparation the first round was finally upon us. As usual hopes were high for all our drivers as the team line up looked very strong. In senior Max we had regulars Jack Harding and Matt Nicholson who were joined by Louis Bradley who made the step up to seniors for the first time. In the Junior ranks Spencer Scaife was joined for the first time by Perry Dye.

Testing on the Saturday was tough as big grids made the pace very competitive. In senior Rotax Jack found it hard going but was fast by the end of the day, Matt made big steps forward with his driving and was very close to the pace and Louis had a tough day as he struggled with an under powered engine. In Junior Rotax Spencer also made great steps forward throughout the day, whilst Perry, who is still on his novice plates, made massive improvements each session.

Race day proved to be one of many highs and lows for all the guys in the team. We had some very strong finishes in the heats putting Jack on grid 3 for the final, yet bad luck struck a couple of the guys leaving Matt and Spence unable to finish in 1 heat each which unfortunately lead to B finals for them both.

In the Junior B final Spencer lead into the first corner from pole position but a tough overtaking manoeuvre put him back into second place. He then drove a mature race and decided to sit in second place until the last lap when he made his move with 2 corners to go to clinch victory. Perry had a tougher time in the B final and was involved in a first lap crash which put an end to any hope he had of an A final.

In the A final Spencer  was starting from the back of the grid he certainly had his work cut out. However, he was in fantastic form and by the end of the race he had made his way through to a creditable 8th place. But for a dnf in his first heat who knows how much higher that could have been.

The senior B final was purely a matter of finishing in the top 4 places for Matt to ensure he qualified for the A final. After the first lap he was in 3rd place with a decent gap to the guys battling behind. He, like spencer, drove a very professional race opted to simply stay in 3rd place and preserved his tyres for the longer A final ahead.

Our final Race of the day was the senior Max A final. Jack started Grid 3, Louis 20th and Matt off the back after progressing through the B final. A good start saw Jack take the lead at the first corner, despite a push from behind, only for him to lose this when he was hit from behind at the first chicane. This over zealous manoeuvre dropped jack down to 5th place. After cleaning up his tyres and getting back up to pace the leaders had a slight gap which was just too much for him to close and he finished the race in 4th place, Meanwhile, Matt and Louis were charging through the field from the back. Some good racing and great overtaking saw Matt reach 11th place and Louis 13th. 

Although the results were not exactly what we had been hoping for coming into the weekend all the guys showed good pace at times so I'm sure we'll be even stronger going into the next round!