The 12th Annual KO GP hosted by WLRC will take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend as usual. The dates are Saturday 25th August to Monday 27th August. The timetable for this year's event is available here.
For 2007, the format will be very similar to last year but with an LRP 27R control tyre. There will be open controlled practice on the Saturday, 4 rounds of qualifying on the Sunday and three leg finals on the Bank Holiday Monday. Controlled practice is per class with drivers restricted to running in the class into which they have entered using a car that meets the required rules (with the exception of tyres).
The three classes will be 27 turn Stock using any commercially available 27 turn motor but no ballraces and no brushless equivalent. 19 turn Super Stock will be 6 cell as per the 2007 BRCA rules. Modified will be 5 cell only as per the 2007 BRCA rules. For this year up to three sets (twelve tyres) of pre-glued LRP 27R control tyres may be used. Tyres will be distributed at the race meeting with one set included in the entry fee. The latest rules are available here. The rules now include clarification regarding tyres.
Visit the gallery for pictures from this year's event.
Today the sun shone down on the track all day, which in itself was a blessing. The forecast for the rest of the meet is also good so everyone should look forward to some great racing!
Overall, one hundred and fifty six people booked in today which is a good start meaning there is less to be done tomorrow. Only thirty-seven drivers remain to check in so if any of you still need to, please get it done as soon as possible tomorrow morning so that we can get onto sorting out the stickers on the tyres for the second and third sets. This will commence after round 1 has started.
The most practice laps today were put in by Christopher Delves, who somehow managed to clock two hundred and ten laps!
Fastest overall was Ben Cosgrove in Mod, Chris Kerswell in 19T and Jon Winter in 27T. Lap times were very good across the board today so keep up the good standard everyone!
Everything else will be covered in the briefing tomorrow so make sure you get there nice and early so you are ready.
More excellent weather meant more excellent driving. The standard was exceedingly high all day with some very good times in all classes. Theo’s driver info sheets were very “AMUSING”, well the results anyway and as for the chimes on this year’s clock in the raffle the less said the better.
Round One
The first round of heats saw lots of records come close to being broken and a few were thrashed! The track was in almost perfect condition from the previous day’s practice and the ‘coking’ of the corners. In all classes there were new records put in. Jon Winter broke the Stock track record whilst Chris Kerswell thrashed the Super Stock record with an almost perfect drive. Andy Moore was on for the Modified track record until a small mistake. The left Olly Jefferies to take the win and miss track record by fractions of a second putting himself second on the track record list with 20 laps in a time of 304.81 seconds. Andy Moore and Ben Cosgrove finished second and third and appeared 4th and 5th on the all time track records list with times of 305.59 and 306.02 for 20 laps. Mark Stiles took 4th on FTD and Glen Doman finished 5th. Chris Kerwsell’s Super Stock time put him 25th on the overall lap record board with 19 laps in 301.58 seconds. There was great racing all round. High speeds saw very fast qualifying and people being separated by just hundredths of a second.
Round Two
During the second round there was more of the same. Most drivers opted to use the same set of tyres again but this did not stop some more quick times. In Stock Spencer Jones and Craig Maher slipped into the back of the top 10. In Super Stock the top ten remained static. Things really started to heat up during Mod when in heat 17 there was a huge battle between Soteris Liasi, Stephen Creswell and Mark Fuller. Although Fuller started first, a slip up during the race cost him the position putting into 4th. Meanwhile, Soteris took the lead with Creswell in second. Throughout the race a furious battle raged and in the end Creswell took the win, with Liasi second and Fuller managing to work his way up to 3rd. Throughout the other races there was more battles and close shaves and it really heated up in the 19th heat when things were very quick and very close. “Fast and Furious action” as dubbed by Theo. Mark Stiles lead in the early stages closely followed by Nathan Parker. The whole field was jostling for position and they were using the racing line to pass each other at any given opportunity. 1 minute 45 in, Alexander Hagberg takes the lead on the straight into Turn One. Nathan Parker dropped to last after an unfortunate spill but still manages to finish. In the end Alexander Hagberg takes the win, Mark Stiles is second and Luke Burley comes third. In the final heat of the round there was some amazing racing. On the first lap everyone put in a mid 15 second lap time. For the first 5 laps the field was jostling all over the place with over 7 race leaders. When it finally settled Olly Jefferies was leading, Ben Cosgrove was second and James Howarth was close behind in third. At the halfway point all the drivers were separated by just hundredths of a second. Pin point accuracy was required as the track temperature was steadily increasing and grip was minimalised. A few uncharacteristic spills from Andy Moore forced him to retire. Ben Cosgrove fiercely defended until the end at which the final result was Olly Jefferies in 1st after an amazing last 20 second stint, followed by Ben Cosgrove only 3 tenths of a second behind and in third Chris Grainger.
Round Three
After the amazing action in the previous round there was a lot to live up to. But boy did the drivers manage. Even in Stock the action was excellent with all the times close and the cars all evenly matched due to track conditions. Whilst the battle for first in the Formula 1 Turkish Grand Prix was raging, we had a battle of our own. With so many improvements and the field so similar in their times everyone’s positions were threatened! Unfortunately the ever increasing heat meant that grip was becoming a premium and with most drivers reserving tyres for a final qualifying dash or even the finals the third run tyres were really taking the strain. The top of FTD for each class was little changed after round 3.
Round 4
So onto the final round. The track had cooled significantly since earlier so lap times were improving once more. People had saved their next set of tyres until last qualifying so things were set to be good.
Heats 1 through to 5 were fairly similar to the other rounds with a few highlights but again only the same as previous rounds (plus a great race by Graham Douglass!) The speeds were relatively normal for stock and the atmosphere was pleasant and enjoyable. The big mover was Tom Watts who jumped from 11th to 2nd demoting the unlucky Adam Smith down to 11th overall. When it was the turn of Super Stock, the speeds began to pick up and so did the action. With heated battles for the top 3 positions in all qualifying races mainly due to the fact that it was the drivers last chance to get good spots in tomorrows races. As things progressed there were lots of improvements and the final results were jostled around at the lower end of the leaderboard. In the top 10 the only change was Mark Elms appearing from no where to finish 10th. When the Mods came out, the speeds were unbelievable especially from about round 17 onwards. When it was time for the penultimate race, the atmosphere was really buzzing. Everyone knew it was going to be a brilliant finish to the day. Alex Hagberg had a blinder of a run to move up to 5th overall. Onto the final race of the day and Olly Jefferies started first and makes a brilliant head start. Despite this, Andy Moore matches the pace and the time for the first lap is 14.99 seconds. By the second lap Jefferies has pushed it down to 14.88 seconds. It becomes apparent that he is on his new tyres. Soon after, Moore takes the lead pushing Jefferies into 2nd. With 2 minutes 45 to go, when Olly is on the pace to make the first 21 lapper of the day when he spins and is forced to retire due to difficulties. Moore takes the lead but loses time on a small slip up. With 1 minute 30 remaining and Moore leading Chris Grainger by 1.46 seconds and it is very close. It ended with A Moore 1st, C Grainger 2nd and E Harper 3rd but only Chris eventually improved him time.
Tomorrow promises to be another excellent day of racing, with the concourse in the morning after the first finals along with the KO raffle after the 2nd round of finals.
Full heat results can be seen here.
As the final day of this year’s event dawned, the sun was low in the sky and anticipation was high as we were set for a day of great racing. With 57 finals to look forward to, along with the concourse, KO raffle and trophy presentation it was set to be a good day.
Finals Round One
During the first round of finals the Super Stock H and G finals were quite aggressive with lots of shunting and some very loose cars! More of the same in final 3 but when the first of the Mods came out some very good sportsmanship and a good race between Mark Ashby and Nicholas Annet with Ashby in the end taking the win due to Annets retirement. The first of the stock races was up next and some good racing from all drivers involved. With lots of calls of “Good sportsmanship” from the referee, we were happy with the quality of the races. More excellent races followed with lots of fast paced action from all classes. A much anticipated race was the SUper Stock B final because the top seven cars on the grid had qualified within one second of each other. Paul Upton won that race from Ian Andrew. So, onto the A finals. First up was stock. Nerves got to pole man Jon Winter who jumped the start and was later to get a ten second penalty. The start of the race was very messy but Spencer Jones somehow avoided all the accidents to move from ninth to fourth. In the meantime Jon Winter started to drive through field after being the cause of on of the accidents to take the lead and try and reduce the effect of his penalty. He did win by 1.5 seconds but the jumpstart dropped him to sixth. His penalty gave the win to Rob Baxter with Gavin Clinch second and Spencer Jones third. Super Stock A saw Chris Kerswell doing very well again with some very quick speeds for 19 Turn. Whilst Kerswell drove to the win the rest of the field seemed to take up bumper car racing rather than touring cars. Some stern words from the referee put some in their place. The battle for second saw Steve Lissamore holding of Chris Delves until the last corner when Delves took a tighter line crossing the line side-by-side with Lissamore. The result a tie for second place. The final race of the round 1 was Mod A. Some unbelievable speeds saw the lap counting beep machine in race control going mad! Olly Jefferies put in some brilliant times as did a lot of the other drivers. Half way through things got a little rough, leaving the referee to hand out a penalty to car 5. In the end after some immense speeds and lots of close knit racing action Olly took the win with quite a lead from Andy Moore and Ben Cosgrove.
Concourse followed and there were some brilliant shells this time round. Everyone seemed to have made a great effort but greatness prevailed meaning Jon Winter won as usual.
Finals Round Two
As round 2 kicked of, there was much to look forward too after the high standards set in the first round of finals. The track was cool because the sun had remained behind a cloud for the majority of the morning. A lot of drivers were using their new tyres during this round so speeds were reaching highs even in the slower classes. Some great action in the Super Stock F final with a battle for first between Andy James and Pete Tims with James just taking the win, even though Tims had been on his tail all race. It was a spill that cost him the opportunity to fight for the win, pushing him to third. Great racing in Stock E final with Clive Bonner developing a 10 second lead. Lots of good action followed with Stock, Super Stock and Mods. Stock D Final showed some good competitive racing between Lee Carter and Adrian Carter in 1st and 2nd but a spill soon cost them both the top positions. Aidan Holmes benefited to win from Chris Graco. Action improved as we got into the early afternoon, with KO raffle tickets selling like hotcakes people were excited and the atmosphere was buzzing. All the finals were very quick and the driving standards were seen as very good, despite numerous wipeouts on the track! So to the second round of A finals. In Stock there was no mistake this time from Jon Winter who pulled away from the start to win from Tom Watts and Rob Baxter. In Super Stock a coming together between team mates Delves and Kerswell saw Kerswell drop towards the back of the field and let Lissamore into the lead again with Delves right behind him. This time the pressure of Delves saw Lissamore make a mistake to let Delves through for the win. In the meantime Kerswell improved from nowhere to third finishing in a train on Lissamore, Kerswell and David Saul for second, third and fourth. The three of them were separated by 0.28 seconds. The Mod A final had Olly Jefferies lead off the line from a once again rapid starting Ben Cosgrove who moved into second. A coming together between these two let Andy Moore into the lead with Jefferies falling from first to third. A mistake by Moore gave Cosgrove a chance to lead which he did not relinquish. Jefferies came second and David Spashett showed his true form coming up from tenth to third.
Raffle went down very well with lots of very expensive prizes being handed out courtesy of KO and Horizon Hobby the event sponsors.
Finals Round Three
This round got off to a slow start with people still in the pits recovering from the raffle so there wasn’t much of an audience. Despite this, racing was still good and everyone put in a brilliant effort. The track was still quite cool so conditions remained very good. Though the first few rounds speeds were average and things were still bumpy! Stock D finals was quite impressive with a decent battle between Lee Carter and Aidan homes. Aidan came up from eight into second and was pushing hard. He was on the pace to catch Carter when the pace began to slip again and although he was fast, Carter was faster and ended up with the win. Other good action included some great recoveries including during the F final where Pete Tims came of the first sweeping bend, but recovered to take the inside line from fourth position to first, and coast all the way to take the win. With lots of good racing following it was then the turn of the A finalists. With all three champions still to be resolved the A finals saw the trackside crowded anticipating the action. The Stock A final was an amazing show of driving skill. With cars coming within inches of each other and drivers really having to fight in order to not wipe out. At the front Jon Winter lead all the way to win the final and become KO GP Stock champion. In Super Stock Chris Kerswell bolted in new tyres and produced a dominant race win with lap times half a second quicker than the rest of the field. Kerswell lapped up to fourth setting a time within a second of his qualifying time. The win made Kerswell Super Stock champion once again. In the final final, we saw Cyclone team mates Olly Jefferies and Andy Moore battling it out for the win. Andy Moore took the lead on lap two and Jefferies fell in behind knowing second would be good enough. However, he came under pressure from Chris Grainger and Mark Stiles. Stiles having an excellent drive to move into third couldn’t quite catch Jefferies, despite massive support from the crowd. On the last lap Stiles dumped and crossed the line side-by-side with Grainger for our second tie of the day. At the front Moore won but Jefferies’ second place was enough to make him 5-cell modified champion for 2007.
So a good day of racing all round. The weather held for all three days of the event. A great effort by the entire West London team and all the sponsors as well as the guest commentators Christian Rowlands and Colin Theobald. The meeting finished with trophy presentations for the top three in each final as well as the FTD and junior winners. The overall results can be seen here.
Page last updated on 27th August 2007.