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On Saturday the J&S Aprilia Superteens faced their final day of racing and Champion Frazer Rogers sported the #1 plate on an all-black Aprilia as the final positions were to be decided.
On a cold and windy day, Rogers looked a little more laid back than usual and even though he was involved in all of the front end battles, it was 12 year old Wayne Ryan that would storm to victory in race one and a maiden victory for Scotland’s Matt Paulo as he rode on the Aprilia for the final time, taking Seventh away from George Martindale in the Championship in the process.
With Andy Read looking as solid as ever, finishing his campaign with  a second and a fourth, Rogers ended the year with a fourth and third, a massive 127 points clear of eventual runner up and Aprilia rider of the Saturday in Bruce Winfield.
His second and third guaranteed him of second spot after Adam Shelton’s uncharacteristic 13th place finish in race one, eased the pressure from Winfield’s shoulders.

Qualifying was again a two-stage session with the best lap time achieved being the grid slot. Being only a single day’s event with two races, second and third spot in the championship between JDF-MOTORPOINT rider Bruce Winfield and Adam Shelton was still to be decided, bother riders however could not be caught by 4th placed rider Josh Harland.

Bruce and John discussed the strategy for session 1 Whilst it was essential Bruce qualified on the front row, the second session would be the decider after the track was checked out.

Donington is notorious for being slippy early in the morning particularly at this time of the year. In effect session 1 was a sighting session or intelligence gathering exercise.

Putting in a time in the ’29s Bruce was in P8 after sesion 1. The sun had warmed the track a bit, therefore Bruce went for Pole. By  lap 6 of the 12 lap session Bruce was in control and put in the best lap of 1.26599 to secure his second pole of the series.

Race 1: the race was always going to be a cracker. Bruce was running from P1 to P5; was he testing the field? The top five were wheel to wheel, two laps from home Bruce had worked his way to the front and managed to pull a 20 metre lead, could he hang on? Last lap entering the chicane before the start and finish Bruce got tangled up with Wayne Ryan leaving a gap for Andy Reid to get through, followed by Wayne!

Wayne Ryan took the win from Andy Reid, Bruce, Fraser Rogers in 4th place, George Martindale rode well for 5th, Matthew Paulo 6th, and Lee Jackson 7th. Only 2.7 seconds covering the 7 riders!

team-2008.jpg

We were looking forward to having to slug it out with Adam for second spot in the championship, howevr Adam uncharacteristically finished in 13th place, this gave JDF-Motorpoint second place overall in the J&S  Superteen Challenge!

Race 2: As the top three positions in  the championship had been decided, the pressure was off Bruce in particular. The last race was also a very good race and came down to Bruce and Matthew Paulo, Bruce was getting passed on the back end of the circuit, but by the final corner he was back in the lead. This went on for most of the race. racing for the flag Matthew pipping Bruce on the line by just 0.193 of a second to take his first win of the series, with Fraser Rogers in third spot 0.340 behind the race winner.

 A great finish to a very good year. A number of these young riders will surely represent their Country in the years to come.

 JDF Racing would like to thank all who involved with running a well organised championship:

  • Ian and Myra Newton of IN Competition as Superteen series organiser in their 11th year of managing Challenge;
  • Dave and Bernadette Stewart of ThundersportGB as ground-breaking promoters;
  • Paul Walker of Aprilia UK
  • Lloyd Lifestyle for supplying the riders with all their riding gear; a fantastic deal!
  • J&S Clothing as series sponsors;
  • Dunlop Tyres for supplying tyres to the top three overall over a race week-end;
  • Shell Lubricants for supplying oil to the top three overall over a race week-end;
  • Motorpoint and Magnum Motorsport for providing support to JDF Racing.

tyr-croes-bruce-1-1024×682.jpgBruce at speed 

Highlight of the race and weekend was taking the lap record with a time of 1.17.618.

Bruce also turned a 33 point deficit behind Shelton into a 14 point advantage going into the last round at Donington Park on 18th October.

Second place in the championship is still up for grabs.

The final race of the day was a tactical race for Bruce with Rogers again taking the win; Rogers having been crowned Superteen Champion the day before.The fight for second spot in the championship was on for Bruce and Adam Shelton.

By lap 7 Shelton was out of the running for another DNF of the weekend. Bruce finishing second to Rogers 2.24 seconds ahead of him on the track, with Reid a further 0.8 of a second behind.

Bruce being presented with the winners trophyBruce (right) being presented with the winners trophy for race 1 on Sunday 14 September. Adam Shelton on the left of Bruce was second in the race. 

Race one on the televised Sunday race showed Bruce in a very determined mood. Battling with Fraser Rogers, the two of them pulled away from Adam Shelton however on lap 7 Rogers fell off leaving Bruce to an impressive win, 7.85 seconds ahead of Adam Shelton. Also being credited with the fastest lap of the race at 1.17.835.The second race of the day was again a solid ride by Bruce, finishing in second place to Fraser Rogers 2.92 seconds behind. riding a tactical race Bruce used the pit board to good effect, Reid went out on lap 7 overcooking the braking going into the banked loop. Shelton took 4th pace some 6.56 seconds behind Bruce Winfield.

Race one on the Saturday was a good start for Bruce, however by mid race distance it was clear Andy Reid had the win barring a major mishap.

Reid took the win with Rogers in second place, Bruce some 5.75 seconds behind the winner. The consolation being racking up 16 points, as rival for second spot in the championship Adam Shelton went out on lap 2.

Bruce in conference prior to second qualifying session  

 Bruce in conference prior to the second qualifiying session

Lying third in the series 33 points behind secomd place man in the Championship Adam Shelton, Bruce needed to finish on the podium throughout the week-end in order to close in on Adam.

 Similar to the previous round at Pembrey also in Wales, the young riders had  two-stage qualifying sessions, the riders best time giving him the grid slot for the weekend. Despite running in a new piston in Qualifying one, Bruce was well inside the top ten in P8.

The second session was closer to Bruce’s times from the Friday practise session achieving a time of 1.18912 to place him in P3 on the starting line up for the week-end.