What a way to end the season!

This weekend see the Fueltopia Barrel Sprint hit its season Finale and what a day it made. Based out of Santa Pod Raceway we became part of one of the biggest shows of the year, Flame and Thunder. Set alongside our sponsors Monster Energy's Gymkhana GRID track we had the perfect backdrop of Ken Blocks motor home for our start line. 

The morning session was on a nice and dry, but freezing cold and windy track but all the cars were putting in some very competitive times to make sure they were part of the all important top 16 when it came to the knock outs.

Just as it came to close the track at the end of qualifying and to announce those who had made it into the finals, the heavens opened and boy did it rain. A 10 minute downpour left the track with a fair few puddles and one almighty lake in one lane! This made for some EPIC photos and a very wet Tim Eardley in the Caterham when after a coin toss was given the lake to drive through in his top 16 knock-out.

This round was open to anyone who wanted to compete, even for the first time and it was great to have 3 newbies out on track and we hope to see them next year. One of these was Dimitrij in the Subaru, who went on to compete in the AWD Gymkhana GRID on Sunday and win the 5000 Euro prize and the opportunity to race Ken Block! Unfortunately his car set on fire in the finals and he was never able to make the run against the Hoonigan himself!

This finale for many who have been at all the rounds this season wasn't about just winning on the day it was for those all important points in the championship leader board  Before we started Rob White and Luke Woodham were fighting for pole position on our podium with just 3 points separating the two. Luke had won 3 rounds and Rob had 2, so this final round was all to race for. The random draw of the top 16 meant that after winning their heats the two were pitted against each other in the top 8, neither had picked up the extra two points for fastest time of the day as these had been awarded to Lozzy with an amazing 19.34 seconds- the second fastest time all season, so this race meant everything. Rob took the win and went on to win the days racing, with a final run up against the little Cappuccino.

Its been a great years racing and we look forward to the next season, but now its time to reflect on what has been a fantastic year with amazing drivers. The video and more photos will be released very soon. Please show your appreciation to all my staff who have stood out on the track all season in every weather extreme the pod can throw at us! The series would not be what it is today without the help of Karl Goad, Iain Phillips, Dan Fegent, Phil 'paps' McCusker, Nick Jones, Chris Oddie, Anthony Potter Read, Lloyd Burrell, Eric Man, Garry Woodham 

Once again a massive congratulations to the 2012 season winner Rob White

See you in 2013! (dates to be announced soon) 

Photos by Leela Wanless, Richard Halfday and Ben Gaut