2025/26 RugRacers Season Finale – Report
The final round of the Herts based RugRacers Series took place over the weekend with Schumacher’s Elliot Harper, who already secured the Modified title, capping off the season with another win. While the Modified & Stock titles were already decided, Front Wheel Drive would go to the wire along with the Masters & Juniors for each class. In Modified, Round 3 would see Harper pushed all the way by Harley Eldridge & Alex Thurston, looking to maintain his perfect record he would close out Q1 by 1.3secs from Harley, Alex & Chris Grainger, Q2 again going to Elliot with Alex 2 secs back ahead of Harley, Q3 & Q4 were alsi in favour of Elliott giving him the TQ for the 2 Leg Finals. Leg 1, Elliott dropping the hammer immediately, he pulled a gap of 1.5s over the 1st few laps a gap he would maintain and grow as the race ran on to take victory in Leg 1, Harley 2nd with Alex just behind. Leg 2, Elliot had to work hard in the early part of the race before establishing enough of a gap he would be able to keep his 100% record intact out front, all the action was happening behind with Matthieu Dambrine making his way up to the 2nd spot ahead of Alex, Harley & Chris, Elliott getting the job done to secure the win, over both legs with a perfect championship score & TQs as the Rugracers Champion.
Stock was out the gate 1st with Finley Whitelock taking Q1 laying down his intentions early, Ollie Payne making a rare appearance in TC, the former National 10th champion well know for his 12th scale would set the pace in Q2 for the rest to follow, Zak Finlay already confirmed as the series champion would have a busy day ahead to protect his perfect record in qualification and finals. After 4 rounds, Ollie Payne taking 3 to line up on TQ ahead of Finley Whitelock 2nd, Ethan Southall 3rd & Zak Finlay in 4th we were in for a battle. Leg 1 all got away cleanly, a long fought battle took place over the 5 mins as the front 4 broke away with a small gap to 5th, Ollie using all his experience out front to manage a 2second gap by the end ahead of Finley, Ethan, Zak getting caught at the line allowed Finley & Ethan a last lap battle for 2nd with Finley coming home 8ths to the good. Leg 2 showed early promise as all 4 got away cleanly again, Ollie fought off Finleys early pressure to manage a small gap he would grow over the course of the run as the battle behind heated up, Zak Finley, series champion, keeping it all in check made his way to 2nd by the end of the final but ran out of time to try and make any inroads into Ollies 2.5second lead. It would finish with Ollie on top ahead of Finley Whitelock, this seasons indoor revelation and Series champion Zak Finlay rounding out the podium
Front Wheel Drive had it all to play for Ethan Southall, Adam Southgate, Michael Chapman, Sam Jones & Shane Chipolina all had a chance of the title, the latter 2 needing some odd mathematical combinations to happen, Ben Moorey, having recently retired ruled out of the title fight. Q1 would go to Adam Southgate ahead of Sam Jones, Q2 Ethan hit back to take the round, Q3 went to Adam Southgate with a new fastest time of 25/304.04 leaving Ethan needing a faster time, he obliged with a 25/303.94 to snatch TQ by 1/10th for the title showdown., Sam Jones lining up 3rd ahead of Michael Chapman. Leg 1 and a clean start for the grid, all getting away well Adam was on the attack immediately, Ethan keeping it tight started to edge a small gap after a few laps, Adam cam under pressure from Sam Jones before making a break away to start edging back towards Ethan, by the midway point Sam was back with Adam & Michael close behind as they traded positions over the rest of run in allowing Ethan to get away and take Leg 1 of the championship decider. Leg 2 again a clean getaway for the field as the front 4 battled it out, Ethan & Adam started to pull an early gap with Ethan under intense pressure from Adam, Michael Chapman rolled out of contention with Sam dropping back leaving it to the front 2 to fight it out to the wire, Adam pilling on as much pressure as he could would keep everyone watching until a small error on the 2nd to last Lap allowed Ethan the breathing room to get away and cross the line as the winner on the day & the series champion.
Series Champions
Modified: 1st Elliot Harper, 2nd Alex Thurston, 3rd Harley Eldridge
Junior: James Snashall, Masters: Chris GraingerStock: 1st Zak Finlay, 2nd Finley Whitelock, 3rd, Adam Southgate
Junior: Frankie Fletcher, Masters: Stewart WilcoxFWD: 1st Ethan Southall, 2nd Ben Moorey, 3rd Adam Southgate
Junior: James Snashall, Masters: Mark Burgess
Source: RugRacers [Facebook]
