The final meeting of the 2018 JASCAR Junior All Stars Championship was held at Birmingham Wheels Park. Cold and dry conditions were met by the junior drivers as the sun set on the West Midlands. Three races were scheduled for the evening which would determined the winners of the Junior All Stars and the Midlands 400 championships. Drivers scored points for the Midlands 400 in Heat 1 and 2 and points for the I-Factor championship in Heat 3. Cole Rogers, driver of the #95, went into this meeting leading both the Midlands 400 championship and the overall points ahead of Aloucious Millard (#21). Millard trailed Rogers by only 26pts in the Midlands 400, but was 158pts behind in the Junior All Stars Championship. James Wallace (#26) was not present this evening, but his excellent performances throughout the I-Factor championship were enough for him to win with a meeting spare!

With everything to play for, the Juniors headed down to the track for the first race of the evening. Millard lead the field away ahead of Rogers, but it was the #95 who would make the better start. Taking the lead on lap 1, Rogers took a flag-to-flag victory. Caton (#17) followed Rogers in the outside lane at the start to jump from 4th to 2nd on lap 1. Millard slipped down to 3rd with no match for the top-2. Beth Carnwell rounded up the field in 4th. Rogers’ result increased his championship lead to 39pts. The #21’s only chance to win the Midlands 400 with one more race to go was to win and hope that Roger’s had a DNF or DNS result. 

The reverse result for the race 2 grid gave Millard a glimmer of hope as he again started on pole. He started alongside Caton on row 1. The green flag dropped and Caton jumped the #21 to take the lead. Rogers followed suit and took 2nd. Caton put in another great performance to pull out a 3-second lead on the #95. With the #21, Rogers was in a prime position to consolidate his Midlands 400 title. He finally responded to the #17’s pace mid-race but ran out of laps to finish just 1-second adrift. Caton took the race win in fine fashion, but it was celebrations in the Rogers camp as the #95 secured the Midlands 400 and Junior All Stars championships! Cole continues the family success following Toni Rogers’ previous success in JASCAR. Well done to Team Rogers Racing for all of your success this year from everyone at MASCAR! 

With all of the championships tied up, the junior drivers headed to the grid for one final race to conclude the 2018 season. Millard would lead the juniors to the green flag one more time alongside Rogers. Caton made another great start to get the better of both the #21 and the #95. The #17’s pace gave him his second win of the evening, adding another trophy to his cabinet! Carnwell took her #92 to 2nd and Millard rounded up the rostrum.

Well done to everyone involved in this years JASCAR championship, we hope you’ve enjoyed racing as much as we’ve enjoyed spectating. We look forward to seeing you all again next year!

Photographs by Trina Spicer