Norris On Podium In Super One

press release

Ireland’s John Norris overcame mechanical glitches this weekend to take two podium positions in the weekend’s penultimate Super One/ British Junior Kart Championship (KF3) meeting at Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire. Racing as part of top team M Sport, who import Zanardi karts, John has now moved up into fourth place in the championship.

John’s weekend started badly when he ground to a halt seconds after joining the track for timed qualifying.

“John was fastest in the final practice session, so we didn’t change anything on the kart, but when he went out for timed practice he went up the hill and stopped. We couldn’t believe it!” said team owner Keiran Crawley. “This meant John had to start at the back of the grid for the heats.”

Undeterred, John and his XTR-engined Zanardi kart powered through to fifth in Heat 1 and second in Heat 2, which could have been a win if he hadn’t fallen victim to someone else’s over-ambitious overtaking move.

After starting eighth in the first final, John drove a solid race to third in the wet, which would be where he would start in the next final.

“In the next race, John took the lead at the start, but Mackenzie Taylor got through and John was left to fend off championship leader Carl Stirling. They fought hard with John coming out on top, but by the time he got clear Taylor was off up the road,” said Keiran. He pulled back a lot of time on Taylor but was still several seconds behind at the chequered flag.

M Sport was also running Aaron and Bill Sherlock at Whilton Mill. KF3 driver Aaron qualified for the Finals for the first time against the highly competitive field, but Bill in KF2 suffered a broken wrist early on in the meeting so took no further part.

Many rivals put John and M Sport’s breakthrough success down to being based at Whilton, but as Keiran said, “We’ve only just moved in here and we’ve been so busy setting up we’ve only used the track once. It’s already proving a great place to be based though! The Zanardi chassis is one of the frontunners in the European Championship so now it’s good to see it go from strength to strength in the UK as well.”

The next race will be the final event of the British Championship 5th October, at Shenington in Oxfordshire.

Home

© kartsportnews.com