British Super One Series, Round 3

from Graham Smith, TSR Productions for the Super One Series www.s1series.co.uk

For the third round of the Rotax and Honda Cadet series, the 166 drivers moved to the Lakeland circuit of Rowrah, a twisty 1030 metres set in an old quarry.  There are numerous tight corners and driving standards were not always the best, with several first corner pile-ups adding to the excitement.  Light drizzling rain at the beginning of the finals made the track really slippy, some of the favourites unable to finish.  The next round of the Rotax series is at Larkhall in Scotland, on the weekend of 25/26th June.

MiniMax
Ross Gunn made a break at the start whilst others spun on the tricky damp surface, leaving Ben Hingeley to find Jack Mitchell up the inside at Paddock bend.  Josh White and Harry Webb joined in the fight as Hingeley retrieved second place.  Seeing he could not possibly catch Gunn, Hingeley set up a near race long defence, at one point having thirteen karts in a long train behind him but he managed to hang on, Mitchell, White and Webb next in line.  “I wasn’t even driving at full speed at the end, just trying to save the tyres for the next final,” said Gunn.  Hingeley leapt into the lead at the start of the second final, and Gunn found himself demoted to third  by Webb at the first hairpin whilst another four mid-fielders spun off.  Fast redressing the balance, Gunn leapfrogged both his rivals, Hingeley demoted down to fifth, and then surprised to have Philip Rawson through as well, never really recovering.  Webb was chasing Gunn in vain, and had a quick exchange with Lemuel Pay to delay him further.  From third Keith Donegan made an error in the chicane, losing several places.  Then Pay was hung out to dry, leaving Webb on his own and Luke Knott heading the third place battle.  Knott swooped past Webb down the hill, but on the last lap Gunn seemed to think the race was over and was caught by the pack, having to defend vigorously to keep first place.   Knott was eased to the outside falling to fifth on the road, in favour of Webb, Pay, Rawson and Knott.  But Gunn was distraught to be excluded when it was found he had put down on old seal number for his engine, whilst Mitchell was excluded for a too wide kart, and Harry Campey for a driving offence, Webb now the winner.

ross gunn
Above: Ross Gunn
pic - kartpix.net

Rotax Max 177
Amongst the heavier drivers, Lucas Orrock was king, and despite a brief but un-sustained challenge by Tom Holland, he eked out a two second advantage by the chequered flag.  Tom Pyttlik went into a spin in the chicane letting Danny Andrew through to mount an attack on third placed David Griffiths.  Colin Davis rushed up from mid-grid to dice with Anthony Dickinson, the latter retrieving fifth on the last lap.  Andrew managed to pass and hold off Griffiths for third.  In the second final Orrock was gifted a massive advantage when Andrew and Holland were pushed off at the start, Dickinson blamed and black-flagged in.  That left Griffiths in second, but he succumbed to first Pyttlik and later Davis as he sliced up the inside at the first hairpin.  Winning by over seven seconds, Orrock had set a new lap record for the class earlier in the weekend. 


Above: Lucas Orrack
pic - kartpix.net

Honda Cadet
The 8 – 12 year olds were led away by Jack Young, a rookie to the series but quick all the same.  Several spun as it was just spitting with rain, whilst Jack McCarthy took Piers Luxford for second but then was pushed out in the chicane, and fell a couple of places.  That incident let Ben Thompson into second, defending against Luxford, Jordan Brown-Nuttley and Steven Prentice.  As the race wound down, Young was reeled in, explaining: “I thought it was still quite wet, so I was taking wet lines and had to start defending.”  Perhaps lucky for him, a crash between two other drivers brought out the red flag and a premature ending with Luke Wooder having vaulted into second behind Thompson.  Following a delay whilst a protest was turned down by the stewards, the second final got underway, only to have a huge pile up at the first hairpin.  Young for the lead, and just before McCarthy took Thompson for third, with Luxford, Prentice and Uzair Master looking on making a seven kart train.  But Wooder was spat off into the barriers bringing out the red flag while he recovered and at the restart Young led, only for Thompson to leapfrog McCarthy and then to take the lead.  But not for long, as Young retrieved first and held on until the flag, closely followed by Thompson.  Prentice dived in at the second last corner putting him and McCarthy wide onto the grass and although they finished behind Kyle Petricca’s third place, a judicial inquiry and protest hearing will take place at the next round, so the results are provisional.


Above: Jack Young
pic - kartpix.net

Junior Max
In yet another chicane smash-up, top runners Rob Holland and Sam Marsh were out on the spot whilst Nathan Harrison managed to restart.  From pole position Jack Barlow led James Singleton until they swapped places at the first hairpin, reversing position again at the far end of the circuit.  Levi Coombs joined the party, putting Barlow down to fourth behind Nick Arthur, the latter momentarily in third.  The contest let Singleton go clear for the win, whilst Coombs, Barlow and Kyle Fowlie demoted Arthur, although he managed to retrieve fourth on the last lap, putting Fowlie behind Ross Hodgson.   “Barlow and myself were battling and when he overtook me I saw the others approaching so I went straight back and when they started battling it gave me a breather,” said Singtleon, who had recently won the ABkC Open championship.   Barlow and Singleton’s quick-fire exchanges of the lead were curtailed when the race was stopped to see to Harrison and Adam MacKay’s collision.  After the restart, Singleton pipped Barlow for the lead, and held on to win by two tenths, whilst Arthur chased from a couple of seconds down.  Fowlie leapfrogged Coombs and Hodgson for fourth, before Hodgson was pushed onto the grass losing many places.  Sam Marsh was black-flagged in for a driving offence and Oliver Myers fell out of sixth to finish ninth on the penultimate lap.  The results are provisional pending a judicial inquiry to be held at Larkhall.


Above: James Singleton
pic - kartpix.net

Rotax Max
As recent O Plate winner John Stewart sped away from Shaun Slavin, Andy King from third on the grid was loaded up and turned sideways over the grass, stopping with terminal damage.  In the aftermath Ash Hand lost his chain, two top runners out.  Edward Brand was making swift progress from his grid eleven start, storming up to third past Ross Wylie and Jack Marshall to chase down Slavin.  Reeling him in rapidly, he went past and the chase was on for the win.  “We had an electrical problem in a heat but Strawberry Racing have given me a great set-up so I managed to avoid the crash at the start and got into my stride to catch the leaders,” said Brand.  It had seemed unlikely but Brand took a narrow win over Stewart, with Slavin a lonely third and Oliver Hodgson just holding off Marshall for fourth.  After another big first corner pile up for the second final, Brand held a second’s advantage throughout whilst King retired on the formation lap.  Stewart fell to fourth at the start, but leapfrogged Slavin and Jack Marshall for the runner up spot.  First round winner Charlie Eastwood continued his progress from a repechage qualification to reach fourth, but was pipped by Sean Babington who had stormed through from the back. 


Above: Ed Brand
pic - kartpix.net

MiniMax
Final 1 - 1 Ross Gunn (Tonykart) 18 laps in 15m52.90s (43.43mph); 2 Ben Hingley (Tonykart) +19.35s; 3 Jack Mitchell (Tonykart); 4 Josh White (Tonykart); 5 Harry Webb (Tonykart); 6 Philip Rawson (Tonykart). Fastest lap Lemuel Pay (RK) 0.49.10s.
Heat Winners: Gunn; Gunn.
Timed Qualifying: Fastest lap Knott in 0.47.40s (48.50mph)
Final 2 - 1 Webb 20 laps in 16m21.38s (46.85mph); 2 Pay +00.07s; 3 Rawson; 4 Luke Knott (Tonykart); 5 Hingley; 6 Keith Donegan (Kosmic).  Fastest lap Pay 0.47.77s. 

Max 177
Final 1 - 1 Lucas Orrock (Kosmic) 20 laps in 15m51.05s (48.35mph); 2 Tom Holland (Alonso) +01.92s; 3 Danny Andrew (Gillard); 4 David Griffiths (GMS); 5 Anthony Dickinson (Tonykart); 6 Colin Davis (Tonykart). Fastest lap Orrock 0.46.91s.
Heat Winners: Orrock; Orrock.
Timed Qualifying: Fastest lap Orrock in 0.46.52s (49.42mph)
Final 2 - 1 Orrock 21 laps in 16m24.09s (49.06mph); 2 Tom Pyttlik (Alonso) +07.35s; 3 Davis; 4 Griffiths; 5 Carl Churchill (Tonykart); 6 James Darch (Alonso).  Fastest lap Orrock 0.46.61s.

Honda Cadet
Final 1 - 1 Jack Young (Project One) 11 laps in 10m39.79s (39.53mph); 2 Ben Thompson (Project One) +00.47s; 3 Luke Wooder (Project One); 4 Piers Luxford (Project One); 5 Jack McCarthy (Project One); 6 Steven Prentice (Project One). Fastest lap Wooder 0.55.30s.
Heat Winners: Wooder; Young.
Timed Qualifying: Fastest lap  Prentice in 0.54.01s (42.56mph)
Final 2 (Provisional) - 1 Young 18 laps in 27m31.759s (25.05mph); 2 Thompson +00.14s; 3 Kyle Petricca (Project One); 4 McCarthy; 5 Prentice; 6 Jordan Brown-Nutley (Octane). Fastest lap McCarthy 0.54.51s.

Junior Max
Final 1 - 1 James Singleton (Tonykart) 20 laps in 15m52.36s (48.28mph); 2 Levi Coombs (Tonykart) +02.81s; 3 Jack Barlow (Tonykart); 4 Nick Arthur (Tonykart); 5 Ross Hodgson (Tonykart); 6 Kyle Fowlie (Intrepid). Fastest lap George Williams (Alonso) 0.46.51s.
Heat Winners: Barlow; Sam Ward (Kosmic); Barlow; Singleton.
Timed Qualifying: Fastest lap Barlow in 0.45.96s (50.07mph)
Final 2 (Provisional) - 1 Singleton 20 laps in 31m17.45s (24.49mph); 2 Barlow +00.22s; 3 Arthur; 4 Fowlie; 5 Coombs; 6 Jack Aitken (Gillard).  Fastest lap Barlow 0.46.24s

Senior Max
Final 1 - 1 Edward Brand (Tonykart) 21 laps in 16m04.49s (50.06mph); 2 John Stewart (Tonykart) +00.45s; 3 Shaun Slavin (Alonso); 4 Oliver Hodgson (Tonykart); 5 Jack Marshall (Tonykart); 6 Barrie Pullinger (Tonykart). Fastest lap Brand 0.45.33s.
Heat Winners: Stewart; Brand; Stewart.
Timed Qualifying: Fastest lap: Stewart in 0.45.18s (50.88mph)
Final 2 - 1 Brand 21 laps in 16m00.23s (50.28mph); 2 Stewart +00.83s; 3 Marshall; 4 Slavin; 5 Charlie Eastwood (Kosmic); 6 Tom Wrigley (Tonykart).  Fastest lap Sean Babington (Alonso) 0.45.38s. 

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