Super One Rotax Series, Round 3
Tweetfrom Graham Smith, TSR Productions
The championship circus moved north to Rowrah, a tight and twisty 1030m circuit located in England’s Lake District, but it was back to rain on Saturday, albeit drying up on Sunday. Over 150 drivers made the trip, with Sean Babington dominating Senior Max, likewise Lucas Orrock in the top spots in Max 177, with Ross Gunn and Kyle Fowlie sharing the Junior Max honours. In MiniMax Lando Norris and Dave Wooder shared the points scoring wins, whilst Honda Cadet wins were from Luke Wooder and Sandy Mitchell.
Above: Luke Wooder and the Honda Cadet field
pic - Chris walker, kartpix.net
Above: MAX 177 winner Lucas Orrock
pic - Chris walker, kartpix.net
Honda Cadet
From the two TQ sessions, Sandy Mitchell came out tops from Charlie Lamb and Ethan Andrews, but it was Elliot Harvey who took Heat 1 honours, Lamb the second and finally Mitchell took the third one putting him on the Final 1 pole, Lamb alongside but Harvey only on row 13 after a heat exclusion. However it was Matthew Hopcraft who leapfrogged into the lead on the opening lap, but soon dropped in favour of Jewiss, Mitchell and Luke Wooder. Jewiss and Wooder energetically traded the lead, with Mitchell often in second but by the end Wooder had control over Jewiss and Mitchell with Harvey storming up to sixth. For the second final, Jewiss soon took over the front from Mitchell, the latter having one brief time in the lead mid-race, until Wooder snatched it on the penultimate lap. But as the first two battled, Mitchell propelled himself past for the win, Wooder, Jewiss and Harvey next.
Final 1: 1 Luke Wooder (Project One); 2 Kiern Jewiss (Project One); 3 Sandy Mitchell (Project One). 4 Ewan Tindall (Project One); 5 Morgan Porter (BRK); 6 Elliot Harvey (Zip).
Final 2: 1 Mitchell; 2 Wooder; 3 Jewiss; 4 Harvey; 5 Myles Apps (Project One); 6 Mark Kimber (Project One).
Above: the top three drivers in Honda Cadet
pic - Chris walker, kartpix.net
MiniMax
Philip Rawson, Connor Mills and Alex Stott were at the top of the timed qualifying table but Guan Yu Zhou and Harrison Thomas were excluded for minor technical issues, so would start the heats last. Rawson won his two heats, Dave Wooder the other, with Lando Norris handily placed on grid 3 for the first final whilst Zhou had reached ninth in the classification. Rawson led them away but within a few laps Norris would take over, trading the lead with the fast rising Zhou and Wooder. Connor Hall then went to the front, but had a clash with Wooder which initially had him excluded from his eventual third then re-instated again. Wooder has appealed the decision to re-instate which will be held at the next round, meaning results are provisional. Wooder fell back to finish sixth, as Norris made a move stick on the last lap to win over Harry Williams despite suffering from reduced braking, relying only on the safety strap. Jordan Falding was excluded from mid-pack. Zhou had fallen right back and would finish only eighth, whilst William Creighton running behind him would be forced to retire. Norris got away in the lead for the second final, losing it to Hall on lap 8 and then trading it with Wooder later, the latter over the finish line first, Connor Mills joining them on the podium with Zhou in fourth. Steven Prentice was excluded for driving standards. “It has been a good weekend really, we didn't have the best outright pace, but everything worked well and I was able to pick up points right through the weekend. It was good that I was able to take points off the guys who were ahead of me in the championship too,” said Norris.
Final 1: 1 Lando Norris (Tonykart); 2 Harry Williams (Tonykart); 3 Connor Hall (Tonykart); 4 Philip Rawson (Kosmic); 5 Connor Mills (Tonykart); 6 Dave Wooder (Alonso).
Final 2: 1 Wooder; 2 Norris; 3 Mills; 4 Guan Yu Zhou (Tonykart); 5 Williams; 6 Hall.
Above: MiniMAX driver Dave Wooder climbs the kerbing
pic - Chris walker, kartpix.net
Junior Max
Danny Keirle on the sole Jade kart topped timed qualifying over Kyle Fowlie and Harry Webb, but after finishing second in his first heat it was found that Keirle had an incorrect needle in the cut-off valve in his carburettor, leading to exclusion from the meeting. Apparently this led to many others checking their carbs for the same issue, there being a figure 1 under the Dellorto diamond mark. So with two heat wins Fowlie would have the first pole, Raoul Hyman alongside and the other heat winner Ross Gunn on grid 3. And it would be Gunn who tracked Fowlie through the first final, and by mid race taking over at the front for the win and rebuffing the one lap where Fowlie got back ahead, even so a very close finish. Hyman ran third, Fowlie briefly behind at the end but recovering the spot, whilst Ben Hingeley hung onto fourth leaving Oliver Myers and Josh White for a close 5th and 6th. Fowlie only allowed Gunn a couple of laps in the lead of the second final before finding the pace to put three seconds on the battle between Hyman, Gunn and Holland with Hingeley falling away. And Adam MacKay from second last in the repechage reached ninth.
Final 1: 1 Ross Gunn (Tonykart); 2 Kyle Fowlie (Gillard); 3 Raoul Hyman (Alonso); 4 Ben Hingeley (Tonykart); 5 Oliver Myers (Tonykart); 6 Josh White (Tonykart).
Final 2: 1 Fowlie; 2 Hyman; 3 Gunn; 4 Rob Holland (Tonykart); 5 Hingeley; 6 Levi Coombs (Tonykart).
Above: Junior MAX take the start
pic - Chris walker, kartpix.net
Max 177
Lucas Orrock dominated the weekend proceedings commencing with a timed qualifying time good enough for a mid-grid in the lighter Senior Max class. Tom Holland and Ben Walker were closest, Holland and David Griffiths second in the heats. Matthew Nicholson made a good start in the first final to slot into second, but succumbed to Holland’s challenge by the end with Griffiths coming up to fourth. After Nicholson fell away there were no changes in the front three of Orrock, Holland and Griffiths in the second final running as a close train. Colin Davis relieved Nicholson of fourth, and later Danny Andrew would get him too.
Final 1: 1 Lucas Orrock (Kosmic); 2 Tom Holland (Alonso); 3 Matthew Nicholson (Tonykart); 4 David Griffiths (GMS); 5 Dominic Russell (Tonykart); 6 Danny Andrew (Intrepid).
Final 2: 1 Orrock; 2; Holland; 3 Griffiths; 4 Davis; 5 Andrew; 6 Nicholson.
Above: Thumbs up from Lucas Orrock
pic - Chris walker, kartpix.net
Senior Max
Sean Babington dominated the senior Max class, the same as the last round. Once the two wet timed qualifying sessions were combined he came out top over Scott Mackrell, Jack Saffery and Shaun Slavin but the other two Formula K’s of Charlie Eastwood and Edward Brand were 7th and 16th. Wet or dry, it made no difference to Babington with two heat wins, and Mackrell taking the other although a mistake in his other heat left him 14th on the grid. Thomas Arme’s consistency had him on the front row, John Stewart and Slavin behind. But as Babington took the lead, Arme started on a downward slide that would see him finish only 9th. John Stewart was the first to muscle past, but at mid-race Eastwood took second with his team mate Brand a second behind having taken Oliver Hodgson. In the second final, Babington didn’t have it all his own way as Eastwood challenged hard, several laps in the lead. Brand was keeping a close watch until engine failure forced him out, then on the last lap Eastwood, running in third behind Hodgson collected a large lump of kerbing in his sidepod whilst challenging for second. Andy King held off Stewart and Harrison Scott, recovering after a heat DNF in a first chicane pile-up.
Final 1: 1 Sean Babington (Alonso); 2 Charlie Eastwood (Formula K); 3 Edward Brand (Formula K); 4 Oliver Hodgson (Tonykart); 5 Andy King (Tonykart); 6 Ash Hand (Tonykart).
Final 2: 1 Babington; 2 Hodgson; 3 Eastwood; 4 King; 5 John Stewart (Tonykart); 6 Harrison Scott (Tonykart).
Above: Two wins for Sean Babington
pic - Chris walker, kartpix.net
Above: Charlie Eastwood was on the podium in both Senior MAX Finals
pic - Chris walker, kartpix.net