| JICA British Championship Round 2 - P.F.I 22nd April 2007 |
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PERFECT AT PFI!
Rowland
Races To Double Victory
Zip Young Gun Oliver Rowland produced an imperious display at the Lincolnshire
circuit qualifying in pole position, winning both of his heats and taking
the chequered flag in both finals. It couldn't have gone too much better
for the 14 year old Sheffield lad as he drove his Zip Evo with style and
control to dominate the 2nd round of the British Championship. After also
winning both finals at Wigan in March, Rowland is unbeaten in this campaign
and has maximum points going into the 6 week break before Larkhall in
June. Congratulations to Oliver on a simply superb performance!.
Nick drove wonderfully all weekend and was back on top form. The first heat was difficult for the Welsh youngster as he got involved in a multi-kart pile up at turn 2 which eliminated four drivers and sent Nick back to the tail end of the field. Despite the knock, Nick set the fastest lap in heat 1. The second heat was far better as he finished 4th. These results were good enough to put him on row 4 for the pre final. As his team mate Rowland stretched his lead at the front, Nick was involved in a ding-dong battle for the remaining places. When the dust settled, Cristofaro emerged in a fine 4th place. He was to go one better in the 2nd final as after another scrap at the sharp end, Nick took a place on the podium for the first time this season. Great credit to Nick and his father Mike as they have kept plugging away despite some difficult times. This is a fine and richly deserved result for a very popular driver. Well done!
Sometimes your luck eludes you and this weekend was one of those times for Jordon. After qualifying 7th he was involved in the big pile up in heat 1, but recovered well to take 4th in his 2nd heat. An on track altercation eliminated Jordon from the first final and just to top it all off, an errant sticker blown onto the track wrapped itself round his left front tyre at the start of final 2 giving the Bedfordshire youngster terminal understeer and a vicious vibration. After stopping to get it fixed Jordon dropped right out of contention and eventually retired. A weekend to forget for Lennox-Lamb but he'll be raring to go at Larkhall in June.
What an up and down day for Mark. Driving his new Zip Evo, Mark produced a wonderful display in the heats to finish 4th and 11th putting him a stunning 5th place on the grid for the first final. Sadly we let him down as all his hard work was to go up in smoke when his brake caliper was not tightened properly after a pad change. This meant having to pit on lap 1 and he finished 2 laps down in 25th. Mark had it all to do in the second final from 25th on the grid and he drove with tremendous determination to 16th place.
Thomas was the victim of a mugging in heat one as he was punted off at the very first corner and another off in heat 2 meant he finished back in 15th place. This put him in the unusual position of having to fight his way through the repercharge which he duly did comfortably. From 30th on the grid, Thomas charged through to finish in a fine 14th place in final 1. Unfortunately Thomas was again victim of some over-zealous driving and he got binned on lap 9 of the second final.
PF would prove a weekend to forget for the young Czech driver as he struggled all weekend to get to grips with the track and the conditions and sadly didn't make it out of the repercharge.
Kabir was another to find the going tough as he too failed to climb through the trap door that is the repercharge. It will take time to adjust to the bigger, faster JICA karts and Kabir just needs a little more confidence.
Our young Cadet driver had a great weekend and produced some great drives against some of the best drivers in the country. Heat positions of 7th, 7th and 9th put him a superb 7th on the grid for the final and after a great start where TJ got up to 4th at one point, he gradually fell back and although he finished outside the top 10 in 14th place, he can be very proud and pleased with his days work. Very well done TJ.
