UK Karting - Stars of Tomorrow Race Report

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Stars of Tomorrow

Stars of Tomorrow
Round 6 - Nutts Corner - 22nd/24th August 2003

DEFENDING CHAMP STAMPS HIS MARK ON STARS OF TOMORROW

Lichfield's Adam Christodoulou the defending champion in Junior Rotax Max and Mini-Max classes stamped his mark on the penultimate round of the Stars of Tomorrow series at Nutts Corner over the August bank holiday weekend with a close win in Mini- Max and a second in Junior Rotax Max to his credit.

Ross Curnow and Oliver Rowland however dominated the Junior Rotax Max and Cadet classes with wins throughout the heats and finals securing maximum championship points on the day.

The Ulster Karting Club promoted meeting went off without any real incidents and with support from Northern Ireland Events Company, Sports Council for Northern Ireland and StenaLine was undoubtedly one of the highlights in the province's motorsport calendar. Feedback from drivers and the championship organisation team seemed positive and will hopefully see the series return to the circuit.

Junior Gearbox

The heats saw a mixed set of winners with wins each by the Hibbert brothers Thomas and William although a win and two thirds was enough to put Jack Anderson on pole just ahead of William. O plate champ Jason Dredge however managed to squeeze into third ahead of Thomas with Dredge hoping for a repeat of his win at the circuit last year in the Super 4 Series.

From the off it was Anderson that took the helm with Dredge managing to forge through to second ahead of David Hodgson who followed through when the Hibberts allowed a gap to open up. The second lap saw Anderson and Dredge pull away slightly but at the first bend after the start line Dredge seized his chance and slipped though to lead. By the third lap though it was back to a tight bunch up front mwith Hodgson being pressurised by Thomas Hibbert. The pressure paid off and by the fifth lap Thomas had made it through and tagged onto the back of Anderson The sixth though saw Thomas show his form again when he slipped past Anderson mid lap with Dredge now firmly in his sights. As the lap closed Thomas was right with Dredge and the pressure paid off when Dredge ran wide at the first bend letting Thomas though.

Meanwhile, Anderson was now under scruitiny from Daryl McDonald who had quietly picked the contenders off on his way from eighth.

At two thirds distance the gaps all closed up again with Thomas still holding on up front. The message eventually got through though a lap later when Thomas pulled out a few lengths on Dredge who was still under immense pressure from Anderson.

With two to go, Hibbert still forged on as Dredge managed to break free from the rage for third which now saw McDonald lead it from Anderson. At the flag though it was Hibbert who came home victorious with a 1.36 second margin from Dredge who in turn had a similar gap to a well pleased McDonald in third. The win by Hibbert was his first of the season with Dredge just missing out on a repeat of his win at the circuit last year, blaming an incorrect tyre pressure choice. Anderson finished fourth with William Hibbert never recovering from his early mishap but still finishing a good fifth.

After the race Thomas commented " I just took it steady throughout and waited my chance as I knew I had the pace to go through if the opportunities presented themselves. This was great as it was my first win of the year." Dredge's post race analysis concluded " We just went slightly high on tyre pressures and my tyres started to go off so I concentrated on holding firm in second".

Fastest lap of the wekend was by Thomas Hibbert on his way to victory in the opening heat with a time of 44.23 sec, 57.76 mph average.

Junior Max

The timed practice sessions saw Ross Curnow in the first session just take pole by 0.04 seconds with a time of 44.24 sec from Christodoulou who was fastest of the second session drivers on 44.28 sec. Daniel Rowbottom finished off the top three only a further 0.04 behind Adam on 44.32 sec with a well please local driver Stephen Rutherdale in impressive form with fourth fastest time 0.13 seconds behind Rowbottom on 44.45

The Pre Finals saw the two leaders in an extremely close battle but in the end Curnow held off the challenge from Christodoulou by 0.64 seconds with the battle keeping the pair ahead of an impressive Chris Jeffs who stormed through from eleventh on the grid to take third. Rutherdale continued to impress and settled for fourth just in behind Jeffs with Chris Brown making up five places to finish fidth.

The finals started with Curnow holding firm up front while Christodoulou just lost out in the opening corners and as a result Jeffs forged through to second. Rutherdale didnt get much of a chance himself though when he got into a tangle with GP plate Callum MacLeod with MacLeod ending up on top of Rutherdales back bumper. By the time the pair got themselves together the whole field was passed so whatever happened it did neith driver any favours.

Meanwhile the pack stormed off with Curnow leading Jeffs and Christodoulou with and Impressive Dennis Gorman storming through from ninth on the grid to hold fourth after only a few laps. The fourth lap saw Curnow open out a few lengths on the rage behind with Daniel Rowbottom tagging on to keep the pressure up. Curnow however continued to pile on the pressure as he continued to open out more of a lead by half way. Although Christodoulou managed to break free from Gorman who had forged through to third at that point Curnow was still very much in command.

Third was now the big battle with Gorman heading it up from Brown but it was also clear just after half distance that Rowbottom was in very fast form and at two thirds distance he had forged through to fourth and was putting intense pressure on Gorman.

The closing laps still saw Curnow in strong command up front from Christodoulou and at first it looked like Gorman was going to be able to hold off Rowbottom. However, Rowbottom saw his opportunity at the same first bend that caused all the mayhem earlier when he shot up the inside of Gorman to take third. At the flag though it was a well pleased Curnow from Christodoulou with Rowbottom holding off the rage from behind to take a well deserved third.

Curnow put his terrific wins all down to good concentrating, commenting afterwards that " I had to keep the pressure on all through the meeting and it paid off".

Dungivens Chris Irwin was the sole remaining local and in the end finished mid field after something of a recovery after one of his best engines seized in the earlier races.

Cadet

A superb entry of Cadets took 5 heats to sort them out but with three superb wins to his credit Oliver Rowland took pole position for the main A final. Two wins by Richard Bradley saw him take the outside front row and following his Irish Grand Prix win two weeks previous he was undoubtedly in hopeful form. Kazeem Manzur and 5 Nations champion Scott Jenkins were on equal points with Kazeem's second in the opening heat being just enough to put him in third with Scott alongside.

The B finals saw a very close battle up front develop with Maxwell Goff just hold out to Jesse Smart, Jason Davies and James Colburn with all four making up the back of the grid.

Up front though in the finals it was Rowland that immediately set the pace. However, it was clear right from the off that Manzur and O plate holder William Stevens were going to be the main challengers when the three pulled out a gap on Bradley with Jenkins also dropping back a few places.

By the fifth lap the pressure paid off for Stevens when he forged through to second. Rowland was not getting away either and with Manzur right on Stevens bumper the three were virtually glued together as the race progressed over the next six laps.

As the race closed though James Godbehere and Jimmy Galloway started to show their form when they both displaced Bradley to take fourth and fifth as Jenkins also continued to drop back after his earlier tussle at gate corner.

Up front with three to go the front shook itself up a bit when Stevens seized an opportunity to go through to lead. However Rowland had led from the start, and he was not going to give up, and with two to go he regained his lead, this time from Manzur who also made it past Stevens.

At the flag that was the way it stayed in what was a terrific display of close driving by all the front runners with Stevens remark afterwards of "it was a good clean fight throughout" being apt for the race.

Godbhere held on to take fourth from Galloway who finished joint fifth with Bradley.

Fastest lap of the weekend was by Jimmy Galloway on his way to sixth in the third heat with a time of 49.69 seconds, 51.41 mph

Best placed local was Broughshane's Steven Bradley who settled for a mid field placing. Dungannons Derek Martin suffered engine trouble all weekend and finished tenth in the B final.

Mini-Max

The Mini-Max class was the finale of the meeting and after wins in heats Ben Cooper took pole position with Adam Christodoulou on equal points with Cooper's earlier wins just being enough to keep Adam on the outside front row spot. Behind Cooper was James Bradshaw who drove consistently well to take third just ahead of Sam Bennett.

The finals saw Cooper take the lead. Christodoulou attempted to go around the outside in the infamous first corner which had caught out others earlier in the day. The move did not pay off though for the champ who ended up losing out as a result when Bradshaw, Nigel Moore and Guillermo Marquez all forged through to leave Adam in fifth.

By the third lap Cooper, Bradshaw and Moore started to open out a lead as Christodoulou set his sights on trying to regain his lost ground. The sixth lap saw Cooper make his first error letting Moore and Bradshaw through in that order and once ahead Moore started to pull away. Meanwhile, Christodoulou had made it up to fourth and was soon pressurising Cooper.

At third distance Moore still held form but the battle for second was still evolving with Copper back in there but this time with Christodoulou right behind him leaving Bradshaw in fourth.

Just after half way the rage for second saw it move right up on Moore who was also showing signs of pressure as the top four gave no ground. However, Christodoulou was on a role and with six to go made another brilliant move, this time up to second as Bradshaw regained lost ground to move up to third.

This race was far from over and a lap later Christodoulou forged through at the paddock corner that eluded him earlier , this time Bradshaw managing to go with him leaving Cooper in third. The leading rage continued with no ground being given and the last laps saw great close driving with the three leaders keeping their distance ahead of Moore who was now having Devon Modell give him close attention for fourth.

Onto the last lap and Christodoulou pulled a few yards but the contenders soon closed right in. The final hairpin saw Bradshaw and Cooper really pile on the pressure but Christodoulou was not giving in. The challenge however saw Cooper forge through and as the race made its way around the Horseshoe loop there was nothing in it. The final dash to the flag however saw Christodoulou take a slender win by 0.18 seconds from Cooper with Bradshaw just over a second further adrift. Moore and Modell forged on to round off the top five.

Christodoulou punched the air as they crossed the line, commenting afterwards that " I just tried too early to pull off my overtaking move but I decided to let them go so I didnt crash off and wait my turn which eventually did come".

Top placed local was 5 Nations champion Stuart Lyness from Lurgan who drove steadily all weekend and showed great form in the finals when he picked off the opposition to finish a well deserved seventh. Bangors Richard McAlorum also had reasonable form finishing just outside the top ten.

Fastest lap of the weekend was held jointly between Nigel Moore and Adrian Campfield in the first and second heats respectively with a time of 45.34 seconds, 56.34 mph.

In the final analysis the event went off well and the Ulster Karting Club would like to thank the huge number of officials and drivers for making the event one of the highlights of the racing season in the province.

For more details of Ulster Karting Club events, visit www.ulsterkartingclub.com or for events in the province visit www.nievents.co.uk

Race Stats

Junior Gearbox

1 T.Hibbert (57.06mph), 2 J.Dredge (56.94), 3 D.McDonald (56.88)

Junior Rotax Max

1 R.Curnow (57.04 mph), 2 A.Christodoulou (56.77) 3 D.Rowbotton (56.56)

Cadet

1 O.Rowland (50.16), 2 K. Manzur (50.15) , 3 W.Stevens (50.12)

Mini-Max

1 A.Christodoulou (55.09) 2 B.Cooper (55.08) , 3 J.Bradshaw (55.01)

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