UK Karting - MSA Super 1 Series Race Report

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MSA Super 1 Series

MSA Super 1 Series
Round 6 - Rowrah - 10th September 2006

Formula A
Litchfield Makes Karting History

Parrott & Litchfield

Ripley kart racer Mark Litchfield made history yesterday (Sunday 10th September) when he became the first ever driver to win the Super One Renault Formula A Championship three times in a row.

He clinched his third successive championship by finishing second in the last two races of the 12-race championship, which concluded at Rowrah circuit in Cumbria. Litchfield’s bid to re-write the karting history books was made straightforward when his main championship rival, Jason Parrott (Peterborough) retired from the lead near the end of the first championship race with an engine failure, consigning him to second place in the standings at best.

Mark Litchfield

“All year there have been times when I thought I wasn’t going to do it,” said Litchfield. “But each year I’ve thought it is going to be really hard, and then I came back. My saving grace has been reliability and consistency. I have had 100 per cent reliability and I’ve had consistently good results. Winning races is really nice, but I’d rather win no races and win the championship.”

Chris Rogers (Waltham Cross) won both championship races at Rowrah, securing his third place in the rankings, and taking his 2006 win tally to three. Starting third on the grid in the first final, he inherited the lead from the stricken Parrott with just two-and-a-half laps to go, and led the second final from start to finish. Parrott made a remarkable recovery in the second final. Starting 16th on the grid as a result of his retirement from the first championship race, he moved up to 11th on the opening lap, and steadily overtook midfield karters to take up fifth place at the end, behind podium finisher Jamie Croxford (Wooton Fields, Northants) and Matthew Bell (Morpeth).

Another karter who made an impressive comeback from a poor grid position was Jamie Croxford (Northampton), who climbed from 20th to fourth in the first final and made up another place to reach the podium in final two – securing fourth place in the championship.

Renault Formula A provisional championship standings: 1st – Mark Litchfield, 480pts; 2nd – Jason Parrott, 462pts; 3rd – Chris Rogers, 447pts; 4th – Jamie Croxford, 434pts; 5th – Danny Cruttenden (Wilmington, Dartford), 417pts; 6th Michael Ryall, 416pts (Plaistow, London).

Formula ICA
Millroy Wins Formula ICA Championship In Style

Oliver Millroy

Ollie Millroy (Claygate, Surrey) won the Super One Renault Formula ICA kart series in dominating style yesterday (Sunday, 10th September), winning both championship races. The Reed’s School pupil added the two wins from the concluding meeting, held at Rowrah, Cumbria, to three other wins from earlier in the season to win the championship by 22 points.

“You can’t really do more than win both finals,” said Millroy. “Coming into the round we knew there were four of us who could win the championship. On Friday and Saturday I felt fine, but on Saturday night I started getting a bit nervous, although I’ve learnt how to control it and turn it into adrenalin.”

Millroy was challenged through much of the race meeting by Lee Bell (High Wycombe), who emerged as the championship runner-up to Millroy. Bell topped the timed qualifying, but dropped back when racing got under way, while Millroy found some extra pace and emerged as winner of the second heat. Millroy started the first championship race on pole position, but Bell mounted a strong challenge, moving from third on the grid to snatch the lead from Millroy on the third lap with an audacious move around the outside of the final bend. Millroy was also passed by Shaun Carter (Crowthorne), on lap three, but regained his position right behind Bell just after half distance. Bell resisted Millroy’s first attempt to regain the lead on lap 13, but was powerless to defend two laps later and followed Millroy to the flag. The top three in the first final was completed by Sam Tordoff (Leeds), who despite starting in second place, dropped out of the top 10 after a first lap tangle, then made an impressive recovery to third place.

In the second championship race, Lee Bell took the lead from Millroy immediately, with Jonathan Walker (Blackburn) moving into second. Bell and Walker had a four-lap tussle, which concluded in contact between the two, eliminating Bell and dropping Walker, who was later black flagged and penalised for careless driving, down the field. The incident handed the lead back to Millroy, who was battling Stefan Di Resta (Bathgate, Lothian) and the two reached the chequered flag in that order, followed by Matt Truelove (Lincoln) who had started 18th and Scott Malvern (Ilford), who challenged for second at one point earlier in the race.

Renault Formula ICA provisional Championship standings: 1st – Ollie Millroy, 472pts; 2nd – Lee Bell, 450pts; 3rd – Matt Truelove 453pts; 4th – Jonathan Walker, 429pts; 5th – Shaun Carter 421pts; 6th – Jason Edgar, 416pts.

Formula JICA
Harvey Takes Championship By Single Point

Jack Harvey

Lincoln schoolboy Jack Harvey won the Super One Renault Formula JICA Championship yesterday (Sunday, 10th September) by just a single point from Oliver Rowland (Penistone, S Yorkshire).

Despite Rowland winning both championship races in the concluding meeting at Rowrah, Cumbria, a run of four wins and a further three podium finishes earlier in the season were just enough to give Harvey an unexpected title win in the highly competitive series.

The Lincoln Minster School pupil’s championship ambitions were boosted by a mid-season run of form. He said: “At the start of the season I just wanted a top 10 finish, then after the first race I thought the top five. After round three when I won both finals I thought ‘I want to win the championship’.”

Jack Harvey

The title was by no means assured as Harvey struggled in the first points-scoring final race at Rowrah, starting eighth on the grid after a difficult morning. He moved into fifth position at one point but dropped back to seventh by the end of the race. His chief rival Rowland led the race comfortably from pole position, with Scott Jenkins (Bristol) second and Jordan Chamberlain (Newport, Gwent) taking third place after a string of overtaking moves that brought him up from ninth on the grid. Tom Joyner (Braintree) held his fourth grid place at the end of the race, but was involved in a close battle for the top six places, with Jordan Lennox-Lamb (Bedford) moving up from seventh on the grid to fifth at the end of the race and James Godbehere (Doncaster) slipping back from third on the grid to sixth.

“After the first race I was pretty downhearted,” said Harvey. “But we worked out if I had a good result in the next final I could still do it, so I went for the best result I could and that took the nerves away.”

In the second final, Harvey shot off the grid gaining a place in two of the first three laps and moved into second place on lap seven. James Godbehere redeemed his first final by moving back up to third and the leading trio ran in close formation, with Harvey having a look at taking Rowland’s lead on lap 18. Rowland firmly resisted Harvey’s challenge, but second place at the end of the race was just enough for Harvey, winning the championship by a point once each karter’s two worst results were ‘dropped’ from the scores to give the final standings.

Renault Formula JICA provisional championship results: 1st – Jack Harvey, 474pts; 2nd – Oliver Rowland, 473pts; 3rd – James Godbehere, 440pts; 4th – Jordan Chamberlain, 436pts; 5th – Scott Jenkins, 430pts; 6th Gary Thompson (Dublin), 396pts.

Full Race Results from Round 6...

Photographs courtesy of Chris Walker - www.kartpix.net

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