UK Karting - MSA Super 1 Series Race Report

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MSA Super 1 Series

MSA Super 1 Series
Round 2 - PF International - 22nd April 2007

Formula A
Litchfield takes championship lead

Mark Litchfield

Three times Formula A champion Mark Litchfield returned to dominant form in Super One Karting at PFI circuit near Newark last Sunday, 22nd April. The Ripley racer leads the Renault-sponsored series after winning both championship finals at PFI.

“This is as good as it gets,” he said. “I had pole for both heats and both finals, then won both races. Everything worked really well.”

After three of 11 championship races Litchfield was upbeat about his prospects for another title, but conceded the competition, including graduates from last year’s Formula ICA championship, was as tough as ever. “It’s not going to be easy,” he said. “It never is,” Litchfield added.

He eased off towards the end of the first final, to preserve his machinery for the second race. Having led the race by as much as five seconds, he crossed the line 0.72s ahead of Jonathan Walker (Blackburn). Walker’s second place finish in the first final was his best result of the year so far and helped put him in fourth place in the championship standings.

Litchfield led the second race from start to finish, but Walker was involved in a tangle with Chris Rogers (Waltham Cross) and Lee Bell (High Wycombe) at the first corner. Despite posting fastest lap of the race Walker ended up a disappointing 15th, although he fared better than Rogers whose recovery ended abruptly on lap four when he went off the track, losing seventh position. Rogers had earlier climbed an impressive 20 places in the first Formula A final of the day to finish in third place. He is now seventh in the championship.

Lee Bell, who moved up from seventh place at the start of final two, held on to third place until the end of the race. After a disappointing opening round at Three Sisters, Bell is now in the top six of the championship standings.

Litchfield’s nearest championship rival, Danny Cruttenden (Wilmington, Kent), battled hard to finish fourth and fifth in the two races at PFI. In the first final, he dropped from third on the grid to fifth in the opening lap, but recovered to third, before a charging Chris Rogers relegated him to fourth. As the second final got under way Cruttenden was another driver to slide down through the pack in the first corner, but recovered quickly to make fifth place by the end.

The series will continue at four venues around the UK, with the next round at Larkhall in Scotland, on 2nd & 3rd June.

Renault Formula A provisional championship standings: 1st – Mark Litchfield, 148pts; 2nd – Danny Cruttenden, 137pts; 3rd – Scott Jenkins, 135pts; 4th – Michael Ryall, 127pts; 5th – Jonathan Walker, 121pts; 6th Lee Bell, 117pts.

Formula ICA
Double victory for Southend racer

Robert Foster-Jones

Southend kart racer Rob Foster-Jones scored a double victory in Renault-sponsored Formula ICA races at the British Kart Championships at PFI near Newark on Sunday, 22nd April.

The two wins came in Foster-Jones’ first four races in the category and only his third year in kart racing. Aged 16, Foster-Jones is studying GCSEs at Shoeburyness High School. He said: “I was confident after testing last week that we would be in the top three.”

As the first of two championship finals got under way, Sam Tordoff (Leeds) took the lead going into the first corner, with Jason Edgar (Cleator, Cumbria) slotting into second place. However, Foster-Jones soon reclaimed second place and although Tordoff had built a small lead, the Southend schoolboy was leading by lap four. Tordoff finished the first race in second place and had another podium finish in the second race, moving up a place in the championship table to fifth.

Workington racer Greg Harper hung on to his series lead by just a single point, despite not visiting the podium during the finals. After failing to finish one of the two heats which determine the grid, he started the first final in 11th place but managed to climb through a fierce midfield battle to finish in seventh place. Continuing his recovery, the 16-year old student at Workington Sixth Form College moved up a further three places, finishing fourth in the second race. Meanwhile, Cumbrian karting brothers Justin and Jason Edgar lie sixth and seventh, respectively, in the title challenge.

Belfast’s Raymie Eastwood was stuck in the midfield runners at PFI despite strong progress during the two heats. He finished the first final in 9th place, but moved up to 8th in the second final. He is now fourth in the championship standings, six points behind the leader

Local racer Rob Foster, from Folkingham in Lincolnshire, continued to make an impression on the championship, finishing third in the first final then moving into second place in the second final. Three podium finishes in a row has moved him to third place in the series standings.

The Renault Formula ICA series will continue at four venues around the UK, with the next round at Larkhall in Scotland, on 2nd & 3rd June.

Renault Formula ICA provisional championship standings: 1st – Greg Harper, 183pts; 2nd – Robert Foster-Jones, 182pts; 3rd – Rob Foster, 178pts; 4th – Raymie Eastwood, 177pts; 5th – Sam Tordoff, 177pts; 6th – Justin Edgar, 174pts.

Formula JICA
Rowland makes championship getaway

Oliver Rowland

Renault Formula JICA star Oliver Rowland continued his championship getaway and domination of the series at the PFI circuit near Newark on Sunday 22nd April, notching up another two race victories in the Super One series – making it four out of four so far this season.

The 14-year-old from Penistone, who goes to Silcoats School in Wakefield, was unsurprised but modest about his victories, thanking his team and supporters for their help so far this year.

Gary Thompson (Co Dublin) was runner-up to Rowland in both finals held at PFI circuit near Newark-on-Trent. The two drivers were able to break free from the rest of the field and each other in both races, ending up with comfortable margins ahead of their pursuers. Thompson is now second in the championship standings, 13 points behind Rowland.

Nicholas Christofaro (Milford Haven) finished the second race in third place after a heated five-lap battle with Tom Joyner (Braintree) and Shane Crosbie (Co Dublin), who eventually finished fourth and fifth respectively. The tussle to decide who would lead the pack behind the top two had been rehearsed in the first final, with Joyner taking third, Christofaro fourth and Crosbie fifth the first time round.

Joyner is now third in the championship standings, with Crosbie in fourth place and Sam Jenkins (Bristol) fifth, after battling through the hectic midfield from 11th to sixth in the first final, and holding the position in the second race.

Alice Powell is sixth in the standings following four consistent top 12 finishes in the series. The 14-year-old from Sarsden in Oxfordshire, was 10th overall in the championship last year.

The series will continue at four venues around the UK, with the next round at Larkhall in Scotland, on 2nd & 3rd June.

Renault Formula JICA provisional championship standings: 1st – Oliver Rowland, 200pts; 2nd – Gary Thompson, 187pts; 3rd – Tom Joyner 176pts; 4th – Shane Crosbie 161pts; 5th – Sam Jenkins 159pts; 6th – Alice Powell, 150pts.

Full Race Results from Round 2...

Photographs courtesy of Chris Walker - www.kartpix.net

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