Cadet/Easy 60
What a difference a year makes. Same circuit, completely different conditions and a mixture of old and new faces. Sam Faulkner, the UK series’ Champion-elect finished 28th in the B Final at Castelletto last year and was the sole British representative to directly make the cut for the Grand Final, after taking 9th and 7th-place finishes in his two heats. Ahead of him on the starting grid was the reigning Grand Finals Champion Davide Lombardo with the 4th-placed finisher from 2010, Rocco Atlante going off the 2nd row. Pole-sitter Lorenzo Colombo initially held them off and the rest of the chasing pack, but was passed by Lombardo in the lake complex at the top of the circuit. Undaunted, Colombo snatched back the initiative and opened a gap over Lombardo, the Austrian Maximilian Zupanic and Atlante. A demon start had seen Faulkner leap up the order from 25th to 17th.
As the race found its rhythm, Colombo began to look firmly in control. Zupanic had his hands full fending off Daniele Vezzelli, Gastone Sampieri and now Nicola Vitali, allowing Lombardo to scamper away. The latter fixed his gaze on the leader’s rear bumper and set about hauling him in. After shaking off his rivals, Sampieri managed to make the jump with Vezzelli, and together the pair started to arrow in on Colombo.
Faulkner displayed an interesting driving style by looking through each corner in a pronounced manner, akin to a horse rider. He was one of a train of karts disputing each and every corner in the mid to high teen places. Behind the lead quartet, Francesco Sabella headed Vitali, Zupanic and Nicola Bartolini as they disputed 5th position. Vezzelli finally managed to shake off Sampieri to make it a three-way tussle for the lead, prompting Sampieri to up his pace.
With the race now in its most crucial phase, Lombardo wrested control from Colombo. With Vezzelli alongside, all three ran abreast down the back straight. He twice took the lead and lost it. Faulkner exited the top hairpin scruffily and bobbled along the ridges of the kerbing, causing him to lose several hard-fought places. Vezzelli again dived for the lead going into one of the hairpins, only to see Lombardo carry better exit speed and re-pass. Unperturbed the feisty Vezzelli again fought his way to the front, whilst Colombo maintained a watching brief in 3rd. Seconds later his chances of victory were dashed as he swerved onto the infield grass as he attempted to avoid the spinning Vezzelli who had clashed with Lombardo. Though he was able to take the chequered flag as the winner, Lombardo was later denied the victory and disqualified after footage of his decisive move revealed it to be unfair. This left a hastily rearranged podium consisting of Sampieri on the top step, Vitali 2nd and Sabella 3rd with Colombo considering what might have been in an eventual 4th. Faulkner managed to claw his way back to a creditable 18th without further incident.
The B Final saw a raft of competitors from the UK dicing for each and every place in the 35-strong field. Esmee Hawkey – on her International Grand Finals debut – took an encouraging 17th place and was the top Brit. Jenson Murchison qualified via the C Final and claimed a creditable 19th. Esmee’s brother Ethan had also done brilliantly to take a podium in the C Final and earn his passage to the B Final, but a frustrating race saw him unable to repeat his earlier success and he crossed the line down in 26th place. Separating Jenson and Ethan was Jordan Sanders in 22nd.
With such a large entry affording the opportunity to race for trophies in three finals, British hearts were encouraged by the sight of Ethan Hawkey and Jenson Murchison finish 2nd and 3rd. Sadly there was no such fairytale ending for Matthew Taylor and Jason Gavagan. Taylor lasted just two laps, whilst Gavagan completed the race but had to settle for 17th.
Junior/Easy 100
Exactly what happened to Toby Sowery will forever remain a mystery. The double UK Champion had won both his heats and took pole position for the Grand Final by dint of out-qualifying Italy’s Leonardo Grison during timed practice. Tom Thickpenny had done remarkably well to battle through the preliminaries with a bent chassis to occupy p17 on the grid with Ronan McKenzie, James Lay and Zack Nickson just a little way further back.
Sowery led the field into the first corner, despite two of his rivals getting monster jumped starts. Grison took up station on his exhaust whilst a typical first corner collision saw McKenzie take to the grass before rejoining third from last. Matteo Giardino, who started sixth, wasted little time in passing both Grison and Sowery – but was quickly pushed back into 2nd by the Englishman. Some combative form from the two Italians saw Sowery drop to 4th, promoting Matteo Drudi to 3rd in the same move. Meanwhile Lay was on a charge and making up impressive amounts of ground.
Grison assumed control from Giardino and together they began to pull away from Drudi and Sowery. As he waited for his tyres to come ‘on’, Sowery began to lose ground on the hard-charging Italian trio – but was far from out of contention. That was until he came to start his 9th lap. Sowery flashed across the start/finish line and rather than turn his kart into the first right-hander, he dived into the pit lane. He claimed that he’d been shown a black flag with his race number also held aloft, although the officials denied issuing any such penalty. Whatever had actually happened didn’t alter the fact that Sowery was firmly out.
His disappearance left Grison, Giardino and Drudi well clear of Pierfrancesco Benedetti and Russia’s Alexander Zhirkov. Drudi managed to drag himself past the defensive Giardino, but this only served to allow Grison to make a run for it. Lay was now 11th, two places ahead of Thickpenny. Nickson held 26th with McKenzie struggling at the rear of the field. Lay’s incredible hard work suffered a slide as he began to drop back down the order a little. Thickpenny assumed 11th before moving up to 8th as waved yellow flags in the lake complex (at the top of the circuit) bore testimony to more contact inside the top ten.
On the run into turn one, Giardino launched his kart past Drudi and skillfully managed to keep it on the tarmac as they exited the long radius corner. Jonathan Cecotto, the son of the former F1 star Johnny, harried Lay for 15th but was successfully repelled at each attempt. Thickpenny dived into 7th with a fantastic move on Hungary’s Norbert Toth at the first corner, but was made to hand it back on the following tour. Lay was also performing heroics holding up a chain of six karts as he fought to hold on to his 15th place.
By now Grison was cruising and had nearly two seconds in hand over Giardino. Drudi sat half a second further back, but was comfortably ahead of Zhirkov and Benedetti’s fight for 4th.
Nickson crossed the line in 22nd and McKenzie claimed 27th – but both declared themselves satisfied with their performances in what was their maiden appearances in the Junior category’s biggest race. Along with Lay and Thickpenny they have surely laid a strong base for next year’s tilt for the top step of the podium.
B Final
Ben Nicolls, William Jeavons, Jay Hudman, Willis Mayneord (racing under the name of Thomas Mayneord), Jack New and Will Stowell provided the key interest in the only other Junior final and each was wildly cheered-on by the British supporters. An awful start split the field as it approached the startline and preceded yet another crash at the first corner. This effectively ruined a lot of the competitors’ chances, not least the English. Will Stowell’s gritty drive to 9th proved a highlight, as did Jack New’s deserved 10th and Mayneord’s 14th. Hudman and Jeavons’ participation in an exciting five-kart tussle for 20th will surely provide them with good memories for quite some time. A controversial end to the race saw the 2nd-place runner Mikel Mostajo shown the ‘last lap’ board too soon and having completed it, he darted into the pits without receiving the chequered flag.
Senior/125 Light
It is quite remarkable to think that Luca Hirst concluded his maiden season in the senior Light category by becoming the Easykart world number one. Having made history by qualifying on pole, with his brother and UK Champion Ayrton alongside, the younger of the “fratelli ‘Irst” - as the commentator Roberto Cinquanta called them – delivered a stellar performance.
The race was halted after a horrific crash saw Patrick Lay spun in the first corner, triggering a frightening sequence of events. He was collected by Luca Guerini who also span and sat facing the traffic. From the rear Antonio Apicella arrived, fully committed. Guerini’s nosecone acted as a launch pad and Apicella was launched into a sickening roll. He went over the top of Guerini, slicing the top fins from the Italian’s engine with his kart then appearing to catch Guerini, somewhere between the upper chest and head, as he went over the top. Such was the violence of the impact that Guerini’s kart was turned over with him unconscious and trapped underneath.
The marshals appeared to panic and, perhaps not sensing the gravity of the situation, simply produced full course yellow flags. This excited angry shouts from the crowd, which could see Guerini’s prone body lying motionless on the track. Lay jumped out of his kart and heaved Guerini’s kart from on top of him. Thankfully, the officials managed to stop the remaining runners on the starting grid, as the medical team went to Guerini’s aid.
Thankfully it soon transpired that he had merely been knocked unconscious and was later discharged from the hospital in Pavia.
Lay was clearly visibly shaken and it is a testimony to his mental toughness that he went on to deliver such a committed performance in the re-run – but shortened – race.
At the second time of asking, Luca held the advantage going into the opening corner, but it the fast-starting Soyhan Cuvalcioglu whom took up the running shortly after. His compatriot Erol Ozteknik – racing in memory of his much-missed brother, and former Grand Finals Champion, Zeka – sat in 3rd, ahead of Lay and Ayrton Hirst. Sam Dimelow, having bet a litre glass of lager if he could finish on the podium, was already up to 7th from 11th with yet another Easykart UK driver, Brad Fairhurst inside the top ten (8th).
Luca lunged past Cuvalcioglu at the top hairpin and with a clear track ahead of him, opened the taps. Lay scythed into 3rd as the pack streamed through the first corner. Dimelow had big look down Ayrton’s inside, but chose not to commit. Just a handful of corners later however, he was through and up to 5th.
Such was Luca’s pace that it was not long until he had picked up the tail-enders and was lapping them. Similarly, Dimelow’s progress was electrifying and he was now up to 4th. Fairhurst had slipped back two places with Jamie Summerhayes beginning to knock on the door of the top ten. Another Brit, Grant Hunter, had also shot up the order and was 12th. Tim Gibson was just a handful of places further back with the revelatory Jamie Crease positively flying up the order, after qualifying via the B Final. Ben Yeomans and Joe Paterson were also having a good thrash around, albeit on the bubble of the top twenty.
Dimelow’s relentless pursuit of Lay paid dividends as the race entered its latter stages. Russia’s Andrey Timofeev had gone with him, after shaking off the attentions of Ayrton, who now had Ozteknik monstering his rear bumper. Timofeev slotted his kart past Dimelow, prompting Sam to use every inch of the track and, at times, more to get back past. Lay kicked up a gear and finally put his nose ahead of Cuvalcioglu. As he desperately tried to fight back, Soyhan’s race ended on the grass, confirming Lay in 2nd and promoting Sam to 3rd. Patrick valiantly tried to reel in Luca, but was simply too far back to make an impression. Hirst won by the length of the main straight, with Lay and Dimelow in that order. Timofeev ultimately denied Ayrton for 4th with Fabrizio Zamperlini separating him from Brad Fairhurst and Jamie Summerhayes. If having an all Easykart UK podium and a total of six English drivers inside the top ten wasn’t good enough, Hunter, Crease, Gibson and Yeomans also finished inside the top twenty.
B Final
That Crease was able to rise so high up the order in the Grand Final was little short of miraculous. A series of engine disasters had ensured that he would contest the B Final, which he won with aplomb. Paterson had also experienced his unfair share of bad luck in the preliminaries but was able to take 4th and therefore make the cut for the feature race after a somewhat red-blooded encounter.
Senior/125 Heavy
As the grid girls stood holding brollies in the bright sunshine, a typically British gag delivered in a deadpan tone, broke the tension: “They’re expecting rain by the looks of things.”
After his exploits on the way to the 2007 International Grand Finals title, Barnaby Pittingale had earned the nickname ‘Il Dominator’ and once again lived up to his billing to take pole. Italy’s Davide Spreafico joined him him on the front, with William Smith sitting behind Pittingale on 3rd. Varied fortunes had seen their countrymen Roland Bredner, Mark Lawrence, Damian Hodge, Gary Poynter, Jack Bruce and Peter Bunton spread across the midfield and rear of the grid but all in ebullient mood. Not least Bunton who said, “I can’t believe that I’ve only been doing this a year and here I am,” as he took in his surroundings.
A huge crash split the field into small groups at the notorious first corner, but Pittingale was already clear. Smith was unable to go with him after Spreafico had out-smarted him on the start-line. “Pay attention to the one ‘undred” urged the wonderfully fruity and partisan commentator as he tried to inject some interest into the Italian’s desperate pursuit of the already disappearing Pittingale. It was Spreafico who needed to keep his wits about him though, as Smith threw everything at his rear bumper.
Perhaps it was the weight of expectation that put paid to his chances, or simply Smith’s relentless harrying, but whatever it was, Spreafico span at Turn 9. This left Pittingale out on his own, but Smith was now facing a stern challenge from Gianluca Ranieri. Roberto Ferri was on a march and beginning to shade Barnaby’s series of fastest laps. The latter had burst through from 9th on the grid and made short work of Ranieri and Smith.
As the race entered its second half, it became obvious that Pittingale was struggling to prepare the stage for a riveting finale. The performance of the Londoner’s tyres had simply fallen off a cliff and he increasingly began to glance over his shoulder. His nerves were not helped by the sight of Ferri looming ever larger in his visor. Lap by lap, corner by corner, the popular TMK driver edged ever closer to his quarry. By the very last lap the pair was just inches apart, with Pittingale’s tyres offering as much grip as a pig on ice – but despite his superior speed, Ferri simply could not find a way past. As they flicked through the left/right combination of the last two turns, Pittingale looked up to the grandstand and shaped his body for a footballer-esque celebration with Ferri’s shoulders relaxing, to suggest that he had accepted the role of runner-up for a second successive year.
Smith’s excellent drive saw him able to see off the persistent advances of Ranieri for 3rd. Lawrence, who was baffled why he appeared to have left his usual pace back home in Edinburgh, was able to take 16th. Fellow countryman ‘Jacka Brusa,’ – or Jack Bruce as his family and friends better know him – finished 18th, with Poynter 20th. Hodge and Bunton crossed the line in 24th and 25th. It was an especially poignant moment for him, as he was competing in honour of Paul Lee Davis, his friend and former mechanic whom died from leukaemia just weeks before the event.
B Final
This saw two Easykart UK competitors take the start but only one finish. Peter Bunton’s 3rd enabled him to progress to the Grand Final but Stig Elboth’s adventure ended after just four laps.