EasyKart UK - Round 6 & 7 - Rowrah

The great Romantic poet William Wordsworth will be forever associated with the Lake District and whilst many of us would struggle to remember even just a line from arguably his finest poem, The Prelude, virtually everyone is familiar with his ode to daffodils.

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

But did you know that one of the most famous and widely read poems in the English language was actually written two years after he took a stroll round Ullswater, in a gale?

No.

That was the thing with the Romantics, for some reason they never quite came clean on how they were almost constantly getting drenched, having their hats blown off and consequently going about the countryside with mad lady’s hair.

Ask anyone who’s raced at Rowrah however and they’ll probably agree with my entirely made-up theory that Wordsworth was probably doing the PR for the Ullswater Tourist Board.

Weather of epic proportions deluged the Cumbrian circuit on Sunday, forcing the cancellation of the finals on safety grounds. Positions and trophies were awarded based on the drivers’ qualifying performances and as a result, two drivers were able to clinch their respective title before the season finale at Ellough in September.

Before the floods, Saturday was able to run as normal and again, Easykart + Rowrah = great racing.

In the Heavy final, Kieran McCullough underlined that he is now Barnaby Pittingale’s main challenger for this year’s when he added victory in the main final to his earlier, pre-final triumph. After finishing fourth in the first race, Pittingale came through to second to keep his championship lead and hopes of lifting the crown in Suffolk very much alive. Lewis Shelley sealed his first podium of 2009 with a superbly taken third place, whilst former points-leader Will Smith again endured a tough day. He DNF’d in the pre-final and was forced to come through from the back of the grid to salvage as many points as he could with an eventual seventh spot.

Chris Lamare has not raced for some time, but having bought Tim Hill’s old kart came out of retirement and showed that he’d lost little of the blistering pace that took him to the 2004 British ICA title. He shocked the established order with a classy win in the Light final, with Elliot Rice finally enjoying some luck worthy of his talent finishing second. Adrian Crockett scored valuable points for third to bolster his World Finals aspirations, with reigning champion and favourite to retain his title, Terry Langley finishing in fourth. Another former Super 1 racer, Linda Playfair also making the switch to Easy took a fine fifth on her debut.

Lamare then made it the completely perfect start to his Easykart career when he won the main final. Although Langley made him work hard for it, setting a new lap record as he harried Chris through every twist and turn. Rice’s turnaround in fortunes stayed with him as he took a comfortable, if somewhat lonely, third place, with Jack Sales also finishing well in fourth.

Series coordinator John Vigor was left raving about Patrick Lay’s performances in the Junior category. He said, “Patrick was outstanding. He was on fire in the pre-final and walked it by over twelve seconds. Rowrah’s his track, for sure.” Filling the runner-up berth was Thomas Grainger, who just pipped Brad Fairhurst and Christopher Waldock.

Although the gap was reduced in the final, Lay again stamped his authority on the proceedings with another dominant victory. Needing to keep Patrick in his sights if he is to stand a chance of winning the title, Brad saw off the challenge from Grainger and Tiernay Oliver to limit the damage to his points tally. Having dropped from second to eighth in just one lap, Waldock smashed his own 2008 lap record as he fought to get back on terms, taking a full second off the previous best time.

James DeHavillande’s march into the record books as the first Easykart UK Cadet champion had to be momentarily put on hold as William Stowell led him home in the pre-final. Behind them, Harrison Newey in only his second Easy cadet meeting again fizzed with potential, taking third and beating another exciting debutant, Sam Faulkner by some fifteen seconds.

In their second race of the day, Stowell held his advantage with DeHavillande shadowing him. Both were evenly matched and for seventeen laps, it was pure stalemate. On the final tour, knowing that, with his points advantage, he could afford to take a risk, James pulled out of Will’s slipstream and dived down his inside under braking for the bottom hairpin. Stowell tried to re-pass him on the exit, but couldn’t make the move stick and had to settle for second.

Harri Newey made it two podiums from two meetings in third, whilst Ronan McKenzie almost certainly secured his place for the World Finals with fourth.

If Saturday’s conditions had been ideal for racing, Sunday’s became the polar opposite. A weather front brought torrential rain off the Irish sea, with severe weather warnings announced for the afternoon. Indeed, by the time the finals were ready to run, the circuit had become undriveable prompting the MSA steward to abandon the meeting. It was then decided to award points and trophies based on the combined qualifying sessions.

Mark Lawrence was awarded the Heavy win, with Pittingale and McCullough again almost inseparable in second and third.

Sam Massey took his first ‘win’ of the season - and by doing so moved into third place in the table. Langley’s second-fastest time ensured that he netted the necessary points to virtually retain the title. He only needs to sign on and qualify at Ellough to guarantee that he is the first driver to secure back-to-back crowns in the UK series. Owen Jenman made up for something of a shocking weekend, by his standards, with a trophy for third.

Who will win the Junior’s number one plate will go down to the wire at Ellough. Fairhurst turned the tables on Lay with his quicker qualifying performance, but must win in Suffolk if he is snatch the title from his rival’s grasp. Waldock deserved a trophy for 3rd having been fast all weekend, whilst Grainger and Mitchell completed the top five.

James DeHavillande finally sealed the inaugural Cadet title by recording the fastest lap in the first session. Sam Faulkner, whose only previous karting experience had been at his local indoor track, coped with the wet conditions and astonished many onlookers with the next best time. Jordan Sanders took home the remaining available trophy and his first of the season also. Sam’s fellow debutant Ethan Pitt also completed a creditable debut, with the fifth quickest time showing that with time, he has front-running potential.