Great performance in European Championship
ends in upset
There's an old joke that goes, 'I broke down on the way
here. Dunno why - but I just started crying.'
After his experience at
the 2nd round of the European Kart Championships, Jonathan would certainly
appreciate the punch-line.
He had gone to Mariembourg in Belgium with
realistic hopes of success, saying beforehand: "I'd like to be in the mix and
make it into the top 15. That'll give me fairly good grid slots for the heats,
and if I can finish well - in the top ten - then I'll make the cut for the main
finals."
Whilst many mistakenly regard karting as something you simply
do on stag-dos or as a children's hobby, top-flight international karting is a
very serious business - with professional racers and tomorrow's Formula One
stars rising though its ranks. Just to make it into the top twenty is extremely
tough, and the part-time bar tender surprised the established order in Timed
Qualifying when he recorded the 12th fastest time.
"That got a few
people talking and raised a few eyebrows" he smiled. "There were a lot of
drivers behind me who are full-time drivers and there was me ahead of them."
In his following two heats, Jonathan scored a brace of 10th place
finishes to earn himself a 6th row start for the first of the day's two finals.
It was his best international performance to date in the KF1 class, and he was
justifiably pleased. "I'd done everything I wanted to up to then and we were
looking to go forward from there, but it all went wrong."
The first
final was mired in controversy, when the race started and continued to the
chequered flag -despite the lights staying on red, and not going to green -
"The race ran its full 19 laps but one of the teams protested the result,
saying it was effectively void because of the problem with the lights not going
to green" Jonny said. "Despite the lights staying red, everyone just went. At
the second corner, one of the drivers ahead of me tried an overtaking move on
another by attempting to go round the outside. The other lad wouldn't budge,
they tagged one another and I had nowhere to go. It was a racing incident, but
I was a bit peed off - but what can you do?"
Jonny got going again to
finish down in 21st place - but his trials weren't yet over. Needing something
special for the second race, the team decided to swap Jonathan's engine to give
him more 'grunt' down Mariembourg's straights. The reverse happened.
"I
started 21st (out of 34), but even on the run down to the first corner, people
were passing me. There was loads of bottom end in the motor but no top. So by
the time you were reaching the end of the straights, it still wasn't pulling
maximum revs - which wasn't ideal."
With his ambitions for a top fifteen
ranking in the European Championship now over, Jonathan has switched his sights
to winning the British Super 1 title - "The next round is at Larkhall (in
Scotland, on 17 August) and last year, I won both finals there. If I can repeat
that success, then I'm in with more than just a shout of winning the
Championship."
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