Jonathan endures a weekend to forget at
rain-lashed Whilton Mill
Jonny's hopes of winning the British Super 1
Championship disappeared in the murk and gloom of a sodden Whilton Mill (31
August).
With memories of his double-podium success at the series'
previous round at Larkhall (17 August) still fresh, he had travelled to the
picturesque Northamptonshire track looking for a repeat
performance.
Having not raced there for several years, Jonathan found
himself having to learn the racing-lines around the flowing but bumpy circuit
during Saturday testing. But this proved worthless on race day, as rain began
to fall.
"I'd learnt the circuit in the dry - but then it rained. All
our set-up data went out of the window and of course, in the wet there are
totally different (racing lines) and I didn't know where they were."
Lining up on the 4th row of the grid for the first final, Jonathan
faced nerve-wracking conditions; "By now it was absolutely chucking it down
with rain. Visibility was non-existent and it was really bad at the start. It
was a bit of a guess what to do. You just had to keep your foot planted (on the
accelerator) and hope for the best."
As the field plunged into the
appropriately named 'Oblivion' corner, Jonny suddenly speared off the circuit
and almost ran into Chris Walker, Britain's leading karting photographer. Able
to rejoin straight away but in last place, Jonathan began to claw his way back
into contention.
His battle with Richard Bradley was only resolved when
Jonathan was deemed to have been overly robust and he received a drive-through
penalty for his pains.
Jonathan's fortunes improved in the second race
but he could still not find an answer for Champion-elect Mark Litchfield - who
by contrast was having a stellar day. A gritty drive from the back, saw the
popular AMT driver finish 7th at the chequered flag, scoring valuable points to
maintain his push for a top three finish in the title-race.
"The
weekend didn't go as planned" he shrugged. "I could've done with another podium
but I don't think I had the set-up right all day."
Turning his focus to
the season finale at Shenington in October, Jonathan said, "I'm going to try
and get a couple of wins at the last round".
"I led there at the last
round - until the rod went through the front of the engine. That was a bit of a
bummer" he added with characteristic deadpan humour.
Current standings:
Mark Litchfield - 481pts
Lee Bell - 448 pts
Chris Rogers - 427 pts
Jonathan - 427 pts
Sam Tordoff - 416 pts
Jordon Lennox-Lamb - 410
pts
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