Not even a chest infection could slow Jonny
at last Sunday's (10 May) second round of the British Super 1 Championship at
Shenington, Oxfordshire.
The AMT driver is always fast at the circuit
located in picturesque countryside, and again demonstrated this in timed
qualifying. Recording the second-fastest time, Jonny found himself just eight
one hundredths of a second shy of the pole time.
He then won the first
heat, but suffered a problem in the following encounter and was unable to
finish.
Jonny started the first of Sunday's two points-scoring finals
from the third row of the grid.
As the field streamed through the
opening sequences of bends before tearing down the ultra-fast back straight,
Jonathan emerged in fourth place. A handful of laps later and he'd picked his
way into third and was pushing hard for second.
On lap five, he'd made
it and was chasing down the leader. The pair ran nose to tail, before Jonny
assumed the lead with an incisive pass at the first hairpin. Like a fox pursued
by hounds, he was harried for several laps before his rival managed to scrabble
past.
Two laps later, Jonny had a huge look down his inside but found
the door firmly shut. At the bottom of the circuit, under heavy-braking for the
second hairpin, he slid his Gillard kart into the lead again.
By now,
four drivers were fighting for the win and Jonny had briefly dropped to third
place. Several corners later, he was back in front. The tension was unbearable,
with any one of the quartet looking capable of winning.
After several
laps of sustained pressure, Jonathan ceded the advantage, but mounted repeated
attacks to regain the lead, taking the chequered flag barely a tenth of a
second behind the relieved victor.
An effective start to the second
final saw the Blackburn ace retain his grid place (2nd). Four laps later, he
took the lead, but immediately came under threat from three drivers, all
running nose-to-tail. Succumbing to a bold move, he lost two places and now
found his rear bumper darkened by old rival, Richard Bradley. As they ran
downhill into the Bruno Chicane, Bradley made a lunge, clipped Jonny and span
him off the circuit.
Unable to re-start, the Londoner had put-paid to
Jonathan's chances of a possible race win and taking more vital Championship
points. Understandably, he was fuming but rather than dwell on what might have
been, he's looking forward to the third round at his 'home' circuit - Rowrah in
Cumbria.
"I'm getting fed up with these run-ins with Richard, but what's
done is done. I'm now focusing on Rowrah and preparing for the Europeans."
After abandoning his plan to compete at next weekend's (23/24 May)
World Cup in Japan, Jonny has opted to enter the remaining two rounds of the
European Championship at Zuera, Spain in July and Essay, France in August.
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