Podium double moves him into Championship
contention
Jonathan Walker's two second-place finishes in the 3rd round
of the British Super 1 kart Championship at Rowrah in the Lake District (14/15
June), have moved him into 4th place in the title hunt.
The 19-year old
had gone into the weekend well prepared, after spending several days testing at
the Cumbrian track.
However, Jonathan felt that his kart's handling
could have been better during Timed Qualifying. He said, "I couldn't get the
kart to 'come on' in the allocated time. It was taking about eight laps for the
chassis and tyre set-up to work at the optimum level, by which time the
chequered flag was coming out."
Nevertheless, he recorded the 5th
fastest time to give himself a third row start for his first
race.
Encountering "no real dramas" Jonathan scored a 4th and then a 2nd
place, to put himself 3rd on the grid for the first final.
"I got
shunted at the start and dropped to 5th" he explained. "I got back onto the
circuit and picked my way back up the order and ended up in 2nd at the
(chequered) flag. I was catching the leader quite quickly, so it was a good
sign for the next race."
Starting alongside the first final winner and
three-time British Champion Mark Litchfield, Jonny managed to get into the lead
going into the tricky first corner.
"I tried to get away because I know
Mark is so good early on in a race, but it was the other way round - he passed
me and started to pull away."
Pushing at ten tenths, Jonathan knew he'd
have to work hard to stay in front of the pack before his kart started to
perform. Midway through the race, it finally began to handle in the way he
wanted, and he soon found himself reeling in Litchfield.
"It (the kart)
was suddenly really fast, and I was gaining on Mark bit by bit. I think I
would've passed him with three or four more laps. To be honest, Mark drove
impeccably and I don't think we could've done much better. To finish second in
both finals was a fair result in many ways."
Buoyed by his performance,
Jonathan's next race will be the second round of the European Championship at
Mariembourg in Belgium (28/28 June). It is a circuit that Jonathan knows well
and likes.
"I've gone very well there in the past. My first priority is
to qualify for the main final (having come through the qualifying heats) and
then go for a top 15. That may sound a modest objective but at this level, the
European races are brutal."
<<
back to news
|
