Overtaking brilliance hands Rogers victory
Waltham Cross karter Chris Rogers gave a master-class in overtaking to move from 13th on the grid to win the second Renault Formula A championship race at Clay Pigeon in Dorset on Sunday, 30th July.
Victory looked unlikely after a kart span in front of Rogers during the first Formula A heat, leaving him nowhere to go but off the track. Despite finishing second in the other heat, he had it all to do in the points-scoring finals of the B4 Super One kart meeting, starting the first in 15th position.
He improved two places in that race, but his star performance came in the incident-packed second final where he carved through the chaos to join the leading pack with 15 of the 20 laps still to go.
At this point the race looked like it was going to be between Jason Parrott (Peterborough), and final one winner Michael Ryall (Plaistow, London), with Martin Smith (Andover) in a close third place. “I got into fourth place and could see I was closing on the three in front of me,” said Rogers. “As soon as they started battling with each other I knew I was on them.”
The drama kicked off when both Ryall and Smith passed the lead kart of Parrott. Ryall’s attempt on the lead a couple of laps later backfired, dropping him back to fifth to the benefit of Parrott, Rogers and Mark Litchfield (Heage, Derbyshire). Then it was Parrott’s turn to drop back two places when a move on Smith failed. With four laps to go Rogers moved into the lead, with Litchfield following him into second.
Litchfield, who finished final one in 15th place after being delayed by the stricken kart of Riki Christodoulou (Sutton Coldfield), ran in tandem with Rogers in final two, the pair inexorably homing in on the leaders. Although Litchfield made a move for the lead on the final lap it wasn’t bold enough to stick, and he settled for a safe second place at the flag.
“I couldn’t have hoped for a better start to final two,” said Litchfield. “I could see an accident coming up and avoided it, I think I gained about seven places. To start from 15th on the grid I was quite happy to finish second. The kart was going a lot better here and with this result I’m feeling confident for the rest of the season.”
Despite his comeback, Litchfield was overtaken in the Renault Formula A Championship by his season-long rival Jason Parrott, who was third in final one and fourth in the second final. With only two more races to go, at Rowrah in Cumbria in September, Parrott leads reigning champion Litchfield by only four points.
Renault Formula A Championship provisional points:
1st – Jason Parrott 460pts; 2nd – Mark Litchfield 456pts; 3rd – Chris Rogers 411pts; 4th – Danny Cruttenden 403pts; 5th– Jamie Croxford 400pts; 6th – Martin Smith 378pts.
