Round 8: Whilton Mill, 3-4 October
Formula Kart Stars visited the Northamptonshire circuit of Whilton Mill for the last two rounds of the year. In fact the Saturday final was put back to Sunday morning due to a late running appeal from the last chance race. Round 8Connor Jupp, Tom Harvey and Ricky Collard broke away after a number of fancied runners fell on the opening lap, Adam MacKay surviving in fourth but then went spinning off a lap later. Jupp was soon demoted to third before fighting his way back up, until Collard established himself in the lead on the downhill right hander at half distance. Rory Cuff and Matthew Graham were vigorously trading fourth before both were swallowed up by George Russell, Max Vaughan and Trevyn Jay Nelson. As the laps wound down on the totally absorbing race, Harvey snatched the lead, only for Collard to seize it back half way round the last lap. Not giving up, Harvey found a gap on the penultimate corner, scraping over the finish a tenth ahead.
Result1 Tom Harvey (Zip) 19 laps in 16m 44.19s (40.84mph)2 Ricky Collard (Zip) +0.12s3 Connor Jupp (Zip) 4 George Russell (Zip);5 Max Vaughan (Zip)6 Trevyn Jay Nelson (Zip). Round 9American guest Santino Ferrucci opened up a massive gap at the start, whilst Ross Gunn fell back under attack from Ricky Collard and George Russell. Quickly reeled in by Collard and Russell, Ferrucci succumbed to Collard as Alex Gill came up to join the party. Russell’s only remaining rival for the British title was Matthew Graham, but a thrown chain during qualifying was a massive setback, although he scraped in at the back of the final grid from the repechage last chance race. Graham stormed up to seventh, before being overwhelmed by the hungry pack, falling to twelfth. Gill hit the front until the perennial shuffle set him down to third, leaving Collard to take his first major win from Vaughan, Gill and Ferrucci. Russell purposely fell back, saying: “I didn’t want to take any risks at the end, I didn’t need to overtake any of them for the title.” Result1 Collard 24 laps in 21m11.75s (47.18mph)2 Vaughan +0.14s3 Gill4 Santino Ferrucci (Zip)5 Russell6 Jupp
