Podium for Junior Max star on debut with new team
A mid-season switch to reigning European and World title holders Strawberry Racing proved instantly fruitful for Jack Barlow last weekend (26/27 June).
The British Super 1 championship reached its halfway point at the challenging Buckmore Park in Kent and saw the highly-rated 15-year old deliver his best performance to date in the UK’s premier series.
Inspired by taking 3rd place in a club event at the same venue just a week beforehand, Jack built on this early promise with another fine performance during Saturday’s timed qualifying session by being fastest in his group and third-quickest overall.
Despite enjoying pole position for the first of his two preliminary heats, he had to keep a cool head as a crash brought out the red flags and his engine temperature soared. “I didn’t have a clue what was going on. We weren’t told where to stop on the circuit so we all just drove round slowly. Because the air was so warm and the low speed, I couldn’t cool the engine enough and the data-logger showed that the temperature was over 60 degrees. Eventually they stopped us and that allowed the engine to cool down a little. At the re-start I got the jump and was in the lead and had just started to pull away when the race was red-flagged again. They stopped us and we took the re-start in single file. That was still a bit wild but I got a really good start and won from there.”
A collision whilst contesting the lead in the second heat saw Jack’s kart throw its chain and put him out of the race. This affected his aggregate score to determine his grid position for the pre-final and he found himself on the 10th row of the grid - “My mechanic said to me before the start, ‘go out there and entertain them (the crowd). There was no pressure on me, so it was just a case of doing my best.”
Despite starting in 19th place he produced a storming drive and carved his way up to the order to take an excellent 4th position, after 24 gruelling laps in the 30 degree heat.
Starting from the outside of the second row for the main final, the Accent Banking and Rollersigns-supported driver knew that he needed to sweep across to the inside line quickly if he was to avoid losing places - or worse, risk a crash as the field bumped and bored for position through the first three corners. As the field swarmed into the first bend, he had already chopped across to the right-hand side of the track and escaped the crash that removed the drivers who had started immediately behind him.
“I slotted in behind the driver in 3rd but dropped to 5th. We lost time fighting each other over 4th but once we’d settled down we soon caught the 3rd-place man. We were both able to pass him but by then the pack behind had started to catch up. I had to keep a cool head and make sure I kept my place. I managed my tyres and made sure my lap times were consistent and brought the kart home in 3rd”
“It was a good result for my first time with the team (in the Super 1 series) and I’m really happy because it also moved me into championship contention. I’m going to really push now.”
Next weekend (3/4 July) sees Jack competing in North Wales, when the Bernie Ecclestone and Lewis Hamilton-backed Formula Kart Stars championship resumes at the picturesque Glan Y Gors circuit.
