Strawberry Racing Junior and Mini Max stars on FKS podium in Wales
When the Formula Kart Stars championship sparked back into life at Glan Y Gors last weekend (3/4 July), Jack Barlow was some 70 points adrift of early Junior Max leader, Ash Hand. By Sunday evening, as he helped to take the Strawberry Racing team’s awning down, he had closed the gap to just three points.
Jack hit a rich vein of form at the North Wales circuit and took back-to-back wins in Saturday’s two preliminary heats to secure pole for the final. Despite leading from pole he slotted into second place and shadowed the leader until the final lap. With the chequered flag being readied, Jack made his decisive move and from there held his advantage to the line.
With maximum points, he had already made a sizeable leap up the points table - but needed more of the same on Sunday if he was to become one of the key protagonists for the title.
With rain making driving conditions tricky, Barlow revelled in the grip afforded him by his Tony Kart EVR chassis, and again aced the heats. A close and hard fought main final kept Jack on his mettle throughout - and showing great coolness under pressure - doing what he needed to do to take the win and complete a perfect weekend.
Strawberry’s Mini Max star George Russell also featured on the podium, but a brace of runner-up finishes were not enough to see the talented youngster keep his championship lead.
Like Jack, George opened his Glan Y Gors account with victories in Saturday’s heats and led the main final for much of the race. However, a mistake dropped him to 2nd setting up a nail-biting finish. Separated by just two tenths of a second the pair crossed the line with Russell unable to re-pass winner, Adam Glear.
With some set-up changes designed to give his kart extra pace on Sunday, George recorded the fastest time in qualifying.
Gremlins with his motor saw him unable to finish higher than 12th in the opening heat and after they were quickly rectified - he resumed normal service with 2nd in the following race.
A crash at the start of the main final dropped George down the order, prompting a gritty fight-back. He duly caught the leader but under pressure as they headed to the finish, he defended hard – perhaps too hard – allowing Glear to pounce.
Although disappointed not to have won, he was encouraged by the extra speed he had on tap and as Strawberry’s Warwick Ringham summed up with a wry smile, “He’s driven worse but got better results. It just didn’t happen for George in the finals this time but he’ll be back.”
He added, “People also forget he’s only 12 whereas a lot of the other drivers are older and more experienced. To be battling for the title in his first season is a mark of his quality.”
The team is now preparing for the 3rd round of the Euro Max Challenge at the Austrian Speedworld circuit, near Vienna on 14/18 July. A full preview will follow shortly.
