Jack and Joel dominate Euro Max Juniors, whilst James Greenway takes 3rd in Seniors
Strawberry Racing took a significant step towards retaining the Junior Euro Max crown it won in 2009, after Jack Barlow and Joel Affolter locked out the top two steps of the podium in Austria last weekend (17/18 July).
The Speedworld circuit at Bruck, near Vienna hosted the penultimate round of the series and saw the English and Dutch drivers win four of the six heats. In the pre-final, Jack came through from grid eight to finish second, with Joel opting for a strong points finish in 3rd.
World number one Ukyo Sasahara initially led the main final, but a superbly timed and taken manoeuvre by the Strawberry pair saw them seize the advantage. Showing great maturity, Affolter wisely gave Barlow room when the latter attacked for the lead and then followed him home. It was Jack’s first victory in Europe and has set up an exciting, if nerve-wracking, finale at Genk in September.
“Jack was fast from the moment he got there (Speedworld),” said team manager Warwick Ringham. “I privately predicted that we’d finish 1st and 2nd in the run up to Sunday, but didn’t know which way round. Joel was clever, he didn’t need to battle with Jack and thought ‘It’s good for Jack to win and for me to finish 2nd’. It was a win - win situation for both of them. They didn’t take each other off trying to win, so were both very bright in doing that.”
In the senior class, Rotax Winter Cup champion James Greenway returned to the podium with a fine performance in the main final to seal 3rd place. His team-mate Tom Fawcett survived a huge ‘moment’ in the pre-final to fight his way up the order and finish 8th in the feature race.
“A large rock became trapped in his throttle cable and jammed it wide open,” Warwick explained. “He speared off the circuit, but managed to dislodge it and finish the pre-final.”
He added, “It was a tale of woe for the other boys really. Barrie (Pullinger) got a good start but got caught up in a massive crash in the chicane during the opening lap. That effectively put-paid to his chances and he ended up 16th, whilst Mats (van den Brand) had a very big accident. He went into the barrier so hard and, had he not hit a metal fencing pole, he would’ve ended up in another team’s awning. Mats completely wrote his kart off. All of them were good enough to be in the top six, but on this occasion only James made it onto the podium.”
Just days after returning to its Sheffield base, the team now heads to Larkhall in Scotland for this weekend’s (24/25 July) 5th round of the British Super 1 Rotax series. “We’ll just have to see what happens,” Warwick says. “For the lads who raced in Austria, it’ll probably take about half a day to re-adjust to the lower grip levels, lack of front brakes (on the senior karts) and shorter laps. Jack (Barlow) is on a roll right now and he desperately wants to add Super 1 victories to his FKS and Euro Max wins. Jack Marshall is 4th overall, and despite a lack of testing Shaun Pirie is batting away in 8th place. Tom leads the senior title race and will be hungry to get back to winning ways. Ren Nagabuchi continues to learn and improve and I suspect he’ll enjoy Larkhall because it’s grippier than many of the other tracks he’s raced on in the UK. Every time he gets into the kart, Barrie improves and it would be fantastic to see all his hard work translate into a great result for him in Scotland.”
Warwick says that Mini Max title protagonist George Russell will “definitely be one to watch” after successful tests at Larkhall and Shenington. “We’ve found some more speed in the equipment, and consequently I’m expecting him to be quite good throughout the weekend. If we’ve got it right, he’ll be fighting up the front come Sunday.”
