Strawberry driver stars in thriller at Shenington
After watching Jack Barlow push his team-mate to a crucial victory in the penultimate round of the British Super One championship (28/29 August), Strawberry Racing’s principal Warwick Ringham observed “Barlow didn’t need to win, but Marshall did. Jack (Barlow) told me afterwards that though he could have challenged for the victory, he was happy to do the right thing for the team and take 2nd.”
Just as the changing weather in the Ardennes turned making accurate set-up choices into little more than a guessing game at the corresponding Belgian Grand Prix, so too was the situation in rural Oxfordshire.
The rain held off for Timed Qualifying and Jack was able to make the most of the dry conditions to record the third quickest time in his session. From this promising start, he duly won his first heat and took the runner-up spot in the second to earn a front row start for Sunday’s first of two finals.
A brief, but torrential, shower caused pandemonium in the pits as mechanics and drivers desperately tried to alter their karts’ settings from dry to wet. By the time the moment came for Jack’s race, the clouds had rolled back and a combination of bright sunshine and strong winds saw the circuit dry rapidly.
At the start he was pushed back to 3rd as the 30-strong field rushed into the opening, left-right-left series of corners. A bold manoeuvre at the circuit’s second hairpin - Wilkinson’s - saw him take back second place. As the cut and thrust action continued, Jack found himself in fifth position and unable to quite match the pace of the lead quartet, but able to hold off his immediate pursuers.
“I knew that finishing fifth would give me that position for the main final and therefore the inside line for the first corner, so it wasn’t a disaster not finishing in the top three,” he explained.
His comments were prescient. In the opening moments of the pulsating feature race, Jack had already moved up to fourth spot and was attacking for third. With the lead changing hands several times just ahead of him, Barlow edged closer. The Strawberry pair (of Marshall and Barlow) took second and third respectively and from there worked together to close the gap to the leader who, under enormous pressure from his two rivals, ran wide at the hairpin. Seeing this, Barlow seized the initiative and literally pushed his team-mate and himself through the gap.
The last lap was a nail-biter as the former front-runner harried the two Jacks. With Marshall benefiting from Barlow’s Corinthian defence of his rear bumper, they recorded their first one-two finish of the campaign.
“That was really exciting – one of the best races of the year. I had to work hard from beginning to end. Once we were through into first and second I did consider going for the win, but doing that could have tempted fate. At that point, I thought what was best for the team and settled for second.”
With scarcely any time to celebrate this latest success, Jack is already in Belgium to contest the concluding round of the Euro Max Challenge (3-5 September) at the superb Genk circuit.
