Ed Brand made it two wins in two, Nathan Harrison claimed his first victory of the season and team-mate Jack Barlow also made the podium.
Strawberry Racing and its Cream Racing Engines division celebrated another strong weekend (9/10 April 2011) in domestic competition with victories in the junior and senior classes. Mini Max star Harry Webb maintained his title aspirations with a hard-earned 4th place in Sunday’s main final, but his team manager Dave Gregory bravely admitted it should have been so much better.
“Harry could have won. His driving was fine throughout and I’m happy with the way he kept trying, but I have to admit we didn’t quite get the set-up right. He was always competitive, but he never quite had that extra edge. I hold my hand up for that and we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The junior trio of Jay Goodwin, Jack Barlow and Nathan Harrison all looked sharp in pre-race testing, but had mixed fortunes during qualifying. Nathan used his local knowledge to excellent effect and secured pole position for the pre-final with a brace of heat wins. Jay and Jack qualified in 11th and 12th respectively, with the latter delivering an impressive performance to finish 2nd behind Harrison.
In the main final, Nathan was in imperious form and won again to go top of the points table, while Jack sensibly opted to settle for 3rd rather than risk a crash – and also meaning he can maintain the pressure on his team-mate. A post-race penalty after the pre-final demoted Jay down the order, undoing all the hard work he’d put in beforehand.
“Nathan was exceptionally good. He didn’t put a foot wrong and reaped the rewards. Jack drove brilliantly to get up to 2nd in the first final and demonstrated great maturity by not taking any unnecessary chances in the following race. Jay didn’t get the result he deserved, but can - and should - be pleased with the progress he’s making.”
Ed Brand maintained his impressive form, almost in spite of a still-injured hand, with another excellent performance. Having wisely opted for 3rd in the pre-final in order to get a good grid position for the main race, Ed emphatically won.
“Ed was just Ed,” laughed Strawberry’s Warwick Ringham. “You don’t need to worry about him, he’ll always come through.” He added, “He got through the traffic quicker, got his head down and drove away (from the chasing pack). To be honest, if he’d done that in the first final he would probably have won that too.”
Behind Ed, Jack Marshall and John Stewart gave a perfect demonstration that team orders do not exist in the Tony Kart squad’s awning. “They had a collision which wasn’t ideal,” mused Warwick. “Jack bounced back and drove really well, passing 21 drivers in the main final to finish 7th - but John’s chainguard fell off at the start, so he couldn’t take any further part. Barrie Pullinger scrapped hard all weekend and was rewarded with two top ten finishes. That’s given him a haul of decent points and he’ll build on that. I think each of them will get stronger from here.”
