Jack Barlow scored a brace of podiums (10 April) to keep his Super One title ambitions firmly on track.
After winning the opening round of the prestigious championship at Whilton Mill near Daventry last month, and in pre-race testing at the fast Shenington circuit near Banbury he was again the early pace-setter.
On Saturday however, the conditions changed and Jack found that he was driving into a headwind -“Because I’m so tall in the kart, my height is a big disadvantage in windy conditions. As a result, my lap-time meant that I started each of my two heats from 18th place.”
In these preliminary races he finished 5th and 10th, earning a fifth row starting position on the grid for Sunday’s first points-scoring final.
“At the start I was muscled back a little,” Jack explained. “As the race began to settle down, I started to pick the drivers ahead of me off one by one. My team-mate Nathan Harrison led and had managed to create such a big gap that, rather than push hard to catch him and run the risk of falling off the track, I settled for 2nd.”
Starting from the front row alongside fellow Strawberry Racing driver Harrison meant that the pair had to be mindful not to knock each other out of contention - and try to keep twenty eight karts behind them.
“From the lights, you stream into a fast left-hander which immediately feeds into a tight right-hand bend. It’s often quite chaotic and it is important not to get pushed off the circuit when you’re positioned on the outside. I managed to do this by allowing Nathan and the driver immediately behind him to get the jump and then slotted in behind them.”
Three laps later and Barlow was into 2nd place and pressing Harrison hard.
“I tried to push Nathan and break away from Sam Ward (in 3rd position) but couldn’t, so I took the lead and Sam came with me. He managed to get by and with me slightly off line, Nathan also slipped through. We then got away and were well clear of the rest of the field.”
Despite the headwind, the Arai and Freem-backed driver used his rivals’ slipstream to great effect. Hunkering down as low as he could in his seat down the North Oxfordshire circuit’s long straights, he ensured it would be a three-way tie throughout the remaining laps. On this occasion he maturely settled for 3rd place.
“You can’t win a championship in the first or second rounds. I’m very happy with how things are going but I’m already preparing for the next race at Rowrah (in Cumbria). We’ll see how we get on once we’re there.”
