RL Racing Department and Josh White dominated round eight of the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) championship at Glan Y Gors last Sunday (15 July), with Sam Marsh and Lando Norris also taking home silverware.It was a White-wash! beamed RL team owner Steve Armstrong. Josh was in a class of his own.
The reigning FKS Mini Max champion bounced back from a torrid few months in the Junior class in the best possible style, by dominating from the outset. He set the pole position time in timed qualifying and claimed back to back victories in the two heats. In the final, he was pushed hard by his in-form team-mate Sam Marsh, who led the race before White made his decisive move and held his advantage to the chequered flag.
It was cat and mouse right to the end, said Armstrong after twenty two nerve-wracking laps. Its not been easy for the lad over the past few weeks but weve all put in a lot of work and it paid off. Hes shown great character and commitment and he thoroughly deserved his win.
Oliver Norris also showed a good deal of grit and determination as he battled to a hard-earned and commendable 7th place: After struggling the day before, wed tried some different things and they seemed to work. Unfortunately, Oli was just lacking a couple of tenths of extra pace and round a place like GYG thats always going to make things tough.In the Mini Max class, runaway championship leader Lando Norris claimed another triumph to further extend his points lead. He did a really good job, observed Steve. He defended when he needed to and pulled away to win by three to four kart lengths. Thats a lifetime around GYG.
Landos success came hot on the (w)heels of a productive seventh round the day before. Following a brace of wins, Norris took an eventual 2nd in the final after a tough scrap, as Armstrong explains: It was very close and he got backed into the clutches of the chasing pack. He had to fight his way back to 2nd and once he had, he caught the leader up but it was a case of close but not close enough.
Flashman Finneran enjoyed another positive couple of days as he continues his upward learning curve and Steve professed his pleasure at seeing his inexperienced young charge display signs of continued improvement: Hes running inside the top ten now and his confidence is building. We need to work on a few areas but overall, hes making great progress.RLs Junior stars had also figured strongly the day before (in Round 7) with Sam Marsh leading home Josh White to a 4th and 5th for the Ellough-based team. Oli Norris experienced engine gremlins but kept himself inside the top ten with some purposeful driving. Summing up the weekend, Steve expressed his satisfaction: The highlights have to be Joshs fantastic return to winning form and Landos continued ability to get himself on the podium. Sam is now leading the Junior Max championship comfortably, while Oli had some mechanical issues but refused to roll over. Flashman is making progress with each race meeting. It is all very good and we have a great atmosphere in the awning.
