Dan Zelos once again demonstrated that he is every bit quick enough to achieve a podium finishif not betterin the fiercely-contested British Super 1 Series in round five of 2012 at Three Sisters near Wigan...only unfortunately for the gifted young Norfolk speed demon, Lady Luck had other ideas.
Zelos headed to Wigan in optimistic frame of mind following a commanding club meeting victory there a week earlier, and eager to convert the pace and potential he has displayed all year in his rookie campaign in the Mini Max class into the kind of results they palpably deserve.
That gave me a big confidence boost, admitted the highly-rated Dereham-based hotshot, because I had been up against the majority of the drivers I would be racing in Super 1 and beaten them all. Three Sisters is very bumpy and one of the fastest circuits in the country. We tended to struggle there in Cadets in terms of set-up, but we seem to be much more on-form there in Mini Max and I was really fired-up to take another step forward.
Qualifying took place in tricky conditions, on a drying track that still featured two distinctly wet corners. That being the case, lapping a competitive seventh out of the 35 contendersthe indisputable crme de la crme of British driving talent at Mini Max levelmarked an excellent start.
In the first heat race, I was on the leading pace all the way through, Zelos recalled. It was dry on the racing line but wet whenever you strayed away from it, and there were eight of us all fighting hard at the front. I made my way up into third, but then someone pushed me out wide onto one of the wet patches and I fell to the back of the group. As it was all so close between us and everybody was defending well, I was only able to recover to sixth by the end. That was a bit disappointing, but our speed was definitely encouraging.
Taking the chequered flag a mere 1.4 seconds adrift of the winner and less than four tenths behind the runner-up, the Tooley Motorsport ace was showing similarly strong form in the midst of a torrential downpour in heat twountil an uncharacteristic error dropped him to an appropriately unlucky 13th position, notwithstanding setting what was comfortably the fastest lap of the race.
The weather had really deteriorated by then, he revealed, and on lap eight, as I was heading down the valley section in fourth place and very much in the lead battle, I spun and was subsequently collected by someone else. The conditions were appallingprobably the worst Ive ever driven inand I could barely see a thing due to all the rain and the spray.
That meant I began the pre-final 12th, and I was targeting the top five to secure a decent grid position for the grand final. I was up into the top ten by lap five and was focussed on catching and picking off the guys ahead, but when I went for a hero move around the outside of the driver in fifth place, it turned out to be just a little too ambitious and I dropped down to tenth again.
I made my way back up and was right in the thick of it heading into the last lap, but then somebody spun directly in front of me, and in the ensuing confusion I was hit quite hard from behind which pushed me into the kart ahead. It was pretty frantic, with overtaking left, right and centre and drivers forcing other drivers off onto the wet patches and I ended up finishing ninth, which was frustrating because wed clearly had the pace to realise our top five goal.
Setting fastest sector times throughout in support of that claim, it was an impressive performance indeed, but in the all-important grand final later in the day, Zelos would need to draw upon every inch of his dogged determination as engine issues cruelly dampened what had looked set to be a breakthrough rostrum result.
I got an excellent start and was into third by lap four, recounted the 14-year-old Northgate High School pupil. I tried to push away with the two leaders so we could build up a gap over the rest of the field and that worked initially, but I was having some issues with the kart accelerating out of the slower corners and gradually lost touch with them due to that and fell into the clutches of the pack behind.
I tried my best to hold them off and only three drivers actually managed to get past me, but to finish sixth was really disappointing given that wed had the capability to be on the podium at the very least.
Still only two-and-a-half seconds shy of victory when the flag fell, Zelos fifth top ten finish from eight Super 1 starts this yearand third in swift successionhas nonetheless hoisted him up to eighth out of 39 in the Mini Max points table, and as he looks ahead to the penultimate outing on the calendar at PF International later this month, he is focussing on the positives.
Ive proved how quick I am round PF in both Kartmasters and Super 1 in the past, so weve got to push for the podium this time, he acknowledged, before adding with a glint in his eye, or maybe even more...
If you are interested in getting involved in life in the fast lane by sponsoring Dan, please contact his dad Andy at: andy.zelos@weselltyres.com
