Dan Zelos was left scratching his head and wondering just where his pace had gone at the end of the opening day of the prestigious O Plate meeting at Rowrah in Cumbria. Fast forward 24 hours, and he was celebrating arguably the finest triumph of his karting career to-date.
Having challenged for victory in last years O Plate outing and after kick-starting his bid for 2013 title glory in the fiercely-contested British Super 1 Series in fine style with a stunning rostrum finish in the Three Sisters curtain-raiser, Zelos headed to Cumbrian circuit Rowrah in justifiably bullish mood.
I felt reasonably positive going into the weekend, affirmed the talented young Norfolk speed demon. We had found a few little tweaks during testing that seemed to improve our performance, and not only that, but Rowrah is my team Tooley Motorsports home track and has always been one of my favourites. Its undulating and demanding, in a spectacular setting against the backdrop of a former quarry and it poses some tricky elevation changes and a variety of fast and slow turnsa real drivers circuit.
The O Plate competition is every bit as tough as Super 1, but it requires a different kind of mentality because being a one-off event, it really is a case of winner-takes-all. Everybody is fighting over just one prizethere are no championship points on offer, so theres no question of simply settling for a podium. That makes the racing even harder than usual, because everyone is going absolutely flat-out.
Set-up woes and difficulty in finding a clear lap conspired to restrict Zelos to an understandably disappointed ninth in the extremely high-calibre, 23-strong Mini Max class field in qualifying, three tenths of a second shy of the outright benchmark.
In his first heat race, the highly-rated Dereham-based hotshot battled bravely up to fifth before contact dropped him down the order to an eventual seventh placebut significantly, he was closer to the pace than he had been earlier in the day.
In heat two, Zelos found himself spat off the track in a first corner mle and jettisoned down to 18th position, but undeterred, he scythed his way brilliantly back through the pack to cross the finish line seventh once moreand with just one more lap, he would most likely have snatched sixth. That delivered the 14-year-old a timely lift ahead of the following days two finals, by which point the heavens had opened with a vengeance.
I began the pre-final seventh and was targeting a top three finish, to put myself right in the ballpark for the grand final later on, he explained. I got a good start to move up to third on the opening lap, and next time around, the two leaders went side-by-side into the first hairpin. I sold them a dummy by going out wide on the entry, which gave me the cut-back on the exit and I was able to pass them both.
That was really satisfying, and because they continued scrapping, I could open up a gap. Although conditions were tough and the rain kept steaming up my visor, we had good speed in the wet and I just concentrated on getting my head down, pushing on and putting in consistent lap timesa tenth here and a tenth there, which soon adds up.
It certainly did, and by dint of never looking back but focussing rather on sprinting away from his pursuers, Zelos had established a commanding two-and-a-half-second advantage by the time the chequered flag fell, posting fastest lap along the way for good measure. From a well-deserved pole position for the all-important grand final, the Northgate High School pupil vowed not to put so much as a wheel out-of-placeand he would be every bit as good as his word.
The pressure was rising by that point, he acknowledged, but I did my best to stay calm and not think too much about what was at stake. I managed to get a good jump at the start, which meant I didnt need to defend into the first hairpin on the opening lap and after that I built up a lead again.
Towards the end, the driver behind began closing on me which made things pretty tense, but I tried to just drive my own race and not worry about the gap. Even though he went for a late lunge into the last corner, I was able to hold on and I was so happy when the flag came down.
A half-second margin of supremacy was still comparatively comfortable in karting terms, and not only did the success crown a magnificent turnaround from his Saturday strugglesbut it means Zelos will enjoy the distinction of carrying the coveted O Plate on his Tooley Motorsport mount for the remainder of the year.
To progress from our problems on Saturday to winning both finals on Sunday was just overwhelming, he confessed. It was a major result and definitely one of the highlights of my career so far. Hopefully there will be plenty more where that came from...
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
