It was a case of so near and yet so far for RL Racing Department at the recent Kart Masters (2/4 August). Team owner Steve Armstrong watched his talented squad of youngsters deliver a string of fantastic individual performances - but once again, crashes robbed his UK-based drivers chances of greater glory.
In Mini Max, Hugo Bentley-Ellis and Sandy Mitchell had starred in the preliminaries, with the former taking pole position for the pre-final, with his team-mate 4th. They were joined by KFJ driver James Pull, who qualified in 19th place - just three places ahead of the ever-improving Jordan Cane.
After finishing in 4th place in the first final, Hugo went on to lead the Grand Prix only to be annihilated as his team boss put it on the last lap, when a driver pushed him onto the grass at the first hairpin. Sandy was also a victim of poor driving standards. After making three places up in the opening two laps he was smashed off the Lincolnshire circuit and dropped to 24th place. This cued a brief fight back, but on lap twelve he retired. James had been making steady progress until, at three quarter distance he lost several hard-fought for places but scrapped his way back to 16th at the finish. Jordan made his Kart Masters debut and acquitted himself well, putting in another solid shift behind the wheel of his Tony Kart EVK.
Russias Nikita Mazepin was using the annual Kart Grand Prix meeting to gain vital experience ahead of the CIK/FIA World KF Championships (28 August/1 September). Despite this being his debut appearance at PFi, he finished in a creditable 13th position, two behind RL regular Luke Knott.
Luke had carved his way up to 4th in the Junior Max Grand Prix but, just as happened to Bentley-Ellis previously, he was barged onto the grass as the race reached its zenith. In contrast, Nikita was able to show that he had adjusted superbly to the unfamiliar Rotax engine and surroundings by picking his way to 5th at the chequered flag.
Im both gutted and yet proud that weve proved a point, said Steve. Luke was driving superbly but was simply driven off the track with two laps to go. Nikita was doing a one-off race with us, to learn the track for the KFJ race in September. He races in the official Tony Kart team and is mentored by our old friend, 2005 World Champion Oli Oakes. He had an exclusion in one heat and duly drove from p24 at the start of the pre-final to 5th in the Grand Prix! Just awesome!
He added: Hugo was again the class of the field, along with Sandy during timed qualifying. Both boys took pole position for their heats, in which they drove really well. I feel gutted for Hugo after he led the bulk of the Grand Final, only to be to be annihilated with one lap to go. Sandy also suffered. It was great to see James performing similar heroics to Nikita against a very tough Mini Max field. Jordan was fast throughout the weekend and gained more hard racing experience.
The multiple-championship winning RL Racing Department team is now taking enquiries for its 2014 driver line-up. For more information, please call Steve today on 07843 586 416 or contact him via accounts.rlracingdept@live.co.uk.
