Strawberry dominates Rowrah podium...
Joseph Reilly’s brace of Senior Max victories in the opening round of the 2014 Super One Series at Rowrah (26/27 April) have put the Strawberry Racing star on top in Britain and Europe. Kiern Jewiss made a huge impact on his Strawberry Racing debut, winning the Honda Cadet class. There was also success for Dean McDonald, who won in Mini Max, with Axel Charpentier claiming his first Super One silverware. Back-to-back podiums for Jack McCarthy in Junior got his title bid off to a strong start also.
History was made as the Senior Max field pulled away from a standing start to get the first Final underway. This was an attempt by Super One to mitigate the problem of first corner crashes, often caused by the bunched nature of high-speed rolling starts. The opening sequence of corners at Rowrah and the nature of the Cumbrian track’s topography have often exacerbated this issue, and it was a relief for all concerned to see the field complete the first lap relatively unscathed.
Making good his advantage from the outset, Joseph went on to score a dominant win; with Jai Nijjar 12th, new signings Lars Lamborelle 13th and Gary Donnelly 17th.
The second final proved to be a much closer run thing, with Reilly able to take a narrow lights-to-flag victory. Jai was again the next best Strawberry finisher in 11th, whilst Lars snuck inside the top twenty with 19th and Gary completed his weekend in 28th.
“Those of us close to Joseph know that the real driver does not come out until the starting lights flicker in the major races,” said Team Manager Warwick Ringham. “Testing and club events don't bring the best out of him but as you will have seen this year, the British championships and Europeans certainly do.”
He added: “A maximum score at the first round at Rowrah, of all places?! When will he stop surprising us?
Neither Jai nor Lars had tested the week before. Consequently, they both struggled a little to get on the pace. Gary's results belie the speed he had all weekend and, were it not for his two crashes in the finals, he would have fared much better.”
Jack McCarthy spearheaded the team’s Junior assault and made steady progress from Qualifying to the two Finals. His reward was a pair of excellent 3rd place finishes, which put him into 2nd overall in the early title race. Similarly, Jack Martin, Juri Vips and Darren Kean all made steady improvements in the racing to cross the finishing line of the main Final in 12th, 13th and 15th.
Ringham was clearly happy to see his Junior stars get their UK campaign off to a positive start: “Jack did a great job this weekend and bagged valuable points for the Championship. Had he had better starts then he would have been challenging for the race win.”
“Juri had never been to Rowrah before Friday, so did really well considering the lack of track time he had. Jack (Martin) surprised us all - as the weekend before he damaged his ribs - so to pop up with a 12th was amazing.
Darren was in a much better position but a coming together dropped him down the order at the (chequered) flag.”
Dean MacDonald demonstrated his talent with a performance, in many ways, equal to Joseph Reilly’s. Topping the Mini Max time-sheets in quali’, Dean headed the intermediate classification after the heats. He was forced to cede the win in the first Final, but made sure that his name would be in the headlines when he cruised to the chequered flag in the second Final.
Behind him, Axel Charpentier underlined that he too is an exciting prospect with his first British podium; crossing the line in 3rd. Jack Young made it two 7th place finishes from two. However poor Connor McCarthy was unable to stage a fairy tale fight back after being penalised in the first Final and completing the main race in 26th spot.
“Dean did a fantastic job and made sure he kept at the front throughout. Once the 3rd -placed driver had overtaken the lad in 2nd, Dean had created the gap he needed to break away and from there he drove brilliantly to seal the victory.”
Warwick was encouraged by the attitudes of his other two drivers: “Axel and Jack Young did really well all weekend. After three previous weekends of racing at Rowrah, they got the results they deserved. Axel had a fantastic last three laps battling for position and to come away with 3rd was unbelievable.”
Strawberry’s first ever foray into the Honda Cadet category was rewarded with a superb performance from Kiern Jewiss. Twelfth overall after qualifying, Kiern used his Tony Kart Rocky chassis to great effect in the heats, taking back-to-back runner-up finishes on his way to pole position for the first final. He claimed 2nd in that race but made sure it was the green, white and red colours of Strawberry and Tony Kart that stood on top of the box when it most mattered.
“We’ve been trying to get into the Cadet market for some years but have never had a real go at it, so when we were approached by Kiern's father, Paul, we thought why not give it a go?” explained Ringham after the team’s successful maiden foray into the cut and thrust of the Honda class. “We had to adjust the kart as the weekend went on but had support from Paul and our Honda specialist Warren McCarthy, which made life easier. Having watched the class for the first time properly, I was over the moon with how Kiern raced and how well he represented us and could not of been happier.”
With the first important domestic test out of the way, Warwick was keen to thank those who had played their part: “Every year we look to build on the success of the previous season. However, this involves – more often than not – bringing in new drivers, some of whom are inexperienced. Everyone pulled together and we have a great team spirit already. I’d also like to thank Kelly McCarthy for looking after us all weekend with her excellent catering and hospitality skills.”
