Super Heroes!
Strawberry Racing retained its Super One title in Mini Max and reclaimed the number one status in the Senior class with a show of pace and guile from Dean MacDonald and Joseph Reilly in the series’ finale, at PFi last weekend (27/28 September).
The Sheffield-based Tony Kart team also claimed the Vice-Champion’s title with Kiern Jewiss, after the Honda Cadet star was beaten to the number one spot by just a handful of points.
In the close-fought timed practice session, Kiern was 7th-fastest – just 0.17 off the pole position-setting time – and after the heats, was 3rd overall.
An exciting first final saw Jewiss pipped to the chequered flag by the narrowest of margins. His principal title rival, Tom Canning, had crossed the finishing line in 7th place, but was then hit with a five-place penalty for an incident in the earlier part of the race. This prompted an appeal from Tom’s team, heightening the tension and drama ahead of the second final. However, the penalty was upheld, handing the advantage to Kiern and setting up a showdown in the very last race of the Honda championship.
As the field jockeyed for position at the first hairpin, Jewiss found himself shepherded to the outside of the corner, allowing a string of karts past. Now 6th, Kiern came under further attack and was pushed off the track. The hard-charging Canning saw his chance and took it. Jewiss had recovered to 8th when the raced was red-flagged, due to an overturned kart catching fire, thus putting-paid to his chances of lifting Strawberry’s first ever Super One Cadet crown.
Dean MacDonald spearheaded Strawberry’s attempt to retain its 2013 S1 Mini Max crown (won with Connor Hall) throughout the season and left his rivals with no illusions about his goal for Sunday afternoon. The Scot set the pole time in qualifying and went on to win both his heats; netting P1 on the grid for Sunday’s pre-final. His team-mate, Connor McCarthy, produced a revelatory performance in qualifying when he posted the 3rd-quickest time. After the heats, Connor secured 5th on the grid with Axel Charpentier in 8th.
With some of the racing reaching fever pitch in both finals, Dean demonstrated a remarkably cool head to make sure he was where he needed to be, without taking unnecessary risks. He duly claimed 2nd and 3rd in the two finals to wrap thechampionship up. Axel’s brace of 10th place finishes earned him a coveted seeded single-number plate with 7th overall in the points table. Unfortunately, McCarthy’s inexperience was punished and he finished 14th and 21st respectively.
Apart from Stef Charalambous, who was 11th-fastest, Strawberry’s Junior line-up had a troubled time in qualifying. However, Jack McCarthy rallied himself in the heats to secure P7 for the start of the first final, with Stef lining up alongside him on 8th. Returning to the Strawberry fold, Finlay Hutchison also did well to go from 32nd in quali’ to 16th in the intermediate ranking after the heats. Darren Keane qualified via the Repecharge but Jack Martin was less fortunate; missing the cut when he finished the last-chance heat in 7th position.
McCarthy emerged from all the typical and cut-and-thrust of Junior Max racing with a terrific 2nd place, as Charalambous took a fine 6th and Keane 12th while Finlay drove steadily to take 14th. More excitement followed as Jack led the main final but eventually had to be content with 3rd. Stef made up a place to cross the line in 5th, with Darren also pleased to complete the day with a richly deserved 7th. Finlay signed off his season with another top twenty finish, taking 17th at the flag.
Joseph Reilly capped an extraordinary comeback from a four year absence from top-flight karting by winning the Senior Max title in emphatic style – and promptly retiring again.
The Londoner bounced back from a less than perfect timed-qualifying session to win both his heats and then dominate the two finals. In the first, he was shadowed by the returning Kyle Fowlie – who had been forced to sit-out the previous two
rounds with a burst appendix. In the second final, as Reilly romped to the title, Josh Price carved his way from 25th on the grid to 9th at the finish, one place ahead of Fowlie.
Later, Reilly told reporters that he would not be defending his crown in 2015, opting instead to coach the team’s yet-to-be-confirmed line-up of drivers.
“It’s been another hard year for us, despite our success at home and abroad,” said Strawberry’s Team Manager, Warwick Ringham. “The Super One series is always a big challenge, so it is really satisfying to not only win the Mini and Senior titles but retain the Mini title as well. Dean and Joseph did exactly what was needed, and at the right time. The other lads all performed well too and were fast throughout. Despite already winning this year’s BNL (DD2 with Sean Babington) and Euro Max (Senior with Harry Webb) titles, we couldn’t be blasé about our Super One chances. We were made to work very hard in all of the classes at PFi, so these championship victories were all the sweeter for it.”
