2003 JICA British Champion Riki Christodoulou knows the pressure is on this weekend if the 15 year old wants any chance of capturing successive titles as the ’04 BTE Lawline/Renault AbkC MSA ICA British Championship enters the final stages.
The penultimate round takes place at Riki’s home track, Shenington, and the Sutton Coldfield resident knows nothing less than a double victory in both finals is sufficient if he is to regain ground in the title chase and move up from his current fifth position standing.
The SHIFT RACING backed driver has so far taken results of 5th-DNS, 1st-3rd, DNF-8th and 5th-6th in his debut ICA season and will test both Birel and Tony Kart machines during practice on Friday before choosing a kit for the heats and finals over the weekend.
“We are coming to the end of what has been an eventful season but the title has not quite gone yet,” remarked Riki’s father Rick Christodoulou. “We simply have to do our best because it is not out of reach, Danny has been consistent and took advantage when Jon Lancaster had some bad luck recently. We have to make sure we are in a position to capitalise if someone else has an off-day. We are hopeful of a strong meeting this weekend and we should be contenders for the win.”
Christo lies 5th, 30 points behind leader Danny Cruttenden with 50 points counting for each final win.
The 1200 metre track sees laptimes of low 41’s and boasts a quick, flat and challenging layout. Located near Banbury and forming part of the Shenington airfield the club first hosted an event back in 1960, watched by some five thousand spectators! The venue is regarded as one of the best in the country and former racers to have learnt their trade reads like a ‘who’s who’ of F1, with names such as Mansell, Coulthard, Herbert and Button, just some of the luminaries to have rounded the Oxfordshire curves.
Riki scored results of 8th and 2nd in the JICA contest 12 months ago.
The weather for the weekend is bright but cloudy.
The final round of the domestic series occurs at Larkhall in Scotland on 11th-12th September.
Current Championship standings:
1. Danny Cruttenden 341
2. Jon Lancaster 329
3. Chris Lamare 325
4. Freddie Martin-Dye 321
5. Riki Christodoulou 311
