Formula JICA graduate Matthew Bell (Morpeth, Northumberland) stole the show in the Formula ICA class of the Renault-backed British Karting Championships at Three Sisters over the weekend, producing an utterly dominant display to take maximum points in the title race.
Bell, younger brother of former Formula Renault UK and Formula Renault V6 front-runner Robert, lapped almost half a second quicker than his chief rivals in official timed qualifying and after similar success in the heats he went on to a stunning double triumph in the two points-scoring Finals.
The Wigan venue, which always offers great race action, provided the stage for a masterclass display by Bell in which he completely trounced the opposition – but his weekend wasn’t totally void of incident.
In Final One, he led from pole position and built an incredible lead over the chasing pack which included the likes of Tom Brown (Irchester, Northamptonshire) Benjy Russell (Wisbech, Cambridgeshire) and Henry Arundel (Arundel, West Sussex) – the latter eventually finishing fourth after a great drive from 20th on the grid.
During the closing stages of the race, however, Bell was almost eliminated from proceedings when overtaking a backmarker and although sustaining damage to his kart, he still managed to take the victory by over five seconds from Brown in second position and Russell in third place.
Pole position was again the domain of Bell on the grid for Final Two and after one aborted getaway, he got away well again from the second rolling start to take the lead ahead of Russell and Arundel.
Bell looked in control, albeit with less of an advantage than in the first Final but his cause was helped in the closing stages when Russell and Arundel, battling over second position, took each other out of the race. An ecstatic Bell took another superb win with Richard Singleton (Conwy) in second place and Jonathan Walker (Blackburn, Lancashire) finishing in third.
Formula ICA Provisional Driver Standings:
1st Matthew Bell, 100pts; 2nd Tom Brown, 92pts; 3rd Richard Singleton, 90pts;
4th Jonathan Walker, 87pts; 5th Garry Findlay, 83pts; 6th Daniel Rowbottom, 81pts
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