......But Bell Maintains Class Lead
Following mixed fortunes at Clay Pigeon Raceway on Sunday, Formula JICA Championship leader Lee Bell (High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) left the Dorset venue as he arrived – with an eight-point lead over Will Stevens (Hadleigh, Essex).
Bell’s consolidation of his position in the driver standings also means the teenager has earned the right to be an exclusive guest of Renault UK and the World Championship-leading Renault F1 Team on Wednesday, 1st June, at Silverstone Grand Prix Circuit during an official Formula One test session.
Both of the points-scoring Finals at Clay Pigeon were won by Scott Jenkins (Bristol), the opening victory in Final One coming after resisting fierce pressure from class leader Bell.
Having started from pole position in the first Final, Jenkins led for the first half of the race before Bell passed him at the hairpin – spectacularly taking the corner on three wheels to do so. However, Bell’s lead was short lived with Jenkins reassuming top spot a few laps later and holding the lead to the chequered flag.
Behind the battling duo, Stevens – a double race winner from the opening rounds of the 2005 season at Three Sisters - took third place after a tussle with fourth placed Dean Stoneman (Southampton) and Nigel Moore (Tockwith), who finished fifth.
An incident on the opening lap of the second Final caused mayhem among the competitors, with Bell among the drivers demoted on lap one and eventually finishing a lowly 12th. Jenkins, in contrast, had a clear run from pole position to victory.
Another driver to emerge well from the melee was Oliver Rowland (Penistone, Sheffield), who had scored an impressive first JICA win a fortnight earlier at PF International. The youngest driver in the class had a difficult first Final at Clay Pigeon, and lined up only 16th for the second race.
By the end of the first lap of Final Two, however, he was in third place and passed Alice Powell (Sarsden) to take second position a few laps later. Female racer Powell, who started ninth on the grid, finished fourth, just behind Matt Truelove who had started the race in 12th position.
Jenkins’ impressive weekend puts him in third place in the championship, 15 points adrift of Stevens who, in turn, is eight points behind championship leader Bell. Round four of the Renault-backed B4 Group/MSA British Karting Championship season gets under way on 18th/19th June at Larkhall, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Before then, Formula JICA class leader Bell will enjoy the rare opportunity of going behind the scenes at a Formula One test day as an exclusive guest of Renault UK and the Renault F1 Team – the second time in as many years he’s achieved such.
Formula JICA Provisional Driver Standings:
1st Lee Bell, 278pts; 2nd Will Stevens, 270pts; 3rd Scott Jenkins, 255pts;
4th Oliver Rowland, 248pts; 5th Ollie Millroy, 244 pts; 6th Ben Cooper, 237pts
For the latest British Championship Karting news visit the official Renault Sport UK website www.renaultsport.co.uk built by Racecar
