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Dixon Claims Top Ten Points Haul In Ugento |
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Monday, 14 May 2007 |
Sittingbourne kart racer James Dixon grabbed two top-ten finishes and another handful of points in the latest round of the KF2 class of the Winning Series of Karting Championship, at the Italian circuit of Ugento this weekend. (May 12/13).
The 17-year-old Candy Carriers backed driver set a time less than half a second away from pole position in qualifying. However, the KF2 pace was so tight that this still left James 15th on the grid, as he struggled to find a perfect set-up on his JRP Racing run Maranello Kart.
“The times were incredibly tight,” said James. “If I had been just a
tenth of a second faster I’d have been fifth quickest in qualifying. It
is so close right the way through the field,” he added.
A ninth and third place in the two heats on Saturday showed that he was
on the pace with the rest of the front-runners in the build up to the
two points-scoring finals on Sunday.
After starting eighth in the first final James was able to make up a
single place over the course of 16-lap race to come home seventh,
giving him the same spot on the grid for the grand final.
More improvements on the kart by the team meant that by the time he
lined up for the final time James was able to push as soon as the
lights went green, making up two places and taking 5th place, bringing
his points total for the weekend to 15.
Although it wasn’t the podium result that he had wanted prior to the
weekend, James was happy with his pace over the course of the meeting
and is hoping that he can carry his speed into the next round of the
Italian Open Championship next weekend.
“We got faster as the weekend went on and in the final I set the third
fastest lap-time, so the pace was there,” said James. “I hope that we
can go another step forward at Jesolo. I just want to score as many
points as possible next weekend as I’m currently 23rd in the standings
and want to move myself as far up the table as I can.”
James will take to the circuit on Friday for testing before qualifying and racing gets underway on Saturday.
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