|
An over-optimistic last-lap manoeuvre denied Robert
Foster-Jones a certain podium finish at the opening round of the Winning Series
Karting [WSK] Championship at La Conca, Italy yesterday (16 March).
It capped an incident-filled weekend for the Winter
Cup winner, who repeatedly delivered inspired performances after a poor Timed
Qualifying. The 17-year old had been off the pace by 4 tenths of a second and
found himself down in 29th place overall (out of 84 competitors).
With four elimination heats to come through, the Ricky
Flynn Motorsport driver had it all to do if he was going to qualify up the grid
for the Pre-Final. The safest place at the start of a race is invariably at the
front, as a mid-grid position always places a driver in the ‘hot-spot’ - where
carnage at the first corner occurs – and Rob was right in it. As expected,
chaos ensued - but he was able to thread his way through the scattered karts
and power his way up to 7th at the flag.
Buoyed by this, his next race was even better. The Essex teenager put in a brilliant drive to take 4th
place, which then became 3rd when a driver was disqualified. He was
now on a roll and his performance in the next heat, produced congratulatory
texts to dad, Gary’s
mobile phone. Starting in 12th place, Robert picked his way through
the traffic to catch the leader Petri Suvanto (FIN) and finished just 4
1/1000ths of a second away from snatching victory.
A spectacular crash in the 4th heat saw Rob
fall to last, before tigering his way back up to 10th and setting
the fastest lap of the race. Finishing in 7th place or higher would
have been good enough for 5th spot on the grid for the Pre-Final and
out of the danger zone. As it was, he would start from 8th and on
the outside line for the first corner.
In every race La Conca’s tight first corner and
following hairpin had produced accidents, and as the tension mounted the crashes
showed no signs of abating. As the pack hurtled into the first corner, Foster-Jones
found himself knocked back to 15th, and again having to fight his way back up
the order. He finished in 6th place, only denied a higher position
by the chequered flag.
As the starter flicked the lights to green to start
the Final, Robert managed to avoid any dramas and hold his position through the
opening lap’s bends. Unfortunately the talented, but excitable, Japanese
Ishiyama Gaku tried a “banzai” move that forced Rob wide and cost him time.
Having lost ground, he clawed his way back up to the leading pack and moved his
way into 4th. Rob takes up the story: “I was able to take [Paolo]
De Conto for 3rd and then [Jack] Harvey
for 2nd. Jack has a lot of racing experience and I thought, he’ll
just sit behind me and wait, we’ll catch the leader and then go for it in the
closing laps – but he didn’t. He launched a move and we started to fight for
position. I re-passed him and was in 3rd on the last lap. We were
just 6 corners from the chequered flag and Jack ran into the back of me. Luckily,
I had nearly four seconds over the next man and was able to finish fourth and
take valuable points.”
Despite his obvious disappointment, Foster-Jones has
taken valuable points and sits 4th in the Championship table. With
five rounds remaining, he’s confident that he can build on his performance and
challenge for wins and overall victory in the series: “I had the pace to win and championships aren’t won at the first race.
A trophy would’ve been a great reward for the team’s efforts all weekend but
I’ll do my best to sort that out, sooner rather than later.”
|
