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Robert Foster-Jones took a dominant win in the British
Open Championship (‘O’ Plate) race at Three Sisters, near Wigan
(29/20 March).
His success comes just weeks after he won the Winter
Cup in Italy
and is his first major championship success at home.
The RFM driver’s weekend started to plan when, in
Timed Qualifying, when he posted the fastest lap to secure pole position for his
two heats.
Despite winning his first race, Foster-Jones felt that
the kart could be improved for the second heat. However, a different motor and tweaked
settings didn’t give him the extra pace he expected, and he finished in 4th
place.
Nevertheless, this was good enough for a front-row
position for the pre-final. Things became ‘interesting’ when the officials
stopped the field after two rolling laps were deemed to be too fast by Robert
and pole-man Jordan Chamberlain. Put back a row, Robert remained unfazed and as
the lights flicked to green and he quickly came through to take the lead. From
there, he was never headed.
Prior to the weekend, the event had been billed as a
head-to-head clash between Robert and WSK podium-finisher Jack Harvey. But on
this occasion, Foster-Jones was untouchable - delivering a perfect
lights-to-flag victory, and setting the fastest lap to further add to his
dominance of the meeting.
The 17-year old said: “This is really good. I’ve only been racing for four seasons and now
I’ve added the O Plate to my Winter Cup win. We put the kart’s set-up back to
how it was for the 1st heat and the original engine too and just
drove away.”
Rob is now confident that he has the form for further
success when he returns to Wigan for Super 1 Championship, which starts back at
the Lancashire circuit in two weeks time
(12/13 April). Rob says: “This bodes well
for the Super 1 Championship. Winning a meeting at the same place two weeks
before gives you the psychological edge I think. I just hope that I can repeat
my success there again.”
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