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Carl Stirling celebrated a “fantastic” Stars of Tomorrow victory last Sunday (8 June), at Whilton
Mill - a circuit he’d never even seen before Saturday morning.
Exam commitments kept the Millennium Motorsport
driver from testing at the Northamptonshire track on Friday, which hampered his
qualifying performance.
The 14-year old - who won the British Open Championship
in March, the first driver from Northern
Ireland to do so in 16 years - said: “Testing went well, although I was two
tenths (of a second) off the pace and
was still learning the circuit when we went out for timed qualifying.”
Team boss, Dean Panrucker was a little less modest: “Carl did very well. He’d never been to the
circuit before, let alone try to qualify on it. He was 8th out of 28
drivers and just three tenths off pole. That’s how close it was.”
Starting from the fourth row of the grid, Carl opened
his account with a fine 2nd place in the first heat. In the second race, he
survived a “hairy moment” – taking to
the grass at high speed to avoid a crash in front of him – to finish 5th.
These two results gave Carl a front row start,
alongside pole-sitter Macaulay Walsh.
“I dropped to 3rd at the start and the two leaders quickly
established a good lead. I managed to catch Alex Walker (in 2nd), passed him and
then set about catching Macaulay, who was now about ten kart-lengths ahead.”
In just one lap, Carl slashed Walsh’s lead from
seven tenths of a second to three. But as he inched closer, new 3rd-place
man Jake Dennis arrowed in.
“After five laps I was on Macaulay’s bumper, but Jake had caught me and
made a move. He got past -but I did him back on the following lap.”
Under braking for Christmas corner, Carl scythed
past Walsh to take the lead. Leaving Dennis, Walsh and the fast-approaching
Lewis Hall scrapping over 2nd place, Carl eked out a small advantage over his
pursuers and held it to the chequered flag.
Afterwards, Carl couldn’t contain his delight. “This is a fantastic win for me. I’ve never
raced or even tested here before, and so to win is just brilliant.”
Having had a disastrous previous round at Rowrah in Cumbria, Carl
wants to build on his Whilton performance.
“I came here expecting to do a damage limitation exercise after Rowrah,
but the win changes things. I’m fourth in the Championship now, and really
believe I can challenge to win it overall now.”
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