British Grass-Track Championships 2010

For the third year in succession I covered the 2010 British Grass-Track Championships near March in Cambridgeshire, on what was one of the hottest days of the year so far.

With sun-burnt calves, whilst trying to dodge the dust as I kept the sun behind me, the tractor and 10,000 gallon water bowser was used to spray the dusty track. The dampened surface worked well for the race immediately after the dowsing (see pic above), but after that the dust returned.

With former European Superstox champion, Ivan Russell, on hand to present trophies to the seven classes, congratulations must go to the youngster Scott White, who went on to win a British title for the third year in a row, whilst 90cc graduate Harry Hensby won the junior 4-stroke 125cc title.

Beautiful weather greeted the competitors for a round of the Super 1 Championship at Rowrah in Cumbria over the weekend. After five wet meetings from the last six, race day on Sunday made it two dry races in a row. Cumbrian weather will have to be careful - I might need sun-cream..!

Superb racing, spoiled only by the odd pedantic protest, came from all four classes, with Mark Litchfield reigning supreme in Formula SKF. The PF International entered former British Champion was untouchable - fastest in timed qualifying, winner of both heats, and winner of both finals. A boring day at the office for Mark.

Jacob Nortoft in KF2 continued his winning ways from his race win at Genk in Belgium a few weeks ago, when he took control of his class for a well-deserved victory. The junior KF3 category meanwhile fell to the Racing Steps Foundation supported youngster, Jake Dennis, whose international experience in 2010 is clearly being put to good use on home turf.

And finally in Cadets it was Tom Harvey who showed he could sustain serious pressure from his rivals, when he kept all and sundry at bay on his way to the chequered flag, to maintain his Series points lead.

The drive of the race though came from Dylon Phibbs in KF3, where after a disaster in timed qualifying, and two similar 'disasters' in his heats, meant he was confined to a low grid slot. To then be able to care his way up the running order, reaching 6th place by the flag in the main final, as he put pressure on the driver immediately ahead of him, was quite impressive stuff. Another lap or two and 5th place was on the cards. The young racer just needs to start from the front now...

Le Mans 24 hours

Anthony Davidson, together with his team-mates Alexander Wurz and Marc Gene, drove a stunning race yesterday in France, when they came close to a podium finish in the Peugeot 908 HDi LMP1 car.

Anthony had led the race at one stage, but a night incident with a Ferrari, and then an electrical problem that took some time to fix, delayed them for awahile, until Anthony, in the sole surviving trio of team Peugeot's, was told to "push"... and "push" he did! Sadly what appeared to be a turbo failure with just 2-hours remaining, when Wurz had Audi under pressure for second place, ended their day.

Naturally there was controversy, when a back-marker GT2 car decided to visit the barriers in the Porsche Curves, and since Anthony was blitzing the Corvette driven by Emanuel Collard at the time, the commentators and forums provided some unjust commentary and statements.

Scruting of the TV footage clearly shows Anthony was not only very quick and setting fastest race laps, but he was also on the racing line, and on the inside of the Corvette as they went into the left-hander. As a journalist, I would have reported how the Corvette driver should have been aware of his position, and the fact he was being lapped again, but instead lost control on the 'marbles' and hit the barrier.

Anthony receved plaudits from his team for a superb effort, whilst others berated him for his supremacy on the track. "I'm a racing driver," Anthony said, "and I had to take a few risks." And racing drivers are paid to win, if necessary by taking risks, and are not paid to acquiesce with an 'after you...' mentality.

Well done Ant..!

The pleasure of photography comes from having a good subject (or subjects), and delivering a result that makes a client happy.

I had the pleasure of doing such a job this week, where the two sons of a proud mum wanted both indoor and outdoor (a glorious sunny day in the beautiful contryside outside Bradford in West Yorkshire) photographs taking.

Having to handle a camera for a living can be such a hard life..!

David Sutton

One of our leading lights in motor-sport, David Sutton, a former British kart champion, accepted an offer to race in a round of the Euro Max karting championship this coming weekend, at Wackersdorf in Germany, using an Alonso Rotax powered kart.

Our Dutch contact in Germany, Bas Kaligis, reported just how quick David was in practice as he prepared for qualifying, where David had in fact set the fastest time of the week so far, until a fateful session yesterday.

On what is probably the slowest corner of the Wackersdorf track, David was struck by another driver as he overtook the slower kart, which pitched his own kart into a roll. David's mechanic Ben, who was out with him, felt if the accident had happened on a quicker part of the circuit, David would probably have been OK. As it was, the kart flipped on top of him and this has caused a lot of physical distress to the British ace.

Reports this morning from the hospital in Germany, would suggest that David is unlikely to be allowed to leave until Monday at the earliest. He has broken ribs on both sides of his body, what appears to be a fractured shoulder, a broken wrist, and air on one lung that is being monitored. For a lean, strong, and tough driver like David, who looks the 'racing driver' part, he no doubt owes his fitness to not being in worse shape.

Get well soon buddy!

Karting greats Past, Present... and Future..?

Round 4 of the WSK Series at Genk in Belgium over the weekend bore witness to one of the greatest kart drives, when the 15-year old future champion of Formula 1, the little Dutch ace Nyck De Vries, dominated the mighty of the 'blue riband' Formula SKF category.

The 1993 British Formula A champion from 1993, Mark Rose, of Mark Rose Motorsport, who now runs Hazz Truelove in Formula KF3, is happy to claim that De Vries is the greatest kart driver he has ever seen... and Mark's driver selections over the last 20 or so years have been rarely wrong.

See with Mrk above is Nyck, together with the two Truelove brothers Matt and Hazz, who finished a fine 8th overall in his own final.

Hairy stuff in Genk..!

Lucile Cypriano of France provided early action in the opening laps of the final Formula KF3 heat in Genk, Belgium this morning. It is good to see that despite being airborne and rotating left, she has the presence of mind to have full left lock on the steering to try and control her direction..!

Ricky Flynn Motorsport driver Nicolas Beer though is controlling this class at the moment, and after another heat win this morning is now in a good position for this afternoon's main final.