Strawberry Racing’s latest signing Harrison Scott and Euro Max debutant Harry Webb were the cream of the crop in last weekend’s (11/12 February) Rotax Winter Cup at Campillos, Andalucia continuing tony Kart's history of success.
In the Junior class, Webb dominated the event’s early stages; topping the time sheets in qualifying before leading the field home in all three heats. He was made to settle for second in the pre-final before re-asserting his authority in the main final.
His team-mate, Jessica Backman made excellent progress up the order after a frustrating timed qualifying. In race trim, Jessica improved her finishing position in each of the heats and stunned her rivals with a terrific drive – from 17th to 7th – in the pre-final.
Tenth position in the main final concluded a satisfactory weekend for the ever-improving Swede.
Summing up their performances, Team Manager Warwick Ringham couldn’t hide his delight: “Harry had a difficult season in 2011, so to see him come through his first European event and win was great for him and his family. He’s hit strong form early on and walked away with one of the most prestigious titles in the international Rotax calendar. That’s fantastic for him, and us. I’m really pleased for Jessica too. She showed great heart throughout and kept on pushing, she never stopped trying. When a driver does that, you can’t ask for much more.”
Timed practice was something of a mixed bag for Strawberry’s Senior stars. Andy King emerged as the fastest of the quartet, whilst - on his return to the Rotax arena and debut at senior level - Harrison Scott recorded the 7th-fastest time, with Ash Hand 17th and Andreas Backman completing the top twenty.
Ahead of the pre-final Scott had won all three heats, putting him on pole. King claimed 4th spot in the intermediate rankings with good finishes in his heats, as Hand increasingly got to grips with the different driving style required for international racing and finished the heats 10th overall. Backman suffered a torrid time and claimed 25th on the grid.
A collision at the start of the pre-final put Andy out of the running, but Harrison went on to cross the line in 3rd, ahead of Ash (5th). King was able to recover to 18th with luck evading Andreas again and he placed 30th.
Scott hit his stride in the feature race and went on to complete a dream debut victory with the reigning British Champions. Hand brought his Racer EVRR home in 3rd to add to Strawberry’s trophy haul.
“It’s great to see Harrison come back to racing and deliver a result like that,” beamed Ringham. “Harrison signed for us late in the day and we were just going to do the Winter Cup as an extended test. What a test drive that was! Ash deserves praise too. He struggled in practice and qualifying but stuck at it and showed real grit by taking a richly-deserved podium. If I’m honest, Andy was the most consistent of the four throughout the week, but was really unlucky. When you’re coming from the back you tend to get mixed up in other people’s accidents. Andreas did really well all week and is getting better all the time.”
Strawberry Racing uses the Tony Kart Racer EVRR chassis and Cream Racing Engines.
For more information about OTK products and Cream’s preparation services go to www.strawberryracing.co.uk. Or call 0114 269 6215 / 0114 288 9933
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Adam Jones
100cc PR & Driver Management
Tel - 01702 390348
Mob - 0781 8061503
Web - www.100ccpr.co.uk
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