MSA S1 SERIES ROUND 2 AT GLAN ‘Y GORS

It was a lesson in how to turn adversity into triumph. Diminutive Owen Byatt may not have come away from Glan ‘Y Gors with a race win under his belt, but in both finals he produced the kind of gutsy display that won applause from all who witnessed it.

In varying weather conditions, Zach Robertson, Tom Wood, Jack Armstrong and Oliver York filled the top four Timed Qualifying slots. York was mightily relieved that his engine problems throughout Friday and Saturday morning appeared to have been solved. He duly finished 2nd behind Wood in Heat 1 with Tyler Chesterton and Will Pettitt making up the top four. Next time out it was Wood’s turn to finish 2nd as Lewis Thompson claimed the win.

Sean Butcher finished 3rd ahead of Ethan Hawkey. Thompson’s day took a turn for the worse when he ran into Alex McDade in Heat 3. It promoted him initially into 3rd position whilst causing Alex to lose eight places. However, this incident caused Lewis to be excluded. York won this one by a matter of inches from Alex Quinn with Teddy Wilson and Zach Robertson finishing some distance behind. After being excluded in Heat 2, Byatt was classified 37th out of 38 contenders and started the “B” Final off grid 11. He finished this race in 2nd place behind Joe Turney, with Tyler Chesterton 3rd. Having started from the pit lane, Jack Armstrong thought he’d done enough to qualify but was deemed to be a lap behind. This promoted Wesley Brown into 4th position.

York made a perfect getaway in FINAL 1 hotly pursued by Wood and Quinn. On the opening lap of this race, Byatt gained no less than 16 places and found himself lying 13th. After two or three more laps he was up into 5th slot, immediately behind McDade and just 40 yards away from the race leader. York came under increasing pressure from Wood as Quinn dropped back slightly. McDade dropped a few positions as Byatt, Pettitt and Dexter Patterson all slipped past him. Pettitt moved up into 4th place but lost out to Byatt and a hard charging Thompson on the last lap.

York was first away once again in FINAL 2 but Quinn lost out to Byatt for 2nd spot. Byatt hit the front for a while although it didn’t take long for York to assume command once again. Quinn followed through into 2nd and together the top three pulled well ahead of everyone else. Kiern Jewiss replaced Thompson in 4th position as Teddy Wilson entered the fray. Slowly but surely York and Quinn were able to establish a gap over Byatt. In the final phase of this race Quinn put York under all sorts of pressure but couldn’t quite find a way through. Byatt’s tenure on 3rd place came under threat from Thompson, Wilson and Jewiss, but he managed to hold on until the chequered flag.

“Tom and Alex put me under pressure in both finals, but I was able to defend my position,” said a delighted Oliver York who now holds a 33 points advantage over Quinn in the championship table. “It’s difficult to break the tow on this circuit and I had to defend hard for the last two laps.” Owen Byatt was delighted with his podium place. “It was all down to the start in Final 1,” he pointed out. “I got hit from behind but it actually helped me as I was pushed past quite a few karts.”

RESULTS

FINAL 1

1. Oliver York (Fusion); 2. Tom Wood (Fusion Jr); 3. Alex Quinn (Fusion Jr); 4. Owen Byatt (Fusion); 5. Lewis Thompson (Fusion); 6. William Pettitt (Fusion)

FINAL 2

1. York; 2. Quinn; 3. Byatt; 4. Thompson; 5. Teddy Wilson (Next Gen); 6. Kiern Jewiss (Next Gen)