All was to play for in the title battle but sadly without one of the main championship contenders.  Harry Webb, still recovering from a club race incident, was greatly missed, but his rivals put on a stupendous display.  Sam Vanderpump was another front runner no longer racing, in his case due to him winning a place at a prestigious theatre school, but he enlivened proceedings with sterling assistant commentary duties.   

The heats

No less than six heats were needed to grade the drivers for the finals, the first saw Adam MacKay lay down the gauntlet in a battle with Alex Gill.  Rory Cuff started a little further down,  outwitting Connor Jupp for third, the latter having come up from the back.  Tom Harvey set out his stall in the second heat, leading all the way bar as short period near the end when American guest Santino Ferrucci briefly found a gap.  Ricky Collard stormed up to third and it was his turn to lead much of the third heat until Connor Jupp slipped by at the end.  MacKay and George Russell battled over third, MacKay taking the upper hand.  Collard broke away at the start of the fourth heat, whilst Oliver Norris slipped back to sixth.  This time it was Harvey and Ferrucci battling over second, with Josh White coming into play for fourth.  Jupp soaked up the pressure from Gill throughout the fifth heat with Russell leapfrogging Max Vaughan and MacKay for third.  Connor Mills failed to sustain leading pace in the last heat, with Harvey vaulting to the front.  Meanwhile Ross Gunn was frantically defending second from Mills, but in vain.  Then Mills attempted a move on the lead on the last lap, it went wrong and all three spun back a few places gifting the win to Josh White.

B Final

Ben Hingeley led from pole but only survived a lap, with Jake Walker inheriting albeit battling with Daniel Fazzone, whilst Thanassi Barnicoat stormed up from eleventh, leapfrogging the other two on the penultimate lap for the win.  Walker hung onto third whilst Toby Sowerby inherited fourth and the last place on the A Final.

A Final

Delayed until Sunday morning the main final would be critical to the championship battle between George Russell, starting ninth, and Matthew Graham, starting twelfth.  At the sharp end, Connor Jupp had earned pole with Ricky Collard sat alongside, Tom Harvey and Adam MacKay right behind.  Jupp, Harvey and Ricky Collard broke away at the front, their path eased when Santino Ferrucci was cut off heading into Christmas Corner and spun.  The incident caught up Ross Gunn and a number of others, and left Adam MacKay a lonely fourth.  Matthew Graham leapfrogged Trevyn Jay Nelson and both sped past MacKay, the latter then spinning at Boot Corrner.  Rory Cuff hitched a lift in sixth, whilst at the front Jupp ran wide out of Ashby and fell to third.  Jupp fought back, inside Collard and Harvey on successive laps at Christmas Corner, but Collard took the lead back at Ashby.  A little way behind, Rory Cuff and Graham were involved in an intense fight over fourth, only for Max Vaughan to speed past both.  Graham had by now fallen back a few places and was now behind his rival Russell.  The latter driver was now in full swing, vaulting past Cuff at Christmas Corner and having the pace to go clear, trying but failing to narrow the three second gap to the lead trio.  After following Collard for a few laps, Harvey made his bid for the lead, the battle intensifying in this electrifying final.  Two laps later and Collard scrabbled inside Harvey at Parker corner, now on the last lap, but Harvey claimed his first FKS win coming out of the very last corner, and said: “Ricky pushed me hard, but I did the switch-back on the last corner.”  George Russell held fourth, Matthew Graham seventh and seeing the title slipping away. 

FKS Round 9: Whilton Mill 4.10.09

Qualifying

Qualifying is critical to the Sunday format, and this was no exception.  The guest driver from the USA Santino Ferrucci rose rapidly to the top of the first group list, with Ricky Collard, George Russell and Connor Jupp right behind.  The second session proved disastrous for Matthew Graham, whose kart took a knock taking off its chain.  With a couple of minutes remaining, Ross Gunn topped the session with the fastest overall time which gave him pole for the final.  Josh White made a good last lap as well, leapfrogging Tom Harvey and Connor Mills. 

B Final

Adam MacKay was another driver with a poor qualifying, and from pole he sprung into the lead, chased by James Kellett and Jacques Morley.  Jake Walker was doing his best to hang onto fourth, heading a long queue of karts.  Kellett slipstreamed into the lead at Christmas Corner, Morley following, only to spin at Chapman a little later.  They had both dropped Morley by this time, so MacKay settled into an easy win.  Matthew Graham started way back in 21^st after his qualifying hiccup, and he grittily set to pick off karts every laps, soon reaching eighth and narrowing the gap to the fourth place battle.  He nipped past Ellis Hanks and Jake Walker in one move, then took Darius Karbaley and Lewis Taylor to put him into the A final, quite a drive.  Karbaley then spun at the Boot, whilst Walker snatched fourth from Hanks on the last lap.

A Final

Ross Gunn was enjoying the attention of his first pole but lost out to Santino Ferrucci who took an enormous lead whilst Gunn was intent on defending second up the hill, several karts coming off behind.  Gunn had clearly lost his qualifying pace, as he fell back bit by bit to seventh.  Ferrucci admitted to lacking top end power and it wasn’t long before Ricky Collard and George Russell reeled him in, Collard nipping into the lead at Christmas Corner.  Alex Gill had also broken clear of the chasers, and nipped past Russell for third, Max Vaughan and Tom Harvey chasing at some distance.  Gunn slowed with a bumper rubbing and pitted.  By half distance in the long 21 minute race, George Russell was taking Connor Mills for seventh, another astonishing drive, but then his progress stalled and he succumbed to a host of other karts.  What remained of this pack caught up with Harvey, Jupp managing to steal sixth in the last laps.  At the front, Gill had taken charge for a few laps, only Collard had other ideas and sent Gill down behind Vaughan.  This pair energetically traded second, with Ferrucci just about hanging on to their coat tails and Russell hanging back to ensure a safe fifth place finish.  So Vaughan made second at the Boot on the penultimate lap, and defended from there to the flag, Collard another first time delighted FKS winner and Russell claiming the title, in what had been yet again a fantastic display of close run racing.  “Santino was quite slow so I picked him off then I saw the two in front getting away, so I thought I had to get Alex as soon as possible and once I got the lead I drove well round the last few corners and didn’t need to defend,” said Collard.  Vaughan added: “I wasn’t going to be silly and maybe take us both off.”