One day after belatedly opening up his 2011 Formula Kart Stars victory account and in similar balmy conditions Sam Marsh wrapped up a ‘perfect’ weekend at Ellough Park with another string of wins and grabbed second place in the points standings.

Achieving something that not even absent Junior Rotax champion James Singleton could manage during the course of his title winning campaign Marsh took pole position, won both heats and the final for the second day in succession, giving him a perfect 400 point tally from the final weekend of the season.

After coming into the Ellough weekend 57 points behind Ryan Norris and 45 behind George Williams, RL Racing Department driver Marsh began Sunday’s twelfth and final round of the championship 17 points down on Norris and just five markers behind Williams. By the end of the day Marsh had turned that deficit into a 13 point lead over TMR Developments driver Norris with Dan Holland Racing’s Williams a further 23 points adrift following another faultless series of drives.

The starting field for the last round of the championship had been reduced by one to 20 drivers following the medical team’s refusal to allow the exhausted Nick Arthur to race and although Arthur’s absence meant he lost his RL teammate it didn’t seem to bother him.

Although the results will show a complete whitewash for Marsh he wasn’t without his challengers as Macaulay Austin, Bobby Thompson and Zubair Hoque all got within one tenth of a second of Marsh’s pole time in qualifying as Norris (6^th) and Williams (10^th) both struggled for pace. The two drivers who joined Marsh on Saturday’s podium, Jessica Hawkins and Adam Glear, also missed their qualifying set-ups and were 13^th and 7^th respectively on the grid for the two heats.

While Marsh won both heat races he did have to deal with something in the early stages of both races that he didn’t have to worry about at all the previous day and that was someone actually overtaking him under race conditions. In heat one it was his new RL teammate Oliver Norris who poked his nose in front going into the second corner on lap one after making a good start from fifth on the grid although Marsh was able to restore the natural order of things before the lap was complete.

As Norris became embroiled in a race long scrap with ninth place starter Luke Whitworth and Hawkins for second place Marsh established a two second lead at the front and then sat on it until the chequered flag came out after 18-laps. Whitworth and Hawkins both got past Norris as the race wore on to take second and third and while Norris crossed the line in fourth his day, and his entire weekend, took a turn for the worse when he failed scrutineering for an irregular carb and had his results from the entire weekend expunged.

In race two it was the Dannie Pennell Trophy winner Austin who took the fight to Marsh in the early stages, diving over the kerbs at the Alan Wones Hairpin on the opening lap to grab the lead after making a strong start from the unfavoured outside front row of the grid. Austin clung doggedly to the lead for three laps before Marsh finally ousted him going into the tight turn six hairpin and Austin’s race ended shortly after that when he lost his nosecone.

As Austin was in the midst of retiring, Marsh opened up a critical gap over the rest and although his winning margin wasn’t as comfortable as in race one he was never put under any pressure by runner up Hoque and third place man Bobby Thompson, who both finished within 1.5-seconds of the winner.

Despite another pair of victories for Marsh, second place in the title chase still wasn’t assured when the field lined up on the grid for the 22-lap final even though from pole position he held a big advantage over Norris, who would start 7^th and Williams who was back in 11^th. Norris and Williams both received a small bonus before the start when Hogue’s kart, which was due to line up 3^rd, refused to start leaving him stranded on the dummy grid but when the lights turned green Marsh bolted away at the front from second place starter Hawkins and Whitworth, who inherited Hoque’s place on the inside of row two.

Critically for Marsh, Whitworth and Hawkins began scrapping over second, allowing the leader to stretch his lead to more than two seconds. By the time Hawkins finally got past Whitworth, bringing Thompson with her, Marsh was 1.6-seconds to the good with ten laps to go. The chase was relentless with both pursuers setting new fastest laps but in the end Marsh’s consistency was too strong and he ran out the winner by four tenths of a second over Hawkins, who scored her second runner-up finish in as many days. Thompson was eight tenths behind Marsh in third with Oliver Norris fourth before his subsequent exclusion.

Norris’ demise promoted Williams to fourth with Ryan Norris chasing him home but neither result was enough to prevent Marsh from sealing second after a truly dominant weekend.