James Mudd’s peerless showing during the heats unsurprisingly earned him pole position for Saturday’s all-important Super ICC final, with Nik Goodfellow and Tom Hibbert alongside on the front row of the grid and Jake Rosenzweig and Jack Hawksworth lining up behind on row two.
The luckless Hibbert’s challenge, however, was over no sooner than it had begun, with the Grantham ace’s kart once again creeping to a standstill at the side of the track, his shot at victory and precious championship points going up in smoke. Hawksworth was the man on the move as the lights went out, running three-abreast into turn one together with Mudd and Goodfellow, but being on the outside line he was forced wide which allowed Rosenzweig to sneak through as the pole-sitter held onto his advantage. And that was pretty much the last anyone would see of Mudd for the rest of the race.
As Rosenzweig began to apply the pressure on Goodfellow’s second place, Hawksworth and Daniel Borton gave chase behind, with the latter on a particular charge from the back row of the grid. With Mudd making hay out front, all eyes were focussed on the frantic scrap over the runner-up spot in his wake, as a shuffle towards the end of lap three saw Hawksworth emerge ahead of Goodfellow, Borton, Nigel Moore and Dan Rodde.
Two laps later and two of the contenders were eliminated from proceedings, with contact between Borton and Goodfellow as Daniel dived down the inside. The pair of them ended up drifting wide and into the barriers, ending both their challenges on the spot. Their contretemps gave Hawksworth a little breathing space in second, ahead of Moore, Rodde, Rosenzweig and Raymie Eastwood.
The next one to fall by the wayside was, unfortunately, Hawksworth, as an encouraging performance ultimately came to nought when his kart began to slow on lap nine. That allowed Moore up into second, with Rodde and Rosenzweig disputing the final podium position. Their battle enabled Eastwood to close up behind, but try as he might Rosenzweig was unable to make a move stick, allowing a delighted Rodde to seal his first podium in a Stars final, behind an equally exultant Moore and the dominant race-winner, with just six of the ten karts that started the race taking the chequered flag.
