NEWS...
3rd Place in the British
16th September 2014
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL ROUND AT PF (14/9/2014)
Jonny pulled off his best ever result at the PF International Circuit by claiming 2nd and 3rd places in both Finals. More importantly, he amassed sufficient points to make certain of finishing 3rd in the British Championships behind Teddy Wilson and Kiern Jewiss.
His weekend didn’t start particularly well. Despite finishing 2nd in Saturday morning’s timed qualifying session he fluffed both of the Heats, dropping 15 valuable points from his tally. With his close rival Tom Wood performing exceptionally well on Saturday, Jonny’s 3rd place in the championship table looked to be at risk.
“Jonny knew that he could have driven better in the Heats,” said his dad, Justin. “However, he put his disappointment to one side and resolved that Sunday would be altogether different. To his credit, he came out the following day and performed exceptionally well.”
Jonny set off from grid 7 in Final 1 but climbed up to 2nd place behind Alex McDade just after half distance. With a couple of laps remaining, Wilson forced him wide around the left hand hairpin and he immediately dropped down to 5th spot. A last lap surge brought him back up to 2nd place and he crossed the line just a few inches behind McDade. Wood finished some distance behind in 3rd position.
It meant that if Tom won the next Final and Jonny finished lower than 12th he would lose 3rd place in the championships. From the start he tucked in tightly behind McDade with Zac Robertson an equally close 3rd. These three worked together and pulled well away from the chasing pack led by Wood. They remained in that order right up until the final lap when Robertson took over 2nd place. At the line only a yard or so separated all three drivers.
“We were more interested in securing championship points rather than looking for a race win,” said Justin afterwards. “Jonny drove to instructions and carried them out to the letter. I am immensely proud that he has finished 3rd in the championships at such a tender age. Only three of the top ten will be competing as cadets next year and so he’ll be starting 2015 as the highest seeded driver. That probably places a bit more pressure on his shoulders, but he can still race in cadets for another three seasons so there’s no great rush just yet.”
Jonny will be sporting his newly acquired number 3 plate at Shenington this weekend when he competes in Round 7 of the Little Green Man Championships. It’s a competition he can’t possibly win after missing two earlier rounds through injury. That won’t prevent him from going all out for victory on a circuit he regards as one of his favourites.
1st race - 19 February 2012
JONNY's KARTING HERITAGE!
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