1st in Final 1
1st in Final 2
Daniel Ticktum topped Qualifying by a whisker from Enaam Ahmed. Dean Macdonald edged out Ross Martin for 3rd place. Daruvala recorded the 9th fastest time but Paul Fletcher’s rising young star Philip Rawson struggled even more as he propped up the list.
Rawson had it all to do in Heat 1 but he came storming through into 2nd place, some 80 or 90 yards behind the winner, Jamie Caroline. Martin took 3rd spot followed by Charlie Barlow. Daruvala never quite recovered from a lap 2 incident and eventually came home in 13th place. Martin lost a wheel whilst leading Heat 2 quite comfortably. His loss turned into a win for Ticktum who finished ahead of Ahmed, Macdonald and Caroline.
From grid 2, Macdonald took an immediate lead in Final 1, but Rawson managed to get his wheels ahead as they completed their first tour. Caroline’s front row grid slot didn’t help him very much and he dropped down to 8th place initially. Also badly affected early on in this race was Martin who found himself back in 13th position almost 200 yards behind the leaders. After starting off grid 7, Ticktum soon made it up to 3rd place and looked ominously quick.
As they came round to complete lap 5, Macdonald found himself forced wide and subsequently lost four places. It got even worse for him half a lap later when he tangled with Ahmed and Josh Smith. All three drivers managed to get restarted but each one lost around 16s in the process. Elevated up to 2nd place, Ticktum immediately put pressure on Rawson and went into the lead soon afterwards.
Rawson fought hard but a gap of around 30 yards soon opened up. Caroline put in some quick laps that brought him within 10 or 15 yards of Rawson at one point only to fall away in the latter part of this race. In fact as they began their final tour he was under severe pressure from Daruvala who promptly snatched 3rd place away from him. Ticktum’s winning margin amounted to around 50 yards with Daruvala finishing a further 30 yards behind Rawson. Daniel McAuley finished 5th behind Caroline with Martin back in 6th.
Ticktum made a perfect getaway in Final 2 but mistakenly believed that the race had been false started. Everyone slowed to a crawl and began lap 2 in their original starting positions. It didn’t really affect the outcome as Ticktum once again pulled out a significant gap over Rawson. Daruvala had initially dropped a couple of places but he soon made them up and began to challenge hard for 2nd place. Rawson was clearly struggling for grip and, after being overtaken by Daruvala, he soon fell into the clutches of Martin, Macdonald, Ahmed, McAuley and Caroline.
Despite his best efforts Daruvala wasn’t able to close the gap between himself and Ticktum which remained fairly static at around 50 yards or more.”I pushed hard throughout the race hoping that Daniel might make a mistake in the wet conditions but it never looked very likely,” Daruvala conceded afterwards. Ticktum expressed himself to be very satisfied with the afternoon’s work. “I had a bad result in Saturday’s heat but everything went well for me afterwards” he claimed. “In both finals I was able to manage the gap and these two wins have boosted my championship chances!”
Karting Magazine August 2013