2nd in A Final
Proving that Saturday’s early mishaps were but a brief hiccup Ticktum headed a wet Qualifying session, leading the marginally quicker second group by 0.1s over Macdonald with Daniel McAuley 3rd ahead of Group 1 leaders Clay and William Taylforth. Saturday winner Caroline was 12th with Anderton, his title chances beginning to slip away, in 11th.
Ticktum converted pole into victory in Heat 1 although it took a double last lap pass on Monger and Norris to do so and, while Caroline briefly led Heat 2, nobody could live with Zelos in the drying conditions. Caroline was 2nd with Stott pushing him all the way although Stott became the latest in the growing list of ‘white line’ culprits and was penalised back to 11th.
With the track now dry Ticktum overhauled Zelos and Anderton to claim another victory by 0.16s in Heat 3. While 3rd was a good result for Anderton it came on the back of a rare mechanical DNF in his first heat.
Ticktum sat on pole for the Final from Zelos and Caroline and when 30 karts were unleashed he held on to the lead. Behind Ticktum, Zelos and Caroline touched going into Christmas Corner sending Zelos spinning although Caroline held on to 2nd with Macdonald and Monger slotting into 3rd and 4th.
The same quartet that disputed the lead in Saturday’s Final then pulled away from the rest again. All took turns at leading with Monger striking the front for the first time with two laps to go. However Caroline pounced with a little over a lap remaining and took advantage of the fight for 2nd to take his third successive victory by 1.44s and keep the pressure squarely on Ticktum in the title chase.
For his part Ticktum pulled off one of the moves of the weekend for 2nd, passing Macdonald around the outside of Boot 1 and then slotting up the inside of Monger into Boot 2 in one fluid movement. Macdonald completed the podium from Monger with a second pack of eight karts, led by Clay, Smith, Ahmed and Anderton, well behind.
Karting Magazine November 2011