Karting: 2022 championship   Cautious start in first round   |23 March 2022

The serious end of the karting season roared off last Sunday, with the seniors, Masters class (SF1) and Intermediates (SF2) contesting their first round of the scheduled 12-round championship.

On a very hot day, the karters got off to a cautious start on the Champions Park Raceway as this was the first time that they would have actually run their karts in competition this year, and this was especially so of the Masters class since they have been inactive for about a year and they were hoping that everything would go according to plan with regards to their equipment and their driving.

The racing got going with the Intermediate final and the nine drivers were headed by pole sitter Dean Maillet who did an excellent job of keeping Loïc Scharfenberg at bay for the most part of the race only to make a mistake in the hairpin bend that let Loïc through to win. At the same time Christian Bastienne came through to challenge Loïc but with a few laps remaining he had to settle for second place with Dean taking third position.

Further back in the field there was a battle between Fabio William, Carlos Renaud, Denilson Melanie, Jean-David Melanie and Eric Maillet which ended with Carlos piping Fabio for fourth place followed by Denilson, Jean-David, Eric and Terence Anderson.

In the faster Masters class (SF1), 2020 champion Liza Rene-Cosgrow took a dominant victory over her father Dave Rene in the final with Marc Delcy not to far behind.

Liza, who took pole position, was never headed but was challenged by Dave for most of the race, whilst Marc, who was making a comeback, held on to third position despite being challenged by Rennick Bonnelamme for most of the race until Rennick’s engine blew with a couple of laps remaining before the finish, but was eventually credited with fourth place.

Some drivers had a torrid time, mostly due to not having tested their karts prior to the day, here Steven Rosalie was one who got as far as the pit exit before his engine expired, and again Rennick was unlucky to have a major engine issue in that final.

It was interesting to see the faster Masters class karts in action again, and hopefully by the next round all the drivers will have better luck in getting their equipment running well.

At the end of the day, Liza set the fastest lap time of the day with a time of 32.879 seconds which was just outside the track record of 32.60seconds was set by herself in 2019.

In the Junior (SF5) round one event, Delroy Lionnet took victory in his first attempt in this class after being promoted from the Cadet class of 2021. His victory was lucky though as Darrel Gabriel was heading to victory until his engine began to splutter near the end, letting Delroy to pounce for victory. Arth Shah also made the most of Darrel’s bad luck to go through and finish second with Darrel holding on to third just ahead of Tamnay Raghwani in fourth.

Enzo Lionnet was one of the fastest but after a minor clash with his twin brother Delroy on the first lap, his fuel lever got tangled and cut off the supply before he realised it, but it was too late to mount any challenge.

This Saturday sees round two of the Junior class, while Academy group two drivers will be out for another session just after the junior event. The next senior event is scheduled for Sunday April 19.

Contributed