Karting |06 June 2023

Cadet Joshua Cosgrow overtakes Maya Moulinie

Drivers pile on the pressure as championship intensifies

Last weekend the Seychelles Karting Association held two days of karting with the Cadet round four on Saturday afternoon and the following day, the Masters and Intermediate ‘A’ took to the track.

In Saturday’s Cadet round at the Champions Park Raceway, Roche Caïman, Joshua Cosgrow took yet another victory but this time he had to work hard to overcome a spirited drive from Maya Moulinie who grabbed second place with Hugo Patel third after he had chosen a different kart but returned to his own for the final.

At the start of the final, Maya took the lead from pole sitter Joshua, and she held on to the lead for the first two laps until Joshua muscled his way past her in the hairpin, a position that the two held on all the way to the flag. Behind Loïc Raoul was making good progress in third place until he half spun in the hairpin and dropped down the order and had to settle for fourth position.

Noah Moulinie is still sidelined with an injury and both Hayden Leong Pon and Rocco Larue were absent.

Half way through the season, Joshua leads the table with 104 points followed by Loïc with 52, Maya with 42, Hayden with 42, Hugo with 32, Noah with 28 and Rocco with 18.

On Sunday, the seniors took to the track, and in the Masters class, Liza Rene-Cosgrow took victory with Dave Rene second and Rennick Bonnelame third.

In this class where there is always some drama, Dave, Marc Delcy and Fabio Williams all had some issues that stalled their attempt to gain as many points as possible for the championship. Fabio was the unluckiest as he encountered carburation issues in all the heats, while both Dave and Marc were battling tyre wear issues.

Liza, however, did not worry about any issues as she posted the fastest lap of 34:969 seconds in the final to win. Rennick, conserving both his tyres and engine, took third place, while Marc had a spin that dropped him down the order to fourth. 

Liza has now retaken the table lead with 64 points, followed by Dave on 62, Marc on 30, Rennick on 28 and Fabio on 14.

In the Intermediate ‘A’ class, there was a dramatic finish, when Denilson Melanie who had led for nine of the 10-lap final was piped on the line after a last corner overtake by race winner Eric Maillet, whilst Carlos Quatre took a close third.

Jean-David Melanie finished fourth, with Mitra Labrosse fifth. Terence Anderson displaced his mentor Dean Maillet for sixth and Dean taking a lonely seventh.

One time championship leader Christian Bastienne was absent, and this has severely dented his chance in the championship.

Mitra set the fastest lap for this class in the final with a lap time of 44:457 seconds, making it two ladies from the two classes with the fastest times of the day.

Carlos still leads the table in this class with 54 points, followed by Eric with 53, Denilson with 44, Mitra with 33, Jean-David with 30, Dean with 28, Christian with 26 and Terence with 18.

In the 2023 Ladies’ Cup so far, Liza has scored 64 points after three rounds with Maya on 44 after four rounds, followed by Mitra on 32 after three rounds and newcomer Kathreen Balthilde on eight after one round.

There is concern among the drivers that the deteriorating track surface is causing excessive tyre wear and at an alarmingly fast rate, an important factor in the cost of karting, as tyres are the most expensive component on a kart together with the cost of importing them.

This coming Saturday, the Intermediate ‘C’ round four takes place at 2pm followed at 3pm with the resumption of Academy training.

Contributed