Coyne takes back to back UKC victories
image © Karting Everything
The Senior Rotax field is usually a pretty close fought contest, as shown by the championship standings, lead by James Lingard who hasn’t won either of the finals this season. Those honours have gone the way of George Smith who sits 2nd and Travis Coyne who sits down the order having missed the opening round. The Senior max field has also seen multiple drivers join the series for just one round, and it was one of those drivers who set the pace.
That driver, Jake Gresty. Aboard the new EOS kart, he set the pace in all the practice sessions, and carried that pace into the opening heat on Saturday. Starting on the back row of the grid, Gresty flew through the field and was 2nd by the start of the 3rd lap. The driver in front was championship leader Lingard. It took just 3 laps for Gresty to catch and pass him, then set about pulling out a 3 second lead over the rest of the field. Lingard came home 2nd with Myles Barthorpe 3rd. Coyne, by contrast ended the open heat in 7th.
Gresty would repeat his feat in the 2nd heat, this time pulling a 2 second gap over Coyne who started from pole. Barthorpe would hold station in 3rd while Lingard would come through from the back to finish 6th behind Chaz Highton and Ryan Garvey.
Heat 3 would see Gresty walk away from the field once again, taking just 4 seconds to get to the front. Lingard would start from pole, holding the lead until Gresty came through. His fight to hold onto 2nd was a much tougher one, with George Smith, Garvey and Barthorpe chasing him hard. The 4 were split by less than half a second at the line while Coyne was a distant 6th.
Then the rain came, the track was soaked before the pre finals kicked off, and by the time the Senior Max field went out the track was starting to dry. Most of the field went for slicks, but crucially, Gresty, Barthorpe and Coyne all made a late switch onto wets. That decision proved costly, as Lingard stormed to victory on slicks. Barthorpe managed 2nd, but was being chased down by Smith who was also on slicks. Gresty ended the race 4th with Garvey and Coyne just behind him.
When the lights went out for the final, the top 4 started to stretch away. Gresty was eager to make up time early on, so quickly set about making a move on Smith for 3rd. But the move didn’t come off, the pair made contact, sending them both up the bank. Smith carried on, but Gresty was left stranded with bent steering and was out on the spot. That brought Coyne up from 5th into the top 3, being chased hard by Barthorpe.
At the front, Garvey and Lingard contested the lead, with Garvey taking over with a move at turn 1. Not to be out done, Lingard kept on his bumper, and despite Garvey’s best attempt, he retook the lead at half distance. But now, Coyne was just half a second behind them. Coyne quickly set about Garvey’s 2nd place, taking the position with relative ease. Barthorpe then made his bid for a podium place, sending it passed Garvey at turn 1 to take his spot. Garvey then lost out to Chaz Highton, who was just a second off the leaders. Garvey would end the race in the pits with 5 laps to go.
Then disaster struck for Barthorpe, heading down the main straight, his engine locked up, sending him up the bank to join Gresty at turn 1. Heartbreak for Barthorpe was a golden chance for Highton who was now elevated into a podium paying position. The leading trio closed in on each other in the final stages, but Coyne had done enough to take back to back wins in Senior max, just 0.287 seconds clear of Lingard with Highton taking his first podium of the season a further 2 points back. Thanks to the race of attrition, Smith would come home 4th, over 14 seconds behind the leaders.
Lingard’s podium was enough to keep him at the top of the standings, with Smith now 12 points behind him in 2nd. Barthorpe holds onto 3rd just a single point behind them. But Coyne now moves into 4th after his 2 final wins. With drivers dropping their lowest scoring heat, pre final and final, Coyne still had a shot at this title, especially with another performance like that.
