Hard contact in multiple Heats on Friday and Saturday put a damper on his overall placings but Jamaican Alex Powell remains positive for a good outcome at Round 3 of the WSK Euro Series at Circuito South Garda Karting in Lonato, Italy.
Starting Friday’s Heat 1 on the fifth row Alex worked his way up to 5th position before running out of laps to make further progress, finishing the race just 0.048sec behind third place. Seemingly set to repeat the same process in Heat 2, his progress was hampered by early contact when another kart ran over the back of his kart, damaging the exhaust resulting in a loss of power and a 9th place finish.
Heat 3 on Saturday was a repeat of Heat 1, with another 5th place finish and much optimism for a high place in the following Heats, having run as high as third. It was not to be, as heavy contact from another kart at the start took out Alex and his teammate in a single incident. Back in the pits the diagnosis was not good; despite their best efforts to repair Alex’s kart the chassis was a write-off. The Energy Course mechanics were forced to use the parts from the damaged kart to build an entirely different kart using a new chassis, a feat they accomplished in 80 minutes.
Starting ninth driving the newly built kart without any testing, Alex finished 6th in Heat 5. “He was a bit nervous and sore from the accident” reported John Powell. “He recovered well to finish 6th and get his confidence back.”
His heat results placed Alex 25th overall after the fifth Heat; he will start Prefinal A in 13th position.
Lonato is 7 hours ahead of Jamaica time. Schedule and results at http://www.wskarting.it/results_2019.asp?r=1&c=1&s=WSK_Euro
Live timing at http://www.wskarting.it/livetiming.asp?s=WSK_Euro
JMMC wish him good luck for a safe and successful event.
Pictured: Top – Alex at various stages of racing on Thursday, Friday & Saturday. Middle – Alex caught looking directly into the camera. Lower – Left to right, the damaged kart after Heat 4 and the crew working to make a new kart from a spare chassis.
