Jack McCarthy leads Super One After Rowrah Opener
Rowrah is clearly a happy hunting ground for the newly-crowned British Open Rotax champion, Jack McCarthy. Just a week after netting his first Senior title, the Strawberry Racing ace was again at the front of affairs in the opening round of the Super One series (19/20 March).
The Kent teenager’s preparations for the event were slightly hampered after he missed Friday practice. Going straight into Timed Qualifying, McCarthy was unable to draw on data from the previous day’s sessions, unlike his rivals, but was still able to post a creditable 7th-fastest lap time.
From there, he and his race engineer, Tom Stackhouse made some adjustments to the set-up of his Tony Kart and Jack was duly able to complete the heats in 2nd place overall.
Making the most of his front-row start, Jack out-paced the pole-sitter Josh Skelton during the opening tour and then led for the following seven laps. Skelton fought back and retook the advantage. McCarthy shadowed him and, seeing his chance seized it with four laps remaining.
Jack opened a slender gap – just quarter of a second – but it was enough to seal victory, and pole position for the following second final.
An aggressive start saw him pushed back to 4th during the opening exchanges of Final Two. Keeping a characteristically cool head, McCarthy bided his time and then started his push back up the order. He relieved Charlie Turner of 3rd place on lap seven and then waited another five laps before passing Skelton for 2nd.
Josh White’s comfortable lead was eroded to a mere tenth of a second on the penultimate lap. As the pair entered Iredale’s Hairpin on the last lap, McCarthy boldly attempted to pass White around the outside. With the race leader holding his line, Jack ran onto the marbles and struggled for traction as they accelerated away down the hill towards the Stewart Esses. This proved to be the decisive moment, with McCarthy losing ground and sensibly opting to take a safe 2nd rather throw caution to the wind and go for a desperate win.
“It was my mistake on the last lap,” Jack candidly explained. “Josh blocked my attempt to go down his inside, so I had to go high, wide and handsome. It was a hard race and Josh is a very experienced, good driver, so I had to respect him.”
He added: “We both drove well and much as I wanted another win, 1st and 2nd was good enough to give me the early championship lead. It’s onwards and upwards from here.”
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