KOUT DOUBLE MOVES HIM CLOSER TO TITLE - CIK-FIA EUROPEAN SUPERKART CHAMPIONSHIP – ROUNDS 3 & 4

Photo Credit

Nick Purdie

DONINGTON PARK 5^TH JUNE 2016

Gary James Reporting

Reigning European Superkart champion Adam Kout collected two more wins in the series but had to deal with the close attentions of Liam Morley and Peter Elkmann. 

In the opening qualifying session Kout set the quickest time of 1m 27.278s in the closing moments to take pole position from Morley by 0.244s. Dan Clark used home knowledge to put the Redspeed VM into third place with Marcel Maasmann next quickest. Jason Dredge was fifth fastest and was on a quicker lap when a water pipe came off and dumped fluid onto his rear tyres at McLeans causing him to spin off, fortunately without too much damage. Elkmann only managed five laps before a gearbox problem exiting Goddards caused him to park the MS Kart alongside the pit wall with a time of 1m29.580s for sixth fastest. Rookie sensation Yannick De Brabander didn’t managed a lap when he spun off at the Fogarty Esses on the opening lap and couldn’t restart his MS Kart VM. “I saw Kout in the distance and wanted to close on him to get a good run. I need to cool down then everything will be ok.”

The second session wasn’t as fast as earlier in the day. Kout was running older tyres but was happy with the chassis set-up and held onto his pole position. Morley decided not to go out and retained his front row grid position while Elkmann was quickest in the session to move upto third overall but was 1.198s behind Kout. Clark didn’t go quicker but held onto a second row grid slot. 

Maasmann headed row three while De Brabander recorded a time of 1m 28.965s to take sixth place. In the Mono Cylinder Cup Jordan Ford found the perfect set-up on his Anderson DEA to take 11^th overall and the quickest in class. Paul Platt was second quickest while Gavin Bennett improved on his earlier time despite a fuel pressure problem to be third in class.

Elkmann got the best start in race 1 and led into Redgate from Kout, Morley and Clark. De Brabander was keen not to let his rivals from Ledenon get away and he moved into third at the end of the opening lap with Morley demoted to fifth. Clark moved into third place on lap 2 and then caught and passed Kout on lap 5 to take second place. But Kout responded and passed both Clark and Elkmann to take the lead. Morley passed De Brabander at Melbourne Hairpin on lap 4 and started to close on the trio ahead. 

On lap 7 he was ahead of the Redspeed driver and two laps later he had demoted Elkmann. The chase was on. He closed the gap slightly, setting fastest race lap in the process, but the exhaust broke in the closing stages Kout had enough of a buffer to take the win. Elkmann had chassis problems towards the end and had to settle for third place while Clark lost the brakes in the final laps and lost ground. 

De Brabander’s early charge evaporated when the gearing on the VM motor was not right. In the Mono Cup Ford and Bennett had a good scrap and swapped positions on several occasions. They were side by side through Redgate on lap 8. But in the closing stages they got mixed up with the twins of Dave Harvey and Stefan Malm. This provided Ford with the opportunity to beat his rival by 0.984s.

Race One (13 laps)

1 Adam Kout (MS Kart DEA) 

2 Liam Morley (Anderson DEA) 

3 Peter Elkmann (MS Kart VM) 

4 Dan Clark (Anderson VM)

5 Yannick De Brabander (MS Kart VM)

6 Marcel Maasmann (Anderson VM)

Fastest Lap Morley 1m 27.688s (102.11mph)  

It was much the same in race 2 with Kout at the head of the field after one lap. Elkmann held second place from De Brabander, Morley and Clark.  De Brabander moved into second place on lap three, but Kout was already 2.9s up the road. This increased to 4.9s on the next lap when De Brabander made a mistake and dropped back to fifth allowing Morley into second spot ahead of Elkmann and Clark. The positions swapped again in the next couple of laps and this allowed Kout to move further away. In the end it became easy for him and at the flag Kout was 11.209s ahead. “That was a good race. Everything was nice and safe with the engine.” The double has extended his championship lead and he looks favourite to retain the title at Assen in August. 

Morley kept up the chase and was joined by Clark until the Redspeed driver had a big end failure on lap 11 and pulled off at the end of the pit lane. Elkmann began to string some quicker laps together and after passing Clark and De Brabander started to close the gap on Morley. The British driver was running low on fuel in the closing stages but held on to beat Elkmann by 1.618s. In the Mono Cup, Jordan Ford had carburation issues and was into the pits at the end of the opening lap. He went out again but had dropped to the back of the field. Up at the front of the class it was Paul Platt and Gavin Bennett who scrapped it out. The lead changed several times but in the closing stages they got mixed up with Dave Harvey on the twin. This gave Bennett some breathing space to take the win by 3.639s. Barry Weston drove a great race to finish third in class.

Race Two (13 laps)

1 Adam Kout (MS Kart DEA) 

2 Liam Morley (Anderson DEA) 

3 Peter Elkmann (MS Kart VM) 

4 Yannick Be Brabander (MS Kart VM)

5 Marcel Maasmann (Anderson VM)

6 Laurens Westerdijk (MS Kart VM)

Fastest Lap Kout 1m 27.836s (101.94mph)  

CIK FIA European Superkart Championship Points (after 4 rounds)

1 Adam Kout 91pts

2 Peter Elkmann 73

3 Yannick De Brabander 64

4 Liam Morley 51

5 Marcel Maasmann 44

6 Dan Clark 29

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