Kent was well represented at round four of the Euromax Euro Challenge at the La Solonge circuit, Salbris, 90 minutes south of Paris last weekend.

The Championship visits four countries, Belgium, Italy, Spain and France, with three separate classes of karts represented, Rotax Juniors, seniors and the fastest category for the DD2 karts. The event organisers, RGMMC give each competitor 3 qualifying heats on the Saturday which determines the grids for the first of the finals on Sunday, the grid for the second final is based on the results of the first.

In the junior class Dave Wooder from Chatham has been at the forefront of the championship all year and went into the weekend’s event as one of the favourites to do well. In his heats he held his own to earn a 9th place start for the first final, from there he fought a tough race to battle up to 4th, with Bexleyheath’s Jack McCarthy finishing an excellent 7th.

In the main final a first corner crash split the pack up and dropped Dave back into the field, even worse to suffer was Cornwall’s Alex Quinn who dropped way back in the snaking line of karts, Wooder fought well though and eventually finished 5th with McCarthy once again 7th. This result left Dave 6th overall in the Championship one place behind Quinn and two places in front of McCarthy in 8th. The Championship was wrapped up by Thomas Preining of Austria, who had finished second in the main final to his team mate Richard Veschoor of Holland.

In the senior class it was Norfolk’s Harry Webb driving for Strawberry racing who dominated, winning all of his heats and finals, this gave him the overall championship win, even after missing the first round of the series in Belgium, a very impressive performance.

In the DD2 class, four drivers came to France with a chance of taking away the Euromax title. The first of these and leading the championship coming into the last round was Briton Ben Cooper of Birel karts who now lives in Canada, where he is a driver coach for the Jim Russell school of racing .

Ben was brought up in Thurrock and spent his early years racing karts at many of the local Kent circuits, he won last year’s title by just one point. Last year’s runner up to Ben Cooper was Chatham’s Sean Babington, Babington who had won the prestigious British Senior max – Super One title two years in a row, had decided for this year to concentrate on the Euro title that eluded him by a single point 12 months ago.

The two other drivers in with a chance were each multiple World Karting champions, Jordan Lennox-Lamb who is based in Italy drives for the giant CRG squad and France’s Anthony Abbasse of Sodi Karts, their respective teams realising the kudos that comes with winning the Rotax Euromax title.

The heats brought Babington and Cooper to the head of the results giving them the front row positions for the first final. Once this was under way it was clear to see how important it was to be at the front, as both Lennox-Lamb and Abbasse tangled on the first lap, dropping both back into the pack, where Lennox-Lamb finished the better of the two managing to salvage 10th place.

At the front though Babington led initially with Cooper really applying the pressure, if Sean finished in front of Ben it would give him a six point advantage in the championship going into the final race. Ben eventually slipped past Sean but the latter didn’t give up, showing real class by nipping back in front of Ben with a lap to go with some classic side by side dicing, despite a big effort from Cooper half way around that last lap which ultimately failed. The young 21-year-old from Walderslade took the win and the lead in the point’s battle.

In the baking 27 degree late summer heat, the main final was under way with the same two fighting over first place and that elusive title, Sean led initially until Ben rather rudely barged his way past (this later earned Ben a 5 second penalty) on the second lap. Ben then knew that Sean would have to finish lower than 4th to retain the title, so he tactically decided to slow the pace down forcing Sean back into the clutches of the snarling pack.

This indeed worked well for Cooper as another tangle of wheels forced Sean briefly off the track, Cooper too initially losing momentum, however when Babington re-joined his gearbox suddenly failed forcing him into a sad and dejected retirement. The title was once again going Cooper’s way as long as he stayed out of trouble over the closing laps as the other title protagonist Lennox-Lamb was just too far back to make a difference. Cooper shadowed Sean’s Strawberry racing’s team mate, Andreas Backman of Sweden to the flag, Backman taking his first victory of the year. Lennox-Lamb had driven very well to fight his way into an eventual podium position spot, which later became second when Cooper’s five second penalty was added post-race.

It had been a feisty final with Ben Cooper the victor appearing somewhat subdued on the podium due to the nature of his somewhat hollow and albeit fortuitous win due to Babington’s retirement.

In his victory speech he threatened possible retirement as he had done the previous year, but then the lure of the Euromax title and fierce competition may bring him back across the Atlantic to fight again.

For Sean Babington it was a scene of utter despondency, after he had found himself in a repeat position as this last year going into the final showdown, will he back? Who knows, before then however we can look forward to the Rotax World Finals at the end of November in Valencia, Spain, where the two local lads return to fight it out again against the best in the world once more and maybe for the last time, who will it be that returns victorious?

You can watch all the action from the finals live at www.rgmmc.com November 29th/30th.