Lotus Cup Hire Champs Story

ZUKAS REIGNS SUPREME IN THE RAIN LASHED OPENER OF THE RYE HOUSE LOTUS CUP.

An impressive grid of twenty drivers turned out for the first round of this Rye House open adult championship, in the superb!, brand new, Biz – Le Mans Kart Fleet.

Race 1- (wet). From pole position Jaunius Zukas got an early break from the chasing pack and pulled out a commanding lead of 9 sec all the way to the flag. Wayne Edwards was mighty in the traffic and rocketed from 13th on the starting grid to 2nd place by the 3rd lap, later dropping back to 5th behind Poole brothers Stuart & Gary. “Rain Master” Mike March was very impressive and the only other driver to get close to Zukas lap times, bringing it home in a nice ‘n’ easy 2nd place finish.

Race 2 – (wet). Much closer start this time with a bunch of regular Rye House racers – Philip Lampole, Wayne Edwards, Gary & Stuart Poole, Billy Griggs and Lovis Wentworth duke’ing it out for the lead. Back of the grid starters Zukas and March.. “Danced in the rain”.. to join the party up. front. Followed by Steve Jones and Andy Burton…… Down to the last 2 laps, with the leaders amongst the back-markers March takes a lunge down the inside of S.Poole for the lead, but gets tagged in the mêlée at the garage Hairpin and drops out of contention…. Last lap, last corner – Zukas takes up the challenge, when a back-marker spins & parks it, in the middle of the entrance to the last Hairpin… Stu Poole splits left, to the outside, to go around the back-marker Zukas goes right, to the inside line. Neck and neck at the apex and exit for a side by side -10 meter drag race, to the flag. Stu Poole just clinches it by 1/4 of a kart ahead of Zukas. What an amazing championship opener for the Lotus Cup series… Gary Poole 3rd, Philip Lampole 4th, recovering Mike March 5th. and Wayne Edwards finishing 6th.

Talking to drivers at the podium party.. RHPK Superpro driver Steve Jones and Burton Power Performance Boss Andy Burton thought the nicely balanced chassis of the new Biz Kart Fleet was excellent. With predictable, handling control for drifting through the corners in the wet conditions. A lot of fun, which always brings a big smile to a Rye House Racer.

A Spokesman for Biz Kart said, “We are so pleased the first in-house championship meeting at Rye, has been an anormous success”.. The all new Biz Le Mans fleet was launched just a week earlier at the Biz Champions Challenge Finals. The new design and set-up of these karts has great feed-back and control which gives the drivers the confidence to go for-it, in close, wheel to wheel racing.

N J H Griggs