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Benjy Russell Rotax Max World Final
Champion
2007 Rotax Max Grand Final AL-Ain UAE
8 December 2007
After securing the Rotax Max British Championship Strawberry Racing Driver Benjy Russell Was invited to race at the
Rotax Max World Final in AL-Ain UAE during the week 27th November to 1st of December 2007.
The race meeting is organised by rotax you are only invited if you have won you Country’s Championship in Junior Max, Senior Max or
DD2. You can also qualify by finishing in the top 3 in the European Max Challenge.
All the drivers’ use the same make of chassis with a Rotax engine this is supplied
by Rotax free of charge as well as 3 sets of tyres for the event. Each Driver is given the opportunity to draw a number from a hat each kart has a
number on the floor tray which corresponds to the numbers drawn. Benjy draws the number 63 kart which by coincidence is the number he races
When he is not a seeded driver.
During the first day of testing we felt quite confident trying various set up while
Waiting for the track to clean up finishing the day as one of the fastest.
2nd day of practice again we were ok always running in the top 5 fastest during
testing at the end of day 2 we had timed practice. Benjy sets 2nd fastest time in timed practice which gives us 2 pole positions and 1
2nd starting position.
Heat 1 starting from 2nd Finnish 2nd
Heat 2 Starting pole wins the race
Heat 3 Starting Pole wins race but receives 10 second penalty for touching another competitor whilst overtaking for the lead.
Pre-Final
Should have started pole but due to the imposed time penalty in the 3rd heat we
start the race in 6th not ideal but we should be ok. At the start no problems get round the first lap cross the line in 6th position Benjy
then make his way through to 3rd a few laps latter then makes a very rare mistake
just pushing a bit too hard and drops down to 6th again it’s no time before he has
moved in to 5th position and decided to opt for looking after his tyres and securing
an inside position for the main final rather than risk crashing or having an outside
start for the final.
Final
Starting on 5th we have last years champion Ricardo Romkema from Holland in
front on 3rd and bitter rival Michael Simpson on Pole On the outside Imre Birizdo from Hungry on 2 David Perel South Africa on 4.
1st corner everybody gets round Benjy had a much better start and at the end of lap
1 is running 4th; Lap 2 Romkema makes a move on Simpson who doesn’t give
him the corner which results in Simpson dropping down to 4th. At the end of lap 2
and Romkema leads Birizdo 2nd Russell 3rd the order remains like this until lap 6
Benjy makes a move on Birizdo into the last bend before the finish straight which
slows the chasing pack and allows Romkema to gain a significant lead Benjy gets
his head down and stays at the front of the chasing pack while the gap to the
leader stays the same. With eight laps to go Benjy starts to move away from the chasing group and starts
to close in on Romkema 1 or 2 tenths a lap and with 2 to go he is on the bumper of the leader as they cross the line, Benjy makes a mistake on the infield and loses
his chance to attack as they cross the line at the start of the final lap and Benjy is
back on his bumper. Any body who has watched Benjy Race over the last few years knows that he is a born racer and will always go for a move be it on the first
lap or the last lap so with this in mind I new we were going to have an interesting
last lap.
As the 2 drivers move through the infield and away to the far end of the track I
could not believe that Benjy had not gone for a move, with only 3 corners left in
to the fast double left leads on to the return straight and Romkema closes the door
2 corners left and the 2 drivers disappear from view behind the Fantastic new
grandstand, Does Benjy go for the win and possibly crash and give the win to the
3rd place man or does he go for glory, as they head for the last 2 corners Romkema
is expecting a move into the left hander before the flick right on to the main
straight Benjy thinks his chance may have gone but repeats the move he did on
Birizdo early in the race and over takes Romkema into the right before the straight
only the people on the end of the grandstand see the move there is a massive cheer
and all I can do is wait to see who crosses the line first. As the first kart appears across the line can you believe it Benjy Russell British
Champion and know World Rotax max Champion what a finish to the year.
Many thanks to Rotax and JAG for inviting us. A special thanks to our friends around the boxes
Steve Armstong and Chris Lock of RL Racing Dave Tooley for sorting the carb out.
Jason Parrott for bouncing some ideas around. And not forgetting The Russell Family
As you will see from the pictures Benjy’s biggest fans his dad Steve and don’t forget Benjy Russell is the brother of George Russell.
Well done Mate!
Warwick.
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