Twin wins put Bradley in contention

There were no king prawn sandwiches and champagne to celebrate Richard Bradley’s 3rd win out of 4 races in the Super 1 championships at Warden Law last weekend (26 August) – simply a bottle of water, and a pat on the back from his proud team and dad.

Roy Keane - manager of nearby Sunderland United – would’ve approved.

The 16-year old overcame a poor qualifying session to take two stunning victories - and put himself right back in contention for overall title honours.

“We mucked up Timed Qualifying by setting the tyre pressures too low. The kart wouldn’t handle the way I wanted it to and this cost me vital tenths”, was how the teenager candidly explained a qualifying performance that nevertheless saw him place 8th overall – just ½ a second off pole position.

Starting from the 4th row, Richard certainly had his work cut out for the two heats. However, strong drives through the field saw the Londoner finish 2nd and 3rd respectively – to give him 2nd place on the grid for the first of the two finals.

Richard describes his through-the-visor view of the race: “I started alongside Scott Jenkins (reigning O Plate champion) but was able to get past him after 2 or 3 laps. I was leading quite comfortably because the guys behind me were fighting each other for position. (Mark) Litchfield eventually moved into 2nd and I had to work really hard to keep him at bay until his engine seized. That gave me a breather but then Chris Rogers attacked! Still, I had enough in hand to take the win.”

Starting from pole position for the 2nd final with the PFi driver alongside him, Richard could not afford to be complacent - “Chris is an excellent driver. With him you don’t get any favours on the race-track and he proved that at the start. He collected me going into the first corner and knocked me down to 7th. I just had to collect my thoughts and press on”. Indeed Richard’s response was a drive that impressed many onlookers – he stormed through the field to win from a hard-charging Lee Bell. “Everything was right – the kart, the engine, me!” he said afterwards. “The championship’s wide open now. I’m 3rd overall and if I have another day like this at Clay Pigeon (the final round, 16 September) then who knows”.

Richard added, “To be honest, this is not the position we anticipated to be in, considering it’s my debut year in Formula A and after the start to the season, where we had zero luck. Simon and Nick at SWRD have put in a lot of hard work to produce a great chassis and show that the Parilla is a very quick motor. Its all thanks to them that I’m fighting for the number 1 plate.”

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