Lennox-Lamb shows pros the way in star-studded charity bash

© Chris Walker/Kartpix

Jordon Lennox-Lamb may have taken part in a charity karting outing in the run-up to his latest meeting, but he was to find himself on the receiving end of some rather more uncharitable behaviour on the part of one of his rivals when the competitive action resumed once more.

The young Bedford ace was invited to take part in the KF3 ‘Junior’ part of the prestigious Race Against Cancer at Rye House in Hertfordshire – finishing as runner-up against drivers of the calibre of Mackenzie Taylor and Jordan Chamberlain – before going on to wipe the floor with such as double British Touring Car Champion Alain Menu and three-time GP2 race-winner Javier Villa in practice for the feature race, an event he was disappointed not to be able to participate in due to grid size limits.

“It was a great experience,” he enthused, “especially when Jordan and I got to go out in feature race practice with all the big name drivers who were there… It was really good just being able to see how competitive I was compared to them.

“I think I could have done really well [had he been allowed to race]. Riki (Christodoulou – former Junior British Karting Champion and Vice-European Karting Champion) and I were just smoking into the side of each other and taking chunks out of one another in practice!

“I could probably have been a little bit quicker in the Junior race, but at the end of the day it was all just for fun and charity. Overall it was really good, and I hope I’ll get invited back next year if they do it again.”

The 15-year-old next moved onto Shenington, where he was consistently able to put in fastest lap times throughout practice as he sought to build on the back of a superb KF1 debut at PF International the previous month, when he had finished an outstanding second in his maiden appearance in the UK’s premier karting class. The weather, however, was not making things easy…

“It was really strange,” he explained. “In the morning it absolutely poured down and the track got quite wet, then it dried up and there was the odd little sprinkle throughout the day and then it turned sunny. Then there was a shower halfway through the final, which all made things quite difficult…”

Despite leading the majority of the opening heat, Jordon would ultimately finish a far from disrespectful second to Mark Litchfield, the acknowledged KF1 benchmark, as wrong tyre pressures saw him slip behind his older rival in the race’s closing laps. Heat two then saw the Top Kart star collected at the start, leaving him to fight his way back through the pack to sixth spot at the chequered flag – and securing him a front row grid slot for the all-important final. That, though, was where the good news ended…

“I didn’t really expect to start that high up in the final,” he admitted. “I tried to go around the outside of Mark into the first corner, but then Johnny Walker just ploughed right into the back of me. It left me dead last, and when that happens you get an absolute surge of adrenaline, when everything is 100 per cent and ‘in the zone’.

“In the first few laps I was really struggling because I couldn’t get heat into the tyres as well as the other drivers because I’m so much lighter. I was back up to fifth again with three laps to go, then Johnnie took me out again at the hairpin which badly bent my kart.

“I’m the new kid on the block, and he was one of the top runners from last year. I guess he really didn’t want to be overtaken by me… Everyone was praising me afterwards and telling me how well I had done to get back up there again, but I was still really disappointed – I think the frustration on my face was obvious.”

He may have left Oxfordshire with mixed emotions, but Jordon at least had the consolation of having once again proved his pace, despite his predominantly older and taller competitors being able to generate more grip in the kart thanks to their extra weight. With development testing in Italy ahead of his forthcoming meeting – a return to PFi on January 20th – his tail clearly remains up.

“I’m still learning at the end of the day,” he reflected as he bids to turn promise into success second time around, “but since the first round I no longer just want to see how well I can do up against the big boys – I want to win.”

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