Kellett Takes ATL Racing fuel Cells Ginetta Junior Winter Series Title

15 year old Yorkshire lad James Kellett claimed the ATL Racing Fuel Cells Ginetta Junior Winter Series championship title at Snetterton circuit last weekend, a showing of total dominance by winning every race. Kellett was new to the Ginetta grid this season and has just been crowned 2013 Ginetta Rookie Cup Junior Champion after taking the title at Brands Hatch in October.

The weekend included two separate race days, with one fifteen minute qualifying session and two fifteen minute races per day. Jamie Chadwick took the double pole Saturday’s races but a bad start enabled the Yorkshireman to get the holeshot and lead to the flag. After the start Chadwick still pushed super hard and chased Kellett all the way with Ben Pearson and Alex Reed battling hard all race with Reed finally taking the 3rd step.

Race 2 of the day was all about rain, Chadwick starting from pole and Kellett again parked alongsde. Jamie Chadwick got a good start but a first lap error saw her back down in 6th. With the mist well and truly down, Chadwick had an fantastic drive back through the pack that included: William Taylforth, Ben Pearson, Ryan Hadfield & Harry Hardy, fighting back to 2nd place by the second lap. It was short lived as pushing too hard through Oggies ment a visit to the kitty litter and it was race over for Jamie. Kellett ultimately took the win with a huge 27 second lead.

This meant Ryan Hadfield & Alex Reed were promoted into second and third but both separately spun handing second place to Ben Pearson and the number 3 man in was Jack Rawles.

Sunday was a whole new day: 9am qualifying session for the 14 drivers, this time with James Kellett taking pole for both races. A tough start saw the Yorkshire lad down mid pack with Chadwick, Rawles and Pearson leading the charge. In the lead, Pearson made a mistake, ran wide and ended up and the back of the field, putting Rawles into first place and Chadwick 2nd but only for a few corners as Chadwick pushed on to take over the sharp end from Rawles shortly after. Kellett was a man on a mission, passing Jack Mitchell for third, then passed Rawles on lap two and into second. The leaders soon had a two second gap over the 3rd and 4th drivers, Rawles and Mitchell but Kellett had the magnets on and took Chadwick for the lead on the 3rd lap where he remained till the flag.

In the final race, Kellett was pole man, this time with Pearson parked beside him on the grid. A classic pole start saw the Yorkshire lad first into turn 1, with the ‘train’ of Pearson, Ryan Hadfield, Mitchell, Reed, Chadwick, Jonathan Hadfield, Hardy, Rawles and Taylforth in hot pursuit. Mitchell squeezed past Hadfield for third, but did not manage to get away with both drivers hunting down Kellett and Pearson ahead for the rest of the race. Hadfield tried hard to find away past Mitchell over the last few laps, but in the end had to settle for 4th.

So it was four wins from four for James Kellett, a good weekends work and enough to secure his second championship title of 2013 and a further prize of 50% off entry into the 2014 Ginetta Junior Championship.

James Kellett said; “Winning two titles in my first year of car racing is amazing. It’s been a great weekend for myself and the team and the prize will certainly help us as we try to do the same in 2014.”

Second place man Ben Pearson takes home a £1,000 of Ginetta parts credit for his 2014 season and 3rd on the rostrum Jack Mitchell wins two sets of 2014 specification Michelin tyres which will no doubt help his 2014 costs. Jack also took home the “Hard Charger” prize for the most positions gained over the course of the weekend – an impressive 15 places over the 4 races. This award also meant he receives a further two sets of 2014 specification Michelin tyres courtesy of Protyre Motorsport.