Knockhill: A third win this season for James Kellett
It was a third win this season for James Kellett at Knockhill. With a P5 in Race One followed by the P1 in Race Two it was a smiling weekend for James Kellett, whilst adding the P6 and P4 finishes for Josh Malin certainly made it a decent weekend for Rosland Gold Racing.
It was the Scottish meeting at Knockhill. In typical weather for the area, it was definitely not the best conditions for racing! And certainly not for qualifying!
After a couple of laps on hot tyres the heavens opened. Just a few minutes into the session the rain came down heavy. So everyone was straight in for wet tyres – with resulting times then probably 7 or 8 seconds slower in the rain and wet. Quite frustrating for most of the field, including Rosland Gold Racing’s James Kellett (P5) & Josh Malin (P8), who both felt they had more to give.
So not the best grid positions for race day, which is a shame as the guys were running a lot faster on Wednesday’s test day. But it is what it is and we could only look forward to Sunday’s races to do better times.
The first race on Sunday was fairly uneventful, with a procession for the first half a dozen cars. James Kellett stayed in 5th place for the duration of the race, unable to get past Charles Rainford in P4. Meanwhile, after an excellent start from James’ team-mate Josh Malin, who managed to immediately advance a place or two, only to make an unfortunate mistake at turn 3 and lose half a dozen places. He immediately fought back and came through to complete lap one in P11, then proceeded to chip away over the rest of the race to finish the race a respectful P7. Excellent driving considering that first lap. So it was a P5 and P7 finish in Race One for the two Rosland Gold drivers.
On to the second race, after an early lunch, where the weather played its part again. It had been on & off rain all morning and that continued until race time. So, wet tyres it was. The 5-ball had been drawn out the hat, so James started the second race in P1 with team-mate Josh starting in P7, which was his race one finish position.
A decent start by all the front few rows saw James lead the race from start to finish, despite the tricky conditions. The track was wet for about half the race, but as the race progressed the racing line was becoming quite dry so the wet weather tyres were getting spongy. An incident behind him about 8 laps from the end of the 32-lap race enabled James’ team-mate Josh Malin to advance up the order another couple of places to then challenge right until the end for a podium – but a P4 finish it was for Josh – so close to a podium slot. Unfortunately he just couldn’t get past an excellent drive by Adam Smalley in P3, who defended so well for those last few laps.
So a win for James Kellett saw him and the rest of the team wearing a smile – with P4 team-mate Josh Malin keen to run straight over to congratulate him on his victory.
It was then a centre spot on the podium and a champagne shower as James shared the contents of his winner’s champagne bottle with the other podium sharers (and anyone nearby!). An interview with ITV and a few photos with the winner’s trophy holding the now almost empty champagne bottle followed.
Back to the garage & the trucks to pack up and begin the long drive south. Thoughts on Donington Park National in two weeks.