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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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The Grid.co.uk the national & club motor racing website - est1998 |
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To keep up-to-date with Russell’s latest news and results, please visit: www.russelldanzey.co.uk pics - Chris Walker/ www.kartpix.net
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mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk Danzey battles bug to storm through pack in national finale Exciting young Sheffield karting ace Russ Danzey overcame both a nasty cold and an accident not of his own making to battle his way impressively from the back of the grid to a top ten finish in the final round of the national Super 1 Series at Fulbeck. The Lincolnshire circuit may be the oldest in the country, but Russ admits he is not its greatest fan, and he entered the weekend suffering from a cold that had left him physically less than 100 per cent and that was scarcely helped by the far from Mediterranean temperatures. Though his JM Racing team was also still on a learning curve and finding its way with the new RK (Robert Kubica) chassis it is running – in preparation for an all-out assault on glory in 2010 more than anything – hopes were high, at least until practice delivered an early setback. “I thought we had taken a huge step forward if I’m honest,” revealed the Dore-based speed demon. “We had tested at Fulbeck not long beforehand and had been very quick – second-fastest overall despite running on old tyres, and the best time had been set on new rubber. That left me feeling confident going into the weekend, but unfortunately we had a poor first day with a lot of engine and electrical problems. That meant we missed a lot of the sessions and lost a lot of crucial set-up time. “The team manager, Tom, had devised a plan for practice whereby I would work on the chassis side of things and my team-mate on the engine, and then we would put it all together for qualifying. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to work on the chassis side much at all, which left us with twice as much work to do the following day. That meant we went into the rest of the weekend a bit behind everybody else in terms of preparation and the problems continued on the Saturday, but luckily we sorted it all out in time for qualifying.” Be that as it may, the loss of track time did Russ no favours at all, and after struggling to identify the right tyre pressures for the conditions, the 15-year-old went on to qualify ninth in the 26-strong KF3 class field. That, however, masked the fact that he was barely a tenth of a second shy of the top spot, and ahead of both the defending British champion and double Formula Kart Stars (FKS) winner from a fortnight earlier. Given the incredibly closely-fought nature of the competition – inarguably the toughest in the UK – and his lack of preparation due to his practice woes, it was an impressive effort indeed, and caused some to muse what might have been possible had all run according to plan. Beginning both of his heat races ninth, a meteoric start in the first of them catapulted Russ immediately up to fourth, but whilst he would then go on to gutsily grab the lead, his tyre pressure issues came back to haunt him once more as he found himself under repeated attack from rivals who had visibly faster machinery underneath them. Still, fifth spot at the chequered flag – just 1.5 seconds adrift of the winner – was in the circumstances nothing to be sniffed at, and was accomplished by virtue of a flawless display of defensive driving. A second consecutive top ten finish in heat two was achieved despite having lost a lot of ground early on when he had to take avoiding action due to a collision directly in front of him – and earned him sixth on the starting grid for the pre-final, when an opening lap mêlée unfortunately collected the Westbourne School pupil as one of its innocent victims. With little to be gained by carrying on, he wisely elected to save his tyres for the 16-minute, 22-lap grand final, which he would start from all the way down in 23rd, albeit in bullish spirits following his improved pace as the day had progressed. Justifiable optimism, it would transpire – as an outstanding getaway when the lights went out saw him gain a staggering 15 places on the first lap alone. “We had made a change that we thought would make us even quicker for the grand final,” he explained, “so I was still quite confident of getting a decent result. We were bogging down a little bit off the corners, though, which meant most of the manoeuvres I was making I was having to pull off from quite a long way back. We actually got as high as fifth at one point, but we found we had underestimated the pressures a little bit again which caused the tyres to grip up, and that caused us to start falling away from the pace over the last few laps. I had to defend quite a lot on the last lap...” Indeed, in the closing stages Russ had to draw upon all of his skill to produce another masterclass in how to cleanly but effectively defend a position. With a whole string of pursuers quite literally bouncing off him in their attempts to find a way by – “You expect to get knocked around a little bit!” he quipped – the South Yorkshire star was peerless under pressure, and a 16-place improvement on his grid position at the flag as he crossed the line seventh was a magnificent effort. His fastest lap was only a hundredth of a second off that of the winner, too – again raising the question of just what might have been possible had he only been able to start higher up the order... “The team told me I had driven well and deserved a top five finish,” he reflected at the end of the weekend, “but all I’m concentrating on now really is the move up to KF2 next year, which I’m really excited about! I’ve tested it a couple of times already and absolutely loved it – it seems that every time the kart gets faster, the more I enjoy driving it and the more competitive I become too! “It will be a new experience, and I’m really looking forward to it. I think we’re going to be extremely quick, and to be honest, with the new RK kart I genuinely believe we’ve got quite a good chance of challenging for the title in our first year...”
Danzey overcomes engine woes for top three championship finish
The Dore-based speed demon travelled to Whilton Mill buoyed by a hugely successful test on his new RK chassis – the initials being those of F1 front-runner Robert Kubica, who is behind the project – and revved up to go all-out for glory in the double-header finale around the demanding and physically punishing Northants circuit. However, that was to count without the inevitable difficulties of adapting to a new kart – and the appearance of a local specialist on exactly the same chassis, who began the weekend with a head start over the rest of the 17-strong KF3 class grid. “The goal was definitely to keep second place in the championship,” acknowledged Russ. “Before we went into the weekend I was very confident of being able to win, but when we got there that confidence faded a little bit because there was another driver who was also extremely fast. “He was on an RK too, but in his case it was effectively the same as the Birel he has been on all year, whereas for us it was a totally different chassis to have to learn, because the BRM required such a completely different driving style. It was his home circuit and his team’s home circuit as well, so he knows it better than anyone else and was always going to have a lot of experience and speed around there. “The test we did at PF International had gone really well, but initially we found it difficult to adapt to the RK at Whilton – look at Giancarlo Fisichella going from Force India to Ferrari in F1; again it’s a completely different driving style, and it’s taking him a while to get used to it. It’s hard to go from one kart to another anyway, but to do so and then be competitive is another step again.” Nonetheless, lapping second-quickest most of the way through practice was a promising start given Russ’ lack of experience on the RK, and whilst a couple of changes ahead of qualifying failed to pay off and left him to begin Saturday’s pre-final from fourth, the 15-year-old remained in optimistic spirits. “We were still quite high up the grid,” he explained, “and we knew we could definitely do some damage from there. I got a decent start and managed to take a place around the outside into third, but unfortunately there was then a bit of a gap ahead to the two leaders. I was slowly catching them up through the middle part of the race, but as the temperature changed I think we had maybe got the tyre pressures a bit too high and I started to drop off their pace a little towards the end.” Still, third place marked a good, solid result and left Russ comfortably on-course for the runner-up spot in the championship standings, as well as on the cleaner side of the grid for the grand final later in the day, when a small power deficit and uncharacteristic late-race error contrived to drop him to fifth at the chequered flag. “I managed to push the pole-sitter past the driver who was second on the grid at the start,” he recounted, “and I was half-managing to keep with the leader until my tyres began to drop off a bit again, which caused me to make a few mistakes. I was passed for second and lost my cool a bit – I realised I had made a mistake, and that spawned another. I got overtaken for third into the last corner on the last lap, and in trying to get the place back again I ran wide and lost another – it was my fault.” Nonetheless, Russ remained comfortably on-target to retain P2 in the championship, and after lapping a close and competitive third-quickest in Sunday morning’s warm-up session, hopes were high – but further tyre pressure woes left him struggling for speed in qualifying and seventh on the grid, with only a brave late effort proving enough to haul him into the top ten, barely a tenth of a second shy of the top four. Worse was to come in the race... “We went into the day knowing the kart was good enough,” affirmed the JM Racing ace, “but because of the ever-changing conditions we were always chasing the tyre pressures again. Other drivers had been on their karts a lot longer than we had obviously, so they immediately knew what tyre pressures worked best in what temperatures, whereas we were having to effectively find out from scratch. “We were quick out of the blocks in the race, though, and I made a good start around the outside to gain two positions to fifth. I was catching the top four, and we had set the kart up so that it would come alive more towards the end when the tyre pressures came to us – but then unfortunately the engine reeds blew on lap three, which forced me to retire. “I checked to make sure it wasn’t simply a wire that had come out of its socket or anything like that, because finishing second in the championship meant so much to me, but unfortunately it was more serious than that. After that I was praying just to be able to hold onto third in the standings to be honest, which luckily we did. That was a little bit of relief, but still I was massively disappointed, because third is only the second loser, isn’t it, and second would have been so much nicer.” Cruelly just three points adrift of his stated objective when the final positions were calculated, despite the engine failure Russ ended the season in the knowledge that he was one of just 19 of the 180 FKS drivers to have triumphed in a final in 2009, and one of only ten to have done so twice – making him the second-most successful competitor in KF3 in terms of race victories. As he prepares now to step up a level to KF2 off the back of a brace of successful tests in the more powerful category, his optimism and enthusiasm are palpable. “I’m feeling fairly confident going into KF2,” the Westbourne School pupil enthused. “It’s good to have the official backing of Robert Kubica, and we think and hope he is going to get more involved along the way too – and it seems that whenever I move into a quicker class, I drive better as well..”
Danzey battles hard for unexpected podium on foreign shores
Russ arrived in Genk placed second in the KF3 class title chase in FKS, the same series that set none other than a certain Lewis Hamilton on the fast track to future Formula 1 glory, and one that now boasts the prestigious official backing of both the sport’s youngest-ever world champion and also its highly influential ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone. From the outset, however, there were signs that it was not going to be the easiest of outings. “It was a tough weekend for me especially,” he explained. “I hadn’t been to Genk for three years – the last time was in cadets – but I’ve always been quite quick at learning and re-learning tracks and it’s something I enjoy doing too, so I soon got back into the groove in both the wet and the dry. Because the track was so hot over the weekend, though, I struggled to generate enough grip – and that made it hard work to get the set-up right.” Finding it difficult to get his tyres to work at their best from the ‘off’, an encouraging performance from the Dore-based ace to qualify fourth on the Saturday amongst the hotly-contested, 19-strong field was rapidly undone when he was unceremoniously removed from the action by an over-eager adversary barely a handful of laps into the pre-final. “To be honest I wasn’t expecting too much from the Saturday,” Russ candidly acknowledged, “because we had struggled quite a lot in practice and I knew it was going to be a tough day. I just tried to keep my head strong and go for a decent finish. Unfortunately I then got driven over in the pre-final – going into the first corner I got past the driver ahead of me quite cleanly up the inside, but then the driver behind tried to follow through too and went flat-out into the side of me. He just T-boned me basically, and his kart rode up over the top of mine. “Thankfully the damage wasn’t too bad, but it was enough to put me out of the race on the spot and meant we had to start the grand final from right down at the back of the grid. We thought we had made some improvements, though, and felt a top three finish was still within reach, but we had the kart set up so that it came on more in the second half of the race and unfortunately that meant it was sliding around quite a lot to begin with. Then when the tyres did come on the carburettor went down, but we managed to fight our way up to sixth in the end.” In the circumstances, a top six finish was a far from unrespectable result, but the pre-final accident had sadly all-but torpedoed Russ’ title hopes, especially with his principal rival for the laurels winning the race. Sunday, though, he knew, was another day – and one when he was determined to make a fresh start. Whilst a misguided set-up change ahead of qualifying backfired and left the 15-year-old only tenth on the starting grid – and on the tricky outside line – his progress was impressively swift. “There was a crash in front of me on the first lap,” he related, “so we went quite quickly from tenth up to fourth. I then moved into third virtually straightaway, but it took me a lot longer to catch the second-placed driver – I was closing gradually bit-by-bit every lap. He was braking quite late and then coming out of the corners more slowly, so it was quite hard to find a way by, but on lap 18 I got a good run coming out of one of the hairpins and managed to brake even later than him and get past. “After that, though, my kart began to go off; we think we had set the tyre pressures a little bit too high, and the grip just went away from us which meant it wasn’t coming out of the corners very well. I knew then that I wouldn’t be able to shake third place off, so I just focussed my efforts on keeping him behind me as I knew I wasn’t going to catch the leader either in the few laps we had left. I didn’t feel too much pressure, though, and after a lap or so I stopped thinking about the fact that he was behind me to be honest and just waited for the last couple of laps when I knew I would probably have to defend. “I could see the driver in fourth was getting closer and closer as the laps ticked down, and as we went into the last lap he was right with us. I braked quite early into the first corner to take the inside line, but I felt a tap from behind and lost a position. I got it straight back again into the first hairpin, but unfortunately I went in a little too hard and got re-passed on the exit. “Then heading down to turn nine the driver ahead braked a bit too late on the dust and slid off the track. That put me back into second, but under pressure going into the last corner. I knew if I went in tight there was a chance the guy behind could possibly get the cut-back on me on the exit, and if I went for a wide line he might be able to get up the inside on the entry – either way I knew he’d have a possibility to get past. I tried to go in tight and keep it as tight as I could on the exit too, but unfortunately he got a better drive out of the corner and just beat me in a drag race to the line.” The margin between the duelling pair, indeed, was a scant two hundredths of a second at the chequered flag, and Russ’ was undoubtedly a gritty performance in what was patently far from the quickest kart out there. More than just that, it helped to consolidate and all-but assure his runner-up spot in the title chase with one more meeting left on the calendar at Whilton Mill in early October. A third victory to crown a superb campaign – one that began with his JM Racing-prepared BRM mount lagging a gaping two seconds off the front-running pace – would be a fine way to sign off. “I was a little bit disappointed in the end,” reflected the Westbourne School pupil, “but then back at the start of the weekend I hadn’t thought we would get anywhere near the podium. At Whilton I just want to get as good a result as I can and hopefully secure second in the championship. If I can get any closer to the leader, of course, that would be fantastic, but he was just able to build up too much of an advantage back at the start of the season whilst we were still developing our chassis. It’s going to be hard to close the gap, but nothing is impossible.”
Record-chasing Danzey overcomes the odds at Kartmasters
Russ is enjoying an excellent year in 2009, firmly establishing himself as a leading contender in both Super 1 and Formula Kart Stars – the latter being the same series that first set none other than a certain Lewis Hamilton on the fast track to future Formula 1 superstardom. Having finished a frustrated fifth in the blue riband Kartmasters meeting last year – missing qualifying due to engine woes and having to start all of his heat races from the very back of the grid, before going on to sensationally lead the final until a small mistake cost him dear – the Dore-based speed demon returned to the popular Lincolnshire circuit motivated to prove a point. “I went there aiming to do my best with the equipment we had,” he explained. “I thought we would have a really good chance, because the kart had felt very good there during the FKS meeting a fortnight earlier when we finished third – and should have won if only we’d got the tyre pressures right... “For Kartmasters the team gave me a new kart to try out, and it took a little bit longer than usual to find a set-up on it. Throughout the weekend it never really felt that stable or comfortable to drive. We struggled in practice and were a little bit off the pace, whereas most people just put the kart down and were fast straightaway. We didn’t help ourselves in that respect, but it was a good opportunity to get used to the new kart and learn more about it.” With insufficient time before qualifying to resolve the remaining issues afflicting his hitherto-untried BRM mount, the tenth-fastest time out of the 25 KF3 competitors – the indisputable crème de la crème of UK karting talent – was a not unrespectable outcome. From there, a strong fourth place in heat one – “I was very pleased with that, because we were closer to the pace than we had been, and I knew if we just kept going in that direction we should be in pretty good shape for the finals” – was followed by a misguided set-up induced 14th in heat two. “I started fifth,” Russ recounted of his second heat efforts, “but I didn’t get away very well because the driver in front of me on the grid was very slow off the line. That left me down the field, from where I had to try and work my way back up. We had got the set-up badly wrong, though, which left us with a lot less grip than the others and saw me slip even further down the order. When the rain came down we were probably amongst the quickest on the track – the only problem was that we had dropped so far back by then that there was never really much chance of getting back up there again.” His combination of heat results left the JM Racing ace to begin the pre-final from ninth, and an impressive recovery drive following an early knock saw him claim sixth spot at the chequered flag. He would achieve the same result in the all-important, dry grand final later in the day – only again things went far from according to plan... “I got a really good start and shot up into third straightaway,” Russ recalled of the pre-final, “but then going into the first chicane it was slightly damp and I got hit from behind, which sent me sideways. That dropped me down the field, so I had to try and fight my way up again and unfortunately we only managed to get back to sixth. We weren’t actually too far off the pace at all, but we had just lost too much time on the first lap. “I didn’t get a great start in the grand final, because again the guy in front of me was really slow away from the line, and there was then a big crash into the first hairpin, which I just about managed to pick my way around. That left me eighth, but I felt I was quicker than some of the drivers ahead of me. “They then red-flagged it because the track was completely blocked as a result of the accident, and before the re-start we discovered that we had a puncture, probably either from light contact or from running over some of the debris. We changed the tyre in the pits, but unfortunately once we were back out on-track again I could feel that the kart was slightly bent as well. That left us struggling from there to the end of the race really. Round right-handers it was just appalling, with a lot of understeer, and through left-handers the back end kept wanting to come round. “I initially dropped down the order a little bit, but as I changed my driving to adapt to the kart I was able to pick some places back up again and regain sixth position. Some of the drivers I had to overtake were able to brake two or three kart-lengths later than I was, though, and the five drivers who finished in front of me were just too quick.” Satisfied with his showing in the circumstances, Russ nevertheless conceded to a tinge of disappointment at the end outcome to what he described as a ‘do-or-die’ meeting. Still, if he can do that in a damaged kart, just what might he be able to accomplish in a perfect one? That is a question that must surely be worrying the Westbourne School pupil’s rivals heading to Genk in Belgium for rounds six and seven on the 2009 FKS calendar, where he is likely to revert back to his old chassis again. “My driver coach Tom told me I had driven well, so it was nice to get that recognition, and encouraging for Genk too,” he reflected. “I’m feeling very confident. I’ve not been to Genk for a few years – I think the last time was when I was racing in cadets – so I can’t remember my way around the circuit that well, but I’m a quick learner so I think we should be fine.” And can he make it FKS win number three of 2009 in Belgium, a result that would make him statistically the equal-most successful driver in the 173-strong championship field this year? No hesitation. “I think I can make it win number four too...”
Determined Danzey doggedly defeats the odds for rostrum finish
Russ headed into the fifth round of nine on the 2009 Formula Kart Stars (FKS) calendar at PF International as incontrovertibly the driver in-form, undefeated in the previous two meetings in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed series and riding the crest of a wave as he bade to make it a hat-trick of successes. Had circumstances not conspired against him, he could well have done just that. “To be honest, we were quite confident of being able to make it three wins in a row,” the 15-year-old confessed. “It’s the home track for both the JM Racing team and BRM in the UK, and we’ve done a lot of testing there so we know it like the back of our hand and we know the kart goes well around there. I used to go to there every week when I started working with my driver coach Tom Brown; it’s got a real mix of corners and a bit of everything really – if you can master PF I’d say you can master any circuit in the UK. “The kart felt very good, and very stable once we got the set-up right; I felt like I could take most of the turns as quickly as anyone else. We just lacked a little bit of grip on the exit of the corners, which cost us time down the following straights.” Nonetheless, after re-acclimatising to British competition following a European outing the weekend beforehand, Russ soon marked himself out as a threat come rain or shine. Though a set-up alteration for qualifying backfired, by working in tandem with his team-mate the Dore-based star was able to haul himself up the timesheets to third place at the end of a frantic and hotly-fought session, in which the leading trio wound up blanketed by a scant three hundredths of a second, and the top nine by a mere two tenths. “I was a little bit disappointed not to be on pole,” he reflected, “but I knew if it was dry we’d stand a very good chance of winning – although if it was wet I feared we might struggle a little bit because we still weren’t entirely sure of the grip. “I got held up a little bit at the start of the pre-final and dropped back several places. When it started to rain, though, I was able to not make as many mistakes as the others, was the second-fastest driver on the circuit and climbed back up to third place.” With the entire KF3 class field out on slick tyres on an increasingly treacherous track surface, Russ’ kart control skills came to the fore once again, and kept him firmly in the hunt for the all-important grand final later in the day. With the heavens opening to drench the circuit before the race got underway, the cards suddenly all seemed stacked in the favour of FKS’ undisputed ‘rain master’ – or at least, in theory they were... “We basically think we went the wrong way on tyre pressures,” he explained. “We were a second off the leading pace for most of the race – only eighth-quickest – and Tom said afterwards that I had done really well to stay in third. Everyone behind me was constantly trying to find a way past, but whilst they were making mistakes I wasn’t. “Later on another driver clipped my back wheel as he tried to overtake, which sent him into a spin and left me with quite a big margin over fourth place. After that I was hoping one of the two leaders might make a mistake or that they would collide with each other, but it never happened.”
He knew that just the tiniest of errors would likely have cost him a whole handful of positions and crucial ground in the drivers’ standings, but despite having as many as five or six karts crawling all over his rear bumper, Yorkshire’s brightest budding grand prix prospect never put so much as a wheel out of place, in the type of conditions that made it all-too easy to do so. “Given what we had underneath us, I think it was a good result,” he surmised at the end of the weekend. “I was disappointed that we had got the tyre pressures wrong, because that ruined our chances of winning, but at the same time I’m still so proud of the team and of how far we’ve come since the season began. “Crucially the result kept us in touch in the championship, and hopefully next time we can reduce the gap a bit. I’m the closest challenger to the leader, and the only one who can really stop him from taking the title. “We go to Genk in Belgium next, and though I’ve not been there since I was in cadets, I remember enjoying it. It’s quite a quick circuit in general, but it has some slow corners too, and hopefully we’ll pick it up really quickly again and get another decent result to close down the gap at the top of the championship. We know we’ve got the kart to do that now.”
Danzey dazzles through the spray for second triumph in quick succession
The technically challenging, undulating and physically demanding Cumbrian circuit may have been the scene of the 14-year-old’s breakthrough KF3 class triumph in the national Super 1 Series last year, but by the same token 2009 had been slated at the outset as a development season for his JM Racing outfit’s new BRM chassis, which only a matter of months ago languished as much as two seconds off the leading pace. “To get a win at Glan Y Gors was just incredible,” Russ enthused, “but I still thought we would be struggling a little bit at Rowrah, because we had raced there previously in Super 1 and had been lacking pace. There are some very tight corners and a longish straight, for which you have to rely on the engine quite a lot, and we were a bit down in that respect. It’s probably one of the best drivers’ circuits in the country because of its technical nature, though, and if you make just one little mistake it can affect you so much.” Up at the sharp end in practice, engine issues in qualifying left the Dore ace just ninth on the grid in qualifying, but some changes for race day seemed to do the trick. A strong showing in the pre-final earned Russ a competitive sixth place – and the all-important grand final would be better still. “I got a very good start up into third,” recounted the Westbourne School pupil, “and I was just about keeping up with the two leaders, when going into the bottom corner I got hit from behind, which sent me flying and dropped me to tenth. Luckily, though, the heavens then opened and in one lap I went from tenth to first! I didn’t actually think we’d be quite that quick, to be honest – in fact, to begin with I was pushing too hard and put two wheels onto the grass, but as soon as I calmed down I was able to pull away. “The kart has always had a lot of grip in the rain, and since I’ve been karting I’ve always been quite natural in the wet too; I just seem to be a lot more comfortable than some other drivers are. If you’re too jagged on the steering wheel it’s quite easy to go off, so my smooth style probably helps as well.” With all 22 drivers out on slick tyres on the treacherous track surface, Russ’ deft touch paid dividends, and a commanding advantage of more than 11 seconds when the red flags flew on safety grounds earned him the winner’s trophy and elevated him to a superb second in the drivers’ standings, something he confessed he could never even have dreamt of several weeks ago. Next time out at PF International in Lincolnshire, he will doubtless be gunning for the hat-trick, and whilst refusing to get carried away by his and JM Racing’s outstanding recent success, it is unquestionably now game on. “I was proud not only of my performance but of that of the whole team,” he summarised, “and not just for this weekend, but for every weekend leading up to it. My driver coach Tom Brown has worked with me since my second year of karting when I was 12 and we have a very special relationship, my mechanic Tyrone has been working so hard to help me and the team get the kart to this point, and James Mills is doing a brilliant job with the engines too. I’d like to say a big thank you to BRM as well, and to all the FKS team for doing such a great job and really putting the championship on the map in the karting world.” FKS’ first double-winner of 2009 – in the same series that first set none other than a certain Lewis Hamilton on the fast track to superstardom, and one that over the winter gained the prestigious official backing of both the reigning F1 World Champion and the sport’s ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone – Russ now has a busy couple of weeks ahead of him, with the upcoming Super 1 outing at Whilton Mill this weekend, followed by the high-profile CIK-FIA European Championship Finals at Zuera in Spain a week later still, when he will be hoping for a belated 15th birthday present. “We were quick when we last tested at Whilton,” underlined Yorkshire’s most exciting budding grand prix prospect, “and if we can get the kart a bit more accustomed to the track, hopefully we can get a win there too. To be honest, I had been expecting to be battling just outside of the top ten at this stage, given how hard to drive the kart was back at the start of the year – so to be fighting with the front-runners now is amazing. “If you had said to me that in less than half a year’s time I would be second in one of the two main British championships, winning races and starting to close on the class leader I would never have believed you. The kart has improved a ridiculous amount – I can’t even put it into words really – just in terms of how much work everyone in the team has put into it and how much time we’ve found from it. Nothing about it is the same anymore; it’s changed so dramatically it’s unbelievable.” pics - Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net
Danzey surpasses expectations with dogged Glan Y Gors triumph
The young Sheffield star endured what he described as a big learning curve in the KF3 class with Maranello Kart in 2008, racing in both the British Super 1 Championship and the hotly-contested WSK International Series in Europe. Having attracted the eye of Italian manufacturer BRM, he was snapped up to compete this season with JM Racing in Super 1 and FKS, which over the winter gained the prestigious official backing of both reigning Formula One World Champion Hamilton and the sport’s ringmaster Ecclestone. It has not been the easiest of starts. “We weren’t looking for too much to be honest,” Russell candidly admitted, “because we’re still developing the kart with BRM, and we’ve had a pretty hard couple of weekends. The kart had quite a lot of damage from both Kimbolton and the European qualifiers at Angerville in France. That meant we had been struggling a bit, and Glan Y Gors was really the first time I’d been out in a straight kart for weeks! I was just after a decent finish to boost my position in the championship.” Kimbolton was the scene of the opening double-header on the 2009 FKS calendar, and had yielded a brace of solid sixth-place finishes in the two finals, seeing the Dore-based ace head to the challenging and undulating Glan Y Gors circuit in North Wales aiming to build on his solid start. He would do that and then some. “It was my first time there, and I liked the track a lot,” he related. “It’s very technical and very hard to drive, especially in the wet. I would say it took the first couple of sessions to get to grips with it; I was still learning things after that, but I knew my way round by then. “We were around half a second to a second off the pace to begin with, and by the end of the day we were a lot closer in the dry but still struggling in the wet. The weather didn’t help being so changeable; that didn’t only affect the drivers who had to learn the lines in both conditions, but the teams as well, in having to make all the changes to the karts. That made it quite a tough weekend all-in-all.” Be that as it may, fourth place in the 21-strong field in qualifying was far from a shabby start, and even more promising was the fact that his team-mate Max Cornelius had seized pole position. A strong performance in the dry pre-final would yield the same result at the chequered flag – barely two seconds shy of the runner-up spot – setting Russell up well for the all-important grand final later in the day. “We struggled a little bit to begin with on the wrong tyre pressures and dropped back,” the 14-year-old recalled, “but as the tyres came on we got quicker and quicker – we were probably the quickest on the track at the end. That gave us encouragement for the grand final, which was a slightly longer race so by the time the kart came on then we knew we’d still have another five laps to go.” Though Red Bull-backed Alexander Albon had left the field trailing in the pre-final, Russell was adamant that nothing was impossible, and the heavens opening again shortly before the grand final gave his confidence levels a timely boost. For a while, though, it was touch-and-go as to whether he would even see the finish line at all. “I didn’t think anybody was out of reach,” he urged. “Alex clearly had a lot of pace in the dry, but I felt very confident in the wet. At the start we were very quick, but then we dropped off a bit in the middle of the race and came on strong again towards the end to catch the two leaders. I was literally just sitting in their slipstream waiting for a mistake and was fairly confident of being able to get at least one of them and probably both, but then unfortunately in the last two laps my carburettor went down, which cost me 5mph on the straights in comparison with my team-mate. “I was losing quite a lot of time due to that and lost touch with the leaders again, and when Callum Bowyer came up behind me I had to focus on trying to defend from him instead and brake as late as I could, because he had quite a lot of pace. I got a bit of luck in the end, though, when the two leaders came together. As they went into a right-hander on the last lap I saw Ben Barnicoat go up the inside of Max, and they touched which caused Max to lose the back end of his kart and half-spin. “As I came round the corner I knew I could pass Max, but equally I knew there was the possibility he wouldn’t see me and we’d collide. I was a bit hesitant to be honest, but I got by and managed to cross the line in second. After a tough weekend, it was nice to benefit from a bit of good luck in the end.” Indeed it was, and it was a superb drive given that for the last two laps the Westbourne School pupil had been forced to contend with almost ten per cent less power than usual as a result of his problems. Better yet, a post-race penalty for Barnicoat for the contre-temps would promote Russell to the top step of the rostrum for the first time this year – an almost inconceivable outcome back at the beginning of the weekend, and one that has leapfrogged him past Bowyer into third in the points table, a scant six markers adrift of second-placed Macaulay Walsh. “If you had said to me before the weekend that I’d be second with Max third I would have been very happy for the team,” he reflected, “so to get the win on top of that was a big bonus really. I was over the moon when they told me I’d won – to get the first victory for JM Racing in KF3 and have my team-mate finish right behind me was brilliant, and I’d like to thank BRM and Tom Brown for all the support they’ve given me over the past few months. “We go to Rowrah next, which is where I got my first win in Super 1. I enjoy the circuit a lot, and hopefully we’ll be able to win there again. At the moment Alex is quite a way ahead in the championship and he has a lot of pace around most circuits, but I think we have a very good chance of fighting for second. “When I was first taken on by BRM back at the start of the year the kart was about a second-and-a-half off the pace – if you’d told me we’d be winning by May I’d never have believed you! We didn’t think we would be anywhere near this point yet; we thought we would be starting to get onto the pace towards the end of the year, but we’re already there...”
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Sheffield’s
Russ Danzey suffered heartbreak in the final meeting on the 2009 Formula
Kart Stars (FKS) calendar, with an engine failure costing him the
runner-up spot in the title chase – but such has been the strength of
his season that he was still able to hold on to a superb top three
championship finish. 
Russ
Danzey might have endured a somewhat trying time of things as the
Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship in which he competes headed across
the channel to Belgium, but his fighting qualities and never-say-die
approach nonetheless saw him come away again with another podium finish
to his name, his fourth from seven starts in 2009. 
Persistent
balance issues and a damaged kart may have left Russ Danzey up against
it in the prestigious one-off Kartmasters outing at PF International,
but a determined, never-say-die performance nonetheless earned the young
Sheffield driver a top six finish in the toughest and most high-profile
event on the British karting calendar. 
Sheffield
Nonetheless,
a podium finish when he was visibly struggling for grip was an
outstanding achievement and practically akin to a victory in the
circumstances, as Russ coped with intense pressure from lights-out to
chequered flag and held his line to perfection to stave off every
attack. 
If
victory in round three of the 2009 Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship
at Glan Y Gors had been a ‘huge surprise’ for Russ Danzey, then a second
consecutive success just over a month later at Rowrah has marked the
young Sheffield kart driver out as a potential title challenger – and
the a strong candidate for the series’ ‘rain master’. 
Russell
Danzey entered the latest round in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie
Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship at Glan Y Gors
bidding to recover from a punishing couple of outings that had left him
with a bent kart and somewhat under the radar – and he emerged at the
end of it with his first national victory of 2009.