Richard Gittings the owner of JDR Karting in Gloucester wins the 2016 Monoposto Championship in his 1000cc Suzuki powered Jedi. Richard finished on the podium every race this season with 9 wins, 1 second and 1 third place. Richard also achieved 9 fastest laps and 4 lap records at Cadwell Park, Brands Hatch GP, Oulton Park Fosters & Snetterton 300. Richard would like to thank his sponsors HS motorsport who prepared and provided the car, Romero Insurance for their continued support and JDR Karting (Indoor Karting, Lasertag & Segway Arena in Gloucester)Richard’s finest race was at Brands Hatch GP having had a mechanical issue in qualifying resulting in 18th and 30th on the grid, but managed to charge through the field and take a win on the last corner with just 0.2s separating the top 3 cars. The highlights of this manoeuvre can be seen in the video below. In the second race Richard finished a fine 2nd place behind fellow JDR Karting team mate Craig Hurran, albeit with a win insight only to have the race finish 2 laps early due to a car crashing in the gravel trap.
The last round was held at Snetterton with Richard going in with a 16pt lead and potentially could drop from 1st to 3rd if he failed to finish. He managed to win both races and set a new lap record for the class therefore securing his championship victory on the Saturday. HS Motorsport Team mate Richard Morecroft finished an excellent 2nd on Sunday. The weekend was televised on freeview and you can see both races below.
To summarise the results - Oulton Park fosters race 1 cancelled due to too many crashes, Richard was in 1st place when it was stopped, race 2 finished 1st. Cadwell Park 2 wins. Brands Indy and Silverstone National didn't enter and consequently saw his lead diminish and be overtaken by team mate Craig Hurran who became championship leader. Brands GP 1st place for race 1 then 2nd for race 2. Donington GP saw 2 wins which were very hard fought battles with Zach Anderton, who had several wins in Formula Jedi this year and also with James McClaughlan who is the Brands hatch Indy Lap record holder (Richard holds the Brands Hatch GP lap record). Silverstone GP resulted in 3rd place in torrential rain on Saturday but managed a fine1st place on Sunday just ahead of the Dubai team driver Cato Pulsen. Snetterton was the deciding round where he won the championship on Saturday with a win and also took a win on the Sunday just for fun.
