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Seth Scott Deuchar is the new 2005 Junior Royale overall champion. His best ten scores of the season cannot now be beaten by any other driver in the Intermediate or Light class, regardless of what happens in the final round at Lydd. Despite this, he described the race day at the 1200m circuit of Buckmore Park, as his “worst of the season”.
In practice the track was very slippery and Seth was suffering from a huge lack of grip due to the heavy overnight rain. The IMSD team however decided to leave the kart setup basically as it was.
For the first heat Seth started second, but after two unexpected clashes with Jamie Haines and his brother Adam (who was returning to Royale for this meeting), Seth finished well down the order in 10th position. Seth’s dad Stephen said that he was “sad that Seth’s best starting position had been wasted” and was “disappointed at the amount of contact driving.”
For the second heat of the day Seth started seventh. He managed to battle his way up to fourth place but he was running in a very close pack with drivers like Ryan Presley, James Llewellyn and former Royale champion Russell Taylor. There was a certain amount of contact between these four, and an enquiry afterwards, but Seth managed to finish safely in fourth.
For the final heat Seth started sixth but got caught in a train behind TKM driver Joe Graver. There was a lot of shuffling of positions but Seth finished up 1 place lower than where he had started, in seventh position. He said afterwards: "So far today I haven't had any clear laps at all: it's very frustrating. I'm at least a second faster than the pace I'm having to run with these guys in traffic".
These poor finishing positions in the heats meant Seth started in 8th place for the final. He was not feeling very confident about the race, following the tension and difficulties all day, but after two false starts he managed to get away well and slot in to fourth position. For the first few laps everyone was content to just sit where they were and not try anything risky, but as the race moved on it got extremely close and there was some contact between the drivers. Luckily the officials were carefully observing the race and later confirmed that Seth had made only one minor contact infringement, though Jamie Haines, slipping down the order as the race progressed, was judged to have made three unacceptable manoeuvres: all drivers were given a bit of a talking to by the clerk of the course at the end.
Seth had been passed by James Llewellyn in the closing laps and finally finished fifth, two places behind championship rival Ryan Presley but good enough to secure his first ever karting championship!
The race was won by Michael Gibbons by a considerable margin. Seth’s other rival for the overall championship was Carla Wellings, who qualified 4th for the final but had a terrible race and collided after the start with a spinning competitor, sustaining kart damage and slipping down to 9th by the end. However, she goes into the final round at Lydd with a net 2-point lead over Presley (see statistics below).
Speedyseth.co.uk spoke to Seth’s dad and team manager, Stephen Deuchar, for his reaction to the day’s events:
“Obviously I’m delighted that we’ve finally clinched the championship: it’s quite an achievement considering both Seth’s and my lack of experience, our elderly equipment and our very low budget. I can understand that some of Seth’s older and more experienced competitors, and their dads, resent the fact that we’ve been beating them regularly, but the rivalry today got a bit overheated and the racing wasn't up to the usual standard, with too much blocking and weaving by one or two of the lads. Seth was never able to get any clear air. But it's been a cracking season: so many different winners (seven in all!) and usually fantastic racing. Royale is such a great class. We're really looking forward to the last round at Lydd. With the championship in the bag Seth can just go out and have some fun. Obviously he'll try to stay out of the way of the battle for the overall runner's up spot between Ryan and Carla, who are also fighting over the intermediate class win."
According to this unofficial analysis by speedyseth.co.uk, this is the points situation for the top three competitors in the field after 11 rounds.
SETH had 798 points after Sandown, plus 77 from Buckmore (17 from qualifying
8th , 40 from finishing 5th, plus 20), totalling 875 from 11 rounds. When he drops his 2 worst scores, totalling 89 points, he has 786 net points. His 10th and final score will be at least 73 points (one of his 2 current dropped scores), even if he doesn’t race at Lydd, making a final end of season minimum of 859 points.
CARLA had 721 points after Sandown, plus 73 from Buckmore (21 from qualifying 4th, 32 from finishing 9th, plus 20), totalling 794 from 11 rounds. When she drops her 2 worst scores, totalling 54 points, she now has 740 net points to which she can add at Lydd a maximum possible of 110 points, making a final end of season maximum of 850 points.
RYAN had 749 points after Sandown, plus 86 from Buckmore (20 from qualifying 5th, 46 from finishing 3rd, plus 20), totalling 835 from 11 rounds. When he drops his 2 worst scores, totalling 97 points, he has 738 net points to which he can add at Lydd a maximum possible of 110 points, making a final end of season maximum of 848 points.
So, though the overall Royale championship and the Lightweight title is already decided in Seth’s favour, Carla goes to Lydd with a net 2 point lead over Ryan. If she finishes anything better than 2 points behind him she will win the Intermediate title.
Seth’s Driver of the Day at Buckmore: Michael Gibbons – his first ever Royale win.
No fewer than 7 different drivers have won Royale races this season: Seth (3), Ryan (2), Jamie (2), Carla (1), Michael (1), James Holden (1), Dylan (1 non-championship).
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