An emotional victory turned into an emotional loss for Scott Howard at the second round of the Rotax MAX Challenge Asia Trophy at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia on the weekend.
Howard decided to contest the event just two weeks ago, in honour of his dad who passed away in December.
The Queenslander controlled the DD2 Masters final from pole position, but had to fend off the challenges of New Zealand’s Roger Young. At one point, Young pulled a big move, Howard clipping Young’s kart as the Kiwi overshot the corner. Scott raced on, pulling away and winning by 0.477s, unaware that one bumper bracket had dislodged.
“I was 9kg over weight, and hadn’t done any laps since the Worlds last year in Sarno, so crossing the line was very emotional” he told KartSportNews.
“But then once I got back to the pits, I realised…
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“Even the Race Director come over to apologise as he felt terrible and knew we deserved to win and knew who I was racing for.
“I lead every lap from start to finish. (It was a) pretty hard pill to swallow.”
Having pressured the eventual winner early in the final, Hamish Campbell finished second in Junior MAX, 2.788s behind Malaysian driver Mika Slab.
Luke Armstrong contested Senior MAX. Starting the final from P9, Armstrong had a strong race, moving forward to take sixth place at the flag.
The Live Streams from each day are below.
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