Saturday May 9th ~ the second round of the Super One series took place at the Shenington Kart track {see my links page for details}. It is at this circuit that I'm currently the 2008 Champion and lap record holder, so I was hoping for some success in this double-header event. After getting good times on the Friday test day using my 'old' Zip Blade, we decided to keep to the same set-up. Problems developed in the assembly area, as I was about to qualify. For some unknown reason {although carbon deposits were later found in the carburettor} the kart wouldn't start! After changing carburettor, I managed to make qualifying, but with a setting that wasn't 'the best', my time only positioned me as 12th fastest. I was 0.36s off the fastest qualifying time, which at this level of karting is 'considerable'. I started Heat 1 in this position and finished 10th, obtaining the fastest lap.

Sunday May 10th ~ in my second heat my grid position was 12th {as in Heat 1}. On the opening lap I made an excellent start gaining 6 positions. On lap 4 I was lying in 4th position, which I held until lap 8 when I moved up into 2nd position. During lap 10 I took the lead but I left too much of a gap allowing two of the chasing pack to pass. I finished in a good 3rd position, yet again obtaining the fastest lap. I was 11/100s behind the winner after 13 laps.
In Final 1 I started in 6th as a result of my heat results. I managed to get into 3rd on the opening laps but slipped back to 6th at the end of the race. This is still a good result at this level of competition. I was 0.87s behind the winner and my fastest lap was 0.21s off the fastest lap.
In Final 2 I started 6th but had a 'disastrous' start due to traffic and 'being helped' onto the grass. By the end of lap 3 I was in 16th position! Due to a good drive, I recovered back to 8th.
In summary a fairly good meeting bearing in mind the competition and the teams that enter. The results form this meeting have improved my Championship position considerably ~ I'm now lying 9th in the Championship.

Saturday July 4th ~ the forth round of the Super One series took place at the Whilton Mill Kart Club, near Daventry, Northants {see my links page for details}. It made a pleasant change to be racing at a circuit that was fairly close to my home in Prestwood, Bucks. On Saturday we had two 10 min practices {10.00 hr and 11.15 hr} and in the timed qualifying, I was disappointed to be16th fastest with a time of 53.92 s. This was 0.57 s slower than the fastest time set by Sam Vanderpump. I started Heat 1 in this position and made good progress through the field to finish 8th, 4.86 s behind the leader after 13 laps. My fastest time of 53.82 s was 0.42 s slower than the fastest lap.

Sunday July 5th ~ Sunday was to be dry all day.... in my second heat my grid position was 16th {as in Heat 1}. On the opening lap I made a bad start dropping down to 22nd position and finished in a disappointing 14th position. In Final 1, I started in 10th position and finished in 8th position. The best part of the race was during lap 13 and 14, when I went from 14th to 9th. My fastest lap was 10th fastest, at 53.71 s. This was 0.2 s slower than the fastest lap. In the Grand Final ~ Final 2, I maintained my starting position {8th} up to lap 11 of the 18 laps. At this point the engine started to overheat so I had to adjust the mixture to cool the engine. This had the desired effect, but I lost speed as a result. I finished 13th. I'm now lying 9th in the Championship, see the link http://www.s1series.co.uk/results.htm

We decided to not take the long trip to Nutts Corner in Northern Ireland for Round 5 of the Super One series, as this would be counted as one of our drop scores. So Round 6 at the West of Scotland Kart Club, at the Summerlee raceway, Larkhall {see my links page} was our next round after the Super One round in July at Whilton Mill. The Larkhall circuit is just off the M74, South of Glasgow, so our trip from Prestwood was 'a fair old way'. Friday was the first day of practice and I was pleased with my best time of 44.54 s, as this was my first time at the circuit. The best time of the day was 44.48 s, my time putting me second overall. I was driving my old Zip Blade chassis throughout the weekend.

Saturday September 12 th ~ After two practice sessions in the morning, timed qualifying took place. During the session, I spun off the circuit and as a result, I rejoined not obtaining a tow from other competitors. This is very important to get that extra speed and thus a faster time. After the 10 min qualifying session, I was 13th fastest, 0.34 s down on the fastest time. I was disappointed as you can imagine. In Heat 1, I started 13th and got a reasonable start and eventually got to 7th place, working in a group of 5 karts. On the last lap, whilst trying to overtake, I went wide and lost two places to finish 9th.

Sunday September 13 th ~ In Heat 2, I yet again started 13th and disaster struck on lap 4. My chain guard came off and I was given the mechanical flag {see my Technical page}, which meant that I had to come into the pits. After refitting a new guard, I rejoined the race to finish last! Lesson to be learnt……… CHECK EVERYTHING! As a result of my disappointing Heat results, I started 16th in the first Final. I managed in the race to get to 5th position, but due to carburetion problems, the other competitors slowly overtook me again. I finished 13th. In Final 2, yet again I started 13th and made an average start making up a few places. I worked with Max Vaughan to catch Connor Jupp. I finished 8th.
All in all, not a good weekend ~ I am now 10th in the Championship after drop scores. The final round of the Super One series will be at Fulbeck in Lincolnshire.

The final round of the Super One Championship was held at the Lincolnshire Kart Racing Club at Fulbeck. This is only about ½ mile from the PFi circuit. The circuit is an old RAF station which has long since disappeared; the karting interest started back in the late 50's when a group of American servicemen started racing around the inside of one of the aircraft hangars. The circuit is interesting with chicanes and several difficult bends. More information can be found on my links page.

Saturday October 17 th ~ We decided to race the Zip blade chassis during the weekend. In timed qualifying, I qualified 7th with a time of 51.88 s on lap 6 of the 10 minute session. I was pleased with this result especially as I was only 0.17 s off the fastest lap set by Sam Webster. As a result, I started Heat 1 in 7th place on the grid and made a good start, making up to 3rd position. Whilst lying in 3rd on lap 2, two other competitors got past me going into the Chicane. This resulted in me having to go on the escape road and getting in front again. As this was an unfair 'manoeuvre', I had to let them past me again. Very soon after this, my carburettor starting 'playing up' and I lost power as a result. I finished 10th, but as a result of my using the escape road, I was given a 15 s penalty, which put me down to 15th position.

Sunday October 18 th ~ In Heat 2, I started 7th again but after a good start I was squeezed between George Russell and T.J. Nelson. This spun me around and I was then hit by another kart, which put me into the tyres, luckily with no injuries. I was 'beached' on the kerb, but a Marshal managed to help me back onto the track. I was about ½ lap behind by now, but I managed to regain some places to finish 14th. Very disappointing. The only consolation was the fact that my times were very competitive bearing in mind the chassis had been cracked in the accident.
In Final 1 I started at the back, due to my poor Heat results. I made an average start, maybe a bit too cautious, to have an uneventful race finishing 11th, 6.4 s behind the winner. I managed to get the 8th fastest lap. Final 2 was still uneventful, starting in 11th position and finishing in 11th position. All in all, a very 'average' weekend!

I finished 11th in the Championship with 353 points. The presentation was made at the Autosport Show in Birmingham on January 16th 2010. I was very pleased to have my trophy presented by the current Formula 1 World Champion, Jenson Button. {See my latest news page}. The Championship results can be found at:-      http://www.s1series.co.uk/results.htm