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Goodwin concludes club racing career in style – and revs up for British glory!

Jay Goodwin travelled to Kimbolton for the Cambridgeshire circuit’s club championship finale endeavouring to overcome the odds and snatch title glory away from under the nose of season-long rival Toby Reynolds – and whilst he would ultimately come up just short following a valiant effort, the Sale-based star had nonetheless sent out a warning sign for 2010.

Indeed, ahead of the weekend, Jay was such an underdog and the championship crown such a long shot that the 12-year-old admitted his primary goal was to hang onto second place in the standings – the product of having missed two meetings earlier in the campaign and suffered ill-fortune and low scores in two more.

After setting the pace during practice, though, it seemed the laurels may not be entirely out of reach, and that scintillating raw speed was maintained on race day morning as the heavens opened – but then Jay’s bid began to unravel...

“We were really quick on the Saturday,” recounted the Ashton-upon-Mersey ace, “and we were still really quick in three-lap practice on Sunday morning, but then we changed something on the kart before the heats which caused it to lose a lot of its power and grip. I could stay with the other drivers, but I didn’t have the same edge on them that I’d had the previous day – and that made things a bit harder.

“I finished third from ninth in heat one which was respectable, but I had been aiming to win, and then in the second heat I used all of my experience to battle my way through from 16th to fourth. I started fourth in the final, got a good start up to third and then the kart came on really well – but after that it just began to fade and fade until I could hardly even turn into the corners. It was just lacking a bit of everything really, and though I finished fourth – which again I thought was respectable in the circumstances – I ended up narrowly missing out on the championship.

“I had got my hopes up a bit about the title after our pace on the first day, but second was still pretty good on reflection and the best I’ve ever done in a club championship – my previous best was tenth at Three Sisters last year. I was quite pleased, though it was frustrating to know that without the crash we had at the start of the year that cost us 50 or 60 points we could easily have won it – but not everything goes the way you want it to, does it? If my auntie was a boy she would be my uncle; ‘if’ is a very big word...”

The margin of defeat in the final reckoning was a scant eight points – a remarkable accomplishment when taking into account the fact that Jay only scored solid points in six of the ten rounds – and as the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil prepares to focus on his national challenge rather than club meetings in 2010, it was a fine manner in which to sign off.

He might lament the fact that the Mini Max class is open to competitors as old as 16 in leading British championships Formula Kart Stars (FKS) and Super 1 – ‘I’m only being beaten on age and size, because a lot of the other drivers are stronger and more experienced than I am’, he rues – but have no doubt, the Evolution Racing speed demon will be a contender from the word ‘go’ next year. Smaller and less experienced at national level he may be, but in 2010 Jay Goodwin is ready to take on the big boys.

Gritty Goodwin regains his edge with dominant Kimbolton victory

After putting a barren summer run well-and-truly behind him with a brilliant charge through the field in the preceding Formula Kart Stars (FKS) meeting, young Jay Goodwin returned to the top step of the podium in style at Kimbolton, by thoroughly dominating the weekend from lights-out to chequered flag.

Having faced accusations regarding both his driving and his weight as he went six weeks without any kind of decent result at all, Jay disproved his critics’ theories when it was discovered that it was in fact a bent chassis that had been at fault for his lack of pace ever since the prestigious one-off Kartmasters event in August, in which he had finished a highly commendable sixth.

Off the back of a superb drive that took him all the way from 22nd on the grid to fourth place in the hotly-fought, national FKS series at Whilton Mill, the Ashton-upon-Mersey driver entered round seven of the Kimbolton Club Championship ready to firmly banish a recent streak of ill-fortune around the popular Cambridgeshire circuit.

“Obviously I’ve realised now that during the bad six weeks we had it wasn’t down to either my driving or my fitness,” he explained. “It was the kart all along. That took a big weight off my shoulders, because psychologically and mentally it had been tough. Knowing it wasn’t my fault has given me back the edge and all of the confidence I had lost, and I feel much happier now.

“I’ve got a new mechanic too, Lewis Hall, who I enjoy working with a lot and get on with really well. He raced in Mini Max a few years ago, so he’s been in my position before; he knows what it’s like, and I think we can develop a real bond together. My previous mechanic Dan did a brilliant job and I really want to thank him for everything he did for me, but I just think being so much closer to my age, Lewis is more right for me.”

Almost half a second up the road from any of his 20 Mini Max class rivals in wet conditions early on in free practice, as the track dried out Jay consistently retained at least two tenths in-hand over the rest of the field. That left his tail up for race day, and lapping the best part of a second quicker than anyone else in the three-lap morning warm-up was an excellent start.

A grid slot of a lowly 19th for the opening heat was converted into a finishing position of fifth, courtesy of some eye-catching overtaking manoeuvres along the way. Unfortunately, after thoroughly trouncing the opposition to triumph by six seconds in heat two, a jump-start penalty – for having anticipated the lights by ‘next-to-nothing,’ he protested – saw the 12-year-old demoted to second place.

That left Jay needing to win the third heat – with chief adversary Toby Reynolds simultaneously finishing no higher than eighth – in order to secure pole for the all-important final. A breathtaking pass in which he expertly swept from fourth to first in one fell swoop – allied to Reynolds failing even to break the top ten – assured the Matrix and Joe Bloggs-backed Evolution Racing speed demon of the top spot as he took the chequered flag a comfortable 1.4 seconds clear of the chasing pack.

What’s more, he set fastest lap by a commanding three tenths of a second in two of his heats, and missed it by a scant three hundredths in the third. As the final approached, he was sending out an ominous warning to his pursuers – but one of them in particular would ensure that he had no time to relax over the course of the 12 laps.

“I managed to get away at the start,” recounted the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil, “but James Walkington seemed to have found a lot of time since the heats and was able to stick to my bumper. We battled quite a bit, but because I knew he wasn’t quite as experienced as me I tried to play a few mind games with him, and every time he came past I was able to get him straight back again on the exit and run him out wide.

“That must have messed with his head a bit I think, because I managed to pull out a bit of a gap, and when I started the last lap I looked behind and saw that I was far enough ahead not to need to defend. I was pleased to have been able to use the experience and knowledge I’ve gained this year to good use to get the better of James. It was a good race and the result gave me a real boost in the championship – and it’s always nice to win.”

Gritty Goodwin regains his edge with dominant Kimbolton victory

After putting a barren summer run well-and-truly behind him with a brilliant charge through the field in the preceding Formula Kart Stars (FKS) meeting, young Sale-based karting star Jay Goodwin returned to the top step of the podium in style at Kimbolton, by thoroughly dominating the weekend from lights-out to chequered flag.

Off the back of a superb drive that took him all the way from 22nd on the grid to fourth place in the hotly-fought, national FKS series at Whilton Mill, the Ashton-upon-Mersey ace entered round seven of the Kimbolton Club Championship ready to firmly banish a recent streak of ill-fortune around the popular Cambridgeshire circuit.

Goodwin proves he’s turned a corner with stunning FKS finale

Young Sale-based kart pilot Jay Goodwin confirmed that he has well-and-truly turned a corner with a stirring performance in the final meeting of 2009 in the hotly-fought Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship, gaining a staggering 18 places around one of the most demanding circuits in the country to come within a whisker of a podium finish.

Jay travelled to Whilton Mill in Northants in optimistic mood, eyeing a top 15 championship finish in his maiden full campaign at Mini Max level and looking forward to demonstrating his mettle around arguably the most physical track in Britain – not ideal given that he was still bearing the visible scars from a hefty shunt only a handful of weeks earlier at Shenington that had left him battered and bruised to say the least. He might still have been suffering from the ill-effects, but you would have been hard-pressed to tell.

“Whilton is my favourite circuit in Britain,” he enthused. “I was feeling confident, and on the Friday we were very quick. We carried that pace over to the Saturday too, when we were still one of the fastest on the track. It was really hot, and I think we had the kart set up perfectly for the conditions.

“I still had a burst blood vessel in my arm from my accident; it was affecting me a bit when I drove, but you just have to carry on. I could feel it if I thought about it, so I just tried to put it out of my mind.”

Unfortunately, after lapping right up at the sharp end again in Saturday morning’s warm-up session, disaster struck during qualifying when the fuel tank on Jay’s Evolution Racing kart fell off – just as the lap times were really beginning to tumble. With the tank resting uncomfortably on his leg, the 12-year-old – one of the youngest and least experienced drivers in a class open to competitors as old as 17 – was forced to peel into the pits, and as his rivals went faster and faster he slipped from a likely top three spot to a lowly 18th out of 26 on the grid for the pre-final, when his luck would scarcely improve.

“I was coming through the pack and battling to get into the top ten,” he recounted, “and then completely out of nowhere someone lunged up the inside of me. He took my nosecone off with his back bumper – and he was coming into the pits anyway! It was just a really needless move, and meant I had to come in for a new nose.”

He may have wound up a highly frustrated 22nd as a result, but the Ashton-upon-Mersey ace remained happy with his pace – lapping on a par with the top six for most of the race, going to show what might have been – and in positive spirits ahead of the all-important grand final later in the day.

“I got a really good start, went to the inside and got straight up to 15th on the first lap,” he recalled, “and then I gradually worked my way through the pack during the race. When the ‘safety car’ flags came out I was ninth, and that allowed me to catch the pack in front and on the re-start I was able to gain another place to eighth.

“I then took advantage of a late-race coming-together ahead, and on the last lap Luke Hughes was in front of me and defending pretty much everywhere, so I went for the outside into the first hairpin and got the cut-back on him on the exit, getting my nosecone ahead for the following corner and making the move stick. I’d been thinking sixth would be alright given where we had started, but I managed to finish fourth in the end; I was really happy, because I hadn’t been expecting to get as high as that.”

The result marked the second-best of Jay’s career at national level – following his runner-up spot in the same championship at PF International back in the summer – and kept him well on-course for the top 15 in the final points standings. It also won the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil the Lewis Hamilton ‘True Grit’ award for having produced the greatest improvement during the course of a race – for the second time in 2009.

On Sunday, Jay lined up an excellent eighth on the grid, less than two tenths of a second shy of third – a career-best in FKS, having traditionally found qualifying the only real weak link in his competitive armoury. Going on to cope admirably with a gruelling 20-minute final counting no fewer than 26 laps, the Matrix and Joe Bloggs-backed speed merchant pushed hard throughout and proved the benefit of his recent training and health kick with a strong performance to take the chequered flag seventh, thereby doing enough to earn himself a seeded number for 2010. But then his dream would swiftly be shattered.

“It was a fairly lonely race,” he reflected. “I was sixth for most of it, but towards the end I received a mechanical flag, which meant I got disqualified and left me feeling really disappointed because it effectively ruined our championship by dropping us out of the final top 15. Still, I think I surprised everyone with my fitness, because I came in afterwards and wasn’t even breathing that heavily! I was really happy with how I drove all weekend, and I genuinely believe we’ve turned a corner now.”

As he prepares for an all-out assault on a leading placing with Evolution in both UK-wide series Super 1 and the international Euro Max Challenge next year, Jay Goodwin is clearly a man on a mission.

Pics Chris Manison

Crash proves to have silver lining as Goodwin returns to the pace

For a racing driver, having an accident is never normally a positive thing, but for exciting young Sale-based karting pilot Jay Goodwin, a hefty impact in his latest outing at Shenington proved to be just the catalyst that saw him put a barren six-week run behind him and return to the front-running pace with a vengeance.

Earlier in the summer, Jay had firmly announced his arrival as a genuine contender for glory at the highest British level, finishing a superb second at PF International in Formula Kart Stars (FKS) – the same series that first set none other than a certain Lewis Hamilton on the fast track to future F1 glory, and one that now boasts the prestigious official backing of both the sport’s youngest-ever world champion and its influential ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone – and adding to that just a fortnight later with sixth place at Kartmasters, arguably the toughest-fought one-off meeting of the year.

Just a week later still, however, the Ashton-upon-Mersey ace comprehensively wrote his kart off in a sizeable practice shunt during a club round at Kimbolton, when he helplessly ploughed straight into a rival who had spun directly in front of him on the track. A new chassis was ordered, but since then Jay has rarely got to within even a second of the leading pace – causing him to even start questioning his own driving ability and talent.

“Ever since we’ve been on that chassis we haven’t had a single good result for six weeks,” he rued. “That got me down a bit, because before that we had been getting trophy after trophy after trophy – we’d been really quick and on a roll with third in a club meeting at Shenington, second in FKS at PFi and a creditable sixth at Kartmasters, but since then the kart has just been horrendous.

“People were blaming it all on my weight – saying that was the reason – and I think that knocked my confidence a bit, which only made it worse. It’s been particularly difficult because we hadn’t been through anything like this before; I’ve been through people blaming my weight and that being the problem, but this time they were blaming my weight and it wasn’t down to that – I know my weight can’t slow me down by a second.

“We checked everything – the engine, the carbs, everything – because it just felt like the kart was bogging down, but eventually we discovered that the chassis was actually bent so badly it was dragging on the ground.”

Another crash in his latest event at Shenington would ironically prove to be the precursor to a remarkable turnaround, as the damage incurred to the track rod and steering column meant a new chassis was required for the following day – and on his new mount, Jay immediately found a staggering eight tenths of a second.

“The accident happened on the first lap of the fourth practice session on the Saturday,” recalled the Matrix and Joe Bloggs-backed Evolution Racing speed demon. “I came down the long straight towards the flat-out kink, with a big hill and barrier to the side. The two karts in front of me touched, and one of them spun on the kink and began rolling back down the track. I swerved to avoid him, but my back wheel just clipped his bumper.

“Whilst I was on two wheels, I hit the bank and my kart went into a cartwheel. I fell out of it and the kart came to a stop, jamming my leg and arms. I was able to get up, though, and even though I was in a lot of pain I refused to get into the ambulance because sometimes after accidents like that they send you home, and I wanted to carry on racing!”

Ably demonstrating his tough cookie credentials, Jay may have been left battered and bruised, but he was equally unbowed, and after finishing 16th of the 21 Mini Max competitors in heat one – still on his old kart and still some way shy of the pace – a trip to Whilton Mill to collect a new Alonso chassis on the Saturday evening meant Sunday was a very different day indeed.

Though his second heat efforts may have been dashed by an opening lap mêlée, 12th place in heat three – just half a second adrift of eighth following a tardy start, with encouragingly the fourth-fastest lap time to his name, a scant five hundredths off the best of the race – paved the way for ninth in heat four, though again he was held back by a below-par getaway.

Recognising that he had ‘a lot of work to do and a lot of time and positions to make up’ from 18th on the grid for the all-important final, a gutsy drive earned the 12-year-old – one of the youngest and least experienced drivers in the Mini Max class, open to entrants as old as 17 – tenth spot at the chequered flag, having once more lapped much closer to the outright pace.

The happiest he has been in more than a month-and-a-half, Jay is now on a fitness drive to shed the remaining pounds he knows he needs to lose in order to gain those vital few extra tenths and really be able to compete right up at the sharp end again – “I’ve lost 3.5lbs, which has shut them up a bit,” he quips, “and I’m on a mission to lose another 1.5lbs.”

As he prepares to conclude his 2009 national campaign in the FKS double-header finale at Whilton Mill this weekend (October 3/4), he is in buoyant frame of mind, and aiming to reproduce the kind of performance that saw him edge out all of his rivals for pole position in the Super 1 curtain-raiser at the same circuit back in April.

“The new chassis just feels different – and better – overall,” underlined the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil, who is bidding to vault from 20th position in the FKS standings into the top 15 to earn himself a seeded number in 2010, when he is eager to put all that he has learned this year to good use with a sustained title charge. “It made me feel better in myself as a driver. It handles a lot better than the other chassis did, and just does everything the way it should do really.

“It’s done a lot of good for my confidence – now at Whilton Mill I know I can be right on the pace. I want to repeat my Super 1 pole, and I’d like to win at least one of the finals – considering it’s the last major meeting of the season, I think a result like that would give me a big boost going into next year.”

Goodwin proves tough cookie credentials to bounce back from injury to podium

If previous experiences hadn’t already ably demonstrated it, then Jay Goodwin’s latest karting outing at Kimbolton confirmed that the exciting young Sale-based kart pilot is one tough little cookie indeed – as he bounced back from a terrifying-looking practice accident that left him black-and-blue to storm through to a rostrum finish in the final.

Lying second in the Kimbolton Club Championship heading into the weekend – not far adrift of the title pace-setter – Jay’s stated ambition was to turn the tables on his quarry. With his tail up from a confidence-boosting performance in the blue riband Kartmasters meeting at PF International and his breakthrough national podium in the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship at the same circuit only a fortnight earlier still, the initial signs all looked promising. Until Sunday morning, at least...

“The kart was set up really well and we were the quickest all day,” he recounted of the opening day of proceedings around the demanding Cambridgeshire track. “That gave me a lot of confidence going into race day, and then in the three-lap practice on Sunday morning we went off the back of the pack to see just how quick we were.

“As you come onto the long back straight at Kimbolton there’s a rumble strip, and it’s very muddy if you go beyond that. On the first lap the driver directly ahead of me hit the kerb going into the corner, ran out onto the rumble strip and dropped one of his back wheels onto the mud. He then braked and spun around into the middle of the track and I hit him flat-out, which left me trapped underneath his kart.

“I was also stuck beneath my own steering wheel, and part of my leg was tangled around the steering column and front of the chassis. The rest of my leg was stuck under one of the sidepods, and my whole body was half-falling out of the kart. A marshal came over and told me to stay where I was, but I asked him to move the steering wheel to the right which released my leg.

“The paramedics then arrived and I told them I was okay so they let me go. My arm was busted, my hands were swollen, my back was really bruised and the whole of my leg that had been trapped was really bad, but luckily there were no breaks. I actually thought I’d broken my leg to begin with, but fortunately it was nothing too serious.”

Be that as it may, it was a hefty impact and a fairly horrendous accident, from which Jay was able to emerge understandably shaken but happily otherwise largely unscathed. Adamant that he was going nowhere near either the track medical centre or hospital – ‘because they might tell me not to race’ – the Ashton-upon-Mersey ace and his Evolution Racing team instead focussed upon repairing his battered kart as quickly as they could, but with little remaining of it save for the back axle, it was to be no easy task.

“I pitched in to try to get the kart ready again, my dad joined in as well and even my mum helped a little bit too,” Jay recounted. “When we realised we weren’t going to make it out in time for the first heat we stopped rushing, and just concentrated on trying to make it perfect instead.

“To be honest, at first I really didn’t want to get back in the kart again, but I didn’t want anyone to know that. I was a bit nervous, but at the end of the day you just have to make yourself carry on with it and as soon as I got past the first corner – where there’s always a high possibility of an accident at Kimbolton – I was like ‘right, fine, we’re going now’ and I calmed down a bit. I was still in pain from the crash, but the adrenaline just took over.”

Indeed, the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil has made something of a habit of racing on having suffered an injury, continuing to compete at Rowrah with a broken hand during the 2008 ‘0’ Plate meeting and battling on despite a fractured ankle at Kimbolton earlier this year.

On all three occasions it has markedly failed to hold him back, either, and in the latest instance the 12-year-old – as much as five years younger than many of his rivals in the hotly-fought Mini Max class, and giving away years in experience to-boot – leapt into the lead from fifth on the grid in heat two, only to find himself forced off-track by a wayward backmarker and have to fight his way through again from 16th to sixth, at times impressively overtaking two drivers into a single corner.

That devastating pace was underlined by a dominant showing in heat three to triumph from ninth on the grid, snatching the lead on lap five of ten and from thereon in never looking back. That earned the Matrix and Joe Bloggs-backed speed demon 12th spot out of 20 on the starting grid for the all-important final later in the day – and a searing charge through the field would bring him to within barely two seconds of glory at the chequered flag, lapping faster than the race-winner along the way to hint at what might have been...

“I was really confident of getting a top three finish,” Jay mused. “I made quite a shaky start and only came out of the first corner in 11th, but then a place gained is always better than a place lost. After that I had to work my way through the pack as the race progressed. I got up to fourth and Danny McCarthy in third was defending quite a lot, but eventually I managed to get past him and run him out wide and off-line at the end of the straight. I was then chasing Tom D’Arcy for second and managed to get past him too and pulled away with five laps to go.

“I was catching the leader Toby Reynolds at the rate of about a tenth of a second a lap, but he was just too far ahead by then and there wasn’t enough time left to challenge him. When I first got through into second I was coming round the last corner as Toby was going into the first, but by the end of the race I could see him crossing the finish line only just ahead. We were all really happy with second place given how the day had started, though. I know it’s not first, but from 12th on the grid it was still a great achievement I thought.”

Goodwin confirms coming-of-age with classy Kartmasters showing

Back at the scene of his breakthrough national podium in the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship only a fortnight earlier, exciting young Sale-based karting star Jay Goodwin underlined the shift up in gear his burgeoning career has taken of late with an assured performance in the prestigious one-off Kartmasters meeting.

With his tail up off the back of his runner-up spot to Evolution Racing team-mate Harry Crawley in the FKS outing – scything his way expertly through the spray on a treacherous track surface having initially qualified a lowly 19th – Jay returned to the Lincolnshire circuit ready to confirm his newly-forged reputation as a genuine Mini Max contender. He did so in some style.

“I felt pretty confident going into the weekend,” related the 12-year-old, considerably less experienced and as much as four years younger than many of his rivals. “Qualifying ninth in my group was an okay start, and that left me to start tenth in both of my heat races.

“In the first one I immediately moved up to sixth at the start before making my way through to third. Unfortunately, I was then turned in on by another driver and in trying to catch back up again I went into the complex section too quickly and came off. That was disappointing, but I still managed to finish eighth.

“I then had a really bad start in heat two and got fired off. I fought my way back up to 13th again after that but had some trouble getting through the pack. By the time I got up to sixth I was on my own chasing the group in front, before Jody Fannin and Harrison Scott had a bit of a mix-up with each other at the first hairpin which let me dive up the inside of both of them and snatch fourth.”

With the 40-strong field composed of the very crème de la crème of British competition at that level, sixth spot in the pre-final – lapping faster than all bar one of the drivers ahead of him at the chequered flag, and finishing barely a second shy of fourth – set Jay up well for a strong challenge in the all-important grand final. Even if he did not have life made particularly easy for him, that was just what the Ashton-upon-Mersey ace would produce.

“The red flag went out on only the second lap because of a crash, and after they re-started it I just stayed sixth really,” he recalled. “There was nobody too close around me to be honest, but I was catching the battle over second place before fuel began to leak onto my leg. That was quite painful because it started to burn too, but I just had to deal with it and try to carry on. I still got a trophy in the end for finishing sixth, and overall I was really happy with what I had achieved.”

Justifiably so, for not only has Jay firmly banished his bad luck curse around PF, but his ability to produce sporadic front-running appearances at national level – witness his stunning pole position in the Super 1 curtain-raiser at Whilton Mill back in April – has now been boosted by a level of consistency and self-belief previously lacking. It is a development that will doubtless make the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil a fierce adversary indeed over the second half of the 2009 campaign.

“I finished last in the ‘B’ final in my first appearance at Kartmasters last year, so I’ve gone from that to sixth in the ‘A’ final in the space of 12 months,” concluded the Matrix and Joe Bloggs-backed speed demon, who clearly now has his sights set on claiming the coveted ‘GP’ plate for his own in 2010. “If I can make a leap of about 30 positions from last year to this, then next year I’ve got to go back and win!”

Rain master Goodwin storms through spray for breakthrough national podium

“It’s all finally clicked!” – that was Jay Goodwin’s assessment at the end of a weekend during which he once again eminently demonstrated his wet weather driving skills, overcame a key psychological hurdle and broke his podium duck at the highest level of British karting.

The young Sale-based star is competing this year in the Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship, but a torrid opening few meetings had left him languishing in the lower part of the top 20 out of the 34 competitors in the hotly-contested Mini Max class, heading to PF International for round five of nine on the 2009 calendar. What’s more, the Lincolnshire circuit has not traditionally been the kindest to him in terms of fortune – but a fastest lap time eight tenths of a second up the road from any of his rivals in practice hinted that a corner was ready to be turned.

“I was aiming for a good, solid result to get back towards the top ten in the championship,” he explained. “PF is my favourite track by far and I’m quick there in the wet and the dry, but I haven’t really been that lucky there before. The track was very, very slippery in the wet and PF is one of the hardest tracks to drive in Britain when it rains – if you’re not on the inside line through the first two corners on the first lap, you’re most likely in the barriers – but I’m good in greasy conditions.

“After being so quick in practice, we were really confident of doing well in qualifying, but I don’t think I drank enough water in-between the sessions and my head went a bit. I was really angry with myself afterwards, because my driving was terrible – I knew I could have been on pole, or at the very least inside the top five, but I was still confident for the races and one thing I’ve learned is that you never, ever give up. It’s never over ‘til it’s over.”

From an entirely unrepresentative and highly frustrated 19th on the starting grid, that mantra would serve Jay well come race day, and if his honesty is laudable, with little to choose between the drivers in terms of lap times up-and-down the field, he knew that he would need to be on the case from the word ‘go’ on Sunday. The second-fastest time in the morning warm-up served notice of intent to his rivals that he was.

“In the pre-final I had a bit of a lairy start and dropped down to 22nd,” he recalled, “but after that I made a lot of positions back up again on the first lap. I latched onto the back of James Singleton and we worked our way through the pack together. I got onto the back of the big group battling over fifth by the end, and nicked tenth place into the chicane on the last lap. With a couple more laps I probably could have been fifth or sixth, but I was still satisfied with the result.”

Indeed, a top ten finish earned the Ashton-upon-Mersey ace the good points haul he had been seeking and a much better starting position for the all-important grand final later in the day, before which the heavens opened with a vengeance. Happy with the performance of both his chassis and engine, the Mini Max ‘rain master’ – at just 12, one of the youngest drivers in the class, open to competitors as old as 17 – knew it was his big chance to shine.

“I stuck to the outside line at the start,” he explained, “which I had never done at PF before. I thought it was worth the risk, accepting that I would probably fall right to the back if it went wrong, but knowing I could make up quite a few positions if it worked. It paid off, because I stayed around the outside through the first corner and first hairpin and got up to fifth. I then made up two more places to third, before Singleton passed me.

“I worked with him again like in the pre-final, and got past Jack Barlow and back past James and into second. I then pulled away from them and was trying to close my team-mate Harry Crawley down, but I didn’t quite have enough of an edge over him. I was really consistent, but he wasn’t making many mistakes either. When I came out of the first hairpin I could see him to the side of me exiting the second hairpin; I knew I had a big gap behind me to James, so I could push on and attack.

“It wasn’t enough in the end, but I knew that by keeping my head down and not making any mistakes I would have second place in the bag – and I ended up coming away with a trophy and a lot of championship points to go with it! Three more laps and I would probably have been right on Harry’s bumper, but passing him would have been a completely different story...”

Nonetheless, the runner-up laurels marked by some margin Jay’s highest finish at national level to-date, and aside from demonstrating his remarkably mature attitude for one so young – refusing to risk throwing away the best result of his fledgling career in a rash bid for glory – it confirmed his status as one of the UK’s brightest young motorsport prospects. Already a multiple winner in club meetings, and having set pole position in the Super 1 curtain-raiser at Whilton Mill earlier this year, the PF result was something else altogether.

Those flashes of raw pace and promise have now been concretised, enabling the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil to turn a psychological corner and making his rivals sit up and take note. Fastest lap in the grand final only served to underline his form, as he doggedly whittled down Crawley’s advantage from as much as 12 seconds at one stage to just 2.5 seconds at the chequered flag. Had the race run a little longer, it could well have been his maiden victory.

Still, having conquered the podium at national level and announced his arrival as a bona fide front-runner, Jay is now looking forward to the prestigious, one-off Kartmasters outing at the same circuit on the first weekend in August. Perhaps ominously, it has rained on race day for the past four years in succession – should that trend continue this time around, you can’t help but get the feeling that the Joe Bloggs and Matrix-backed speed demon won’t be entirely happy unless he is standing one step higher still.

“Wow!” he enthused. “I just have no words for how it felt. You don’t actually realise that you’re not dreaming until you’re up on the podium receiving the trophy. It was just unbelievable. Now it’s all finally clicked, and this weekend has given me a real confidence boost for Kartmasters and for the future; I now know I can race at the front in FKS with the leaders.”

His only slight regret afterwards, he acknowledged, was that his ‘champagne’ bottle – soda awarded to the rostrum finishers – wouldn’t open properly, leaving him unable to join in with the post-race celebrations. No matter – on current form, he may just have another opportunity to spray the ‘bubbly’ very soon indeed.

Qualifying woes put the brakes on gutsy Goodwin but fighting spirit remains

Young Sale-based karting driver Jay Goodwin was knocked down and rebounded more times in his most recent meeting than most drivers do over the course of an entire season – but even if he was denied the result he deserved in round four of the hotly-contested 2009 Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship at Rowrah, he was nonetheless able to prove that at the very highest national level, he is right on the front-running pace.

Following a seemingly interminable run of bad luck, Jay travelled to the demanding and undulating Cumbrian circuit – what he describes as ‘a great track to race at, and very challenging to drive’ – buoyed by a podium finish in his previous club outing at Shenington and aiming for a top ten finish. He would partly accomplish it.

Quick throughout practice, the Ashton-upon-Mersey pilot initially lapped second only to championship leader Jack Barlow, and encouragingly paced the last session outright despite being only the driver not to run on new tyres. And then, on only his third lap in qualifying, a brake seal on the calliper burst...

“Our speed in practice gave me quite a lot of confidence going into qualifying,” Jay underlined, “but after being really quick for the first two laps – and looking like I was going to be on pole – the brakes failed. I went to slow down and the kart didn’t want to, so I had to react pretty quickly! Some people think karting is just about turning the wheel and putting your foot on the accelerator, but it involves a lot of split-second reactions too.”

Admitting that the setback was ‘a bit of a bummer’ to say the least, it left the Joe Bloggs and Matrix-backed Evolution Racing ace a lowly 17th overall in the 29-strong Mini Max field, slipping inexorably down the order from second at the time of his brake failure as his rivals improved. The pre-final, at least, would yield a far more satisfying outcome.

“Going into the first hairpin I received a whack from behind, which allowed about five people to go up my inside and dropped me to 18th,” recounted Jay, at 12 one of the youngest drivers in the class. “After that I just focussed on getting positions back again all the way through the race.

“I got back up to sixth by lap five, but then into the chicane the driver behind me went for a silly move that wasn’t really on. He hit the kerb and rode up over the back of my kart. I really felt it and thought I was going to have to come in, but when I realised what position I was in I thought ‘I can’t come in now – I’m doing too well!’

“That left my spark plug hanging off, which cost me about six tenths a lap, and the chain guard was threatening to fall off too – but for once, fortunately, luck was on our side and we were able to hang on to the end.”

With tyre marks on the back of his race suit bearing witness to his assailant’s unwelcome attentions, in the circumstances seventh place was an excellent result, and one achieved under pressure from a train of drivers behind and in a not inconsiderable degree of pain. If anything, the grand final later in the day would prove even more eventful still.

“There was light rain and we were all on slick tyres,” Jay recalled, “but I managed to keep on-track at the start despite getting hit from behind. I came out of the second hairpin well in sixth, and then two drivers ahead got tangled up with each other which moved me up to fourth.

“I was closing on third, too, but then I got passed and when I tried to re-take the place on the following lap we both went wide and I fell back to tenth. I fought my way back up to sixth again and went for a move on the guy in fifth, but he turned in on me and that bent the whole front of my kart, which dropped me to 11th.

“On the last lap I was sixth behind Oliver Myers, but he braked really early to try to get a run on the driver ahead. I didn’t realise he would do that and hit the back of him, which sent me flying off the track. I just managed to keep it out of the barriers, though, so it could have been worse I suppose...

“All credit to Jack Barlow who drove brilliantly for the win, but I feel sorry for my team-mate Harry Crawley whose chain came off on the warming-up lap when he should have been on pole, and my other team-mate Jody Fannin who was black-flagged. It wasn’t a very lucky day for the team all-in-all. Still, now I know I can race at the front in the British Championship, which has given me a lot of confidence, and even though I didn’t finish, I don’t think that reflects how well I drove. We could have been fourth – at least...”

It was indeed an immensely encouraging performance that demonstrated the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil’s clear talent and promise, and the fifth-fastest lap time to his name only went to show what might have been. Returning this weekend to PF International – a circuit that seemed to hold some kind of curse over him until he broke it with an assured rostrum finish there on his last visit – Jay has his focus firmly set on securing the result to match his undoubted pace and potential.

Goodwin rebounds from run of bad luck for podium return

Sale-based karting pilot Jay Goodwin put a run of ill-fortune behind him in his latest club outing at Shenington, with a front-running performance throughout that earned him a well-deserved rostrum finish – and set him up in fine style for his forthcoming national meeting.

With little going right in the build-up and a distinct lack of solid results to show for his efforts, as well as a 70mph accident not of his own making but that had briefly knocked him out in the preceding Super 1 round, Jay headed to the high-speed Oxfordshire circuit aiming to get his momentum in 2009 – a season that had begun so promisingly for the Ashton-upon-Mersey speed demon – firmly back on-track. He would do so with interest.

“I was aiming just to get a podium really and some points towards the championship,” the Evolution ace explained. “I just wanted to put everything that had happened in the previous few weeks behind me and have a good weekend. I enjoy Shenington – it’s both fast and technical, and I’ve done well there in the past. In fact, I took my first-ever win there earlier this year, so I was feeling pretty good.”

Trading quickest lap times with rival Ryan Norris throughout practice was a timely confidence boost, and from 25th on the grid for the first of his three heat races, a superb showing would take Jay up to seventh at the close, as he took advantage of a track layout that lends itself to overtaking and wound up just over three seconds shy of victory at the chequered flag.

“I had a good start and immediately jumped up ten positions to 15th,” he related, “and I managed to finish seventh in the end. The kart was really good and we were really quick, so with a few more laps we could probably have got even higher. It was certainly good fun passing so many other drivers!”

Second place from eighth in heat two – barely four tenths adrift of the race-winner and with the fastest lap to his name to-boot, as the only driver to dip beneath the 45-second barrier race-long – was another highly encouraging performance, and Jay would achieve the same result from the same starting position in heat three, a scant eight hundredths adrift of the top spot this time and with a better fastest lap to his credit than the race-winner by a staggering six tenths of a second. And that was despite some opening lap drama for good measure...

“I got binned from behind at the start,” rued the Joe Bloggs and Matrix-backed speed merchant, “which left me right down at the back, and I had to try and come back through again from there. I actually got onto the back of the leader on the last lap – right onto his bumper – but it was into the final corner, so there wasn’t really much opportunity to get by. I tried to go around the outside, but there was no room to get past.”

Nonetheless, the result was enough to secure Jay the outside front row starting slot for the all-important final, and though he led more of the race than anyone else, the 12-year-old – one of the youngest drivers in the 30-strong Mini Max field – would ultimately be forced to settle for third place at the finish line, after a thrilling three-way tussle from lights to flag. The only regret he had afterwards was having misguidedly changed his engine before the third heat and final, which he contended afterwards had cost him two tenths a lap – and quite possibly victory.

“I got off to a really good start round the outside and got into the lead,” he recounted. “Then I managed to build a good gap, but the two drivers behind me worked together to catch me up and both managed to get past. I stuck with them, though, and got back into the lead later on, but just a lap later one of them came through again and dragged the other one along with him. After that I was waiting for the guy in second to make a move on the leader which could have held them both up, but unfortunately that move never happened...

“I was happy with a podium, but equally I knew I could have probably won. I think if I’m truthful, if I could have done anything differently I wouldn’t have changed the engine. That made quite a difference, especially with Shenington being such a power circuit.”

Nonetheless, given his lack of experience compared to his adversaries, it was an impressive outcome, and one that made for a good birthday present seeing that he had only turned 12 shortly before the weekend. What’s more, it has lifted him up from seventh to second in the club championship, and set him up well for the prestigious annual ‘0’ Plate to be held at the same circuit later in the year. Still on a learning curve he may be, but Jay is learning fast – and he is fired-up now for the next round on the 2009 Formula Kart Stars Championship calendar at Rowrah in Cumbria.

“I’m aiming for a top ten finish at Rowrah,” underlined the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil. “It’s tight and twisty and a real drivers’ circuit – very fun and very technical too. The weather can always play a big part, but I’m happy whatever it does to be honest. I’m only 20th in the championship at the moment, so I need to try and haul myself up towards the top ten.”

Goodwin beats injury and the opposition for Kimbolton glory

Jay Goodwin may admit to relishing a challenge, but his latest karting outing at Kimbolton dealt him a blow that would have left most competitors out for the count – as the young Sale-based star overcame a heavily-bruised ankle to battle his way back to arguably the finest victory of his fledgling career.

Entering the weekend with a 54-point advantage in the club championship, Jay admitted to feeling confident – if well aware of the strength of the 21-strong Mini Max opposition around the Cambridgeshire circuit. From eighth on the grid in heat one, a peerless performance earned the Ashton-upon-Mersey ace a comfortable triumph with fastest lap to-boot – but then disaster would strike...

“I enjoy racing at Kimbolton,” he acknowledged. “It’s a good track, both fast and technical. There were a lot of club locals racing there who were pretty fast so there was a fair bit of good competition, but on the practice day we were quickest in every session so I felt fairly optimistic.

“I was starting on the outside line for the first heat, but the driver in third wasn’t very experienced and spun going over the start-line, which slowed that side of the grid right down. That elevated me to fifth straightaway, and from there I managed to pass a few drivers and got into the lead after three laps. I was comfortable and didn’t really feel any pressure from behind, and was just able to pull away to win.

“Then in the second heat, before we had even gone over the start-line somebody behind nudged the back of my kart. That spun me round, and another driver went into me flat-out and ran over my ankle, leaving it really badly bruised. I was just focussed on trying to get started again, but the kart wouldn’t go and when I looked down I saw the stub axle had been knocked off. It was only when I stood up that I realised how painful my ankle actually was, and I just limped across the track and had to leave the marshals to deal with my kart.”

Despite damage to both man and machine – necessitating repairs to the track rods, steering column, front bumper and nasser panel – Jay is a tough little cookie, and there was never any doubt in his mind, he stressed, about whether he would be out again in heat three. At just 11, he may be the youngest driver ever to start a Mini Max race and giving away as much as five years in age and experience to his rivals, but very little fazes the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil.

“I got taken off in the track ambulance, and they gave me an ice pack and said it was up to me if I wanted to carry on or not,” he explained. “They said they’d advise me not to, but if somebody gives me a choice between racing or not racing, no matter what’s happened I want to race!”

He had similarly carried on with a broken hand in the Rowrah round of BRDC Stars of Tomorrow – now Formula Kart Stars – in 2008, and though a brake-test from the driver in front in heat three at Kimbolton sent Jay into a spin and plummeting down the order from third place to an eventual 13th at the chequered flag, the equal fastest lap time hinted that his injury was far from slowing him down. Beginning the all-important final from ninth, he would prove it.

“I had won from around that position in the first heat so I knew I could still do it,” recounted the Matrix and Joe Bloggs-backed speed demon, “but I dropped back to 11th initially because the outside line got away better at the start this time. I got through the pack really quickly, though, and was soon up into third.

“The top two were the length of the straight in front of me by then and I thought I’d have no chance of catching them, but their battling allowed me to really close up, and I passed George Li Wright for second and then with two laps to go I got Adam Glear too when he didn’t seem to be expecting it.

“After that I was able to pull out a gap and go on to win, which was a really good feeling given everything that had happened earlier in the day. My ankle was still hurting a bit, but I was just so focussed on winning. I was so happy and just speechless at the end really!”

He may have had to work for it given the misfortune he suffered along the way, but that only served to make Jay’s success all-the-more noteworthy, as he set a new lap record for good measure and dominated a race that it had been suggested he would have been wise not to even enter. With the declaration that ‘I’ve got a lot more to come’ sure to strike fear into the hearts of his rivals, they would do well not to doubt it. A fully-fit Jay Goodwin? Now that’s a challenge they assuredly would not relish...

pics - Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net

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