Singleton seals fourth in country as 2009 Super 1 Series comes to an end 28.09.2009: Exciting North Wales karting star James Singleton has firmly established himself as one of the leading drivers of his generation by finishing as the number four in Britain at the end of only his second season of national competition

Exciting North Wales karting star James Singleton has firmly established himself as one of the leading drivers of his generation by finishing as the number four in Britain at the end of only his second season of national competition – and now he is hoping to crown the year with title glory in Formula Kart Stars (FKS) into the bargain.

James headed to PF International buoyed by having dominated a hotly-contested club meeting at the Lincolnshire circuit only a fortnight earlier, and he wasted little time in picking up from where he had left off.

“We were hoping for a podium,” he related, “because we had proven our pace at the club meeting. I was very confident after that and we were fast all weekend again. Qualifying went pretty well, but down the straights the chassis was dragging off to the left because it had got bent the previous time out; if I put my head down I just had no control, and it was the same on the brakes – as soon as I braked it would just pull off to the left.”

Missing out on pole position by a scant four hundredths of a second to Coles Racing team-mate Sam Ward may have been frustrating, but it nonetheless left James extremely well-placed in second out of the 33 entrants, the very crème de la crème of young British talent at Mini Max level.

Unfortunately, the persistent handling woes afflicting him would remain all weekend, no matter what the 13-year-old tried to overcome them. That being the case, a hard-fought victory in the first of his heat races – after briefly putting a wheel onto the grass – and third place, barely six tenths adrift of the winner, in heat two were admirable results indeed, and left the Conwy-based ace third on the starting grid for the pre-final.

“I was quite confident going into it,” he underlined. “We had made a few changes to the kart that we hoped might solve the issues we had, but unfortunately they didn’t. I managed to follow Jack Barlow through into second at the start, but then my team-mate and Corby Gormley both caught me and we all got into a battle. We were lacking mid-range power which made it difficult to overtake – the only places I could really try were into the first hairpin or by getting a good run down the straight.”

Third again at the chequered flag – a second shy of victory as the top three sped off into a race of their own – was in the circumstances an excellent outcome, and left James with high hopes for the all-important grand final.

“It’s very important to be on the inside line at PF,” he explained, “because all the accidents get spat out to the outside. I followed Barlow through again at the start, but then I got to the first hairpin and just got launched from behind. That sent me onto the grass and meant I lost about five places.

“I had to fight my way back from there, and I had to really push to catch the front-runners again. The problem was, as soon as I was with them, because of the power difficulties we had I couldn’t get past. I was really close to third crossing the finish line – I’d had a go on the penultimate lap but he turned in on me – and I think with just a couple more laps I could have had it.”

A mere eight tenths away from the rostrum at the flag, fourth spot nevertheless enabled the Penmaenmawr speed demon to leapfrog one of his rivals to annex the same position in the final championship standings to-boot. Considerably less experienced than many of his adversaries, James admits that his results in 2009 have far exceeded his pre-season expectations, confessing that ‘if I had known I was going to do this well back at the beginning of the year, I would have been over-the-moon...’

What’s more, he still has a title shot left in FKS, the same championship 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 patronage of both the sport’s youngest-ever world champion and its influential ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone.

Ten points behind leader Barlow heading into the finale at Whilton Mill on October 3/4, a double-header format means a maximum score is on offer as the pair, along with Harry Crawley, prepare to duel it out for the honour of following in Hamilton’s wheeltracks. With little to choose between the trio, confidence could just make the crucial difference – and having expertly triumphed last time out at Genk in Belgium as his rivals struggled, it will be James who heads to the Northants circuit in the most bullish of spirits, and very much up for the fight.

“Whilton Mill is definitely one of my favourite tracks,” enthused the Ysgol Aberconwy pupil. “It’s very bumpy, very technical and twisty and it can easily catch you out on the gearing – you really need to be pulled up the hill. We’ve had some good results round there in the past, especially in Super 1 at the beginning of this year, qualifying second and winning both heats.

“Now I just want to win the FKS championship. We will play things as safe as we need to, but if a win is on offer too then we’ll certainly take it.”


- RA -  photo Chris Walker  kartpix.net