Jordan King’s full report is here.

In KF2 Max Goff won the first final then got third in the second. James Godbehere, after showing real speed all weekend, came from grid 9 in the first final to lead only to have an engine problem with half a lap left. Then he had more engine trouble at the start of the second final, but it shows the speed of the Maranello Kart in the KF categories.

In Junior Rotax Andy King was third in the first final but dropped back at the start in the main final before fighting his way back up many places.

Andy also took fourth in the Super One at Rowrah at the end of April, then a couple of weeks later improved on that by winning the club meeting at Rowrah in preparation for the Formula Kart Stars round later in the season.

His next big race will be the third Super One round at Buckmore on June 14th, where Andy raced back in February, again winning every time he wewnt out on the track.

Here’s Andy’s official report:

Andy King may have had his maiden season in the Junior Max class pencilled in as a learning year, but after expertly triumphing in round three of nine on the 2009 Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship calendar, the Rochdale karting ace is now a fully-fledged title contender.

The 14-year-old graduated from Mini Max to Junior Max off the back of a truncated 2008 campaign in FKS – then known as BRDC Stars of Tomorrow – and he has rapidly been earning his spurs, with ninth and fourth-place finishes in the double-header Kimbolton curtain-raiser.

With the championship having received the prestigious official backing over the winter months of both reigning Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton and the sport’s influential ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone, Andy too has inarguably stepped up to the plate – and at Glan Y Gors in North Wales he would show all 38 of his rivals a clean pair of heels.

“Glan Y Gors is where I started off racing in cadets as a novice – where I grew up effectively,” he explained. “I know it quite well and it’s a real drivers’ circuit – it’s got everything really, from long straights to flowing downhill sections and tight and twisty corkscrews, meaning getting the set-up right is really important too.

“I was really just looking to get a top five finish there – it’s a long championship so consistency is the key in this game, and we just wanted to stay somewhere near the top and get some good points in the bag. On the first day it was dry and I was on the pace, so we were really pleased with the way it was going, and then as the weekend went on we just got quicker and quicker as I tried to get the most out of the kart.

“After that, though, one minute it was raining and the next it was bright sunshine, so that made the track very hard to drive, especially when it was greasy, because they’re the hardest conditions of all. You really have to be on the ball and on top of your game when the weather is like that.”

Any initial advantage that Andy may have enjoyed at his ‘local’ circuit was rapidly eradicated as his fellow drivers caught up fast, but fourth position in qualifying – a scant five hundredths of a second shy of the top spot in his group – was an excellent way to begin. The pre-final would go even better still.

“We had all changed over to slicks,” recounted the Hollingworth Lake, Littleborough speed demon, “but the track was still greasy and before the start we didn’t really know where it was wet and where it was dry. Ollie Varney on pole went wide in the first corner and I was able to get by into the lead, but that also meant I was the first person to find out what the track was like and effectively had to do all the work for the other drivers.

“It was quite wet in some places and I got the back end out a bit a few times in the early laps, but as the heat got into my tyres the grip improved. I had a good gap over Alex Magee behind; as the race progressed he was gaining on me bit-by-bit, but I was able to defend over the last couple of laps and didn’t feel under too much pressure.”

Just over a second clear of his pursuer at the end, it was an impressive result for the Maranello Kart star, and one that earned him pole position for the all-important grand final later in the day. That race, too, would witness a seamless performance, with fastest lap to-boot only serving to drive home his superiority.

“After that I really wanted to win the grand final as well to do the double,” Andy confessed, “so I just kept everything together, got my head down and went for it. The gap remained pretty static throughout; there were a couple of laps here or there where Matt Parry would catch me or I would pull away a bit, and towards the end I think his tyres came on a bit more than mine did so he was able to close the gap, but I just kept my head and managed to keep it all steady. I was over the moon when I crossed the line – I just felt on top of the world! It was my first national win in Junior Max, so that meant so much.”

As he now looks ahead, the Whitworth Community High School pupil admits that the goalposts may have shifted somewhat, as having moved up to third in the points standings – just five markers adrift of the second-placed driver – he is clearly in with a shout of glory.

“At the start of the year we were aiming for the top five in the championship,” Andy concluded. “It’s my first season in Junior Max, so we just wanted to get a single seeded number to carry into next year. Hopefully we can go for the top three now; I’ve just got to make sure I’m up there in every single round.
“Rowrah is next, and I’ve been there quite a few times in Super 1 and club meetings; again it’s a real drivers’ track where the kart set-up is very important. I think in Junior Max, because the drivers are older they are more mature and respect each other a little bit more, but having said that, you’ve really got to earn your stripes at the beginning to get their respect.”

He has surely done that now.