Jonathan Walker got his bid to lift the British Super 1 SKF title underway with a brace of second place finishes at Shenington in Oxfordshire last weekend (13/14 March). In gusty conditions that had many spectators wondering if it was possible to have a non-surgical facelift by wind power alone, Jonathan put in a solid, if unspectacular, performance during timed qualifying to record the sixth-fastest lap time. In the first of the two heats he took an encouraging fourth place, despite not being entirely comfortable with his kart’s set-up.

“I’ve recently switched to a Fernando Alonso chassis and this was only my third time on it. All our technical data relates to the old kart, which had completely different characteristics to the Alonso,” he explained. A controversial coming together with another driver in the following race earned the AMT Racing Team driver a visit to the stewards and a subsequent disqualification from the heat. Nevertheless, his earlier finish was good enough to put him on the second row of the grid for the first of Sunday’s two finals.

After initially losing ground at the start, Jonathan clawed his way up to second place - before being pushed back to third. On lap seventeen (of twenty four) he moved back into second and was successfully holding off the chasing pack. In the main final, an almost carbon copy of the pre-final was enacted. Jonathan started well, but as the field streamed into a fast left-hander, he found himself being shuffled backwards.

“It took me two laps to get into a rhythm and find a way past the guy in second. His kart had phenomenal brakes so I had to produce something a bit special to out-brake him and wriggle past. Once I’d done that though, I just got my head down and tried to catch the leader.” Unfortunately, the early exchanges behind Mark Litchfield had allowed the former champion to build up an unassailable advantage over the rest of the field, including Walker.

Despite making up some ground, the gap was too great for Jonathan to mount a serious challenge, as Jonny later confirmed. “I put several good laps in to try and catch Mark, but by then he had it in the bag. I’m satisfied with my two second places though. In fact, it’s the best start to a season I’ve ever had. So yes, overall it’s a good result - but naturally, we’ll try and better it at the next race and the ones after that”. The next round of the championship takes place at Larkhall in Lanarkshire on 24/25 April.

As part of his prize for winning the 2009 Formula Kart Stars championship, Jack Barlow had been invited to contest a round of the Florida Winter Tour, held at Palm Beach International Raceway last weekend (20/21 February). Already billed as something of a star ahead of his arrival, he duly delivered a performance worthy of his hosts’ pre-race hype. The event had also attracted IRL star and former Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, who commented on Jack’s quality. The spectators and a world-wide audience watching via the internet were treated to a superb battle in the Junior Rotax class, in which the Dan Holland Racing driver was competing.

The pre-race buzz was all about the massive field of 55 drivers, combined with the arrival of Jack and his compatriot, Matt Parry, also making his Florida Winter Tour debut. Their pedigrees were substantiated by the end of the first lap, as Parry led Barlow in a UK one-two. By the third lap, Jack held the upper hand. On the seventh lap, the tension was ramped up as the English pair touched. Matt slipped to 12th with Jack also losing places and dropping to 4th. As the American commentator noted, "the party’s just starting." Jack made short work of the two American drivers in second and third places on consecutive laps, and now began reeling in the leader. With eight laps to go they were nose to tail, with the American Nick Neri’s pace "barely keeping him out front", as the commentator excitedly noted. As he pushed hard, Barlow almost ran off the circuit but demonstrated great kart control to keep his nose pointing forward. Which he was especially relieved about after hearing that alligators live in the lake bordering the circuit!

On the penultimate lap, Jack put matters beyond dispute and after again closing in on Neri, made a successful bid for the lead and crossed the finishing line a clear winner. "That was fantastic," he gasped in the Floridian heat. "It’s a very different style of racing over here, not as aggressive as Europe - and I’ve had to work with completely different equipment to what I race at home. To win on my first time out here is just fantastic!” Sunday’s final saw drama right from the start. A tangle in the first turn saw pole-sitter Neri get a clean getaway, with Jack held up in the melee.

Having dropped to 7th he quickly began to fight back, picking his way up the order, whilst Neri tried to nail home his early advantage. By lap 6, Jack was into second and chipping away at the substantial gap to the leader. Despite a sterling effort, a second victory was not to be - but he was delighted to seal his second podium in as many days.

“To be honest, the race was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” he said afterwards. “Nick (Neri) gave me something to aim for, but today was his day. There are a lot of fast drivers in this series and it’s every bit as hard as racing in Europe. I must thank everyone who made this trip possible and made me so welcome – especially Mike Ferrucci (Maranello North America) who generously provided all my race equipment; Bill Wright (FWT) and Carolynn Hoy (FKS) who put the deal together for me to come out and race. I hope I made a good impression because I’d love to do this again."

World Junior Max champ Ukyo Sasahara has taken a brilliant victory to be crowned the winner of the 2010 Rotax Winter Cup in Spain in his first race with the Austrian-based Intrepid Force Rotax team, making his debut into European karting an instant success.

The tiny 13-year old from Japan literally ran away with the 12 lap final within moments of the start at the Karting Campillos circuit in the magnificent southern Andalusia region. Starting from grid position 3, Sasahara closely followed the polesitter through the first of the tight corners on the highest section of the track before making his move for the lead and never looking back. As the pack behind battled for places, it gave IFR’s only junior contesting the Winter Cup the advantage of stretching the gap to over 6 seconds by the chequered flag.

For Sasahara, winning the Winter Cup title only two weeks after winning the first ever Rotax Winter Cup in Japan was a great double to begin his 2010 assault. “I’m very happy to win here in Spain and want to thank all my special personal sponsors, EIKO Japan, Team IFR and my family for all their support. There are many very good drivers in this field that I have really enjoyed racing against. The qualifying was not my best, but the final was easier than I expected. I am also very happy to win the free entries to the Euro Challenge and thank RGMMC. Now, I cannot wait for the racing!”

The youngest of the IFR line-up clocked the 3rd fastest time in the field of 41 karts in Friday’s official timed practice for a front row start in the group qualifying heats, where he set the best lap in two from three races. After one disappointing DNF, Sasahara started 12th for the pre-final and drove a strategic race to come through to secure 3rd. This gave him the ideal position for the following final.

The weekend had been plagued with some of the worst weather to hit Spain in 60 years, resulting in the racing being postponed Saturday afternoon and a revised timetable issued, which meant the last of the junior and senior heats was also scheduled on the Sunday prior to both finals. However, the challenging track conditions along with different tyres, an unfamiliar track and still adapting to the switch to an Intrepid chassis, didn’t affect Sasahara focusing only on the end result.

“I got very close to another driver during the qualifying that slowed me down and there was also a little rain on the circuit. The engine was a bit too cold so I didn’t have total power, but the Intrepid chassis was very good and I’m enjoying it. It has good handling and braking… which I really like!”

Working closely with his trusted Japanese mechanic, Ninja (HRS Japan) throughout the event in handling the obvious pressure of expectation that comes with being the highest ranked in the World in your class, showed why the partnership successfully claimed every local title during 2009. Sasahara will now compete back home with additional support from Intrepid Japan and return again to join IFR in France for the opening round of the 2010 Rotax Euro Challenge.

Ed Brand made a dream start to his British Super 1 kart championship campaign by winning the first race of the season - and then followed it up with a fine runner-up spot in the second. If he was suffering from any nerves about working with an unfamiliar team - on a kart he was still learning about and having the reigning champion as his team-mate - he didn’t let them show.

In tricky, wet conditions on Saturday (20 March), ACR Birel’s new signing was fourth-fastest in timed qualifying. From this promising start, the 15-year old comfortably won his first heat and took third in the return encounter to see him in pole position for the first of Sunday’s two points-scoring finals. “To take the P1 position on my debut with my new team and having just made the step up from the junior to senior ranks was just fantastic, but it’s far from ‘job done’,” he said before the start of the first final.

With twenty nine of Britain’s fastest and most talented drivers swarming all over him, Ed was initially pushed wide and lost the advantage. Dropping down to fourth place, he staged an immediate fightback. Making short work of the drivers ahead of him, he found himself in second place and harrying the leader. Brand pounced under braking for a tight hairpin and from there was able to take a commanding victory. With little time to celebrate, he was back on the grid lining up for the second final.

A magnificent start saw him hold onto his advantage to lead the field across the start/finish line and with drama and crashes behind him, he looked to be holding all the aces. That was until his Birel team-mate, Michael Simpson finally cleared the traffic and began hunting him down. Simpson caught Ed and passed him with an incisive manoeuvre. As the pair ran in line astern, Brand probed and pressed for a way past, but ultimately had to settle for second best rather than risk a collision.

“World-class guys like Simmo rarely make mistakes,” he observed with a smile afterwards. “I tried everything I could to force one but Mike had everything covered, and I didn’t want to commit the cardinal sin of crashing into him and letting another driver win. It’s great that we’re both new leading the championship and with a long way to go (six further rounds) there’ll be plenty more chances for me to beat him!”

This weekend sees Ed back in action, in the opening round of the Euro Max Challenge at Salbris in France.

Junior Rotax graduate Jack Barlow delivered a superb performance on his international debut at the Rotax Winter Cup, held at Campillos in Spain last weekend (13/14 February). From the outset the Dan Holland Racing driver was amongst the pace-setters, and in a close timed qualifying session recorded the fifth fastest time. In his three following heats, Jack scored two impressive victories and a second place to seal pole position for the first of Sunday’s two finals. He scored a comfortable victory in the pre-final to again give him the advantage for the main race.

At the start of the final, having made a good start from pole position, Jack headed the 34-strong field - but a bold manoeuvre by the recently-crowned World Finals victor, Japan’s Ukyo Sasahara - saw him lose the initiative and several places. Now fifth, Jack knew he had to clear the trio ahead of him quickly if he was to peg the gap to the fast-disappearing Sasahara.

For the spectators it made for an enthralling encounter. Within two laps, Jack was back up to third and closing in on the 2nd placed driver. He then spent the next six tours chasing his quarry down, and once he had bridged the gap, a tight, close private battle unfolded. Neither would yield and as the remaining laps wound down, they repeatedly passed and re-passed each other - trading stickers on their sidepods.

“That was a good race,” he said afterwards. “Neither of us was giving each other any room and it was a very equal contest.” Jack eventually managed to gain the upper hand, but could do nothing about Sasahara’s substantial advantage and took the chequered flag some six seconds adrift. Nevertheless he expressed his satisfaction with his performance: “I’m delighted to be on the podium at my first attempt in European competition. I’ve learned a lot and really enjoyed the experience. It has given me a lot of confidence, especially for Florida next weekend (20/21 February).”

As part of his prize for winning last year’s Formula Kart Stars Mini Max title, the Freeminds-backed driver has been invited to take part in a round of the Florida Winter Tour at the Palm Beach International Raceway. He says: “I can’t wait. I’ve always wanted to race in America and now I’ve got the chance! I really hope I can do myself justice and it would be fantastic if I can repeat the form I showed at Campillos. The organisers have already made me feel very welcome and I’m looking forward to representing Formula Kart Stars, Freeminds and of course, myself in the best possible way.”