The Clay Pigeon circuit near Dorchester will be forever linked with the early career of Jenson Button. Once again, the fabulous Dorset venue provided the backdrop for some genuinely thrilling racing, and perhaps, just as his fellow competitors and the spectators in the 80s and 90s did, we may be watching the emergence of a future superstar.

William Stowell led the entire Cadet final until, just two corners from the chequered flag, Ronan McKenzie nipped through at the Horseshoe to take a superb last-gasp victory. Stowell’s runner-up finish added to his earlier pre-final victory re-ignited his championship chances, while Tom Thickpenny’s 3rd place maintained his overall championship lead.

Thomas Grainger took a lights-to-flag triumph in the Junior encounter from the in-form Luca Hirst, who chased him like a fit store detective throughout. James DeHavillande claimed a superb 3rd place – having come from the back of the grid in the pre-final.

According to Meatloaf, Two out of three ain’t bad. Light A winner James Lay would agree after holding off Mark Elder to equal his opening round victory. Sam Dimelow collected his first trophy of the season with 3rd. This race was remarkable for its drama and displays of remarkable grit and determination. Owen Jenman claimed 4th after starting last.

A small grid composed the Light B final, but it belonged to just one man, Richard Moxom – who was the class of the field and crossed the line 17 seconds clear of Richard Washbrook. The cameras from the BBC’s See Hear programme focused on newcomer James Clark’s fortunes.

Fastest lap and maximum points here, maximum points at Teesside, maximum points at Ellough – come on Heavyweights, sort it out! urged the commentator after Barnaby Pittingale steamrollered the Heavy opposition to score his third straight win. Adrian Ricardo-Batty and Gary Poynter gave it their all but ultimately had no answer for the man the Italians call, Il Dominator.

Twin podiums move DHR driver into second in Formula Kart Stars driver standings. The old sporting maxim has it that form is temporary, class is permanent. This goes a long way to explain how, after the bitter disappointment of the opening round of the Formula Kart Stars Junior Max championship at Rowrah in Cumbria last month, Jack Barlow was able to bounce back into championship contention with a brace of runner-up finishes at Whilton Mill last weekend (15/16 May).

Nothing puts a title challenge on track better than a trophy - and on Saturday, Jack won his first of the domestic season after a strong run to 2nd place in the final. Throughout the day, he had been current series leader Ash Hand’s principal challenger – from Timed Qualifying to the two heats.

“Whilton Mill is Ash’s local track, so I expected him to do well,” said Jack. “He didn’t put a wheel wrong and I decided that after Rowrah, where I finished outside the top ten, taking 2nd place was actually a good result. I bagged a load of points, and of course championships are won over the course of a season, not just one or two races.”

Sunday morning presented the Freem UK-backed driver with fresh hope that he could further close the points-gap on his rivals. In qualifying Jack again recorded the second fastest time and duly converted his front-row starting position into 2nd-place finishes in the heats. This once again put him alongside Hand for the final.

A dramatic start saw Barlow clipped from behind, with the Jack Taylor momentarily snagging his kart on Jack’s exhaust. The pair quickly disentangled, but the short delay in doing so dropped the Dan Holland Racing driver down to 3rd.

With his kart’s set-up designed to come into effect later in the race, he simply had to keep tabs on the lead pair and put daylight between himself and the chasing pack. This he was able to do, but a situation of stalemate began to emerge. As the race wore on, his kart’s handling and overall pace improved, but then so did his opponents’. Barlow traded lap-times with the driver in 2nd place, Welshman Fraser O’Brien, but needed to find at least half a second in just one tour, if he was to be able to catch his quarry.

Rather than risk spinning off the circuit, Jack sensibly opted to take 3rd place and more valuable championship points. However during post-race checks, he was promoted to 2nd, after O’Brien fell foul of technical regulations. “It’s unfortunate what happened to Fraser, and I would have preferred to have beaten him on the track - but at the same time, I need the points! In fact, I’ve now moved from twelfth up to 2nd place and really think I can now build a challenge for the overall lead. It’s going to be tough but who enjoys winning when it’s easy?”

The next round of the championship, in July, takes the drivers to the picturesque Glan Y Gors track in North Wales. However, Jack will return to action long before then. At the end of this month, he will compete in the second round of the Euro Max Challenge, at Wackersdorf in Bavaria on 29/30 May.

Strawberry Racing’s Mini and Senior Max stars triumph in thrilling encounters at Whilton Mill. George Russell restored himself to the top of the Super 1 Championship’s Mini Max leaderboard with a pair of superbly taken wins at Whilton Mill, last Sunday.

As the action-packed main final neared its conclusion, there was still nothing in it between the main protagonists, as mistakes by each of the drivers were instantly punished. Through the penultimate corner it was heart in the mouth stuff as the karts bumped and bored for position, but in the dash to the line, just over a tenth of a second was enough to give George a superb victory – his fourth of the campaign…

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