Hand: I knew I was quick at Larkhall – now I’ve proved I can win there too!

As preparations go, wiping the floor with every single one of your rivals in the warm-up meeting for the hotly-fought national Super 1 Series is not a bad way to send out signal of your intent – and that is precisely what highly-rated young Nuneaton karting star Ash Hand did when he headed north of the border to Larkhall.

A self-confessed fan of the demanding Scottish circuit, the outing marked only Ash’s fourth competitive appearance aboard the CRG chassis onto which he switched mid-season – and his performance from the moment he took to the track proved that this driver/kart combination is fast becoming the one to beat.

“Larkhall is one of my favourite tracks and I’ve always been fast there,” the 16-year-old affirmed. “It’s my sort of circuit; it’s pretty physical, which means you have to drive it with the front-end of the kart and use the steering quite a lot. As it’s such a short lap, if you get everything perfect you can take a lot of time out of people, but equally, each small mistake also costs you heavily. I had high expectations, because last year I had been two tenths up the road in the final there in Super 1 – so my hope was to go back and win.

“I was really pleased with how the heats went. In the first of them I went from 16th to second in just three laps, and in heat two I started 12th and finished second again. I could have won that one, but I went for the lead and the leader defended so much he nearly took us both out, so I backed out of it as there was no point in risking an accident when it was only a heat race. Then in the third heat I just drove off into the distance, which was extremely encouraging.”

Confident in his chances, a better fastest lap time than the race-winner in his first two heats – taking the chequered flag less than half a second shy of victory in heat one – and triumphing practically at a canter in heat three gave Ash considerable cause for optimism ahead of the all-important final.

Better yet, that optimism that would swiftly prove to be well-founded, as the George Eliot School pupil set about avenging his ill-fortune from twelve months earlier – when a technical exclusion from the runner-up spot in the first Super 1 final at Larkhall had left him needing to fight his way doggedly and determinedly up through the order from the back of the grid in the second race.

Whilst a strong quality field of 18 of the country’s best Junior Max contenders – ‘there were quite a few drivers there that were quick, which meant if you made a mistake you really got punished for it,’ he explained – certainly kept the Maple Park hotshot on his toes, it soon became apparent that the final would develop into a two-horse race between himself and Andy King, sprinting away to firmly establish themselves as the class of the field as the pair duelled it out tooth-and-nail for supremacy. A duel that only one of them could win.

“I started second and Andy got a bit of a break initially, but it only took me three laps to close him down,” Ash recounted. “On one of the laps I set the quickest time I had done all weekend – three tenths faster than I had been in the heats – so I knew then that I had the pace to do it and I was catching him at a rate of knots.

“After that, for most of the race I just waited behind Andy and played with him, just figuring out where the best place would be to try to overtake. There was quite a big gap behind us, so I was able to bide my time. On lap eight I went for the inside, but he slammed straight into the side of me almost out-of-control; after that I tried up the inside into the first hairpin, but he came across on me again, which made me a bit wary.

“I then just sat on his bumper and worked out where to try to make my move, because I knew from the way he was defending I would need to be really decisive about it so that he couldn’t come back at me again – he was racing hard, so I had to race hard as well. With two laps to go I went down the inside into the first corner and held him out wide to establish a three-or-four kart-length gap – and after that I just kept my head to the finish. I was really happy when I crossed the line. Andy is a good racer and a good friend too, and it was great to beat him in a straight fight like that.”

Not only did Ash beat King, he comfortably beat the rest of the field too, ultimately prevailing by just under seven tenths of a second and always confident he had more speed in his pocket had he needed to draw upon it – as evinced by his impressive ability to reel off hot lap after hot lap with comparative ease. As he looks ahead now to the resumption of Super 1 hostilities back at the same circuit, he does so with justifiably high hopes.

“It was a really, really good weekend and I enjoyed it a lot,” concluded the P1 Racing ace. “I know all the ins-and-outs of the track overtaking-wise now, and to get my first win for CRG was brilliant! The kart was really good, had the most grip it’s had yet and was the best kart out there I reckon. When I first drove the CRG, I found the brakes so sharp that they would put the kart out-of-shape every time I touched them – but now I’m able to use them to my advantage to successfully out-brake other drivers.

“The kart was the easiest to drive it’s been so far, which I think is due to me getting used to it more and learning how to get the best out of it. I understand better what it’s doing, and whilst there’s still more to come, it’s improving all the time. The whole weekend was just a massive confidence boost for Super 1; I knew I was quick at Larkhall last year – but now I’ve proved I can win round there too.”