Jay Goodwin proved that he is nothing if not a tough little cookie indeed in the prestigious annual Kartmasters outing at PF International, by bravely overcoming an accident that left him black-and-blue to charge through the pack in the grand final from the very back of the grid to the verges of the top ten.
Jay had endured something of a rollercoaster ride in the build-up to the blue riband event on the British karting calendar – one that brings together the very crème de la crème of the country’s young talent, and in which he had finished an impressive sixth in 2009 – after breaking his arm in a Buckmore Park club meeting and going on to brilliantly ascend the podium in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars Championship at Glan Y Gors less than a month later. That being the case, he headed to Lincolnshire in philosophical mood.
“I didn’t really know how it was going to turn out, but I was feeling pretty confident,” revealed the highly-rated Sale-based star. “Nobody wants to settle for second place at Kartmasters – you’ve got to go for the win. There are no championship points involved, so everyone is always going for moves, and if it doesn’t come off then at least you won’t have any regrets for not having tried.
“It’s quite a harsh weekend in terms of driving standards too, with some drivers feeling the pressure a lot more – but we were inside the top four all the way through practice and in the last session we were the quickest of all, so everything was looking good.”
Sadly, with traffic stymieing his efforts to successfully find a clear lap in qualifying, Jay wound up seventh-quickest in his group in the 34-strong Mini Max class field, three tenths of a second shy of the leading pace and unrepresentative of his true potential.
From there, the 13-year-old went on to begin both of his heat races from P8 – on the unenviable outside line of the starting grid – and after initially falling to 11th in the first of them, he recovered magnificently as he never stopped pushing and even briefly snatched the lead, only to slip back to fifth again in last couple of laps.
In the second encounter the Ashton-upon-Mersey hotshot found himself at the mercy of a rival who lost control, spun and collected him on the opening lap, leaving him plum last to the tune of a quarter of a lap – from where, demonstrating his indefatigable spirit and never-say-die determination, he battled his way superbly back to 12th at the chequered flag. Disappointed he might have been by the results, but there was no denying Jay was right on the front-running pace – and tenth on the grid for a pre-final that would sadly and swiftly go awry.
“I made up a couple of positions at the start, but then into the first turn a driver ahead of me ran another one wide mid-corner,” recalled the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil. “I took advantage by going to pass both of them, only for someone to turn in on me. My kart went up in the air, and when I came back down again my side landed on the edge of the seat. I started coughing in my helmet and couldn’t breathe, so I had to stop and the circuit ambulance came out. All of my side and back was swollen and bruised, and I was in quite a lot of pain.”
Never once doubting that he would make the field for the all-important grand final later in the day, Jay would go on to take the start from a lowly 31st on the grid – and consequently with nothing to lose. Intelligently hanging back to begin with to try to avoid the inevitable opening lap accident at PF, unfortunately even that was not enough to prevent him from being helplessly sucked in.
“Into the first corner there was a massive crash, and I literally couldn’t do anything because the whole track – even the grass – was blocked by karts,” rued the Evolution Racing ace. “I had to go out really wide onto the grass, and I could still feel the pain in my back and my side slightly due to getting shunted about a bit, but as my kart got into its rhythm and the adrenaline kicked in it stopped hurting so much – even if I was dead last again and the best part of half a lap down.
“After I caught the pack back up, I managed to pick them off as I came through, passing several drivers a lap at times. I always enjoy fighting my way through, and I’ve got a lot of experience of it now too. I’ve always been pretty smart in traffic.“Towards the end I thought I wasn’t going to catch the two drivers battling over 11th place, but they were racing quite hard and on the last lap I was right with them going into the chicane. Into the complex I then pushed one of them up the inside of the other and just pushed him on a bit so he went out wide, to make sure that he couldn’t come back at me again into the next corner. I had been thinking about the move and lining it up since exiting the chicane...”
Artfully stealing two for the price of one, to make up no fewer than 20 places from where he had started in what is by common consent the toughest race of the year was a phenomenal achievement, and Jay was justifiably pleased with his efforts. The only disappointment, in the light of the fact that he set the fifth-quickest lap time along the way – and that whilst embroiled in fighting his way through traffic – was what might have been.
“We were just unlucky,” mused the Matrix-backed speed demon in conclusion. “I think I drove really well all weekend – it’s just that unfortunately it wasn’t reflected in the results. I had the pace to win...”
