James Singleton is fast marking himself out as a British title favourite in 2011, after making it two triumphs in quick succession in his latest karting outing at PF International – as despite finding himself battered around from pillar-to-post during his heat races, the highly-rated young North Wales star brilliantly rose above it all to battle his way to glory in a fiercely-contested field.
Having begun his winter campaign in fine style with victory at Whilton Mill a fortnight earlier – what he conceded was a big result indeed – James travelled to PF bidding to build upon that success and keep the momentum going in preparation for coming out-of-the-blocks fighting next year.
“Whilton had been a confidence boost, because it was my first win in Junior Max,” the Conwy-based speed demon explained. “That took a bit of pressure off my shoulders and meant I felt a lot more relaxed going to PF. We got the set-up spot-on in practice following a few little tweaks and we were three tenths up on anyone in the dry, so I knew we had a pretty good chance if the weather stayed like that.”
The trouble was, with the Lincolnshire circuit’s first two corners notorious for being accident-magnets and a sizeable and high-calibre grid of some 40 competitors – composed of experienced Junior Max contenders like James and graduates from the less powerful Mini Max class, as the Penmaenmawr hotshot had been this time last year – all the ingredients were in-place to constitute a recipe for disaster. As the Ysgol Aberconwy pupil would find out to his cost in a frustrating opening heat on a damp track...
“I got a pretty good start from fourth into third, and then I was almost through the first corner when someone just ploughed straight into the back of me,” he recounted. “That left me dead-last and with a bent track rod which meant I couldn’t turn into corners properly – especially the two hairpins – and I struggled to recover. We finished 19th and we were a bit annoyed and disheartened by that, but the track was slowly drying out and we knew we still had the pace.
“The second heat was a lot better. I started 25th and came out of the first corner in tenth, and then just progressed from there. We were really fast, but as there was only one dry line emerging, it was pretty much single-file and trying to overtake was really tough because you had to go off onto the wet part of the circuit to do so. I was really pleased to finish fourth in the circumstances.”
The third-quickest lap time further underlined James’ potential as he scythed his way impressively up through the order, but then the 14-year-old went on to begin his third heat from the very middle of the pack – danger territory indeed...
“We knew we were right in the mix where it all tends to happen at the start,” he confessed. “I got away well and made up about five places initially on the outside, but then when I went to pull across to the inside to take the first corner someone clipped my rear bumper and just spun me round, which left me dead-last again.
“As it was completely dry by then, we were pretty quick and were able to come through better than we had done in heat one when it had still been wet. Unfortunately, the front half of the field had already got away, but we knew we had the pace for the final, so it was just a case of whether we could get around the first corner...”
Quite comfortably setting the race’s fastest lap – a far more representative yardstick of his true form than was his 15th-place finish – James began the all-important final from 13th, and happily if somewhat ironically, it was practically the first time all day that he was not unlucky. And crucially, he did make it around the first corner.
“I got a really good start up into sixth, and then as the race went on we just got faster-and-faster-and-faster,” he reflected. “After a while I saw the leader was starting to open up a bit of a gap at the front, and I knew then that I was going to have to come through pretty quickly if I was going to win. By lap five, I was into second, and with about four laps to go I started closing the gap – he had a two-second advantage at that stage, and I just chased him down.
“I was really quick at the end, and his kart seemed to go off just as mine came on. I knew he would defend really hard on the last lap, so I decided to attack on the penultimate lap instead. Going into the first hairpin I was a little way behind, but I just dived down the inside and luckily it paid off; he came back at me into the second hairpin and then again into the chicane, but I defended well and was able to stave him off. I was really happy to win, and I think I proved a bit of a point as well.”
Another fastest lap was merely the cherry on top of a superb result, and one that not only demonstrated that James Singleton is a firmly-established British front-runner at Junior Max level heading into 2011 – but also sent out a warning to his experienced and less-experienced rivals alike that the Coles Racing ace will be a force to be reckoned with next year indeed.
“We are used to the power now in Junior Max and how aggressive the racing can be, and we know what to expect a lot better than we did 12 months ago, too,” he concluded. “We’ll be ready for whatever happens.”
James is seeking sponsors to help support him next year; if you are interested in backing North Wales’ brightest young F1 hope, please contact his father Mark on 07795 297350 or at: gwyneddforklifts@ukf.net
