Fresh off the back of posting his best result of 2011 to-date with a superb fifth place from some way down the starting grid at PF International, exciting young Rotherham karting star Luke Whitworth has warned his rivals that he now ‘feels good going into every weekend’.

Less than a year ago and having not long taken his first tentative steps in the motorsport world, Luke was visibly timid and reticent on-track, and easily bullied out of his position – fast forward 12 months, and it is now he who is taking no prisoners and increasingly showing the way to esteemed adversaries with infinitely more experience under their belts.

The Wickersley-based speed demon travelled to PF buoyed by a brilliant showing the previous time out at Whilton Mill, and preparing to pit himself against 29 Junior Rotax class rivals of national calibre in the latest round of the Lincolnshire circuit’s Winter Series. Given that, like Whilton, PF will also feature on the calendar for the Super 1 Series this year, it represented another good opportunity for a warm-up and to gauge his relative pace ahead of his debut in the fiercely-contested British Championship next month.

“Whilton Mill had been a really good confidence boost, and heading to PF, my mechanic and I were really fired-up and ready to give it some!” Luke recalled. “I’d never really been that fast at PF in the past; it was just a combination of things, I think, losing out a bit everywhere around the lap. I just need more time in the seat round there to get everything right, and people say that if you’re quick at PF, you’ll be quick everywhere.

“With it being one of the best tracks in the country, PF does tend to attract strong grids, too. There were a lot of Super 1 drivers there, so it was a good chance to measure myself against them again.”

That it was, but in his heat races, the 16-year-old unfortunately got off to a disastrous start when he suffered a spark plug failure before the opening encounter had even got underway. That left him needing to notch up a brace of solid top ten results in the remaining two heats to ensure himself of a decent grid spot for the all-important final, but a coming-together in one of them meant the pressure was really on in heat three.

Luke knew what he had to do, though, and from 23rd on the grid, he made an outstanding start to vault immediately into the top ten, and from thereon in he pushed throughout and made startling progress, betraying not so much as a hint of hesitation in his overtaking and blasting straight past his fellow competitors no sooner had he come up behind them.

Taking the chequered flag sixth, less than 2.5 seconds adrift of the winner, a fastest lap time better than all five drivers who finished ahead of him demonstrated that the Wickersley School and Sports College pupil had the speed to challenge right up at the sharp end – and from 19th on the grid for the final, he knew that he would need it, too.

“At Whilton, we had started further back than that and got up towards the front, so we knew we could do it,” he confidently asserted. “I just had to keep pushing, and the kart felt good again and the engine was on-form. I got a good start and got up to the mid-pack on the first lap, and after that I had the pace to catch the guys in front. Every time I came up behind someone, I had the confidence in the kart and the engine to attack straightaway. Towards the end, there was a group of five karts ahead of me and I just slowly reeled them in.”

Crossing the finish line a magnificent fifth – the result he had been cruelly denied when he had been taken out on the last lap at Whilton Mill – the outcome was indeed poetic justice and sweet payback for the paddock’s most improved driver, and the fastest lap of anyone in the race up against the cream of the Super 1 crop was hugely encouraging and went to show what might have been but for his misfortune in the heats.

Winding up less than three seconds behind the winner at the close, Luke could arguably have challenged for victory had he only started further up the order, and for the podium beyond doubt. It is all building up nicely.

“I was happy with fifth,” the Yorkshire ace reflected in conclusion. “It was another big confidence boost. Super 1 is the big test for me this year, and I’m aiming for a top 15 championship finish to get a seeded number – but I feel good going into every weekend now.”