Ryan Anderton might have been denied the kind of result he palpably deserved in the second round of the 2011 Super 1 Series at Shenington – but far more significantly, he proved that he has the talent and the pace to win at the highest level in the country.

Having been controversially excluded from the Super 1 curtain-raiser at PF International for something over which he had wielded absolutely no control, the highly-rated Somerset speed demon travelled to Shenington feeling fired-up in the extreme.

A fan of the ultra-fast Oxfordshire circuit – one around which it is difficult to break away from the pack due to the strength of the tow down the straights – he professed himself confident in the performance of both his chassis and his engine...and with Ryan driving superbly into the bargain, that combination proved to be sufficient to secure the coveted pole position in qualifying

“Since we were effectively out-of-contention for the championship after what had happened at PF, it didn’t really matter about having to score points,” he mused. “I just wanted to go out and try to win. It’s maximum attack every time now!

“I started the first heat from second on the grid and had a chance to go for the lead fairly early on; I decided to risk it and after I got to the front, I was able to make a break. That’s really hard to achieve around Shenington due to the tow, and you’ve got to hit every single apex if you don’t want to be caught. I was quite lucky that after I took the lead, the others started fighting behind me, but I still had to keep right on it all the way to the end – there was never any time to relax.”

Having similarly prevailed in his opening heat race at PF only to see the result cruelly taken away from him, this time, Ryan quipped, it was for keeps, revealing that ‘as soon as we got past parc fermé, my dad said, well that’s one step further than last time!’ A timely confidence boost to-boot, the Glastonbury-based hotshot would begin heat two from pole.

“I got knocked off at the start, which left me right down at the back and quite a long way behind the pack,” he recollected, “but I knew I had a lot of pace so I kept on pushing. I just had to keep my focus and try to recover as much ground as I could, and I was able to come all the way through.

“With two laps to go, I saw a little opening and went past the leader to go on to win. It was quite tough coming through, simply because there were so many fast drivers out there – but I was always confident we had the speed to be able to do it, and I was really pleased with the end result.”

Justifiably so, as to triumph in the extraordinary manner in which he did, Ryan had to battle his way past the very crème de la crème of young British driving talent at MSA Cadet level – fierce competition indeed. After scything his way magnificently right the way through the field, he entered the two finals in optimistic mood – albeit maturely vowing to remain level-headed.

Unfortunately, with both of his heats having taken place on Saturday, the 11-year-old found himself disadvantaged in comparison with a flurry of rivals whose second outing was on Sunday morning, meaning they went into the finals more immediately race-sharp and with tyres that were already warmed-up.

“In the first final I got a really bad start, but I fought my way back and got into the lead,” recalled the St. Dunstan’s Community School pupil. “Then I got put onto the grass and a load of drivers passed me again – it was such a yo-yo race all the way through, and really unpredictable. I don’t think I’d ever been in a race with so many potential winners before!

“With everyone able to stay in the tow of the driver ahead round Shenington, any one of the front pack could have won. All of the top guys had a lot of experience, too, which made for very hard racing – and if one driver came past, they would all draft past you with the tow and you would really lose out.”

In the circumstances, fifth place when he could feasibly have taken the chequered flag anywhere between first and 13th was a solid outcome, but still that could not mask Ryan’s disappointment, and he approached the second final eager to make amends.

In another distinctly feisty encounter characterised by several knocks and a supremely brave overtaking attempt right the way around the outside of Turn Two that narrowly failed to come off, the Fusion Motorsport star featured inside the top four most of the way through and – on the last lap – homed right in on the leading trio.

“I tried to get the switchback on all three of them into the last corner,” he recounts, “but I got squeezed so I backed out of it, and that allowed the driver behind me to try to go around my outside – and he just turned in and cut across my nose, which sent me all the way down to 13th. A podium was definitely on the cards, so that was pretty gutting – and if I’m honest, I reckon it robbed me of the chance to win.”

A bitter end to a race that had promised so much more, the result should not take the sheen off what was an otherwise superb weekend over the course of which Ryan had brilliantly proven himself as the class of the field on the national karting scene. Simply lacking the luck when it really mattered, his raw pace was nonetheless excellent throughout.

As he looks ahead now to the next meeting on the Super 1 calendar at Glan Y Gors in North Wales – where he has twice tasted victory in the past – the West Country ace knows he can head there encouraged by his burgeoning form...and determined to finish off the job that he started at Shenington.