He couldn’t so much as buy a break back at the beginning of the season, such was his ill-fortune, but James Singleton has incontrovertibly been making his own luck of late – and a magnificent triumph in the Rowrah ‘O’ Plate meeting means he is very much the driver in-form in the Junior Max class as the 2011 campaign races towards its midway stage.
Having thoroughly dominated proceedings to claim a sublime double victory in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship at Three Sisters near Wigan just a week earlier, James headed to the challenging Cumbrian circuit of Rowrah in optimistic mood – eager to lay claim to one of the most coveted trophies on the British karting calendar as well as to get some timely practice in ahead of the resumption of hostilities in the fiercely-fought national Super 1 Series around the same track a week later still.
“We wanted to win the ‘O’ Plate, obviously, but it was also a good testing opportunity and warm-up for Super 1,” explained the talented young North Wales speed demon. “After doing the double in FKS, we knew the kart was in good form and that we had the motors to win. I love Rowrah – it’s more of a drivers’ circuit than a power circuit, and definitely one of my favourites. There were some good drivers there which made it pretty tough, but we were feeling confident.”
With his Coles Racing kart performing well in the dry and even better in the wet, a damp qualifying session enabled James to ease to a comfortable pole position for both of his heat races, more than a third of a second clear of any of his 24 pursuers – a margin that he confessed left him somewhat surprised, even if he knew after practice that he had a slight edge.
With the weather changing and the track beginning to dry out ahead of the heats, though, the Conwy-based hotshot admitted that there was ‘a bit of a panic’ to alter his kart’s set-up in time – but as the first of them progressed, that would transpire to be the least of his concerns.
“I established a good, solid lead and just focussed on pulling away,” he recounted. “The kart kept on getting better and better, but then with only three laps to go, my back bumper began trailing on the ground and I got shown the mechanical flag, which meant I had to come in and get it fixed. I think it just hadn’t been fitted on properly and had come loose.
“That dropped me from first down to 16th, which was obviously a big setback because we knew then we would be further back on the grid for the finals – but we still had the second heat to go and I was starting from pole again, so I just concentrated on keeping my head.”
In the second encounter, James was indeed quick to make amends, speeding away to a textbook triumph to cement his outstanding raw pace with a solid result. That also secured the Penmaenmawr ace sixth spot on the grid for the pre-final, and when he woke up the next morning to see that the heavens had opened with a vengeance, he rubbed his hands in glee.
“Unfortunately, someone tapped me from behind at the start and spun me round,” he related. “I got stuck in the gravel, so I had to get out of my kart and drag it out – and that cost me quite a bit of time and left me half-a-lap down. I was just completely focussed on getting going again as quickly as I could and making back as many places as I could ahead of the grand final – though I didn’t expect to come through as far as we did!
“We were such a long way behind after the first lap that I thought we might get to about 18th if we were lucky, but I had a lot of confidence with the kart performing as well as it was, so I was able to make the overtaking moves that I wanted.”
Scything his way through the field like the proverbial hot knife through butter and all-but driving the wheels off his kart, James stormed to an incredible seventh place at the chequered flag, setting the race’s fastest lap by quite some margin along the way. What’s more, from that same starting position for the all-important grand final, despite the rain having abated and the circuit having dried out, he knew he could do something special.
“I immediately moved into fourth going into the chicane for the first time, and then I gained another place to third when someone ahead spun on the exit and we all had to avoid him,” recalled the Ysgol Aberconwy pupil. “As the kart came on, I closed in on the front two, and I passed them pretty much as soon as I caught them.
“After that, I just tried to keep my head, but then about two-thirds of the way through, someone had gone off at the first hairpin and brought water onto the track upon rejoining. When I braked, I hit the water, lost the back end of the kart and shot straight across the grass, which dropped me to second. I stayed behind the new leader for the next lap in case the water was still there, and then got him back going into the second hairpin.
“I knew I had to push hard to break away from him again as quickly as I could, because my team-mate was coming along quite fast in third, too, and I didn’t want to have to defend on the last lap or allow it to turn into a big battle. We were just ecstatic when the chequered flag came down – it was the first plate I’ve ever won.”
A truly stylish and thoroughly well-deserved victory for the weekend’s standout performer, with three national-level triumphs in swift succession to his name, James is clearly eager to keep that imperious run going as he turns his attentions towards Super 1, what he dubs ‘the big one’. Overdue a change of fortunes in the series following a torrid run of luck thus far in 2011, the 15-year-old is on fire right now – and fired-up in the extreme.
“Everything seems to be going well at the moment,” he mused in conclusion. “Winning the ‘O’ Plate has definitely been a confidence boost, and we know what the best set-up is at Rowrah now and that the kart should be good – and if we can win there again in Super 1, we might just be able to drag ourselves back into the running for the British Championship, too.”
James is seeking sponsors to help support him in 2011; 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
