Jay Goodwin may still have been looking for his first Junior Max trophy when he travelled to PF International in Lincolnshire, but the talented young Sale-based karting star made sure that he broke his duck in some style – by leaving again with his breakthrough victory in the class courtesy of a characteristically gritty performance.
Having graduated to the more powerful Junior Max level this year from Mini Max – in which he had already established himself as a British front-runner – Jay has gradually been finding his feet, and he headed to PF ready to pit himself against a 34-strong, high-calibre field composed of many of the leading lights from the fiercely-contested national Super 1 Series.
“It was quite an eventful weekend all-round,” quipped the Ashton-upon-Mersey hotshot. “It was definitely a tough grid, but I’ve been quick at PF in the past so I was aiming for a top ten finish – although I wasn’t expecting to come away with a win!
“We were fastest in practice, and I began the first heat 32nd and made a good start to move up to 20th. There was then unfortunately a coming-together and a wheel came off the kart directly ahead of me and bounced across the track. I had to avoid that, which dropped me down to 28th, but we had good pace and I was able to claw my way through to finish seventh.
“In the second heat I started fifth, but going into the first corner, I got pushed out wide and fell right down to the bottom of the field. I came back through to 11th in the end, but I had to really fight for it. I’ve always been good at that, though, and it was fun pulling off so many overtaking moves.”
With eye-catching raw pace – making a point of thanking his Strawberry Racing team for once again putting an excellent kart at his disposal – Jay crossed the finish line less than four seconds adrift of the winner, a sure sign of what might have been. Heat three, happily, would prove to be rather more straightforward – and successful.
“I started 15th and dropped a place round Turn One, but then going into the first hairpin, a lot of drivers stayed out wide and I just snuck up the inside and came out again in fourth, which was a really good gain,” the 14-year-old recounted. “Over the next couple of laps I passed the drivers in third and second, and then I pushed and pushed to try to catch the leader, but he was just out-of-reach.”
With the runner-up spot still a superb achievement from the middle of the pack, Jay went on to begin the all-important final from fifth, and feeling bullish about his prospects following his prowess during the heats.
“I was starting towards the front of the grid and on the inside line, so I was theoretically out of the danger zone,” explained the North Cestrian Grammar School pupil. “I still got a hit from behind going through the first corner, though, which sent me over the kerb and meant I had to lift off a bit, dropping me to seventh. I regained a place into the first hairpin and then worked away for the next three laps to get up to third.
“The two leaders had made a bit of a break by then, but I could see my mechanic on the pit wall willing me on to push and I worked together with another couple of drivers to try to catch them – and by the closing laps, we were right with them. The three of us then got into a bit of a battle over third and swapped places a few times, but I knew I had to keep my head and when the other two started fighting amongst themselves, I edged clear.
“As the race neared its end, the leaders began scrapping, too, and in the complex on the penultimate lap, they collided and I was able to thread my way through. When I came onto the start/finish straight to begin the last lap, I looked behind to see that I had quite a big gap. After that, I just tried to stay relaxed and concentrate on not making any mistakes. I can’t really explain how I felt when the chequered flag came down – it was just amazing! It was my first-ever trophy in Junior Max, and it made it even better that it was for a win!”
Up against such esteemed opposition, the triumph was indeed a significant boost, with Jay admitting that it has ‘given me a lot of confidence in myself’ as he sets his sights firmly on Kartmasters – targeting glory in the most prestigious outing on the British karting calendar – around the same circuit next month.
“I feel like I’m driving really well at the moment, and I think I’ve really improved since the start of the year, thanks to working with Strawberry and my mentor Mark Litchfield,” concluded the J Davidson Scrap Metal Processors-backed ace, indubitably a different driver now compared to last year.
Litchfield is a multiple British Champion, and one who knows PF like the back of his hand. To make his success even more impressive, Jay has yet to lap the track alongside him – meaning there is plenty more still to come. And judging by his pace en route to victory there at the weekend, that surely is enough to cause his rivals more than a few sleepless nights...
