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He has scarcely been off the podium of late following a stunning mid-season run in 2011, and James Singleton maintained that momentum in the latest round of the fiercely-contested national Super 1 Series at Buckmore Park to claim a brace of third-place finishes – in so doing, moving up into the same position in the British Championship standings.

James arrived at Buckmore sitting fifth in the title chase, with his hopes of clinching the crown having been badly hit by an appalling run of ill-fortune in the opening two Super 1 meetings earlier on in the campaign. What’s more, the fearsomely-fast Kent circuit had rarely been kind to him in the past, leaving him somewhat apprehensive about his prospects heading into the weekend.

“I was mainly aiming to just score some good points, and maybe a couple of top five finishes,” mused the highly-rated North Wales karting star. “Buckmore is a very tough and physical circuit to drive, especially when it’s hot; that makes it really hard to hold onto the kart, particularly in finals that are more than 15 minutes long like they are in Super 1.

“We weren’t overly confident given the luck we’d had there in the past; in 2009, we had been black-flagged and last year we never had the kart set-up properly all weekend, which meant we didn’t have the pace. We hadn’t been that quick in the dry there the previous weekend, either.”

Be that as it may, what James modestly fails to mention is that when the heavens had opened ahead of the final a week earlier, he had gone on to win – and if he had been dogged by bad luck at Buckmore on his two previous Super 1 appearances there, then happily, this time around he would make it third time lucky.

Second place his qualifying session – in a 51-strong Junior Max class field, composed of the indisputable crème de la crème of young British driving talent at that level – exceeded James’ initial expectations, leaving the Conwy-based speed demon feeling ‘a lot more confident’ going into his two heat races. Unfortunately, that also put him on the unenviable outside line of the grid for the first of them.

“We just never managed to get in at the start, and I ended up dropping back to about fifth,” he recounted. “I recovered to third, but by then the two leaders had pulled away. The driver behind then lunged me into the second hairpin and someone else followed him through, but the more the race went on, I could just feel the kart getting better-and-better and we were able to reclaim third by the end.”

A solid result indeed, with his Coles Racing mount improving consistently as the weekend progressed, the Penmaenmawr hotshot began heat two from pole position – but after initially retaining that advantage when the lights went out, he soon found himself embroiled in a fraught six-way dogfight, running as low as fourth for a couple of laps.

Timing it to absolute perfection to snatch the lead back again, James and another driver broke clear with a third of the race to go, leaving their pursuers to scrap energetically in their wake and slow each other down in the process. Thereafter, he artfully controlled the pressure from behind to seal a very mature victory and with it, P3 on the grid for the first of the two all-important finals.

“It all came together at the right time,” he reflected of his second heat success. “In the closing stages, Jack Aitken was beginning to fade, so I knew I had to pass him straightaway to make sure I didn’t get dragged back into the pack again, and after I had regained the lead, I just focussed on defending. Luckily, the drivers battling over third all started tripping over each other, and I managed to open up a tiny gap back to Aitken and went on to win.

“In the first final, we knew Jack Barlow and Nathan Harrison who were starting ahead had a touch more pace than us, so we decided it was better to just go for the points and not risk doing anything stupid. I got into second at the start, but as we had anticipated, I wasn’t able to hang onto Barlow and then after Nathan came past me, he just had the edge and crept slowly away by about a kart-length a lap. We were still happy with third, though; it was really good points, and it meant we were starting on the inside again for the second final.”

With the front-running trio in a veritable league of their own, the second final would turn out to be almost a carbon-copy of the first, only this time James clung grittily onto P2 for a few laps longer before wisely deeming that to force the issue would likely only end in tears.

“I got into second place again at the start and we managed to hang onto Barlow for a while, but then Nathan came past me like in the first final and slowly the two of them just began inching away,” recounted the Ysgol Aberconwy pupil. “At that point, I knew it would be best to settle for third again. It was more decent points in the bag, so we were happy with that. I knew if I had tried to get second it would have ended up in a fight and the drivers behind might have caught us up, so it was better to play safe.”

Another podium finish – his fourth from the last six Super 1 outings, including a brace of triumphs – and another trophy to accompany it, the result vaulted James from fifth in the points table to third, and whilst the top two are now arguably out-of-reach following his early-season misfortune, at Buckmore Park, he ably proved that he has the speed to take the fight right to them out on the racetrack...not to mention to beat everybody else in the field.

“Things really seem to be picking up in the second part of the season,” the 15-year-old pondered in conclusion, before adding with a steely gaze: “We’re on it now!”

James is seeking sponsors to help support his burgeoning career; 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