Jay Goodwin illustrated just how far he has come during the course of his ‘rookie’ campaign at Junior Rotax level in 2011 in the penultimate outing of the fiercely-contested Super 1 Series – by tallying his best national result of the season to-date at PF International.

Jay headed to the popular Lincolnshire circuit buoyed by his form there a week earlier – when he had fairly scythed his way up through the order from 23rd on the starting grid to a superb podium finish at the chequered flag – but equally well aware that he had been dogged by ill-fortune at practically every turn of the Super 1 wheel. Happily, this time around, Lady Luck would belatedly deign to smile upon him.

“I was optimistic going into the weekend, because I know I’m fast round PF,” affirmed the highly-rated Sale-based karting star, “and my club meeting performance there had been a real boost. The goal was definitely to come away with a top ten. We haven’t had the easiest time of things in Super 1 this year for various reasons, and the best finish we’d had before PF had been seventh at Rowrah back in June – so that just made me even more determined to get a result.”

Competing in the most aggressive class of all, Jay has progressed very well – and it is evident that despite being younger and smaller than the majority of his rivals at just 14, having overcome the inevitable learning pains, he now feels far more confident and comfortable up against them.

Lining up 21st in qualifying out of the 49 contenders – the veritable crème de la crème of Junior Rotax talent in Britain – the Strawberry Racing speed demon’s position masked the fact that he was a mere two tenths of a second adrift of the benchmark. If he confessed to being a touch ‘disappointed’ to find himself so far down the field, still he maturely mused that ‘you can’t win them all’ and set about rebounding in his two heat races.

“The first heat was dry,” he recounted. “I got a good start, and then there were lots of people fighting with each other, which enabled me to make my way forward. By the time I got into fourth, I was in no-man’s-land, really, with a big gap to the group in front and nobody that close behind me, either – and that was where I stayed all the way to the end.

“The second heat in the wet was pretty eventful, with lots of drivers spinning, but I only made one small mistake, which I was quite pleased about. I was on new wet tyres, too, which are about a second-a-lap slower than scrubbed ones, and it was so slippery that simply keeping it on the track was a challenge in itself at times!”

Justifiably proud of his effort in treacherous conditions, Jay’s brace of fourth places – lapping two tenths of a second faster than the winner in the dry – secured the Ashton-upon-Mersey hotshot an excellent third position on the grid for the first of the two all-important finals. His best starting spot of the year, the goalposts shifted accordingly, with the top five now the target rather than merely the top ten. He would accomplish that revised objective in style.

“At the start, I moved straight up to second,” he recalled. “I stayed there for a little while until James Singleton passed me, after which I followed him and then overtook him back a few laps later – but unfortunately, I messed it up a bit.

“I got the move made into the second hairpin and tried to slow James down on the exit, but I didn’t realise there was anyone else right behind and a couple of other drivers were able to pass us both. That left me fourth, and then James overtook me again to push me down to fifth but I got him back on the penultimate lap to reclaim fourth. I was really pleased with that.

“In the second final, unfortunately, I couldn’t get across to the inside at the start, which caused me to drop down to seventh, and I stayed around there for most of the race, in a close battle over sixth. I then went for a move on the penultimate lap, but the driver ahead just turned in on me...”

Lapping competitively on both occasions and winding up barely a second shy of victory in the opening final, notwithstanding the understandable frustration of failing to finish the other, Jay’s scintillating raw pace and racing prowess over the weekend certainly made his adversaries sit up and take note. With one outing remaining on Super 1’s 2011 schedule – and around his home circuit of Three Sisters near Wigan, to-boot – the J Davidson Scrap Metal Processors-backed ace is palpably eager to prove that PF was no flash-in-the-pan.

“Despite the disappointing ending, our speed was really good again,” he concluded. “That was the main thing, and we could easily have come away with two top six finishes had things only gone our way. It was definitely our strongest weekend of the year in Super 1 – and I’m confident we can keep this form going.”