Just like the seasoned veteran he most certainly is not, James Singleton spent a full eight laps artfully and indomitably staving off his rivals every effort to depose him in the grand final of the 2012 Super 1 Series at Three Sisters near Wiganand his reward was a richly-deserved breakthrough Senior Rotax class triumph in the hotly-contested British Championship.

In his rookie Senior Rotax campaign, Singleton had claimed his best finish yet of fifth place in the preceding Super 1 outing at Larkhall in Scotland. The gifted young North Wales karting star was targeting a similar result at Three Sisters, a track he knows well and one at which he has invariably excelled.

An outstanding qualifying performance placed the Gwynedd Forklifts-backed, Conwy-based speed demon a season-best second amongst the 33 contendersrepresenting the crme de la crme of British driving talent at Senior Rotax leveland his two subsequent heat races yielded a second and a third, as the leading three protagonists sprinted well clear of their pursuers. And that earned Singleton pole position for the pre-final.

I led the early laps, but then started making little mistakes and my defending wasnt fully up-to-scratch, he confessed. I slipped down to third as the two leaders opened up a slight gap. I wasnt quite able to stay with them in terms of pace, and I actually had to defend fairly hard against the drivers behind me at one stage. Towards the end, my kart came on really well and I began to catch the top two again, but by then, it was too late.

Less than three tenths of a second adrift of the winner at the chequered flag following a fierce scrap, third place nonetheless constituted the highly-rated Penmaenmawr hotshots best British Senior Rotax result to-date. It would not remain so for very long.

I was determined to learn from those errors ahead of the grand final, he underlined. I held station in third at the start, but we didnt have the pace we expected to begin with, which allowed the leaders to pull away a little and left me needing to defend my position again. For a while, it looked like being a repeat of the pre-final, but then when my kart came on, I reeled the two ahead of me in.

The driver in second made a move on the leader and I followed him through. I knew if I didnt attack for the lead pretty quickly after that, he would start defending, and next time around, I got a really good tow down the straight and was only half-a-kart-length behind heading into the hairpin. I braked as late as I daredit really was do-or-dieand I think he was caught a little bit unawares as he was forced to jink out of the way, and that was enough for me to get through.

There were eight laps remaining at that point and I had a big train of karts behind me; I knew if one came past so would several more, but equally, I also knew that if I defended well enough, it would be very difficult for them to overtake. I had the power where I needed it, and I was able to put my kart in all the right places.

I will admit, though, that towards the end of the race, the pressure was pretty intense, and when I came out of the last corner on the last lap, the relief was just incredible. Seeing the reaction of my team when I drove into the pits afterwards was amazing, toodefinitely a weekend to remember.

Well aware that his timing to take the lead had been crucial, the manner in which Singleton expertly fended off a swarm of more experienced and extremely high-calibre adversaries to prevail was magnificent to behold. With his advantage dipping to as little as three hundredths of a second at times and a frenetic pace raging at the front, the 16-year-old Coles Racing ace needed to be absolutely inch-perfect lap-after-lap, allowing no margin for error as no fewer than seven competitors breathed menacingly down his neck.

In evidence of just how close it was, the top eight flashed across the finish line blanketed by less than a second, but Singletons tremendous composure saw him hold on to defeat the very best in the country. It was, he acknowledged, something he could never have anticipated back at the beginning of the year.

Its the best win of my career so farand definitely the hardest-fought! reflected the MSA Academy member and reigning Formula Kart Stars Junior Rotax Champion, after moving up to eighth out of 40 in the title standings, just 12 markers shy of the top six. I had some pretty tense races in Junior Rotax, but this was something else.

I was up against what is probably one of the toughest fields in the world, and it was a massive confidence boost to beat so many drivers of such a high standard. Given my lack of experience still at Senior level, I was an underdog going into the weekend and I dont think anybody really expected us to winmyself includedbut we did it...

James is seeking sponsors to help support his burgeoning career; if you are interested in backing him, please contact his father Mark on 07795 297350 or at: gwyneddforklifts@ukf.net