On Saturday 16th Jan Ash attended at the Autosport International Show, which is held each year at the NEC to collect his Awards for the 2009 Formula Kart Stars Series and also the Super 1 series. The show is well attended each year by both motorsport participants and enthusiasts.

An appreciative crowd of karters saw Ash recieve his Bernie Ecclestone Driver of the day Award from none other than the current reigning F1 World Champion Jenson Button. The prize he and a number of other recipients walked away with was a fantastic expenses paid trip to be the guests of none other than Bernie Ecclestone himself at the 2010 F1 Grand Prix being held at Moza in Italy.

Ash receives his Driver of the day award from the reigning F1 World Champion Jenson Button

No champagne but giant party popper help the 2009 Formula Karts Stars Winners celebrate with a bang

Ash was also there to receive his award for an overall eleventh place finish in the 2009 Super One Championship.

Line up of the 2009 Super One Championship Winners

During the day a number of other events were held, Ash was priviliged to be among a number of karters who attended a racing Workshop hosted by David Brabham a member of the 2009 Le Mans winning team and youngest son of Jack Brabham who in 1966 was the only person ever to win the motor racing world championship whilst driving one of his own cars the Brabham-Repco, which also took the constructors championship.

Ash wins the final Round of Formula Kart Stars 2009

Ash started the Final of round 9 from P3. Behind the pole sitter Matt Parry and Ollie Varney, by the end of Lap 1 Ash had dropped a place to Lee Napolitano. Ollie Varney who started out on P2 suffered badly during the first lap dropping down to 7th place. By the start of Lap 2 it was Parry leading, Napolitano 2nd and Ash running in 3rd place. This is how the positions remained for the next 3 laps, on lap 5 Ash was able to take the opportunity to pass Napolitano and take 2nd. The race was now on to catch the Junior Karts Stars Championship winner Parry. The next 11 laps saw Ash slowly reigning Parry back in unitl Lap 17 when Ash was able to pass Parry who was allowed to run on his new race number of '1'. This was how the race positions remained until lap Lap 26 of the 27 lap race, a lunge by Parry put him briefly back into the lead, only to have it snatched back by Ash on the last lap. A sprint to the finish line saw Ash take the win by .03 of a second from the title holder Parry.

Ash said " Towards the end of the race it was a bit intense, but I was absolutley delighted to take the win. Matt had already won the championship and didn't need to race this last one, but without him on the track and going for it, it might have been seen as a hollow victory. Matt has however been superbly consistant throughout the championship - well done matey."