Easter weekend at Rowrah saw the 2010 Formula Kart Stars Championship get underway by staging a double headed meeting. Friday's practice showed Ash to be consistently quick, his kart performing flawlessly and well on the pace.

Saturday and Round 1. Ash was quick to stamp his intent right from the off. In Qualifying and the heats Ash started on pole, and that's where he stayed. Winning Heat 1 by a margin of 4.8 seconds and Heat 2 by 2.28 seconds from the second place man and P1 Karting stable mate Fraser O'Brien.

Leading the way from pole position

The convincing wins Ash had demonstrated in both the Qualifying and the Heats put him on Pole for the start of the A Final. Josh Parker alongside on P2, with Charlie Streather on P3 and Fraser O'Brien on P4. Ash was able to take a clean start again pushing on right from the off. Ash's relentless pace averaged out at .5 of a second per lap on the other 26 competitors who were left reeling in his wake. Ash took the finish line a full 10.69 seconds ahead of the second place man, an overwhelming victory to claim round one of Formula Kart Stars.


Sunday Round 2, buoyed up by his performance of the previous day Ash was more than ready to do the business. This was pretty much a re-run of the previous days performance. Ash was showing a ballistic performance.

The second heat Ash comfortably took the chequered flag in first place, however a subsequent technical infringement stripped him of the win. As a consequence Ash's start position for the A Final was going to be 24th of a field of 26, disastrous result after all the hard work Ash and the team had put in.

Brendan Ash's dad said " I spoke to Ash just before the final and said sorry mate all that hard work you have put in. It doesn't look like today is going your way." Ash replied " Don't worry dad. I'm going to come from the back all the way to the front - this one is mine." I thought to myself this is a tough ask - but he seemed pretty determined to vindicate himself particularly in view of the previous heat.

The start came and Ash was off like a man possessed - by the end of lap 1 he had already made up 12 places into 12th - From Lap 2 he relentless picked off the opposition one by one with the ruthless efficiency and consistency of a mchine. The trackside commentator almost having difficulty to keep up with the action and probably going for a lay down in a dark room afterwards. By lap 14 of the 17 lap race Ash had taken the lead from a battling Jacob Huntstone. The next 3 laps was a little nip and tuck but Ash was able to take the finish line by .8 of a second.

 Ash on a mission

When asked in interview "At what stage of the race did you know you were on for the win", Ash replied "Lap 3" - This surely will be one of the memorable drives of the Championship, going a long way to silence any critics. Brendan said " Red mist or pure determination, not sure which - To sum up in two words ‘Gob Smacking'.

Ash on the top step for the second time in two days

Read the full FKS report on Round 1 here

Read the full FKS report on Round 2 here

Images courtesy Chris Walker (kartpix.net)

He had never driven a single-seater before, indeed never so much as set foot inside a racing car at all – but still that didn’t prevent Ash Hand from turning heads on a hugely impressive test outing at Bedford Autodrome, with assessors left waxing lyrical about the young Nuneaton star’s ‘fantastic’ performance, ‘exceptional’ speed and ‘great potential’.

Ash was one of five leading contenders from the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars (FKS) British Championship to be invited to Bedford for a special shoot-out, the winner of which would receive a £10,000 bursary towards a season’s competition in the Formula Palmer Audi (FPA) junior single-seater series. The 15-year-old earned his place for having thoroughly dominated the second round on the 2009 FKS calendar at Kimbolton, brilliantly triumphing by nigh-on five seconds – a near eternity in karting terms.

Ash gets ready to take to the circuit, first time out in a single seater

“I found out I was going the week beforehand,” he revealed. “I was really excited about it, though I didn’t really know what to expect, which meant I wasn’t too nervous until it got to the point of actually getting in the car. I didn’t have any idea how hard it was likely to be – though I knew it would be tough to get through to the final three, and that if I was going to do that I would need to push.”