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."

The weekends racing at Round 5 of the Mobil Super 1 Championship at Shenington was filled with incident for the P1 Racing team.

Ash had a good day on the Saturday and was well up on the pace, however on Sunday things started to go wrong. In the first of Sundays heats Ash's kart was not performing as it should have despite starting at P7 he struggled to bring the kart across the finish line in 11th. A few adjustments to the kart set up and in the Pre Final Ash's kart is looking a lot more competitive.The poor result in the preceeding heat put Ash at P9 for the start. By lap 6 he had moved up into 6th and then a three or four way tussle on the start finish straight ends up with Ash's kart being launched into the air, and deposited on the infield of the track. By the time he got going again Ash had lost a lot of places making it impossible for him to recover his race position in the amount of time left. As a result of the crash one of the side pods was severley bent out of place and he was flagged for a technical. A quick stop off at the pits straightened it out, but by the time Ash rejoined the race he was at the back with all hope of a decent grid position for the grand final gone.

Ash started the final near to the rear of the grid at P23 and soon started to make his way through the pack. Ash was fortunate in that he was able to avoid the mayhem in front of him resulting from the crash involving his team mate Elliott. A red flag brought the proceedings to a temporarye halt while Elliott recieved treatment and the track was cleared. The race was restarted and Ash went on an immediate charge relentlessly ploughing through the field to make up 14 places by the time the chequered flag went out.

On the up side however Ash had spent a fair bit of of Sunday with race champion Oliver Rowland who is currently preparing for the up coming KZ1 World Cup at Sarno this Saturday (6th October). Ash said " I was really pleased that he could spend time with me. I really learnt a lot by just talking with him. The tips he gave me did make a difference, It's just a shame I couldn't have put them into practice from somewhere near the front of the grid. I now know a little of what makes him the champion driver that he is and hope that all goes well for him this weekend."

Ash with kart star Olver Rowland