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Jay Goodwin returned to the track where he made both his national karting debut and stepped his career up a gear to a more powerful class during the summer – and he came away with his first trophy in the class by way of celebration.

The Sale-based star – who became the youngest driver ever to graduate to Mini Max when he did so just after his 11th birthday in June – overcame treacherous conditions at Three Sisters’ valley circuit near Wigan that saw the club champion end his challenge in the barriers and many drivers, Jay amongst them, helplessly aquaplane off in all directions.

In his last appearance at the venue until the annual Wigan Gold Cup next summer, the Ashton-upon-Mersey speed demon – a regular front-runner in BRDC Stars of Tomorrow, the same series that set no less than recently-crowned Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton on the fast track to glory – showed his older and more experienced rivals the way during dry practice to lay down a marker for what would prove to be a rather wetter race day, when he pulled back the curtains to see the heavens had opened with a vengeance…

“I was aiming really just to have a good time there for the last time in a while,” Jay related, “and come the end of Saturday we were confident of getting a top five finish. It was the place I had driven my first Mini Max race, when I had been running up in third in the final until my lack of experience caused me to out-brake myself at the end of the straight.

“I was a bit down in the dumps when I woke up and saw it was raining. We had been quicker than anyone in the dry, but my main rival James Tunnicliffe is really fast in the wet, so the conditions played into his favour more than mine. Worse still, we had spent all day Saturday perfecting the set-up, and that obviously all went to waste. We all went out for three-lap practice, following which I had to tell my mechanics what was good and what felt wrong with the kart. That was really hard given my age and relative lack of experience.”

Nonetheless, eleventh on the 25-strong grid for his opening heat was converted into a strong fourth place at the chequered flag, whilst a second mid-grid starting slot for heat two resulted in a first corner ‘off’ that left Jay plum last – and with much work to do.

“In the first heat the kart wasn’t up to the best of its abilities,” he explained, “but we still managed to make our way up to fourth, which was quite a good achievement and pretty encouraging in the circumstances. If it had been set-up better we could probably have won, but we sorted it out afterwards and by the second heat it was really quick.

“In heat two we came through the pack a bit at the first corner, but then at the second corner I couldn’t see because of all the spray and went over the grass and spun. I think a few other drivers did the same thing, and I rejoined dead last but fought my way back through to 12th in the end, which put me seventh on the grid for the final.

“The conditions were really bad. There was no dry line at all; you couldn’t drive round the track without being on a wet patch, so you really had to be careful to drive to the conditions. With 25 karts out on-track the visibility was terrible and at the start everyone’s wheels were spinning. It’s awful when you can’t see ahead of you and you’re scared someone in front is going to spin and you run the risk of hitting them and maybe even flipping over.”

That being so, the St Ambrose College pupil’s performance in the final – with a brace of off-piste moments losing him more than ten seconds and dropping him down as far as 11th position at one stage – was commendable indeed, as he retained both his nerve and composure to fight back through to fifth at the close.

His breakthrough Mini Max trophy may have been a while coming – following a lot of bad luck, a variety of kart problems and simply being in wrong place at wrong time – but it has certainly put Jay well-and-truly on the map as he eyes a 2009 title charge.

“I was aiming to finish inside the top five and get a trophy, which we did achieve,” he concluded. “I enjoyed the race and we were up in third at one point and catching second place, but then I hit a puddle at the hairpin because you just couldn’t see where they were. That sent me across the grass and messed my race up, because it left me down in seventh position.

“The club champion then went off into the barriers, though, and Jordan Houghton went off too so I ended up fifth. That earned me my first Mini Max trophy, which in one way I was really pleased about, but equally we had shown the pace and ability to finish second or maybe even win.

“I think because I’m so young and have only just come into the class and am running right up there with the more experienced guys, they are responding to that by trying to punt me off sometimes. Hopefully this result will help me to gain their respect a bit more.”

Photo by Chris Manison