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Hertfordshire karting star James Armitage may have raced abroad only once during his fledgling career prior to heading across the Pond to compete in Las Vegas, but that proved to be no barrier at all as the exciting youngster took the fight to the regulars on his stateside bow.

James is a regular front-runner in BRDC Stars of Tomorrow, the same series that first set none other than recently-crowned Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton on the fast track to the dizzy heights where he now finds himself – and it was his impressive performances in 2008 that earned the 11-year-old the opportunity to participate in the championship’s inaugural transatlantic trip.

Encouragingly, the only other time he had raced overseas – at Genk in Belgium in August – he had finished a superb second. Up against a 25-strong pack of US cadet regulars and despite having to cope with a demanding cocktail of lower grip levels, faster engines and searing, physically exhausting temperatures of approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the Bengeo ace rapidly showed that he had every intention of reprising that form on American soil.

“It was just brilliant,” he enthused. “I couldn’t believe I was going to Vegas! It was a complete step into the unknown for me, but my team-mate Charlie Robertson was there too and we both stayed in the same hotel which was a lot of fun. It was really good being together the whole time.

“The track was laid out in a car park with cones, which came as a bit of a shock! It was strange, because it changed every lap as the cones got knocked or blown around. It was in the middle of a NASCAR circuit too, so we could see all the cars going round that. The whole atmosphere was amazing; I never knew NASCAR tracks were as big as that, or as popular with the fans.

“It went quite well to begin with, but qualifying wasn’t so great and I ended up 13th on the grid after carburettor problems, behind the other two British drivers. I’ve only done actual timed qualifying once or twice before, so that was quite new to me.”

Be that as it may, James was certainly proving his mettle in unfamiliar surroundings, and with the front-running Top Kart team behind him he battled to strong fourth and fifth-placed finishes in his two heat races, on both occasions taking the chequered flag as leading British driver. Fifth position again in the pre-final earned the Simon Balle School pupil a third row starting spot for the all-important final – but that was where his luck would unfortunately run out.

“I was running in third and challenging for second place when I was hit from behind,” he recounted, “which sent me off the track and bent my kart. When the American drivers had come over to the UK we had bullied them quite a bit on-track, so I guess they were just getting their own back! There was one driver there who no one had been able to get near all weekend, and in the final I had been up with him until I was knocked off…

“It was still really good fun, though – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – and I’d like to say a big thank you to both Stars’ director Carolynn Hoy and clerk of the course Nigel Edwards for enabling me to go and for organising it all.”

Turning his attentions now to his upcoming challenge, having caught the attention of a number of observers with some stirring showings during his maiden national campaign in 2008, with the support of the crack Ultimate Motorsport squad James is fired-up to lay down some rubber and leave his rivals trailing in his wheeltracks in 2009.

“This year I want to win the British Championship,” the Ayrton Senna and Lewis Hamilton fan asserted. “There are a lot of strong competitors out there so it’s going to be tough, but we finished fourth in Super 1 and seventh in Stars in my first year of national racing last year, so I’m feeling confident.”

Photo by Chris Walker