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He had been threatening to achieve it for several weeks, so when he finally did mount the rostrum for the first time in the Mini Max class following a superb performance at Kimbolton, it was little wonder Jay Goodwin described it as the ‘best weekend he’s ever had in karting’.

The young Sale-based star only joined P1 Racing three months ago, but during that time he has made remarkable progress, from an inexperienced midfield runner lacking in confidence – to a driver full of self-belief and capable of mixing it with the very best in the country.

That being the case, hopes were high as he travelled to Kimbolton for his latest outing, and with the Cambridgeshire circuit also being the first stop on the 2009 BRDC Stars of Tomorrow schedule – in which Jay will be bidding to lift the same crown that a little over a decade ago was claimed by none other than current Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton – the warm-up, he acknowledged, was essential.

“There was a lot of competition there,” Jay explained, at 11 as much as five years younger than some of his rivals in the class, “including all the good local club drivers and Jody Fannin, who’s the favourite to win the British Championship this year and probably my biggest opponent.

“Going into the weekend I just wanted to be on the pace really, and in practice we were seven tenths quicker than anyone else. My mechanic had done a great job in setting the kart up well and the engine felt good too. After that we thought we could and should win.”

Indeed, Jay would prove to be fastest in both wet and dry conditions throughout the weekend, but sadly his luck did not quite emulate his blistering pace. Still, victory from fourth on the grid in the opening heat – having relentlessly hunted down and then passed long-time leader Callum Hardgrave with just four laps to go – was undeniably a strong start, and a best lap time more than half a second clear of any other competitor proved that the St Ambrose College pupil meant very serious business.

“It was really hard to keep motivated to chase him given just how far ahead he had got,” Jay admitted of the dogged and ultimately successful pursuit, “but I was just that focussed on getting every corner right and closing the gap. I knew I was catching him, and when I could see him ahead of me that was an extra spur. It felt brilliant to win, and it gave me a lot of confidence going into heat two.”

A knock on the rolling-up lap for his second race, however, damaged the bumper on his P1 mount and caused it to bog down out of the corners with the extra weight that resulted. Nonetheless – and despite the extra disadvantage of tyres that were not at their peak – in lapping at the same speed as the eventual winner, the Ashton-upon Mersey ace had fought his way valiantly back up into the top ten again in the 23-strong field when he was unceremoniously removed from the fray in a last lap coming-together.

“That was very disappointing,” he confessed, “but surprisingly I was still sixth on the grid for the final, and I was hoping to win from there given the pace we had shown in the heats. On the first lap, though, going into the second corner three karts went in side-by-side and the one in the middle came to a stop. I had nowhere to go except into the back of him, which dropped me down to ninth.

“As the race progressed, I made my way back up through the field to fourth really quickly and grabbed third on the last lap. It was a good result and it felt great to get my first Mini Max podium, but it wasn’t quite as good as it should have been because I should have been on the top step. If we hadn’t had the problem we had at the start – or the problems in heat two – I think we could have won; just two more laps and we would have won…”

Once again, Jay’s lap times bore his story out, with the fastest lap to his credit for the second time in three races, barely two tenths of a second shy of the track record in far-from-perfect conditions – and taking the chequered flag just a second adrift of the winner. He has a positive philosophy behind his success – and it is one that is clearly paying dividends.

“I never think the win is gone,” he urged, “because I never give up. I always just focus on trying my best and seeing how far I can get. It was very satisfying to prove my pace in both the wet and the dry. Since I’ve started training regularly it’s given me a lot more agility and awareness in race situations. I’ve got a lot more stamina when I’m racing, too, which is helping a lot.

“At the end of the weekend I was just really proud of myself – it was the best weekend I’ve ever had in karting. It gave me a lot of confidence and now I know that if we can finish every heat at Kimbolton inside the top five in Stars, we can get a podium at the very least – but I’ll be aiming to win.”

Photo by Chris Walker