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Young Bradford karting star Jack Hawksworth is ready to kick-start his 2009 campaign into gear by jetting off across the Pond to compete in America for the first time – and he wants to return, he makes it clear, with the winner’s trophy.

After an extremely promising 2008 season with PDB Racing in Europe, Jack was snapped up by the crack Energy Corse squad for this year, the leading Italian outfit recognising the former British ICC Vice-Champion, Junior Max European Champion and Junior Max Vice-World Champion as one of the very best talents not only in Britain but indeed internationally as well.

Having enjoyed limited testing time due to adverse weather conditions since inking his new deal, the 18-year-old will make his racing bow with Energy in the first meeting on the Florida Winter Tour calendar, on a temporary circuit inside the Miami-Homestead Speedway, home to both the US’ premier single-seater IndyCar Series as well as stock car competition in the form of NASCAR. It will, Jack acknowledges, be something of a journey into the unknown.

“I had an inkling at the end of December,” he revealed of his transatlantic trip, “when the team told me there was a good chance I was going to go – then they said it was off, and then it was back on again!

“It will be the first time I’ve ever been to America, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m really excited – I can’t wait to be honest! Because I’ve never been out there before, it’s very much a new experience for me and I’m just keen to see what the racing is like.

“I know the competition generally isn’t as strong as it is over here in Europe, but there are still going to be some good drivers there – and it’s a really big opportunity to get my name out in the States and hopefully get off to a good start to the season.

“It will be my first proper meeting with the team, too. I’ve not been out there over the winter to do any testing, because they had really heavy snow in the north of Italy where Energy are based.

“From what I’ve tested in the UK at Rowrah, though, my first impressions of the chassis are very good, and the entire team set-up appears to be extremely professional. I’ve got a very positive feeling from the whole thing and am really confident for the season.”

Jack’s season schedule is certainly shaping up to be a busy one, with entries into no fewer than four major international series’ – but his principal focus, he insists, is to make amends for a 2008 campaign in which the prestigious CIK-FIA European Championship KZ2 laurels were there for the taking and ultimately slipped through his fingers due to a combination of other drivers’ over-aggression and sheer misfortune.

“We’ve got to do what we should have done last year,” he stressed, “which is to win the European Championship. I want to get as many victories as possible there, and in the German Championship, World Championship and WSK International Series too. If we can get consistently good results throughout the year, hopefully that should leave us well-placed in the title battles.”