..celebrating his 15th birthday in fine style barely a fortnight on from his breakthrough major victory in the sport.

Off the back of a superb and confidence-boosting showing to fairly obliterate the opposition in the 2009 Formula Kart Stars (FKS) curtain-raiser at Kimbolton – taking the spoils in a series that has the prestigious official backing of no less than reigning Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton and the top flight’s ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone – Ash travelled to Rowrah in the Lake District in buoyant spirits, but knowing he didn’t boast a great record around the demanding Cumbrian circuit, with an unlucky 13th-place finish to his name in FKS in 2008. He was well aware he would be in for a challenging weekend.

“I expected it to be harder at Super 1,” explained the P1 Racing ace,  “because the competition is a little bit tougher.

I knew it was going to be a really difficult weekend, but I was aiming for a top three.

“I like the track. We’ve done a lot of testing round there, and it’s really good to drive. It’s a proper drivers’ circuit, and quite different to a lot of others in the country. It’s really flowing, and one of those tracks where if you lose your head a bit or lose concentration just for a couple of corners you will lose half a second – you really have to remain focussed all the time.

Indeed, second place out of the 45 competitors was an extremely encouraging start, barely eight hundredths adrift of the top spot in exalted company of the calibre of such as second-year Junior Max driver Ed Brand and regular front-runner Matthew Parry. The heavens opened ahead of the first heat, however, and Ash’s complete lack of experience in such conditions on the new surface at Rowrah – requiring entirely different lines – set him at an instant disadvantage and left him ruing afterwards that he had been ‘pretty much out-of-control everywhere and just hoping for the best!’

All things considered, third place at the close was an excellent result, but a knock on the opening tour of heat two sent the George Eliot School pupil all the way down to the bottom of the 22-strong pack and left him with much work to do. Fastest lap would be little consolation, and only went to show what might have been.

“Shortly after the start the driver in second literally turned straight into the side of me,” he recounted, “which dropped me down to dead last. It was really good fun making so many late lunges and having to go so hard into the corners as I fought my way back up again – at times I was coming through like they weren’t even there – and I got back up to 11th at the end.

“I started in the same position for the pre-final, and I think my first lap was the worst first lap possible – I was up to eighth going into the first corner, but then coming out of the last corner at the end of the lap I was down in 20th. I just left the door slightly open and everyone dived past me. My pace was really good on the way back up again, though.”

Ninth spot at the chequered flag – with the second-fastest lap to his credit this time, scarcely a tenth shy of the best of the race – meant that if he wanted to stand atop the rostrum at the end of the all-important grand final later on, Ash would have to produce the drive of his life. Not only that, but sitting seven places behind pole-sitter Parry on the grid, he faced ceding crucial extra ground in the title chase to his rival too. The pressure was on.

“I knew I was going to have to do something pretty special to work my way up to the front,” he acknowledged, “and I knew I had to beat Matt or he would pull further ahead in the championship, so there was certainly pressure from that point-of-view because he had already pulled out six points on me in the pre-final. I went into the first corner really, really hard, came out of it in fifth and just really pushed from there.

“I got up to third pretty easily, and I was then chasing Matt for second and got past him up the inside on the kerb into the first hairpin. There was then a massive gap ahead to Billy Albone in the lead, and I knew he would be hard to catch because all weekend he had been only one or two tenths off me. I did manage to catch him, though, and we battled for four or five laps before I went in hard to one of the corners, forced him out wide and was able to make a bit of a gap and just drive away. 

“I was really confident from that point onwards and was so happy to win; going into the race I’d thought it would be hard even to finish on the podium! I think I was even happier to win in Super 1 than I had been to win in FKS, given the strength of the other drivers in the championship. I think I earned a lot of respect for my performance.”

The best part of three seconds to the good as he crossed the finish line, fastest lap again merely served to underline the Maple Park teenager’s dominance. Rated as one to watch back at the start of the year, he is continuing to live up to his word of being a genuine contender for glory in both Super 1 and FKS in 2009, and now sitting second in the former and third in the latter, he heads to Buckmore Park for the next Super 1 outing firmly focussed on maintaining his recent unblemished tally.

“I’ve only raced there once before,” he concluded, “and I was ill then so I didn’t really get a proper feel for the track. It seems quite fun to drive, though, and with the long finals my fitness should play in my favour too. Hopefully I can keep up my winning record. It’s going to be a really tough year with such a high overall standard of drivers in Junior Max, but I’m confident I can do it.”

To keep up-to-date with all of Ash and P1 Racing’s latest news and results, please visit: www.p1r.co.uk