Having dominated the opening four rounds of the 2010 Formula Kart Stars Junior Rotax sponsored by Joe Bloggs class Ash Hand arrived at Glan Y Gors with a comfortable points lead over his nearest rival Jack Barlow.

As the season edged towards its half way mark another pair of victories for Hand would surely make catching him a still realistic but increasingly unlikely possibility. But the superbly crafted North Wales venue provided a totally different set of demands than Whilton Mill, which is Hand’s local track.

With its layout combining long straights, fast corners, plenty of elevation changes and some tight, technical complexes finding a winning set-up was a challenge in itself, especially as only a handful of the 27-strong field are regular race goers at the home of the Dragon Kart Club. In addition to that, Hand arrived at Glan Y Gors on a CRG chassis, having switched from his previously all-conquering Kosmic chassis just a couple of weeks previously.

Faced with the huge challenge of setting up a new kart on a relatively unknown circuit gave Hand’s rivals a rare glimpse of hope but despite plenty of hard work put in by Hand and his P1 Racing team, the days of Hand enjoying several tenths of a second per lap over his rivals appeared to be, temporarily at least, over.

Timed qualifying on a warm, sunny Saturday morning was the first order of the day with the majority of the field setting their best times in a frantic opening couple of minutes and for once it was a non P1 driver topping the charts with Hand back in eighth and Fraser O’Brien absent for this round.

Into the breach stepped one of the handful of drivers in the class who does possess an extensive knowledge of the track, former Dragon Masters winner Declan Jones. Taking just four laps to set a best time of 43.77-seconds aboard his Dave Smith Racing kart Jones outpaced Jack Barlow by one hundredth.

Barlow, like Hand, was on a different chassis to the one which he campaigned at Whilton Mill having moved from the Dan Holland/Alonso racing camp to Strawberry Racing/Tonykart. However with a more than a few similarities between the Alonso and the Tonykart Barlow was taking no time at all to acclimatise himself with his new surroundings and picked up exactly where he left off at Whilton Mill.

Another driver who recovered well from a disappointing weekend at Whilton was Vital Motorsports Josh Parker. From being Hand’s closest rival at Rowrah on the opening weekend of the season Parker slipped down the pecking order slightly at Whilton. But even though Parker was running without a graphics kit in an effort to shave a few more grams off the weight of the kart, he was still able to lap within eight hundredths of Jones.

Series returnee Chris Middlehurst was one of just half a dozen drivers to set their best time in the final few minutes of the session, putting in the fourth fastest time at 43.84-seconds, identical to Parker but with a slower ‘second best’ lap than his rival. The lone Tooley Motorsport driver in the field was the second of no less than three drivers to set a best time of 43.84-seconds with the third of those, AIM Motorsport’s Chad Ryan, slotting into fifth place overall.

Sixth fastest on his debut for Dave Smith’s burgeoning outfit was former CAT driver Liam Kelly, who only completed half of the session but was still quick enough to put his kart in a season’s best position, and still just nine hundredths slower than Jones.

Kelly’s old CAT teammate Jacob Hunstone was the quickest of all in the initial qualifying salvo but his best time of 43.87-seconds slipped down to seventh on the timing monitors by the time the chequered flag fell. Joining Hunstone on the fourth row of the grid for the two heats would be Hand, who set his own 43.87-second lap very late in the session, proof of how much Hand and his team were still learning about their new steed. Significantly for Hand though was the fact that he was still just one tenth of a second off the pace with the top half of the field much closer than was the case over the first four rounds.

Completing the leading dozen in a field where just half a second separated the top 22 were AIM Motorsports’ Callum Pointon, BKR Racing’s Jessica Hawkins, P1 Racing’s Luke Whitworth and leading independent runner Cameron Twynham, now on a new chassis following his spectacular Whilton Mill crash.

Championship newcomer Shahaan Engineer, joining his younger brother Cyrus in the series for the first time after several months out of the seat, did an exceptional job aboard his Shox Performance kart to set 15^th fastest time, less than three tenths slower than poleman Jones despite having never stepped foot on the track until testing earlier in the week.

As impressive as the Dubai based Indian born driver was in timed qualifying, racing was a different kettle of fish as Engineer quickly discovered at the start of the opening 18-lap heat. But while Engineer got bundled down to the tail of the field front row starters Jones and Barlow began a race long battle for the lead right that began at the very first corner and didn’t really end until the chequered flag fell.

Jones kept his nose in front on lap one despite Barlow’s best efforts at squeezing him to the inside going into Club Corner and preventing him from getting a good run onto the Dragon Straight. But Barlow was in no mood to wait and grabbed top spot on lap two with Jones’ teammate Liam Kelly slipping through at the same time. Kelly then applied the pressure on Barlow as Jones watched on with the rest of the field, now led by Hand, fell two seconds off the pace.

Jones replaced his teammate on Barlow’s rear bumper shortly before half distance, by which time Hand had chipped away half a second from his deficit. Jones looked to have made his move just at the right time for Kelly’s kart began to go off in the second half of race, eventually falling victim to Hand with five laps left. Encouragingly for Hand his kart kept getting quicker and quicker as the race progressed, which allowed him to get within two kart lengths of Barlow and Jones as the race entered its final lap.

Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 17 Hand couldn’t get to the rear bumper of Jones who, even though he only finished sixteen hundredths behind Barlow, didn’t risk a potentially disastrous final lap lunge and settled for second.

Whilst a little set-up work was still required for Kelly, who was almost two seconds behind the lead battle by the end of the race, fourth place still represented his best result of the year although had the race gone a lap or two further he would have had to deal with the attentions of Parker, who was closing and bringing Hunstone, Hawkins and Ryan with him.

After the top eight finished within five seconds of the leader, there was a break of nearly six seconds back to the next group of karts, which was led home by an extremely happy Whitworth in ninth. Jack Taylor, who was nowhere after timed qualifying, enjoyed a strong run to tenth place with Middlehurst eleventh after being shoved onto the grass on the opening lap. Josh Hatton and George Cosgrove were next with Pointon, one of several drivers suffering with a bad set of tyres, down in 14^th. After a spin on the second lap Engineer came home in 23^rd.

Barlow made another storming start in heat two and put a couple of kart lengths between himself and the rest as the field compressed into the Spoon Curve (turn three) on the opening lap. Behind the leader Middlehurst spotted a gap inside of Jones to grab second place by which time the race had already lost Hand, who notched up his first DNF of the year thanks to a mechanical problem on the opening tour.

Seeing the championship leaders’ kart at the side of the circuit inspired Barlow onwards and he quickly put some breathing room between him and Middlehurst, who was already struggling to hold off Jones, Kelly Parker and Hunstone.

Middlehurst’s resolve lasted until lap six when Jones finally made the pressure count and moved ahead into second place and set about closing the one second gap to Barlow. Some way further back Engineer’s eventful day continued when he rode over the top of Liam Murphy’s P1 Racing machine as they came out of the Carousel, eliminating both and leaving Murphy with a bruised foot that would rule him out for the rest of the weekend.

With a fair bit of fire in his belly Jones inched towards the leader and even though Barlow set his personal best lap on lap eleven, a lap later Jones was right on his rear bumper and even made a couple of passing attempts, which were swiftly rebuked.

Behind the top two a major dice was brewing for third between a stubborn Middlehurst, defending GYG club champion Hunstone, Kelly and Parker with Ryan following at a safe distance in seventh. Ryan’s teammate Pointon once again enjoyed a good start and sat eighth but then encountered the same tyre related difficulties that afflicted him in race one and was passed by Twynham and LT Motorsport’s Chris McCarthy.

At the head of the field Barlow continued to hold his nerve against Jones’ onslaught and not even a final lap feint for the lead by the local expert could put Barlow off his stride as he crossed the line four tenths of a second ahead of Jones for a repeat of the heat one result.

Hunstone eventually worked his way to the head of the train for third place but was robbed of a podium finish when his kart was deemed to be underweight in post race scrutineering, which led to his exclusion and handed Parker third place. Middlehurst claimed fourth with Kelly completing the scrap in fifth.

Ryan, like his teammate Pointon, faded badly in the closing stages, which handed McCarthy sixth with Hawkins passing Twynham for seventh and Josh Gollin also squeezing ahead of Ryan to take ninth.

Hobzie Motorsport’s Dominic Gorrett took eleventh despite starting from the 13^th row of the grid with new Vital Motorsport signing Archie White completing the top dozen.

Following their successive 1-2 finishes in the heats it was no surprise that Barlow and Jones shared the front row of the grid for the 15-minute, 22-lap final. Parker’s consistency meant he started third with surprise package Kelly fourth, Hawkins an impressive fifth and Middlehurst sixth. Hand would start eleventh, Engineer 26^th and Hunstone stone last in 27^th.

For the third time in as many races Barlow made an excellent start forcing Jones to tuck into second place but after spending most of the day looking at the rear of the Number 21 kart Jones finally made the move he had been threatening all day and outbraked Barlow to take the lead on lap three. Behind them Parker and Kelly disputed third after a relatively clean opening lap in which Middlehurst was the only real victim amongst the front half of the field, losing half a dozen places when he was pushed wide coming through turn four on the downhill approach to the Carousel.

Kelly finally got the better of Parker on lap eight, by which point Jones led Barlow by half a second with Kelly and Parker a further one second behind and Hawkins, still running an excellent fifth, about half a dozen kart lengths behind Parker. Hand was still in the lower reaches of the top ten despite gaining a couple of positions on the opening lap and another when McCarthy came off worse in a scrap with White and Ryan over sixth place and slipped down the order.

As the race wore on Jones seemed to grow in confidence, lapping consistently and leaving Barlow unable to get within two kart lengths and Kelly, despite some herculean efforts, similarly unable to mount a challenge on Barlow for second.

But Barlow kept himself in touch and as the two leaders started the final tour even though, when Jones checked over his shoulder on the last run down the Dragon Straight, the gap between them was a couple of kart lengths. For that reason Jones didn’t hug the inside line on the run into the left hander at Spoon Curve as that would have only slowed him down and brought Barlow right onto his rear bumper.

In a flash Barlow spotted his chance and went for it, stuffing his kart up the inside of a surprised Jones and standing it on the apex of the corner without running too wide on the exit. Barlow then did what Jones didn’t and defended solidly through the last half a lap and even though by defending into the final turn Barlow slid a bit wide coming onto the final straight. However Jones wasn’t quite able to draw fully alongside Barlow on the run to the flag, finishing a scant two hundredths of a second behind.

For Barlow the win was his first FKS triumph since mid way through the 2009 season during his triumphant Mini Max campaign and for the Junior Rotax class it was the first final win for anyone other than Hand since the penultimate round of 2009 at Whilton Mill.

A runner-up finish for Jones represented his best ever in nearly four years of FKS competition but even though there was a tinge of disappointment at the way he let victory slip through his fingers, that was negated by the sheer delight for his Dave Smith teammate Liam Kelly, who was two seconds behind the top two at the flag for his first FKS podium on his maiden outing with his new team.

In a day of personal bests, fourth place for Hawkins represented her best finish since her Cadet Honda days back in 2008 while a fifth place for Parker was actually received quite well by the Vital Motorsport driver, who felt coming into the weekend that he wouldn’t be competitive.

By the end of the race Hand had worked his way into sixth position and consoled himself with the fastest lap of the race while Middlehurst recovered well to take seventh ahead of Ryan, Taylor and a fired-up Hunstone. Further back in the pack Engineer’s first day in Wales resulted in a 21^st place finish, the series newcomer leading home a battle that consisted of Brandon Grinter, Daniel McCarthy and a delayed Twynham.Barlow finally breaks Hand’s grip.

Having dominated the opening four rounds of the 2010 Formula Kart Stars Junior Rotax sponsored by Joe Bloggs class Ash Hand arrived at Glan Y Gors with a comfortable points lead over his nearest rival Jack Barlow.

As the season edged towards its half way mark another pair of victories for Hand would surely make catching him a still realistic but increasingly unlikely possibility. But the superbly crafted North Wales venue provided a totally different set of demands than Whilton Mill, which is Hand’s local track.

With its layout combining long straights, fast corners, plenty of elevation changes and some tight, technical complexes finding a winning set-up was a challenge in itself, especially as only a handful of the 27-strong field are regular race goers at the home of the Dragon Kart Club. In addition to that, Hand arrived at Glan Y Gors on a CRG chassis, having switched from his previously all-conquering Kosmic chassis just a couple of weeks previously.

Faced with the huge challenge of setting up a new kart on a relatively unknown circuit gave Hand’s rivals a rare glimpse of hope but despite plenty of hard work put in by Hand and his P1 Racing team, the days of Hand enjoying several tenths of a second per lap over his rivals appeared to be, temporarily at least, over.

Timed qualifying on a warm, sunny Saturday morning was the first order of the day with the majority of the field setting their best times in a frantic opening couple of minutes and for once it was a non P1 driver topping the charts with Hand back in eighth and Fraser O’Brien absent for this round.

Into the breach stepped one of the handful of drivers in the class who does possess an extensive knowledge of the track, former Dragon Masters winner Declan Jones. Taking just four laps to set a best time of 43.77-seconds aboard his Dave Smith Racing kart Jones outpaced Jack Barlow by one hundredth.

Barlow, like Hand, was on a different chassis to the one which he campaigned at Whilton Mill having moved from the Dan Holland/Alonso racing camp to Strawberry Racing/Tonykart. However with a more than a few similarities between the Alonso and the Tonykart Barlow was taking no time at all to acclimatise himself with his new surroundings and picked up exactly where he left off at Whilton Mill.

Another driver who recovered well from a disappointing weekend at Whilton was Vital Motorsports Josh Parker. From being Hand’s closest rival at Rowrah on the opening weekend of the season Parker slipped down the pecking order slightly at Whilton. But even though Parker was running without a graphics kit in an effort to shave a few more grams off the weight of the kart, he was still able to lap within eight hundredths of Jones.

Series returnee Chris Middlehurst was one of just half a dozen drivers to set their best time in the final few minutes of the session, putting in the fourth fastest time at 43.84-seconds, identical to Parker but with a slower ‘second best’ lap than his rival. The lone Tooley Motorsport driver in the field was the second of no less than three drivers to set a best time of 43.84-seconds with the third of those, AIM Motorsport’s Chad Ryan, slotting into fifth place overall.

Sixth fastest on his debut for Dave Smith’s burgeoning outfit was former CAT driver Liam Kelly, who only completed half of the session but was still quick enough to put his kart in a season’s best position, and still just nine hundredths slower than Jones.

Kelly’s old CAT teammate Jacob Hunstone was the quickest of all in the initial qualifying salvo but his best time of 43.87-seconds slipped down to seventh on the timing monitors by the time the chequered flag fell. Joining Hunstone on the fourth row of the grid for the two heats would be Hand, who set his own 43.87-second lap very late in the session, proof of how much Hand and his team were still learning about their new steed. Significantly for Hand though was the fact that he was still just one tenth of a second off the pace with the top half of the field much closer than was the case over the first four rounds.

Completing the leading dozen in a field where just half a second separated the top 22 were AIM Motorsports’ Callum Pointon, BKR Racing’s Jessica Hawkins, P1 Racing’s Luke Whitworth and leading independent runner Cameron Twynham, now on a new chassis following his spectacular Whilton Mill crash.

Championship newcomer Shahaan Engineer, joining his younger brother Cyrus in the series for the first time after several months out of the seat, did an exceptional job aboard his Shox Performance kart to set 15^th fastest time, less than three tenths slower than poleman Jones despite having never stepped foot on the track until testing earlier in the week.

As impressive as the Dubai based Indian born driver was in timed qualifying, racing was a different kettle of fish as Engineer quickly discovered at the start of the opening 18-lap heat. But while Engineer got bundled down to the tail of the field front row starters Jones and Barlow began a race long battle for the lead right that began at the very first corner and didn’t really end until the chequered flag fell.

Jones kept his nose in front on lap one despite Barlow’s best efforts at squeezing him to the inside going into Club Corner and preventing him from getting a good run onto the Dragon Straight. But Barlow was in no mood to wait and grabbed top spot on lap two with Jones’ teammate Liam Kelly slipping through at the same time. Kelly then applied the pressure on Barlow as Jones watched on with the rest of the field, now led by Hand, fell two seconds off the pace.

Jones replaced his teammate on Barlow’s rear bumper shortly before half distance, by which time Hand had chipped away half a second from his deficit. Jones looked to have made his move just at the right time for Kelly’s kart began to go off in the second half of race, eventually falling victim to Hand with five laps left. Encouragingly for Hand his kart kept getting quicker and quicker as the race progressed, which allowed him to get within two kart lengths of Barlow and Jones as the race entered its final lap.

Despite setting the fastest lap of the race on lap 17 Hand couldn’t get to the rear bumper of Jones who, even though he only finished sixteen hundredths behind Barlow, didn’t risk a potentially disastrous final lap lunge and settled for second.

Whilst a little set-up work was still required for Kelly, who was almost two seconds behind the lead battle by the end of the race, fourth place still represented his best result of the year although had the race gone a lap or two further he would have had to deal with the attentions of Parker, who was closing and bringing Hunstone, Hawkins and Ryan with him.

After the top eight finished within five seconds of the leader, there was a break of nearly six seconds back to the next group of karts, which was led home by an extremely happy Whitworth in ninth. Jack Taylor, who was nowhere after timed qualifying, enjoyed a strong run to tenth place with Middlehurst eleventh after being shoved onto the grass on the opening lap. Josh Hatton and George Cosgrove were next with Pointon, one of several drivers suffering with a bad set of tyres, down in 14^th. After a spin on the second lap Engineer came home in 23^rd.

Barlow made another storming start in heat two and put a couple of kart lengths between himself and the rest as the field compressed into the Spoon Curve (turn three) on the opening lap. Behind the leader Middlehurst spotted a gap inside of Jones to grab second place by which time the race had already lost Hand, who notched up his first DNF of the year thanks to a mechanical problem on the opening tour.

Seeing the championship leaders’ kart at the side of the circuit inspired Barlow onwards and he quickly put some breathing room between him and Middlehurst, who was already struggling to hold off Jones, Kelly Parker and Hunstone.

Middlehurst’s resolve lasted until lap six when Jones finally made the pressure count and moved ahead into second place and set about closing the one second gap to Barlow. Some way further back Engineer’s eventful day continued when he rode over the top of Liam Murphy’s P1 Racing machine as they came out of the Carousel, eliminating both and leaving Murphy with a bruised foot that would rule him out for the rest of the weekend.

With a fair bit of fire in his belly Jones inched towards the leader and even though Barlow set his personal best lap on lap eleven, a lap later Jones was right on his rear bumper and even made a couple of passing attempts, which were swiftly rebuked.

Behind the top two a major dice was brewing for third between a stubborn Middlehurst, defending GYG club champion Hunstone, Kelly and Parker with Ryan following at a safe distance in seventh. Ryan’s teammate Pointon once again enjoyed a good start and sat eighth but then encountered the same tyre related difficulties that afflicted him in race one and was passed by Twynham and LT Motorsport’s Chris McCarthy.

At the head of the field Barlow continued to hold his nerve against Jones’ onslaught and not even a final lap feint for the lead by the local expert could put Barlow off his stride as he crossed the line four tenths of a second ahead of Jones for a repeat of the heat one result.

Hunstone eventually worked his way to the head of the train for third place but was robbed of a podium finish when his kart was deemed to be underweight in post race scrutineering, which led to his exclusion and handed Parker third place. Middlehurst claimed fourth with Kelly completing the scrap in fifth.

Ryan, like his teammate Pointon, faded badly in the closing stages, which handed McCarthy sixth with Hawkins passing Twynham for seventh and Josh Gollin also squeezing ahead of Ryan to take ninth.

Hobzie Motorsport’s Dominic Gorrett took eleventh despite starting from the 13^th row of the grid with new Vital Motorsport signing Archie White completing the top dozen.

Following their successive 1-2 finishes in the heats it was no surprise that Barlow and Jones shared the front row of the grid for the 15-minute, 22-lap final. Parker’s consistency meant he started third with surprise package Kelly fourth, Hawkins an impressive fifth and Middlehurst sixth. Hand would start eleventh, Engineer 26^th and Hunstone stone last in 27^th.

For the third time in as many races Barlow made an excellent start forcing Jones to tuck into second place but after spending most of the day looking at the rear of the Number 21 kart Jones finally made the move he had been threatening all day and outbraked Barlow to take the lead on lap three. Behind them Parker and Kelly disputed third after a relatively clean opening lap in which Middlehurst was the only real victim amongst the front half of the field, losing half a dozen places when he was pushed wide coming through turn four on the downhill approach to the Carousel.

Kelly finally got the better of Parker on lap eight, by which point Jones led Barlow by half a second with Kelly and Parker a further one second behind and Hawkins, still running an excellent fifth, about half a dozen kart lengths behind Parker. Hand was still in the lower reaches of the top ten despite gaining a couple of positions on the opening lap and another when McCarthy came off worse in a scrap with White and Ryan over sixth place and slipped down the order.

As the race wore on Jones seemed to grow in confidence, lapping consistently and leaving Barlow unable to get within two kart lengths and Kelly, despite some herculean efforts, similarly unable to mount a challenge on Barlow for second.

But Barlow kept himself in touch and as the two leaders started the final tour even though, when Jones checked over his shoulder on the last run down the Dragon Straight, the gap between them was a couple of kart lengths. For that reason Jones didn’t hug the inside line on the run into the left hander at Spoon Curve as that would have only slowed him down and brought Barlow right onto his rear bumper.

In a flash Barlow spotted his chance and went for it, stuffing his kart up the inside of a surprised Jones and standing it on the apex of the corner without running too wide on the exit. Barlow then did what Jones didn’t and defended solidly through the last half a lap and even though by defending into the final turn Barlow slid a bit wide coming onto the final straight. However Jones wasn’t quite able to draw fully alongside Barlow on the run to the flag, finishing a scant two hundredths of a second behind.

For Barlow the win was his first FKS triumph since mid way through the 2009 season during his triumphant Mini Max campaign and for the Junior Rotax class it was the first final win for anyone other than Hand since the penultimate round of 2009 at Whilton Mill.

A runner-up finish for Jones represented his best ever in nearly four years of FKS competition but even though there was a tinge of disappointment at the way he let victory slip through his fingers, that was negated by the sheer delight for his Dave Smith teammate Liam Kelly, who was two seconds behind the top two at the flag for his first FKS podium on his maiden outing with his new team.

In a day of personal bests, fourth place for Hawkins represented her best finish since her Cadet Honda days back in 2008 while a fifth place for Parker was actually received quite well by the Vital Motorsport driver, who felt coming into the weekend that he wouldn’t be competitive.

By the end of the race Hand had worked his way into sixth position and consoled himself with the fastest lap of the race while Middlehurst recovered well to take seventh ahead of Ryan, Taylor and a fired-up Hunstone. Further back in the pack Engineer’s first day in Wales resulted in a 21^st place finish, the series newcomer leading home a battle that consisted of Brandon Grinter, Daniel McCarthy and a delayed Twynham.