Four times a runner-up in 2011 Connor Mills finally threw off the bridesmaid tag with a perfect score and his maiden victory in the final round of the 2011 Formula Kart Stars Mini Max class at Ellough Park.

After trailing home behind Jack Mitchell in Saturday’s final Mills made sure there was to be no repeat of Saturday’s fourth runner-up finish of the year on a bright and warm September day at the tight and twisty Ellough Park circuit, which chewed Mini Max tyres to such an extent that Saturday’s extended race programme wasn’t repeated on Sunday, reducing the heat and final distances to their usual 12 and 15 minute duration and not the 15 and 18 minute lengths seen the previous day.

Mills was rarely headed throughout the twelfth and final round of the season, taking pole position, winning both heats and the all important final as he sealed third place in the final standings in the process.

Although Josh White, who was confirmed as the 2011 champion on Saturday reduced his on track involvement to a couple of pace laps at the start of the final, complete with the number one plate on the kart, Mills still had to outpace a hungry group of rivals in his Evolution Racing kart before he could finally stand on the top step of the podium.

Seth James, the driver Mills was fighting over third in the championship with, was Mills’ closest rival in the final and even snatched the lead on the opening lap before slotting in behind the leader, never more than  a couple of kart lengths off Mills’ rear bumper. With Josh Cornwell right behind James in his Dan Holland Racing kart the 21-lap final was a tense affair rather than one filled with overtaking for the top positions and with Mills leading every lap of both heats the crowd often had to look down the order for some of the most exciting racing.

In addition to James and Cornwell, Mills was also pushed very hard by James’ 3 Amigos teammate Brett Ward and the Sexy Midget Racing kart of Robbie Lightfoot at varying points of the day as Saturday winner and championship runner-up Mitchell uncharacteristically struggled for pace.

Lightfoot was Mills’ closest threat in timed qualifying, stopping the clocks just eight hundredths slower than Mills with a time of 45.17-seconds but Lightfoot was quickly swallowed up by third and fifth place starters Ward and Cornwell at the start of the opening 17-lap heat as both he and fourth place qualifier Mitchell suffered with being on the wrong side of the grid for the notoriously tricky right hand corner at turn one.

Establishing their positions at the end of lap one, Mills, Ward and Cornwell kept the status quo at the front for the remainder of the race with Mitchell eventually finding a way past Lightfoot for fourth before mid distance and tagging on to the tail of the lead pack. The top four took the chequered flag less than eight tenths apart with Lightfoot 1.8-seconds down in fifth and James leading home a tight pack that also included local ace Matthew Arnold and Cornwell’s teammate Dave Wooder another two seconds down the road.

Lightfoot fared slightly better at the start of heat two and was able to hang on to second place behind the polesitter with Cornwell, Ward, James, Wooder and Jack Lang all pushing Mitchell back to eighth.

On this occasion Mills was able to put a small bit of clear air between himself and his pursuers with Lightfoot’s bid to hold on to second the most entertaining aspect. As Mills flashed across the finishing line it was James who claimed second, 1.5-seconds in arrears with Lightfoot, Cornwell, Wooder and Mitchell all following in close succession.

The final race of the day, and the year, would see Mills and Cornwell sharing the front row with James and Ward on row two although Ward’s hopes would be quickly extinguished when he and Wooder clashed in the first corner, eliminating him and putting a serious dent in his hopes of catching Lightfoot and the strangely off-song Sam Oram Jones for fifth in the overall standings.

At the front Mills made another textbook getaway as third place starter James grabbed second from Cornwell. Lightfoot scrabbled around the Ward/Wooder crash in third as Mitchell and several others were delayed, a situation that allowed Rob Hodkinson, his RL Racing Department teammate Harry Campey and the Wavertree Motorsports kart of Jordan Hollands into fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively.

James tailed Mills for the first five laps before ducking up the inside to grab the race lead going down the Pennell Straight on lap six, holding the lead for four laps before Mills returned the favour. For the remaining eleven laps of the 21-lap battle James sat on Mills’ rear bumper but could never find a gap to make a move and after nearly 16 minutes of intense racing Mills crossed the line first to take a win that he had been threatening to do so all year.

James’ plucky runner-up effort wasn’t enough to challenge Mills for third in the overall championship but it was more than enough to keep him ahead of Oram Jones, Lightfoot and Ward. Three tenths of a second behind the victorious Mills and completing a very close top three was Cornwell with Lightfoot, Hodkinson and Mitchell completing the top six.