THE step up from club racing to Britain’s most prestigious national karting championship was always going to be a challenge for Malmesbury 12-year-old racing driver Louis Harvey.

After raising enough sponsorship to start the series, Louis and his dad Chris made the long trek at Rowrah in Cumbria for the opening round.

Louis had raced there just once before.

When all the points were totalled Louis had come away from the first round of the Super One Series Junior TKM Championship in 21st position, but with the knowledge that his times and performances were up there with the top 10 drivers.

He was frustrated, however, that his final race had to be cut short when he limped the kart back to the pits with both the tyre and his emotions totally deflated after being crossed by another driver at the entrance to the Iredales hairpin.

Super One is run differently from club rounds with a few practise sessions on the Saturday morning followed by timed qualifying similar to F1, followed by two heats in the afternoon.

This sets up your positions for the Sunday pre-final and that result gives you your position for the main final.

Louis mastered the technical track in the wind and the rain to qualify 14th out of the top 30 drivers.

Heat One proved eventful as he aquaplaned off the track after hitting some standing water. Undeterred he re-joined the race in last but put in a sterling drive to finish 20th.

A full check revealed that the clutch had broken. Louis' spare engine, supplied for Super One by Ideal Displays of Swindon, was fitted and saved the day.

There were no dramas in Heat Two and with plenty of position-swapping the youngster crossed the line in 13th.

However, the lap times showed him to be one of the top 10 fastest drivers in that session.

On Sunday the weather turned even worse and racing was postponed until the fog had cleared and the surface water had drained away.

When the race eventually started, with Louis lining up in 16th on the grid, he was pushing so hard he made a mistake going down the hill into St Johns corner and ran him off the track, dropping back to last.

He again pulled out all the stops to haul himself up to 17th – with the fifth fastest lap time.

Given the boost in confidence he started the final well and immediately made up some places until his dramatic exit.

All in all, not a bad start for the Super One rookie considering the atrocious weather, unfamiliar track and a number of race incidents.

Louis is still looking for more sponsorship to complete the series and any offers of support can be sent to sponsorship@louisharvey.com Louis would also like to thank all his sponsors and supporters for helping to make this happen.