Aston ends season with strong performance

Date: 12-10-2009

Cumbrian karter Nathan Aston produced one of his best performances of the season at the penultimate round of the Formula Kart Stars Championship at Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire, narrowly missing out on a top-ten finish in the final. But there was disappointment for the AstSigns youngster as he was taken off the track in the very first corner of the final round of the championship.

The Appleby Grammar School pupil was targeting a strong finish to his debut season in the prestigious championship, which launched the career of F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton, and got his weekend off the perfect start as he finished sixth in his opening heat, just one place behind more experienced team mate Matthew Graham.

Climbing 16 places in his second heat, the 11-year-old registered an impressive 11th place finish in his Tooley Motorsport kart and 12th place in the final heat qualified him comfortably for the A Final where he climbed six places from his starting position to finish 14th overall, one of his best results of the season. Graham meanwhile, posted a strong result in the final to finish seventh.

Aston had a solid start to Round 9, finishing 12th in his heat to go directly to the A Final, but his team mate was involved in a crash which meant he had to come through to the B Final before starting the A Final from the back of the pack.

Graham climbed 14 places in the A Final to finish in a credible 12th place overall, but Aston’s hopes of gaining another strong finish were dashed as another kart ran over the top of him in the first corner causing an abrupt end to his race.

The 11-year-old finished 19th overall in the championship, while Graham took second place after a strong season.

AstSigns karter Nathan Aston said:

“It was disappointing to end the season the way I did, but it has been a really good learning experience for me. I was aiming to finish inside the top 20 overall and that’s what I did, despite some ups and downs over the year. I am already really looking forward to getting back out there next year and with everything I’ve learnt this season I will be aiming to score top-five finishes as often as possible and get on the podium when I can. We’ll be doing lots of testing over the winter and I’ll be ready to race hard again next year.”

AstSigns karter Matthew Graham said:

“Going into the weekend I was still in with a chance of winning the championship, but unfortunately some of the problems I had over the weekend meant that I missed out on the overall win. But it has still been an exceptional season for me and to finish second overall in the championship is a result that I am really pleased with.”