Aston's progress hit by pile up in Belgium
Date: 18-08-2009Youngster Nathan Aston put in an excellent qualifying performance in Round Six of the Formula Kart Stars Championship in Genk, Belgium, at the weekend but had his hopes of a strong finish in the final dashed as he was involved in a crash on lap one.
After some productive testing ahead of the race, 11-year-old Aston, who is in his first season in the championship, had a great start to the weekend taking three top-ten finishes in the Round Six heats to qualify well for the A Final. But a huge pile-up going into the very first corner of the final put him out of the race completely.
Following his strong showing in Saturday’s heats, the AstSigns karter was poised to build on that performance in Round Seven of the FKS championship on Sunday, but he struggled with the settings of his kart qualifying in 12th place for the final. The compromised set-up left him trailing in 23rd place in his Tooley Motorsport kart.
Meanwhile Aston’s AstSigns team-mate Matthew Graham had another excellent weekend. After finishing seventh in Saturday’s A Final, Graham started third on the grid for Sunday’s final climbing to first on the penultimate lap to take an impressive victory.
The final two rounds of the championship will take place at the start of October at Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire.
AstSigns karter Nathan Aston said:
“I was really disappointed not to get a better result in the final on Saturday because my times in the heats had been excellent and the kart was going really well after testing. But my performances showed that I am improving and that the potential is there to get podiums next season. The kart did not feel good on Sunday but I was pleased with the way that I stuck in there and held my ground. This year is all about getting experience so every race counts towards that.”
