Karting starlet is the Super One

The Pett teenager scooped the Ginetta Super One Junior Rotax crown at the Three Sisters circuit near Wigan on Sunday, adding to his impressive tally of victories including the Kartmasters Grand Prix and Rotax Cup.

At the seventh and final round of the series, Barlow narrowly missed out on setting the pole position time in timed qualifying by just one hundredth of a second.

Starting from second place on the grid for his first heat, the Sussex Coast College A-level student went on to claim a comfortable win before taking another emphatic lights-to-flag victory in the following race.

Barlow was on pole position for the title decider and along with another driver, opened up a gap over the chasing group. Team manager, Warwick Ringham, then signalled to Barlow that he should let the other driver through.

The 16-year-old just pushed the leader around the track thereafter, but with the pacesetter having to defend, the pair slowed up and the chasing pack, headed by Barlow’s main championship rival Nathan Harrison, closed in.

Barlow crossed the finishing line in second place, but wasn’t aware that he’d done enough to seal the championship as Ringham wouldn’t tell him before the race what the points difference was between him and his nearest rivals.

On his return to the Strawberry Racing awning, Barlow quickly began to calculate the points positions and upon realising that he had clinched it by four points, the relief was palpable.

The full article will appear in Friday’s Hastings and Rye Observers.