The British Open Championship, known as the “O Plate” as the winner races for the next year with the number zero on their kart, is a one-off event with entries from the best racers in the country in the Rotax Max class.
Shenington, Oxfordshire, is one of the most challenging circuits in the country which regularly holds major kart races and is a combination of fast straights and tight hairpins with some fast, sweeping bends thrown in.

In Matt’s previous race, the national championship finale at PF International in Lincolnshire, he finished fourth and sixth in the double header, despite running on his second best engine after technical problems.

After a slow start in testing at Shenington, the team worked together to improve the kart setup and by the first heat, Matt was able to come through from 11th to second.
The last heat on Saturday afternoon was a bit too eventful though, as starting 21st Matt was right down in the pack and the race was stopped soon after the start after a crash where a driver was injured. At the restart Matt was caught up in another incident and his chain came off, leaving him parked by the side of the track.

On Sunday morning, there were two more heats to get through before the Final, and in the first one Matt came through from 23rd to ninth, despite being stuck in traffic. But in the last heat, he sounded a warning for the Final to come when he was among the leaders and took his turn at the head, eventually coming home third with the fastest lap.

After starting eighth, Matt avoided the crashes to make up a place, then fought with Ross Wylie before pulling away and closing on the leading group. After the two leaders, Joe Reilly and John Stewart, made contact and lost ground, Matt slipped into third, poised to attack the leaders.

When Jack Whelan took the lead on lap 14 Matt followed him through to take second, then less than a lap later he took the lead at the tough Wilkins corner after a brave lunge, and Whelan was demoted to third by Daniel Graham. Matt had to defend for the rest of the race.

“It’s very hard to ‘break the tow’ at Shenington and get away from your rivals as when you get past on a corner they just catch you up again on the straights,” said Matt.
Stewart had recovered from his delay early on, and attacked Graham, which allowed Matt to get away slightly, but Stewart was the fastest man on the track and soon he was back to challenge for the lead.

On the last lap, there was a long trail of karts behind him and at the hairpin Matt stayed ahead with hard braking and tight lines. He was pushed wide at one point, but just managed to hold on to the lead and stayed in front to win the race, his first win since moving up to the Senior class.

“I’d like to thank Tim Parrott Motorsport, especially Tim, ‘Big Al’ McKay, and my mechanic Tom Arme. It was my first time winning with Tom as my mechanic so he deserves a lot of credit for the result. Thanks also go to Steve Ogden who prepared me a great engine, and my parents for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to race in the first place.”

With F1 drivers such as Jaime Alguersuari and Felipe Massa using karting to train for Grands Prix, the sport is enjoying a boost in it’s reputation as the source of motorsport’s biggest talents and Matt is confident he is in the right place to prepare for a successful career.

Friday test day was very promising as considering my lack of time at the track and in the kart recently, I was within two tenths of fastest man, Michael Simpson.

I have also been adapting my driving style which is very hard to do, as I used to “pull on the steering wheel with my inside arm”, but I am now trying to learn how to adapt to ”pushing with my outside arm”. This is hard to get used to in a day.

Saturday testing was OK, but qualifying was the best in 2009 we have had, qualifying 5th in group, and 11th overall (only over 1 tenth off he pace) – as opposed to 28th at Whilton Mill at the start of the year! (6 tenths off the pace) – a mark of the huge improvement we have made as the year has progressed.

On the Saturday we had both heats.

In the first heat I started 8th, I was a fired off at the first corner, fired at the next corner causing me to spin – dropping back to 20th. I was coming back through the pack, up to 14th, until 35 Rikki Gordon drove over the top of me taking out my radiator and cutting my arm – i finished 16th.

In the second heat, I started 7th, but by lap 3 dropped to 8th, however having a decent pace and making a few good moves and decisions I secured 6th place.

This put us on grid 15 for Final 1, of which I had a solid race, finishing 7th, and setting second fastest lap only a few hundredths off the fastest man and race winner Michael Simpson. I knew from that performance I could have left the meeting pretty happy whatever happened in final 2.

However that wasn’t the end of it at all. Starting 7th on the grid for final 2 I managed to make every move there was, fulfill every opportunity there was resulting in me following Luke Varley through to 4th passing Dan Holland (number 2) at the end of the straight on lap 1. Lap 2 saw me follow him though again at the end of the straight to pass Lee Jenner for 3rd, and at the next corner, the tight first hairpin, I lunged underneath Luke Varley forcing him to back out of the corner, taking second place whilst leaving a gap behind me. By the 6th lap I had closed a gap to the leader Michael Simpson and I was pressuring him for the lead, as he was looking behind every lap!

However credit to him as after around 7 out of 25 laps, his experience was shown as he pulled away to take the win. Towards the end of the race I was passed at the end of the straight by John Stewart, with 3 laps to go, and I knew that as the leader was 3 seconds ahead, that I had to pass him straight back as following him to catch the leader would be pointless. I lunged him straight back into the next corner – the tight first hairpin, forcing him wide which cost him half a second, and again allowed me to maintain a good gap. From then on as the tyres went off I kept pushing and concentrating to keep it on the track, not making any mistakes, and sure enough I crossed the line in second.

I would really like to thank the team for a great weekend, even without the expertise of Jason Parrott (as he was racing in Spain).

A special thanks to Alan Mackay, Neil Berriman, Tom Arme and of course Tim Parrott for managing the team. Also to Rich Arme for the big hug after the race had ended! and my dad for the great support.

What a great achievement for the youngest in the class!

Heat 2 was dangerously wet, and we chose a bad set of wet tyres. We started 2nd, and could not get the tyres to work, so dropped back to 5th – 1.42 seconds off the pace.

Heat 3 was wet also, but after choosing a better set of wets we started 10th on the gird, and dominated the race, pulling away, taking the win by over 3 seconds and setting fastest lap.

For the Final we started fifth on the grid after the poor first heat, and after a poor start dropped to seventh, got close to third place by the third lap, but was pushed wide several times by Jacques Jensen, which slowed me up for a few laps, and then the tyre pressures went off toward the end of the race, and I only managed to secure fifth.

Jason and Neil Berryman (data acquisition) said that if we were lower on the pressures then we should have been right up there with the leader.

I’d like to thank the team for a good weekend, good support, and a good conclusion to the weekend.

The day started off getting used to the track and we were using a worn set of tyres from earlier in the week which were chewed up at Essay in France.

After we put on a better set of tyres we started doing some proper testing and the results from this were promising.

All in all a very promising day.

In the heat I started 11th and finished 11th, and wasn’t going well on a drying track on wets. I was fast at the end though.

In the Prefinal I started 11th and finished ninth – dropping back at the start but again was quick at the end.

In the Final I was very fast and into sixth after the first lap, but retired after a racing incident with Browing on lap two where we were both committed to the corner and not prepared to give it up.

The positives were that I was fast on Saturday and I was very happy with the team’s effort, and was also very good on Sunday by the Final. I was fast at the start after listening to Jason’s advice and “making the opportunities to pass” for myself.

Thanks to Tim for the team, Tom for mechanicing and my Dad for the support!”