Notwithstanding a brace of podium positions in the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars Championship, it has not been the start to 2012 that Luke had anticipated. After qualifying an outstanding second out of some 50 competitors in the national Super 1 Series curtain-raiser at Whilton Mill – compared with a 2011 best of 12^th – the talented young Rotherham speed demon then backed that up with the same result in one of his two heat races, only for the finals the following day to be rained off.

There followed a disastrous second round at Glan Y Gors – where practically everything that could go wrong, did – meaning Luke arrived at demanding Cumbrian circuit Rowrah with something of a point to prove. Pitching himself against an intensely high-calibre field composed of 30 of the fastest Junior Rotax contenders in the country, he went on to do so in fine style.

“Rowrah is a really fun track to drive,” affirmed the highly-rated Wickersley-based hotshot. “It’s in a quarry, which makes it different to most other circuits, and because the wind changes direction quite frequently, kart set-up can be a bit of a nightmare. It’s challenging and undulating and tricky to get right – a real drivers’ track, with a great variety of corners, hairpins and chicanes. The kerbs make it pretty physical, too, so you need to be in good shape.

“It was a mega strong field, with most of the leading British names there, so the competition was extremely tough right from the start – and with the ‘O’ Plate being a one-off meeting and no championship points to play for, we knew the racing would be even harder than usual because everybody is chasing just one position.

“We’d not had the best results at Rowrah in the past, but we were really fast in testing and so went into the weekend feeling quite confident. Unfortunately, in qualifying, I didn’t read the traffic very well and got caught out in terms of track position. I was less than a quarter-of-a-second away from the pace, but in such a tight field, that was only good enough for 16^th. It was the kind of session where you needed to get everything absolutely spot-on – and we didn’t.”

Whilst the outcome of qualifying was palpably not what Luke had been hoping for, his lap times were nonetheless impressively consistent. The racing in the heats was – as he had predicted – no holds-barred, but the 17-year-old MSA Academy member battled his way into the top ten in the opening encounter only for the axle on his P1 Racing kart to then snap. In heat two, he was again grittily fighting his way through the pack and on the verge of breaking into the top ten when a rival turned in on him.

The result was 20^th place which, allied to his heat one DNF, left Luke a lowly 25^th on the starting grid for the pre-final. His goal was to progress into the top ten to put him in the ballpark for the all-important grand final later in the day, and a gain of seven spots on the opening lap alone inarguably augured well.

“We concentrated on working our way through the order,” recollected the Wickersley School and Sports College student, “but then when I made a move on the driver ahead in 12^th going into the second hairpin, I don’t think he saw me and there was contact. That put me on the grass and cost me several positions, and my kart was bent for the rest of the race so it wasn’t handling right.

“That left us with a mountain to climb from 17^th on the grid in the grand final – but equally, we knew we still had a chance, because we had proved our pace with our lap times in the heats and pre-final. I got a decent start, and then made sure that every move I pulled counted. I removed the pressure from myself completely, and concentrated solely on moving forwards. Towards the end I got into fourth place, and then because there was a large gap ahead and we were all lapping at a similar speed, I focussed on retaining my position.

“I had the reigning British Junior Rotax Vice-Champion right behind me and breathing down my neck over the last five laps. I knew he had a lot of racing experience, but I’ve been in that kind of situation before and I just tried to learn from the mistakes I’d made in the past. I was always confident that I had the measure of him.”

And so it would transpire. In a truly masterful display, Luke ably demonstrated not only his superb overtaking prowess, but also his much-improved defensive skills, and the receipt of one of the four trophies on offer was thoroughly well-deserved. After a troubled start to the current campaign, things are, he hopes, finally looking up.

“We were very happy with what we managed to achieve,” concluded the Yorkshire ace. “I lapped third-fastest in the grand final – quicker than the three drivers who finished in front of me. That went to show what might have been but for everything that had happened earlier in the weekend. We still came away with a trophy, though, which is always nice, and having not had the best of luck so far in 2012, this has given us a real confidence boost. Hopefully we can keep it going!”

Having been consistently impressive throughout the winter months, Luke headed to Cambridgeshire feeling quietly confident about his prospects for a successful weekend – and ready to pit himself against 22 of the fiercest Junior Rotax class competitors in the country.

“We’d had a good build-up in terms of results, so that showed we had the pace and gave us a timely boost,” revealed the talented young Rotherham karting star. “We’d also been quick at Kimbolton before and had established a decent set-up round there. It’s got a nice mix of fast and slow corners and is an enjoyable track to drive; it’s quite physical, and you have to know how to handle the kerbs to get the best out of the lap time.

“There are a lot of good drivers at Junior Rotax level in FKS this year; it was a strong grid at Kimbolton, and the whole field was extremely closely-matched all weekend. I’d say there are at least five potential title contenders out there, so it’s definitely going to be tough.”

Luke’s diligent pre-season preparations paid off handsomely in Saturday’s qualifying session, as the highly-rated Wickersley-based speed demon set the fourth-fastest time, barely a tenth of a second adrift of the outright benchmark. The opening heat race would then take place in just the kind of treacherously tricky conditions in which he invariably excels – enabling him to pull off some superbly incisive overtaking moves.

“The only worry was starting on the outside line,” he opined. “There’s practically no chance of getting across at Kimbolton because the drivers on the inside box you out and there are always casualties at Turn One. It becomes a case of just trying to get through the corner without being hit. It was wet-but-drying in heat one and I lost a little ground at the beginning, but we knew we were fast and consistent in those conditions after Friday practice.

“I ended the first lap in fifth, and then set about moving forward; with everybody being on such a similar pace, when you overtake someone you need to try to force them out of their rhythm a little bit so they fall back from your slipstream, but my kart felt really good and I was able to work my way into second.

“The leader had established a sizeable advantage by that stage, but I pushed as hard as I could to catch him until it started raining again towards the end. That made the circuit quite slippery and we were all on slick tyres, and I had a little sideways ‘moment’ over one of the kerbs which gave me a bit of a reality check; we were on for really good points and I didn’t want to throw that away, so I backed off after that and settled for second.”

Heat two, sadly, woul

d transpire to be rather more frustrating, as the MSA Academy member found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time at the start and helplessly hung out to dry around the outside of Turn One. Thereafter, with all the front-runners lapping within a tenth of a second of each other and coming up against some particularly defensive rivals, despite Luke’s evident raw pace and overtaking prowess, tenth position was as good as it would get. He was pleasantly surprised, after that, to begin the final in P3.

“That was a real dogfight!” he confessed. “I gained a place at the start to run second, and just tried to keep it all neat and tidy and consistent, but Sam Marsh came past me a few laps in and then took the lead. Oliver Myers ahead of me began defending quite heavily, which allowed Marsh to escape; that was a shame, as I’m convinced we had the speed to genuinely take the fight to him.

“Because Oli and I were battling, some other drivers were able to close onto the back of us as the race progressed – there were nine people fighting over second place at one stage! It did get pretty tense and ‘lively’ towards the end and I briefly dropped down to fifth, but I just tried to keep my cool and not panic.

“I got back up into third, but was then passed at the end of the penultimate lap. I was determined not to miss out on the podium, though, and it all went a bit crazy going into the last lap. I got pushed from behind into the driver ahead of me – my back wheels were lifted fully up into the air – and I was lucky to keep control of the kart, but I came out of Turn One in third again and held it to the end. It was a great start to the season to get a podium in the first round.”

That it indubitably was, but the following day, Luke’s qualifying efforts were stymied by traffic, and with the track getting faster by the minute, being one of the first drivers to take the chequered flag at the end of the session severely counted against him. That meant the Wickersley School and Sports College student would again begin both of his heats on the unenviable outside line – in eighth place – and he duly found himself unceremoniously spun around at the beginning of the day’s opening encounter.

With the weather remaining unpredictable, however, and the heavens opening midway through, he fairly scythed his way through the field, and in a tremendous fightback, his speed and determination were rewarded with an excellent fifth place. Unfortunately, a first corner mêlée and engine issues in heat two dropped the 17-year-old half-a-lap behind the pack, leaving him with little option but to treat the rest of the race as a test session, whilst judiciously trying to find the quickest lines in those conditions ahead of the final, which he would begin 14th.

“I actually managed to get across to the inside this time at the start,” he recounted, “and although there was the usual chaos into Turn One, I was able to thread my way through it and gain some ground. We were really quick in the wet, and even if our kart set-up was not quite right, I still had the confidence to fight my way through and we ended up sixth. I was really happy with that given where we had started.”

Concluding the weekend sixth in the title standings – a mere six points adrift of third – Luke will head next to Ellough Park Raceway in Suffolk, scene of his breakthrough national podium in karting at the end of his first full campaign in the sport in 2010. Mentally, physically and psychologically now every bit a match for his adversaries despite his comparative inexperience, the P1 Racing hotshot has no doubts that he will once more be a leading contender.

“It was a good weekend overall,” he summarised of Kimbolton. “Ok, Sunday wasn’t the greatest day in terms of results, but we salvaged some solid points and I’m really encouraged by the pace we showed. Some of our main rivals had difficulties, too, and we’re well-placed in the championship. We’re up there in the mix, so we’ll give it our best shot at Ellough and see where we shake out.”

Luke takes to the track in the Ginetta G40

Having revelled in his Formula BMW baptism at Brands Hatch, Luke jumped at the chance to try out the Ginetta G40 at Bedford Autodrome – his prize for finishing a commendable 18^th out of 67 in the Junior Rotax class of the national Super 1 Series in 2011, his maiden campaign in the fiercely-contested British championship. 

“It was a brilliant day!” Luke enthused. “It was another new experience for me, and it has definitely opened my eyes with regard to options for the future. I didn’t expect the Ginetta to be that much different to the Formula BMW, but it was actually massively different. The Formula BMW test did help a bit in that it meant I had already been in a racing car, but the Ginetta is heavier, not as stiff and going round corners, it moves around more.

Luke gets set for action!

“It’s quick, too, and the extra weight affects the way you brake going into corners and get on the throttle coming out of them again. The back end of the car feels quite loose on the entry, so you need to try to find the right balance to ensure that you have enough rear grip on the exit.

“The brakes are also a lot sharper than I had expected and it was certainly a big step-up from a kart, with the clutch and gears to get used to and the weight shift to have to think about as well – there’s generally a lot more to be aware of – but I felt I adapted to it all pretty quickly.

“It was damp in the morning and really slippery; the back end stepped out a few times, but that just made it even more fun! The afternoon session was then dry and there was a lot more grip, so we got the best of both conditions.

“I learned from my instructor, and he gave me feedback after each of my runs that I tried to put into practice the next time. He gave me a lot of advice so that I could learn from my mistakes, and that helped me to get used to everything and understand what I was doing a lot better. Later on, I was really pushing to go as fast as I could – I was practically jumping out of the seat, I was so excited!”

Making a point of thanking both Ginetta and Super 1 for the tremendous opportunity, Luke improved every time he took to the track and greatly impressed with the pace at which he progressed and the raw lap times he began to produce by the end of the day. His instructor Ian Parsons – a former karting front-runner at both British and international level and an erstwhile single-seater protagonist – tipped the Wickersley School and Sports College student for a bright future in the sport indeed.

Ready to rock n' roll!

“In the morning, Luke was nervous like all the others, but he obviously has a lot of natural ability and he genuinely listened and took notice of what we were saying and acted upon it,” Parsons remarked. “By the end of the second session, he had found some pretty serious pace.

“If he spent another day or day-and-a-half in the car with an instructor, I’m convinced we could get him right up-to-speed and have him competing at the sharp end pretty quickly. Luke was definitely one of the most talented drivers there on the day, and he clearly has a huge amount of potential.”

Palpably impressed by his eye-catching performances, Sebastian Herke, then Head of Formula BMW, approached Luke during the Whilton Mill meeting of the 2011 Formula Kart Stars Championship – a series boasting the official backing of both 2008 F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton and the sport’s influential ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone – as the highly-rated young Rotherham speed demon claimed a brace of runner-up finishes en route to an excellent sixth position in the final Junior Max class title standings.

Luke shines through the spray at Brands Hatch

Herke invited Luke to attend a testing outing for the Formula BMW Talent Cup at Brands Hatch, alongside nine other drivers from eight different countries. There, he would climb behind the wheel of a potent 140bhp single-seater capable of accelerating from 0-60mph in an eye-watering four seconds – and a car with which reigning double F1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel stormed to a record-breaking 18 victories out of 20 back in 2004.

“It felt amazing to be asked to the test – a complete bolt-from-the-blue!” confessed the Wickersley-based hotshot. “To drive a racing car was something I had wanted to do for quite some time, but I never expected to get the chance so soon and I was really excited about it. I was over-the-moon and totally blown away by the invitation, and it just topped off an already brilliant weekend!”

In preparation for the test, Luke headed to iZone Driver Performance at Silverstone, to begin to get to grips with both the track layout as well as gear-shifting on the driver development centre’s state-of-the-art simulator. Whilst there, the 16-year-old Yorkshire ace was also able to benefit from expert tutelage from a multiple world champion in the shape of three-time World Touring Car king Andy Priaulx.

“Andy spoke to me about the psychological side of racing, and how to visualise everything whilst I’m driving round,” he explained. “That was really useful, and helped me to find a lot of lap time on the simulator. He talked about how important it is to work as hard as I can on every single aspect of being a racing driver, and to get advice from somebody as successful as him was pretty inspirational.”

Luke settles into his new 'office' for the day

Feeling more ready for the challenge that lay ahead, Luke subsequently travelled to Brands Hatch eager to put into practice all that he had learned – and possibly even turn a few heads along the way for good measure. There was, however, one variable that he hadn’t counted upon, as the elements did their worst and persistent rain swiftly turned his debut into a real baptism of fire. Or rather, water.

“Going into the test, I was still excited, but also a bit nervous,” recalled the Wickersley School and Sports College student. “I’d had no preparation in those kinds of conditions, so it was almost a case of having to learn Brands Hatch all over again because the lines are so different in the wet – but I just had to get on with it.

“The track was extremely slippery and I did have a few ‘moments’, but I really enjoyed driving the car. It felt totally different to a kart and was definitely a big leap – bigger than I had thought it would be, if I’m honest, and certainly an eye-opener.

“The extra weight and aerodynamic downforce took some time to get my head around, as did the fact that the faster you go into a corner, the more grip you have – it just seems against all your natural instincts initially. It’s a strange feeling, speeding up when your brain is telling you that you should be slowing down! Ultimately, it’s a question of being brave enough and having the confidence in the car to keep your foot planted.

“And then there were the sequential gears, the sharpness of the brakes, the power and blipping the throttle through the corners – there was a lot to get used to, but by the end, I was starting to get the hang of it all.”

Luke takes some tips from triple World Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx

Indeed, despite the steep learning curve, Luke coped like a seasoned pro – betraying few signs that everything was completely new to him. What’s more, the knowledge gleaned at Brands Hatch will doubtless pay dividends when he does eventually move on up – and it has evidently whetted his appetite to do so.

“The whole day was really about gaining a good understanding of the car,” the recently-appointed MSA Academy member mused in conclusion. “I had to steel myself not to be scared of making mistakes, and just to try to be more consistent each time I took to the track.

“I definitely got better as the day progressed, and as my confidence increased, I was able to push harder and go faster and I made fewer errors. I just loved the entire experience, and I feel it helped to improve me as a driver and has certainly motivated me to keep on working as hard as I can to attain my goals.”

Few are the drivers that are invited to apply for AASE membership, but this year, Luke was one of them, and the talented young Rotherham speed demon confessed that he was ‘amazed’ when the letter came through the post. That, however, was as nothing compared to his reaction when he was informed that he had actually been picked as one of the successful candidates.

Proud to be the MSA Academy's newest recruit

The government-funded AASE is a human performance-enhancing and educational initiative aimed at developing participants into elite athletes capable of competing at the very highest level, catering for 16-18-year-olds and running alongside their sporting programmes.

A sports science course, it is designed to teach students how to improve their athletic prowess and achieve competitive advantage, helping talented drivers to attain excellence and realise their full potential by focussing upon academic theory and practical and vocational learning.

AASE athletes partake in various workshops and training courses delivered by motorsport specialists. Students receive three separate qualifications within the AASE framework – a Level 3 NVQ in Achieving Excellence in Sports Performance, a Level 3 BTEC National Certificate in Sport (Performance and Excellence) and an MSA Level 2 Certificate in Coaching Motorsport.

“I’m just so happy and thankful that I got onto the programme,” enthused Luke, who this year – only his second in the sport – finished a superb sixth in the final standings of the Lewis Hamilton and Bernie Ecclestone-backed Formula Kart Stars (FKS) Championship. “It means a lot to me; it’s a really big thing, and it will help me so much in the future with my racing, my fitness and my education. Hopefully, that will all give me an extra boost to move further into a professional racing career.

“We’ve not been karting for that long, so seeing that I’ve been noticed is a real confidence boost, knowing people have been watching me. That just motivates me to want to do even better still. Looking back to where we were a year ago and then looking at where we are now does show the massive progress we’ve made. It’s been such a good year, and hopefully next year we can move forward again. There’s plenty more still to come!”

Luke displaying the expert racecraft that brought him to the MSA's attention

Those sentiments are echoed by MSA Academy co-ordinator Greg Symes, who reflected that the highly-rated Wickersley-based hotshot is already displaying all the attributes to make a success out of his AASE participation and go on to accomplish even greater glories in the weeks, months and years to come.

“Luke was accepted onto the MSA Academy AASE programme after impressing us with his sheer commitment and dedication to becoming a better athlete and progressing through the ranks of motorsport,” he revealed. “As a result of these qualities, Luke has already progressed quickly during his short time in the sport to-date, and we are confident that he will make even greater strides as an MSA apprentice.”

In evidence of his potential, the Wickersley School and Sports College student left his adversaries trailing quite literally in his wheeltracks in his latest outing at Whilton Mill in Northants, up against a sizeable 31-strong Junior Max class grid composed of a number of rapid rivals and a glut of local specialists who knew the physically demanding Northants circuit like the back of their hand. Be that as it may, Luke would show every last one of them a clean pair of heels.

Having excelled with a brace of runner-up finishes at Whilton in FKS the previous month, the 16-year-old Yorkshire ace went on to scythe his way dramatically up through the field from 30^th position into ninth in his opening heat race, before overcoming a staunch early defence by the leader in heat two to find a way past and scamper away to a comfortable four-second triumph. Fastest lap in both encounters was a mere formality.

Heat three, meanwhile, yielded a strong fourth place from 14^th on the grid – missing fastest lap on this occasion by a scant hundredth of a second, but earning Luke pole position for the all-important final. He would not waste it.

And to the victor, the spoils...

“I got a good start which meant I wasn’t challenged into the first corner, and I was able to establish an early advantage,” he explained. “After breaking away, I then just had to focus on trying to remain as consistent as I could.

“We had gone for lower tyre pressures for the final, so we knew we wouldn’t be as fast as we could be to begin with, but should be able to edge away later on as the kart came to us – and that’s exactly what happened. I set fastest lap on the last lap, which I think proved that – the kart and engine both felt spot-on. It was really good to win up against such a big grid – and a timely confidence boost, too, to take with me into the winter…”

Having achieved his breakthrough national podium finish at Ellough in 2010 – there have been a good many more since – and having stormed to a brace of rostrums in the preceding 2011 outing at Whilton Mill, the talented young Rotherham speed demon returned to the Suffolk circuit with his tail up. Much like Whilton, Ellough is a fast, bumpy and physical track around which fitness plays a key role – and just the kind of challenge Luke relishes.

On the fast track to a successful end to the season

“We had been quick there before, so we had high expectations,” he affirmed. “Our results at Whilton Mill meant we went to Ellough on a real high, and although we knew there would be some stiff competition, we hadn’t been far from the pace in testing, so we were feeling pretty good about everything.”

With the Junior Max class contenders producing some tremendously close lap times and hard, competitive racing weekend-long, Luke went on to qualify fourth on the Saturday, firmly in the ballpark – but he admitted that he had been hoping for better than a brace of sixth positions in the day’s two heat races.

“The first corner after the start is quite a fast right-hander with not a lot of run-off,” explained the highly-rated Wickersley-based hotshot. “Starting on the outside line is never ideal, and with it being such a short run down to turn one, it was difficult to get across to the inside. I had no option but to stick it out around the outside – which cost me in both races – but after that, I just had to get on with it and focus on driving as quickly and consistently as I could to regain ground.

“In the final, there was a crash at the start, and I got spun round and left facing the wrong way, which was obviously disappointing. I was dead last after that, but I knew the race was long – almost 20 minutes in total – and that I could recover. I had to make sure I just kept calm and didn’t overdrive the kart – and it was quite good fun fighting my way through the field.”

The smile says it all...

Impressing with his gritty tenacity and the eye-catching alacrity with which he chased down and caught his adversaries – even matching the fastest lap time of the race-winner along the way in evidence of his outstanding raw pace and what might have been – Luke professed himself satisfied enough with ninth place in the circumstances, phlegmatically musing that ‘bad stuff happens sometimes’ and maturely vowing to put it behind him and concentrate on the following day.

Unfortunately, a change in track conditions on Sunday left the Wickersley School and Sports College student just eighth in qualifying, meaning he would once more begin his heats from the unenviable outside line.

“Some drivers ahead of me bogged down at the start, which left a gap on the inside and I was able to dart across to fill it,” he recollected of the opening encounter. “That put me third straightaway, and three laps later, I made a move for second. After that, it was all about maintaining my consistency. I knew I was being caught by the guys behind, so there was never any opportunity to relax – I had to stay ‘on it’ and keep pushing right to the end.”

That persistence ultimately paid off handsomely as Luke artfully and successfully defended his second position all the way to the chequered flag, and he followed it up with a very solid seventh spot in heat two, meaning he would begin the final from fourth – on the outside line yet again…

“The drivers on the inside bogged down at the start, which enabled me to vault into second place,” the 16-year-old revealed. “After that, due to not having the outright speed, I knew my racecraft would be paramount – but a few laps in, I got hit from behind and forced out wide, which allowed several people past, and later I got hit again, which really knocked me out of my rhythm.”

Leading the pack

Understandably frustrated after the race, Luke was nonetheless also justifiably pleased with his stirring fightback to an eventual sixth position – even if that couldn’t disguise the fact that he had wanted, not to mention deserved, considerably more.

Still, having climbed nine spots from his championship ranking of 15^th in 2010 to sixth out of FKS’ 28 Junior Max competitors a year later – at the end of only his second full campaign in the sport, lest we forget – the Yorkshire ace is now aiming to take another leap forward again in 2012. Given the progress he has made thus far, who would bet against him..?

Having begun karting less than two years ago – when the vast majority of his rivals have been pounding round the tracks for considerably longer than that – Luke has made dramatic progress, although his burgeoning form was somewhat masked by a nightmare weekend at Genk in Belgium that dropped him from fifth in FKS’ Junior Max class points table to ninth, with the sole consolation the coveted Bradley Ellis ‘Man on a Mission’ award for his gritty charge through the field from the back of the grid to eighth at the chequered flag.

Proudly clutching the spoils of success

“We wanted to get on the podium to boost our championship standing, and the aim was to finish in the top five in every race and top three in the finals,” revealed the talented young Rotherham speed demon. “The bad luck we’d had at Genk had really motivated us to fight back at Whilton. It’s a very physical circuit because it’s so bumpy. We’d been round it a fair bit in the past, but we hadn’t been there lately. Still, we were quite familiar with the track and I like it.”

Third position in qualifying on Saturday in the 22-strong field was an excellent way to begin, and Luke went on to convert that into a solid fourth place in his opening heat race, albeit feeling he could have performed better. He would bounce back in magnificent style in heat two.

“We were happy with qualifying, and we knew we were fast enough because I messed up my quickest lap,” mused the highly-rated Wickersley-based hotshot. “We got a good start in heat one to move up to second initially, but my driving wasn’t the best and I made some mistakes, which cost me a few places. I lost my rhythm a bit, but I just had to keep focussed and try to recover as many positions as I could before the end.

“We got another good start in heat two to move into second again. A few laps in, the leader’s chain protector fell off, so I knew he would have to go into the pits. James Singleton and Bobby Thompson came past me, but then Bobby overtook James which gave me the run and I got them both around the outside through the next corner. I enjoyed that move – it was completely opportunistic!

“After that, I just tried to keep my head and stay consistent all the way to the end. We knew James was quick behind us, but we knew we had some decent pace as well; there was a lot of pressure, but it was alright.”

Heading the pack

Far more than merely ‘alright’, by grittily holding on with the runaway championship leader – a driver who would go on to be crowned 2011 FKS Champion the following day – breathing right down his neck, Luke clinched his maiden national heat victory and with it, second on the grid for the final.

“We were aiming high,” the 16-year-old confessed. “Starting on the outside line at Whilton is tough, because it’s a fast left-hander into a right. We dropped back to third initially, but that was ok and I just had to keep looking forward. Steven Handford overtook me, but I knew we were quicker than him and after I got him back, I had some clear space in front of me and good track position.

“I tried to keep it all consistent again whilst pushing hard. I was catching George Williams, and towards the end I overtook him for second at the top of the hill. He then stayed right on my bumper, though, and later gave me a push, which sent me a bit wide; that knocked me out of my rhythm a bit, but he dropped far enough behind on the last lap that I didn’t need to defend and just had to stay as calm as I could. We were really happy to finish second – it was the best trophy we’d had!”

His finest national result to-date, the runner-up spoils were thoroughly well-deserved, and after promising to ‘go for it again’ the following day, Luke would not disappoint. A lack of prior wet running around Whilton might have disadvantaged him during a damp qualifying session and left him only eighth, but the Wickersley School and Sports College pupil maturely reasoned that ‘we knew we could go forward from there, so we kept our heads up’.

Total commitment

On a wet-but-drying track surface in the first heat, he conceded that a number of errors as he ‘pushed too hard to try to get towards the front’ in the inclement conditions arguably cost him third place, winding up four spots lower down in seventh.

In heat two, a collision directly ahead on the opening lap represented an early delay, and in attempting to recover he confessed that ‘I was trying too hard again, trying to push the kart too much and overworking everything and getting frustrated’. The sole real highlight was a brave defence of his position on the outside line at the top of the hill en route to sixth at the chequered flag, but if he acknowledged that ‘we weren’t as fast as we had wanted to be’, he nonetheless vowed to ‘just get on with it and look ahead to the final’.

“I really wanted a strong result in the final, because we hadn’t been too happy with the heats,” Luke pondered. “We knew another podium would really help us in the championship, so that was the goal again. We got a good start from sixth, which moved us straight up into the top four. I then improved to third, but Singleton and Sam Marsh had established a bit of a gap ahead. I knew I still had people glued right to my tail, but I concentrated on trying to chase the two leaders down and was closing on Marsh until he got black-flagged again.

“That left me second, at which stage I just tried to keep focussed on not making the same mistakes as in the heats. I looked behind a few times as the race progressed and saw Thompson and Ryan Norris were working together to catch me, and I knew they had both been quick all weekend; Bobby got very close on the last lap, which really piled the pressure on, but we held him off. The kart was good, the engine was good and my consistency was good – and in the end, it all paid off and worked out well.”

The ragged edge of adhesion

A second consecutive runner-up finish, the result has vaulted the Yorkshire ace up to sixth in the standings, a mere four points shy of fifth and only ten adrift of fourth. Recognising that he has a battle on his hands but palpably up for the fight, even more encouragingly still, the season finale will take place at Ellough Park Raceway – scene of Luke’s breakthrough rostrum at national level just under a year ago. Game on, as they say.

“It couldn’t have been a better weekend, really – the best we’ve had so far,” he grinned in conclusion, “and it definitely gives us confidence for Ellough. I’m feeling really positive now, so hopefully that will be another good weekend…”

Having stormed to his breakthrough ‘national’ top ten finish at Genk in 2010, Luke would leave disappointed 12 months later, as after fairly scything his way up through the order from the back of the starting grid to an excellent eighth place at the chequered flag on the Saturday – lapping third-quickest along the way – a scintillating qualifying performance the following day sadly came to nought at the very first corner when the highly-rated Wickersley-based hotshot found himself unceremoniously harpooned by an out-of-control rival.

The winner and his trophy

“I was really annoyed after Genk, because we had gone all the way there only to have such a bad weekend,” he reflected. “We were really quick in the wet and qualified second on the Sunday when it rained, but we lost pace when it dried out again, and being excluded from one of the heats cost us a lot of points and really hit us hard in terms of championship position. We only decided to go to Shenington on the Thursday before the meeting, and the principal goal was just to get the best result we could to try to get a bit of confidence back.”

If Belgium had been soul-destroying, then Shenington, happily, would prove to be the perfect pick-me-up, and in a competitive, 37-strong Junior Max class field, Luke wasted little time in demonstrating his mettle.

“There were a lot of very fast local specialists there, as well as some good national-level drivers,” he mused, “so we knew it was going to be a hard weekend’s racing. We hadn’t been to Shenington since April, and that makes it tough going up against guys who are competing there weekend-in, weekend-out, because they obviously have a lot more track knowledge.

“I started the first heat all the way down in 27^th, but there were a couple of crashes around the opening lap, which gained me quite a few places – and after that, we were quick and just kept coming through, picking them off lap-by-lap and getting closer-and-closer to the front. It was a good, fun race; with it not being a national-level meeting, the pressure was off, which meant I could just go out there and go for it and we ended up sixth.”

Precision perfection keeps the chasing pack at bay

In a tougher encounter in heat two, Luke raced well to claim a close second position – right in the wheeltracks of the winner, who was on fresher rubber – whilst heat three yielded a strong fifth from a midfield starting spot. Fastest lap in two of the three outings laid down a potent marker ahead of the all-important final, but beginning on the unenviable outside line in second cost the Wickersley School and Sports College pupil when the lights went out, as he slipped back to third. He would impressively not allow it to deter him.

“I kept my head up and just focussed on trying to catch the two leaders,” he recounted. “I got back into second, but then midway through the race, Kaan Onder came past me and we worked together until it became a three-way fight for the lead with Cameron Twynham.

“It was quite a battle, but then Kaan and Cameron had a coming-together, which let me through into the lead and after that I just had to keep calm, maintain my consistency and make no mistakes. If the other two guys hadn’t crashed out, it would have been a really good fight between the three of us, I think, because we all had very similar speed.”

Focussing on the job at-hand

Handling the situation superbly, Luke pulled away effortlessly in the closing stages, going on to claim his third fastest lap from just four races and cross the finish line more than two seconds clear of any of his pursuers. As tonics go, it was timely indeed.

“It was really good to win – just what we needed after Genk – and it was good to know we’ve moved forward quite a lot pace-wise, too,” concluded the 16-year-old Yorkshire ace. “We’re definitely more confident now looking ahead.”

Luke headed to Buckmore aiming to move up from the 24^th spot he occupied in the national Junior Max class title standings – constituting 59 of the finest drivers the country has to offer – into the top 20, and quietly optimistic about his chances of doing just that.

Battling with the big guns at Buckmore Park

“We wanted to get a top 15 finish again to score some solid points and boost our position in the championship after some bad luck,” revealed the talented young Rotherham speed demon, who prior to the weekend had tallied a best result of a brace of 15^th places from the opening eight finals. “It’s a really physical track – you don’t get a rest around the lap – so fitness plays a big part, but we had been to Buckmore for club meetings and been quite quick, so we were feeling pretty confident.”

Indeed, the fearsomely fast Kent circuit has a reputation for being one of the most demanding and punishing in the UK, but a committed gym and swimming programme has seen Luke take a quantum leap forward in the fitness stakes this year – even if he concedes there remains work to do – and he demonstrated the benefits of that assiduous approach to his burgeoning career by setting the 22^nd-best lap time in qualifying out of the 51 competitors present.

“We were fairly satisfied with that,” reflected the highly-rated Wickersley-based hotshot. “It was so close all weekend, but that put us tenth on the grid for the first heat and 11^th for the second, and we were able to get some decent results from there. In heat one, I got a good start; I was on the outside line, but the driver alongside me on the inside bogged down, which enabled me to get across. That helped a lot, and I got as high as fifth but then got caught up in a fight and ended up tenth.”

Still an extremely solid outcome, Luke revealed that hard work throughout the weekend produced consistent improvements to his kart, enabling him to ‘push it more to its limits and pull off some stronger moves’ and reasoning that ‘it was all about being confident enough in it to be aggressive out there’. In the second heat, he would be brilliantly so.

Eyes on the prize...

“I got another good start, from the inside this time, and got quite far up the field,” the 16-year-old recounted. “I got into sixth and was closing on the five leaders, but then they started defending, which backed everyone up and brought the drivers behind me into play, too – at one stage, there was a train of 15 of us battling over first place and it all got a bit chaotic! I kept going backwards and forwards – I think my lack of experience showed a little in that situation. It was definitely a hard race!”

An entirely unrepresentative 14^th when the chequered flag fell, Luke’s competitive pace throughout was encouraging indeed, as he hauled himself determinedly into contention before finding himself knocked around by a number of rivals. Most importantly, his raw speed was palpably there, and after beginning the first of the two points-scoring finals from 21^st position, the Wickersley School and Sports College pupil gained five spots on the opening lap alone before going on to home inexorably in on the top ten. He takes up the story…

“I got a fairly decent start and made up a couple of places straightaway, and then I found some space and kept going forward,” he recalled. “I was quite strong in the moves I made, and I worked together with another driver to progress through the field. Then on the last lap he began defending, which allowed the pack behind to catch us up and I had to defend, too. In the past, that’s not always been my strongest suit, but I think I did well to hold onto my position, because it was really getting quite fierce behind me…”

That it certainly was, and defending as if his very life depended upon it – with no fewer than three adversaries breathing unremittingly down his neck – Luke maturely withstood intense pressure to cross the finish line a very well-deserved 11^th. He even boldly tried a number of more unorthodox lines around the lap in the closing stages in an effort to distract his quarry and find a way past – evidence, if ever it were needed, that he is learning fast. And then when two drivers ahead were subsequently disqualified, 11^th place became ninth.

Buckmore Park breakthrough - Super 1 top ten at last!

“That was really good,” he enthused of his breakthrough top ten Super 1 finish, a real milestone in his progress. “It boosted my confidence quite a lot, and left me feeling positive for the second final. I didn’t get the best of starts this time because someone spun in front of me, but after that, I was just trying to stay consistent.

“It was relentless out there – you had to be pushing all the time – but the kart didn’t feel as good as it had earlier in the weekend because the tyres were getting quite used by then. I was lacking a little grip, which didn’t help, and then towards the end of the race I began dropping away a bit due to my fitness, so I still need to work more on that – but we were happy with the result again.”

With the heat contributing to Luke’s fatigue, 11^th place was another noteworthy outcome, and indeed, just one lap longer and he could arguably have vied for as high as sixth, as the group ahead began scrapping intensely and slowing each other down. What’s more, the combination of results exceeded his expectations for the weekend and has vaulted him from 24^th into 20^th in the Junior Max table – and more significantly, a mere ten points shy of 15^th.

“We achieved our goals,” the Yorkshire ace concluded, “and it was good, solid points to move forward in the championship. We were quick all weekend, and I learned a lot in terms of racecraft. We’re feeling confident. The next round is at our ‘home’ track, PF International, and the target is to get another top ten there. We’re still aiming to finish inside the top 15 in the championship overall to get a seeded number for next year. We need good results in every remaining round now, but hopefully, we should be able to do it…”