A regular frontrunner on the national karting scene, Jason decided 18 months ago to concentrate on international racing, a tall order when the competition includes professional drivers from all over Europe. The WSK championship is the continent’s secondary tour and runs on the same circuits as the full European Championship, so Jason will be returning to Angerville in a month for a shot at an even more high-profile win.

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(Kartlink.com)

(UK Karting)

(Peterborough Evening Telegraph)

A limited budget means racing only in the European and World Championships is the best use of resources, and after leading the British Championship up until the closing stages of the last race in 2006 Jason feels he has gone as far as he can in the UK.

“We’re funding ourselves from the proceeds of Tim Parrott Motorsport, our team racing in the UK championships,” said Jason, whose father, multiple World Kart Champion Tim Parrott is in charge of the team. “We’ve had championship wins in the Rotax Max class over the last few years and we’ve built a reputation as one of the best teams in the category. We’re independent as well which means if drivers want to race with us they don’t have to change to a completely different kart.”

In Europe, Jason is racing under the auspices of the Italy-based MGM Racing team and has switched to the Birel kart while remaining with the Parilla engine. He travelled to Ugento two weeks ago to race in the Italian Championship and to gain experience and finished fourth against many of the same drivers that he will race against this weekend.

However, in kart racing tyres are always a huge part of the equation and regulations mean that Jason has had to change to Bridgestone tyres this weekend.

“It’s like a completely different kart with those tyres on,” said Jason.

Despite this he is more than happy with his performance and is confident he can move into the top five tomorrow (Saturday) as the timed qualifying and heats start. Sunday will see the two televised finals.

Starting 6th on the grid for the first Final, Jason opted to use four new tyres out of the six he had left, giving him an advantage over the other drivers, most of whom were only using half a set of new tyres. Fourth place at the flag was the best finishing position yet for Jason in an international level race, but he felt there was more to come in the next race where he would be starting in his finishing position from this race.

Jason came out fighting in the second race and gained a place to third, setting the scene for a battle with professional drivers Sauro Cesetti and Gary Catt. The pressure proved too much for Cesetti and twice he and Jason came together, resulting in Jason losing positions. Although still fighting, eventually Jason’s tyres started to go off in the hot conditions and his lack of time in the kart showed as tiredness set in. He dropped back through the field to ninth in the last few laps.

Jason was very satisfied with his weekend:

“I think we made a lot of people sit up and take notice,” he said. “I’m 19 and I was competing with professionals in their late 20s and 30s. It was a shame I was let down by my tyres in the second race but in those intense conditions the strategy can go either way. I think we’ve prepared well for the Europeans but it will be a whole different ballgame with the super-special championship tyres.”