Matthew Mason could arguably claim to be BRDC Stars of Tomorrow's most improved driver of 2007, and made such an impression towards the end of the campaign he has now set his sights firmly on the 2008 crown.
The Nottinghamshire ace belied his lack of karting experience – 2007 marked only his second full year of competition and first on the national stage – by going from strength-to-strength as the season progressed, but he admitted the early rounds had been a bit of an eye-opener.
“Last year we were just doing club meetings at PF International and Wombwell, my two local circuits,” he told
Crash.net. “I raced Mini Max in 2006 and Junior Max was quite a change, especially in terms of power and it affects the way you handle the kart as well. You need to brake earlier going into the corners in Junior Max.
“Stars was a real learning curve for us – the competition is a lot greater out there and I just wanted to get some experience so I can be properly competitive next year.”
A late entry to the championship, Matthew missed the opening meeting at Kimbolton and also the Welsh visit to Llandow in July, and as if that alone were not enough the other points-scoring rounds – at Larkhall, Genk and Wigan – were all at circuits that were new to him. It was, he acknowledged, never going to be anything less than an uphill struggle, but being with a team in Xtreme Racing, he underlined, was a massive help.
“There's a real environment within the team,” he stated, “and you've got people you can talk to inside the same awning. Given it was only my second full year in karting, I hadn't been to a lot of the tracks before so some of the other Xtreme drivers were giving me tips.
“Over the course of the year my racecraft and driving have improved all-round, and I now know how to give better feedback to the team, how to be more confident when it comes to overtaking manoeuvres and how to time the starts exactly right by getting up onto the bumper of the kart ahead coming up to the line.”
![BRDC Stars of Tomorrow Junior Max ace Matthew Mason in the rthick of the action [pic credit: Chris Walker/www.kartpix.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/384841.jpg)
