There has been a lot to take in, but a measure of Matthew's skill and determination to improve was witnessed in the final round at Three Sisters when he stormed to a rostrum finish in soaking wet conditions – a 16-place improvement on the first final of his Stars' career at Larkhall back in June.
“Larkhall was a shocking round,” he admits. “I had never been there before and in all three heats we started mid-pack and just went backwards because I was getting beaten up on the track. It really demonstrated to me just how aggressive it is out there in Stars.
“I was bullied about a bit because I hadn't earned the other drivers' respect. When I first went out there nobody really knew who I was, and I had to really fight for my own name. By the last round I think I had shown people they should respect me a little bit more.
“Genk was where the improvement really kicked in. The circuit is very demanding, and with it being so hot too I was sweating a lot. Also, with only having one set of tyres to last both days they went off very quickly, which had a big impact on the way the kart handled. I really got to grips with the circuit though and enjoyed the weekend. It's a great track with great facilities.
“Most people had only been there once before, so us not having the experience of the track wasn't so much of a disadvantage and we managed to get on quite well. Although we were black-flagged in the first final – which was probably the lowest point of the season for me – in the second one we came from 18th up to ninth.
“Getting a podium at Wigan felt great. I had an awful start which put me back four places to ninth, but from there I was just overtaking pretty much every lap. I was a bit disappointed afterwards because we were catching the leaders by quite a bit when the red flags came out. I think if the race hadn't finished early I would have been fighting for the win; we were really up there.”
![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)
