Indeed he was, and it echoed a similarly impressive performance from the blue riband Kartmasters event at PF a fortnight earlier, only this one had ultimately ended in even greater frustration.
“The wet weather is my strongest point,” Matthew stressed. “I've done a fair amount of wet weather testing at PF so I'm pretty used to those conditions. Kartmasters was very competitive and there's a lot of pressure put on you there, but it's my home circuit so I expected to do quite well.
“Unfortunately my back bumper snapped off in the first heat, but I finished both my other two heats inside the top ten. That left me fourth on the ‘B' final grid on a drying track. In the damp conditions on slick tyres it was really tricky, but I got a good start to get into second place by the first corner and I just stuck with that.
“The pre-final was really good – coming all the way from 24th up to seventh was awesome, just amazing. I hadn't expected to do that and really enjoyed it. After that the grand final was such a disappointment. I was all prepared for it and hoping to be on the podium, then I just got fired off in the first corner, straight over the top of another kart and onto the grass…”
It was, as he says, a crushing disappointment, but reflecting on his season as a whole Matthew has few complaints. After finishing 19th in a field of 32 drivers despite only participating in five of the eight points-scoring Stars rounds, the 15-year-old has just one objective for 2008 – victory.
“I think it's gone well,” he said. “Like I said, the whole year was a learning curve and I'm really glad I did it. I learned a lot about how the championship is run and how competitive it can be out there, so I know what to expect if I come back again next year.”
![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)
