HUTTON-BASED kart racer Alexander Burford-Fuller's run of bad luck continued in the latest rounds of the Club 2000 Championship at Red Lodge, and the Junior Rotax Championship at Rye House.
However, when given the chance he again showed his potential in the sport with some very impressive drives.
The opening two heats at Red Lodge were a disaster for Burford-Fuller with mechanical issues in both races.
In heat one he suddenly lost power in the middle of the race, and went from challenging the leaders to hanging on to his fourth place position, which he just managed to do.
After the race it was identified that a water seal had gone in the engine, so a quick change of engine was required before heat two.
However, this did not prevent another mechanical gremlin hitting him when the bolt on the throttle pedal snapped when lying second causing the 13-year-old to retire from the race.
Things calmed down for the last qualifying heat with a steady, if unspectacular, drive giving him a fourth place finish.
With all his earlier issues Burford-Fuller had a poor grid position for the final, but it was by far his best drive of the day to power through the field to finish fourth, and also set the fastest lap time of the day by nearly a quarter of a second.
By the end of the race he was only one second behind the leader, and would have been pushing for the win if there were a couple more laps.
On to Rye House the following day, where there was an impressive grid of 19 karts, including two Super One drivers. The day started well for Burford-Fuller with a fourth in the first qualifying heat, and he was the only other driver apart from the two Super One drivers to record a lap time under 37 seconds.
Heat two was probably his most impressive drive to date in his short karting career. Starting fifth on the grid he took the lead on the first bend, and initially pulled away from the remainder of the field.
However, the Super One drivers started to chase him down, and with just over two laps to go one of them caught and passed Burford-Fuller.
However, he was not content to accept defeat, and produced a breathtaking dive up the inside on hairpin one for a clean overtaking manoeuvre on the next lap to regain the lead.
He then drove the perfect defensive line for the remaining lap and a half to take his most impressive win to date.
The remainder of the meeting was not so successful for Burford-Fuller with a 14th in the third qualifying heat after an incident on the third lap saw him spin off the track. The other driver involved was invited to explain his actions after the race.
And the final was not much better when, after a good start, and initially lying fourth, Burford-Fuller was relegated to last place after a coming together of a number of karts on the first hairpin.
However, he did battle back to ultimately finish 11th, but this was a disappointing end to a day that initially looked to be going very well.
On another day he could well have achieved a podium finish, but at least he did strengthen his second position in the overall championship despite his frustrating weekend.
