Karting star Sam Stephens eased to victory in the Dragon Challenge at Llandow Kart Club.

THIRTEEN-year-old Sam Stephens was back on the track in the second round of the Dragon Challenge at Llandow Kart Club.

The Dragon Challenge runs over five rounds and is held in conjunction with Dunkeswell Kart Racing Club (Sam’s home club) and Llandow Kart Club near Cardiff.

In Sam’s first visit to Llandow, the Saturday practice day went extremely well and despite persistent rain he achieved some competitive lap times.

On race day, the Worle School student set some outstanding lap times and stormed to finish first in both heats, almost 10 seconds ahead of the other competitors.

In the third heat of the challenge, Sam again took the lead and by lap four was almost four seconds ahead of the pack when disaster struck and his drive chain snapped, leaving Sam without power and forcing him to retire.

As a result, Sam started the final in second place on the grid, but it only took him half a lap to take the lead and drive tremendously to finish in first place, some nine seconds ahead of the second-placed driver.

Unfortunately, the nose cone of Sam’s kart was too damaged from earlier race meetings and did not pass scrutineering at Llandow prior to the challenge and had to be replaced.

The new cone remains blank and is crying out for sponsorship stickers. If there are any local businesses who would like the opportunity to offer Sam sponsorship, enquiries can be made to deb.stephens@sky.com

Sam will be competing in the third round of the Dunkeswell championships on April 29 and anyone can follow the live timing on the day at www.dunkeswell.com

Grateful thanks go to current support from Worle Autos, Barber Co and Demon Tweeks.