X-Kart End Super One Season in Style with Double Junior Rotax Win at Shenington
X-Kart brought the curtain down on the Super One Series season at Shenington for Rounds 11 and 12, with a weekend that produced some of the team’s finest individual performances of the year. Across changing conditions on Saturday and dry racing on Sunday, drivers across all four classes showed the kind of character and racecraft that has defined a long season of development and progress.
Mini Max
Evan Dearden
Evan Dearden had arguably his most complete weekend of the Super One season at Shenington. Qualifying P3 in the wet conditions on Saturday, he backed that up with P3 in Heat 1 and P2 in Heat 2, and was running P3 in the Round 11 final when a shunt at the hairpin sent him spinning and dropped him to P14. The pace to stand on the Super One podium was clearly there.
Sunday showed further improvement. Qualifying P7, Dearden progressed through the heats before a lockup in the Round 12 final dropped him to P14 despite setting the fastest lap on track. A weekend that reflected how far his pace has developed across the season, and one that points to strong results in 2027.
Junior Rotax
Jude Puddefoot
Jude Puddefoot saved his best weekend of the season for last. Saturday brought pole position, P2 and P1 in the heats, and a dominant final win to take the Round 11 victory. Sunday was a clean sweep — pole, two heat wins, and P1 in the final to back it up with the Round 12 win as well. The double victory capped a first season of Junior Rotax that Jude reflected on with real pride, finishing P3 overall in the Super One Junior Rotax championship. He paid tribute to his family, the X-Kart team, Aurum Race Engines, and his sponsors DuckTape and Omnino Steakhouse Leadenhall for their support throughout the season.
Nelson Taylor
Nelson Taylor had a weekend of two very different halves that ultimately ended in his best Super One result of the season. Round 11 was disrupted by a crash on the last corner of Heat 2 after a spinning kart left him nowhere to go, dropping him through the field before a dropped nose in the final saw him classified P15 despite crossing the line P11.
Sunday was a completely different story. Qualifying P5, Nelson progressed through the heats with a P8 and a P4, then set fastest lap after fastest lap in the Round 12 final to finish P2 and complete an X-Kart 1-2 alongside Puddefoot. He was also awarded Top Rookie for the round, a fitting way to end the season.
Zak Jennings
Zak Jennings showed his best form of the Super One season across the Shenington double-header. Qualifying P9 in difficult wet conditions for Round 11, he progressed through the heats, finishing P4 in Heat 2, and carried that form into the final to take P3 — his best Super One result of the season.
Sunday brought a fresh set of challenges. Qualifying P4 in the dry, a difficult Heat 2 dropped him back before he fought through to finish P5 in the Round 12 final. The ability to adapt quickly between wet and dry conditions and produce results in both was the standout quality of his weekend.
Elijah Hartley
Elijah Hartley had a weekend where the pace was significantly better than the results suggested. Saturday’s wet qualifying placed him P16 through traffic, and penalties across Heat 1 and Heat 2 compounded the difficulty before a double penalty in the Round 11 final saw him classified P23 despite the speed he had shown.
Sunday painted a far clearer picture of where Hartley’s pace sits. Qualifying P8, he was driven off at Turn 2 in Heat 1 and fought back from P23 before recovering to P6. Heat 2 saw him driven off again at Turn 1 before setting purple sector after purple sector to climb back through the field. The Round 12 final saw him finish P6 and take fastest lap, a result that reflected the quality of driving across the day. He ends the Super One season P7 in the Junior Rotax championship standings.
Harry Ward
Harry Ward produced two of the most impressive recovery drives of the weekend. Saturday saw him qualify P10 before a Heat 1 penalty dropped him to P24, but he fought back to finish P7 in the Round 11 final from P18 on the grid. Sunday brought a mechanical issue that left him qualifying P27, but he worked through to P13 in Heat 1 before finishing P9 in the Round 12 final from P24 on the grid.
Starting from the back and finishing inside the top ten twice in the same weekend is a result that reflects the development in his racecraft across the season.
Senior Rotax
Lewis Holt
Lewis Holt made an immediate impression on his first weekend aboard an OTK chassis, winning Senior Rotax practice and qualifying on Saturday to take pole for Round 11. Heat 1 brought a P2, before a tyre decision backfired and dropped him to P14 in Heat 2. He recovered to finish P13 in the Round 11 final before returning on Sunday to fight back to P10 in the Round 12 final, setting purple sectors across several laps despite his progress being hampered throughout.
Lucas Steele
Lucas Steele brought the curtain down on his Super One season with P12 and P11 across the two Shenington finals, results that secured him P14 in the Senior Rotax championship standings out of over 50 drivers. A consistent run through both days reflected the development in his pace since the opening rounds, and the trajectory heading into next season is clear.
Additional Team Results
In Micro Max, James Hudson finished P16 in Round 11 and P13 in Round 12.
