A PROMISING young karter from Liskeard has started his first racing season in style – by winning a trophy, and meeting one of his Formula 1 heroes.

Martial Radford, 10, has been karting for about two years, and has already come a long way since he started out with a second-hand kart and a few tools.

He soon developed a passion for the sport and at the start of 2013 obtained his race licence, enabling him to compete in championship races.

In his second-ever race weekend, Martial took a trophy for first placed novice – but in round three at the end of April, things didn't start off so well, as his mum Cheryl explained: 'He had a crash on the Saturday, which shook him up a little bit. But he also did his fastest lap of all that weekend.'

Finding a space to practise in has been the biggest challenge. As the track at Dunkeswell is available for practice the day before races, the whole family now makes a weekend of the monthly championship events.

Martial, who attends St Martin's Primary School, had already received an autograph and a private message from Sir Jackie Stewart.

On the second day of round three, there was another nice surprise when he got to meet Nigel Mansell, who owns the track.

'I was excited to meet an F1 world champion,' said Martial. 'It was nice to have Nigel do our drivers' briefing and to be a race steward, as he does in F1. He said he would be watching our driving carefully and would have words with us if he needed – just like he does F1 drivers.'

Anybody interested in following Martial's progress can visit http://www.martialradford">www.martialradford.

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