Chris Burgoyne’s special day in April, two British championships and the injury in between

“It was a bit ironic”the driver said, “that I regained the British Championship almost a year to the day that I was injured trying to defend it down at Bristol.

“I got caught up in a shunt and suffered a severe back injury that kept me away from racing for almost a year. Thankfully my back doesn’t give me any problems.”

That he recovered says a lot about his desire to race. That he recovered successfully to WIN the British championship says a lot about his abilities behind the wheel.

“I had a good season with no recurrence of my back problem.

“I missed the first couple of meetings at the Racewall [Cowdenbeath] but was quite happy with how my cars were going when I returned to the racing.

“My first major race was the Scottish Championship at the Racewall and I got off to a good start but whilst I ended up in second place it was only down to the two leading cars crashing out.”

“I went down to Mildenhall for the British Championship and started the race from row 11. Mildenhall is a shale track and I managed to pick up places early on.

“A couple of race suspensions helped me get into the top five and then a few Iaps later was in third. The two leading cars got themselves involved and I went through into the lead. That was my British title back.”

Though he landed the British, the World Championship came a little too early for Chris, who lives in Falkirk and works at the family business at Airth.

“As always the World Championship is every driver’s dream but unfortunately I had a big shunt a fortnight before. It took a lot of time to get the car ready for the semi-finals which were at Barford.

“From my front row start I knew if I could get around the first corner safely I could win the race. I did and I found myself on the outside of the front row for the World Final at Bristol.

“The outside at Bristol is not the place to be when it is dry but before the final it started to rain and that changed everything. In the wet the grip is on the outside and when the race started I made a good start. Unfortunately there was a crash and the race was suspended and the cars lined up behind me. I made a good restart but was delayed by a three car shunt allowing the cars behind to catch resulting in a trip around the fence and that was that.”

Reflecting on a successful season, another successful season, he added: “I also travelled to Venray in the Netherlands for the World Cup. It is a tremendous venue and was delighted to end up with the runners up spot. I’m really keen to go there next season if I can.”

“I had qualified for the National Series through my British Championship win and ended up in second spot.

“There were ten rounds on both shale and tarmac surfaces. I held my own but had problems at King’s Lynn and didn’t score a point and then didn’t score in the final at Taunton or the Grand Nationals at the Racewall or Barford. I did reasonably well at the last meeting at Belle Vue but had to settle for the runners up spot in the Series.”

“Hopefully I will defend my British Championship – it’s at Taunton this year and I need to go to Ireland to defend the National Championship. I intend to take in all the major championships if I can and then take the season as it comes.”