Junior Sport News . . . from PembrokeshireSport.co.uk

Owen is firing on all cylinders

Dyffryn Taf school boy, 12 year old Owen Griffiths from Narberth, is fast emerging as one of the UK’s leading kart racing talents who already has over 60 trophies and a growing reputation as a driver of great potential for the future.
Going into the 2011 British Cadet season Owen has been tipped to be champion of the class in which a long list of talented drivers including Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button made it at this level.
His success so far is all the more creditable because Owen is undoubtedly one of the smoothest drivers in cadet racing today.

Early start

It all seems a long time ago since Owen set out in his sport when parents Jo and Jeremy bought a quad bike for Owen when he was five years old so that he could channel his natural competitive nature into a positive element in his life. Jeremy had previously been heavily involved with Welsh and British Karting success, and after getting acclimatised on a nearby industrial estate Owen was soon taking part in grass track competitions.
He received his first kart, an old Honda cadet kart at Christmas, 2006 and as soon as they could find a track that was open they gave it a try – and Owen was out on the kart every week practising on the road to his current status in the sport. After a year of hard work Owen was showing real speed and so he applied for his MSA-approved racing licence, which requires a test before it is granted. This Owen undertook in August 2007 at Clay Pigeon Raceway and he passed with flying colours.
It was the start of Owen’s progress through the ranks and after showing true grit in 2008 and 2009 and established him as a contender for British Championship success. At the end of 2009 he was ranked a creditable 36th out of 68 competitors in the FKS and to round off the year in style he claimed the Celtic Crown at Llandow as a measure of his terrific progress.

Challenging season

Owen already has a challenging 2011 season which sees him competing for the British Karting Championship, organised by Formula Kart Stars, the MSA Super One Series, the ‘O’ Plate PFI (Lincolnshire) and the Kart Masters PFI (Lincolnshire). All of these top events are covered by Sky Sports TV and to keep Owen very busy at weekends he will also compete in the Welsh Championships on the track at Llandow, near Bridgend!
He competes in FKS (Formula Kart Stars), which prides itself in being the premier training grounds for aspiring single-seater and sports car drivers, which was started in 1996 by McLaren boss Ron Dennis, Mercedes boss Norbert Haug and karting legend Martin Hines to provide a path for young drivers who wished to pursue a career in motorsport. It is supported today by Formula One management, the Motor Sport Association and the Motorsport Industry Association, and is committed to providing a path for aspiring young drivers like Lewis Hamilton, who is patron of the series, and is understandably one of Owen’s sporting icons, along with Jensen Button and Ayrton Senna. They also encourage good sportsmanship and family values and this is very evident because Owen certainly follows both!

Good all-round sportsman

It is not only Karting that Owen enjoys in sport, however, because he is also a very good cross country runner who has remained unbeaten from the start of his primary school days, where he was victor ludorum in the 2008 school sports. He also cycles and is a good swimmer, gaining the county championship in backstroke during 2009, beating a time that had been held for nine years.
But it is Karting that remains his passion and if you ask Owen about his ambitions he is very clear that he wants to start out by finishing in the top five in 2011 in both the FKA and SI Championships. Long-term sponsorship would be a great help because Owen’s kart is one of a very few to be run in the championships and his major aim is to have a long-term career in motor racing, initially by enjoying what he does so well now and then one day to follow Lewis Hamilton into becoming a driver for a professional car racing team.
He knows that he has the full support of his parents and there is one thing for sure: Owen Griffiths is very focussed and eager to build on his already considerable success in karting – and PembrokeshireSport.co.uk is confident that we are going to hear a great deal more of this talented young man in future years!