MATTHEW Robinson was satisfied that the latest rounds of the MSA British SuperKart Championship ended with him in fifth place.

The Rudheath-based racer went beyond the call of duty to even be behind the wheel at Donington Park in his second season in the series.

Robinson did miss the first open practice on Thursday as he was taking one of his final exams at Lancaster University.

But he then sped the 125 miles to arrive at the Leicestershire circuit for practice two and three, headed back to Lancaster for a further final exam on Friday before returning to ‘Donny’ for the two F125 Championship events and a British Grand Prix race over the weekend.

Robinson achieved two fourth placings and a fifth.

His proud dad Graham said: “This was an excellent result considering those in front were European and British championship winners themselves.”

Robinson, who graduates in July and starts work as a marketing consultant in Deloitte’s strategy and operations sector in London in September, tried new settings in practice and was pleased to achieve a front-row start for the first championship outing on Saturday.

The former student at Sir John Deane’s College entered into a race-long battle with the top six, covered by minimal margins.

After one of the leaders crashed out, the battle to the flag for the top five led to some thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing.

Robinson, who has previously won Cheshire Kart Racing Club titles, crossed the line in fourth, only half a second off the win and having set the fastest lap for pole position in Championship race two.

Although he led into the first corner, straight-line speed suffered a little as the race developed.

After another tight encounter, Robinson progressed to fourth on the last lap to bag another good Championship points haul.

A poor start from fifth in the British Grand Prix race on Sunday afternoon left him eighth after lap one with work to do.

Managing to put a new set of tyres to good use, but still struggling with top-end power, Robinson advanced to fifth and started to close down on the battle for the final podium position.

On the final lap a move for fourth paid off but going into the final hairpin bend there was not enough room to attempt to make another pass which led to losing time and finishing fifth.

A third-place trophy for the championship races over the weekend and a fifth-place trophy for the British GP is considered a reflection of the season so far – could have been better, but could have been a lot worse!

The campaign moves on to Cadwell Park next month.