Saturday Race 1:
The first race of the weekend kicked off with a great start for Alex and his Australian team mate Daniel Erickson who took his maiden victory in British Formula Ford. From fifth on the grid Alex got the benefit of the two second runners colliding, taking them both out on the warm up lap. This enabled Alex to quickly move up into third place off the start line. With rapid pace he was soon making a bid for second place. An exciting duel ensued with Alex making a decisive and successful move on lap 3, but falling victim to Joseph Newgarden behind who managed to dive past into second. They raced on to get clear away from the rest of the field and Alex achieved his first podium of the season in third place. With team mate Daniel Cammish taking 4th place and the Scholarship win, this was a great result for Kevin Mills and the Spectrum drivers in 1st, 3rd & 4th places. "It's been a long time coming," said Alex. "I'm really happy for the Team. Its been a fantastic day for Kevin Mills Racing."

Kevin Mills was delighted with the results delivered by his young drivers, describing it as "Mega. We have been promising this for quite a while and it is terrific to deliver."

"Fantastic" was how Australian Spectrum designer Mike Borland summed up the result. "We're also racing at Sandown this weekend for the Victorian Championship. Spectrum chassis won the Formula Ford and Formula Ford 1600 races at Sandown and then we sat up to watch live timing and see the two Dans and Alex crowd the podium in their KMR Spectrums. It is very satisfying to see our cars winning races around the World within a few hours. Congratulations to Kevin, his Team and the Drivers on a well earned result."

Sunday Race 2:
Following Saturday's podium Alex was keen to get going again on Sunday morning, confident he could bring in another good result. Making an excellent start, he was in a good position to make progress but things didn't work out quite as planned when he suffered a broken 3rd gear a couple of laps in and dropped back to 10th place. Fortunately there was a sizeable gap behind the top ten runners and the pursuing pack and he skilfully nursed the car home to maintain 10th place over the finish line.

Sunday Race 3:
The downside of the broken gear in Race 2 meant that Alex was unable to get in a decent qualifying for Race 3 and started this one from 13th on the grid. On the bright side, it had rained before the race so everyone went out on wet tyres. With Alex being acknowledged for his skill in wet driving conditions he was looking forward to moving up the field quite rapidly. Up to 10th by lap 7 and creating a gap behind, deployment of the safety car on lap 9 following an accident meant the field closed up again. Unfortunately, for Alex when the race resumed on lap 11 he got hit from behind putting him on the grass and losing places. With just a couple of minutes left and with the track drying out he was unable to make the same progress, and despite closing the gap had to settle for13th place.
Nevertheless, a good weekend's racing and the satisfaction of his first podium this season.

Alex and his family send their sincere condolences to Matt Dobson, his mother Lynda and sisters Rachel & Katie in the loss of Martyn.

Heartfelt condolences also to the Surtees family in their tragic loss of Henry.

Saturday's 10th round of the Championship took place on a hot and sunny day at Snetterton, very different to last year's torrential downpours.

From 8th on the grid Alex made a good start. A few laps in, creating a gap behind and looking for the opportunity to overtake, progress was delayed when the safety car was deployed to rescue Josh Hill's stranded car. When the safety car pulled in, the field closed up again, so it was back to the start and alas for Alex, any hopes of working up through the field were dashed when he was hit from behind at Sears bend sending him into a spin where he was collected by Rogier de Wit's car, sadly taking them both out of the race.

Undeterred Alex arrived at the circuit on Sunday morning determined to make the best of the remaining two races.

Sunday did turn out to be a better day with Alex taking a top 10 finish in both races. Although not getting the results he wanted, Alex is gaining in experience and was less than 0.5 secs off the fastest lap in each race. He is therefore on the pace and has the ability to run at the front and so he will be looking for some real progress at the next meeting at Donington Park in two weeks' time.

Rounds 7, 8, 9 Knockhill 13th/14th June

Alex came away from his weekend at Knockhill somewhat frustrated at not achieving his first win of the season after starting from pole position and from 3rd on the grid in two of the three races. He can however, be greatly encouraged by the fact that he was one of the quickest drivers all weekend and will be even more determined to get a result at the next race at Snetterton.

Saturday started really well with Alex showing the kind of form that has made him a potential race winner. Along with eventual pole sitter Ben Barker he set the pace in qualifying finishing 3rd quickest overall, just 0.03 secs behind Barker. His times were also good enough to secure pole position for the second race on Sunday.

However at the end of the qualifying session Alex had quite a large accident on his flying lap when his throttle stuck open. Fortunately he was not injured thanks to the safety barriers. The problem was later traced to a stone jamming the throttle, picked up on track following an earlier excursion into the gravel by another driver. In the interval before the first race Alex's team made a fantastic effort to get the car raceworthy again and Alex made it onto the grid with his Spectrum fully rebuilt. Nevertheless this "off" would eventually come back to bite Alex in the first race, but given his speed and grid position expectations were naturally very high.

Alex made a great start to the first race and passed McKenna to move into 2nd place with a daring move on the outside just before Turn 3. An exciting duel continued for a couple of laps with slight contact between the two cars working in Alex's favour and he started to build up a gap behind him. With leader Ben Barker comfortably ahead Alex looked like he would realistically achieve 2nd place. but then on lap 9 his gearbox main shaft sheared and his race was over. It seems most likely that the problem was a result of the earlier incident in qualifying.So after the highs of qualifying 3rd and on pole, Saturday ended in frustration for Alex.

Sunday was to be another mixed bag of fortune. On pole for the first race and with the knowledge that he had the speed there was a good chance of a race win. However Alex was possibly a little too eager to get away quickly and made a jump start. Although he then led the first lap he was forced to come into the pits on lap 4 and dropped to the back of the field. Emerging in 19th place he then drove a brilliant race, demonstrating great skill and determination to cut his way right through the pack and get up to 9th place. With a couple of laps to go he made his move for 8th place but was hit by the driver he was passing which took them both into the gravel and out of the race ...........!
 

To compound matters grid positions for the final race of the day were determined by lap times from the second race and as Alex had to battle his way through traffic he was unable to put in a fast lap time and so qualified 9th on the grid. With a need to get a finish and score some points Alex drove a strategic and slightly more cautious race running in 7th and 8th place for most of the race before settling for an 8th place finish.

After a very tough weekend which had looked so promising after qualifying Alex was still upbeat and wanted to record his thanks to the Kevin Mills Team who worked so hard to repair the car and get him out in the races. "The team were brilliant - everyone pitched in and worked relentlessly to get me back out there. Thanks guys!"

He certainly didn't get the luck he deserved after his performance in qualifying and in the first two races and so he will be even more determined to get a result at the next race at Snetterton on July 4-5th.

Full results here

Alex has won valuable backing from Elite Cymru, a programme run by the Sports Council for Wales, aimed at providing elite and potentially elite sports competitors with a wide range of support to assist them to fully achieve their potential. It is an achievement in itself to be included as a member of the scheme and Alex is naturally thrilled to be included. He is also one of the first motor sport competitors to be taken on. Membership will be reviewed annually against clearly defined performance plans and targets.