Karter Scott Barnes overcame a number of challenges to finish third at the Skusa Pro Tour at Speedsportz Racing Park in New Caney, Texas.

Racing on an unfamiliar track in rounds one and two, the Bermudian struggled last Saturday, before pushing hard on Sunday to finish on the podium.

“Overall it was not the weekend we were looking for,” Scott told The Royal Gazette.

“This was a new track for me, I've never been here before. I got there Wednesday, put the cart together, and wasn't able to go out for practice.

“It rained on Thursday for the majority of the day. We got one dry practice on Thursday so we didn't have much time at all.

“On Friday, the official practice started, again it rained for most of the day. We had three sessions in, two of them with a slightly wet track.

“We had 12 guys in my class and we qualified seventh on Saturday. I was just struggling to find the speed and getting the kart to do what we wanted it to do.

The 40-year-old tweaked things around for the final day of racing. Still, he suffered a setback which placed him right at the back for the start of the race.

“We made a bunch of changes on Saturday night to try to get the kart better. It felt like we were going in the right direction.

“We went out Sunday for round two. It was a whole new day, I qualified seventh again but got faster, we were off first by a shorter margin.”

“I made more changes for the pre-final. Unfortunately, someone ran over my front end on the first lap and damaged my steering shaft, so I had to retire from that race.

“This put us in the twelfth and last starting place for the final on Sunday. The green flag came and I put my head down, and just charged through the field as fast as I could.

“The kart felt much better and I was able to race my way up to a third-place podium finish. We had the second-fastest lap time of the day, a hundredth off the fastest lap time.

“If we had been able to start towards the front, we would have had something for the win. But anytime you can do these big pro races and get a podium is always good, so I was happy with getting on the podium on Sunday.

“We’ll a little bit behind for the championship points. We still have four more four rounds to go, and we're going into two tracks that we know.

“I’m still optimistic about the championship hunt. I’m happy that we were able to get another national podium.

“As always, I’ve to thank my team and my sponsors. Maranello USA and Carlos Racing Engines, my sponsors back in Bermuda, All Rise, Butterfield & Vallis for representing their Powerade brand, I couldn’t do anything without them.”