Laura and Paul

Laura and Paul celebrated their first wedding anniversary last week, and it gives me pleasure in offering my congratulations, not to mention allowing me to take some superb photographs from Hellaby Hall ceremony, to the Stowe School (Bucks) reception last year.

Some weddings are a pleasure to 'shoot', but with the Stowe venue, it is likely that this one was probably the best so far.

I expect to take more photographs of Laura, a stunning former model, on a future date, although with her being a "mum-to-be" in waiting, I might have to wait longer than planned..?

My heartfelt wishes to you both - but Vancouver is such a long way..!

Thomas Knopper

It was with great sadness that I heard of the death of Thomas Knopper during a kart race in Germany recently.

A former European Formula KZ2 champion in 2007, I last saw Thomas race at Wackersdorf just a few short weeks ago, and my thoughts go out to his family and friends.

Fatalities in karting are rare and the circumstances of Thomas' accident are unkown, but it is important that steps are taken to try and prevent a similar accident happening again. Karts are very fast these days, so if an Italian karting magazine is suggesting track improvements need to be made, then there should be no "if's" or "buts".

JFDI as a fomer kart champion once said!

TKM Festival (Whilton Mill)

Superb weather and excellent organisation at Whilton Mill, all contributed to some excellent racing at the 2009 TKM Festival meeting.

Sam Brown dominated the TKM Extreme final, took the top step of the podium, but already there were rumblings of a problem in scrutineering. Sorry folks but correctly completing a 'scrute' card is not rocker science - I have covered far too many races during the last 20+ years, where drivers who have performed superbly well on the track, end up being excluded from what was a major result in their careers. So step forward Rory Mowbray, the new TKM Extreme Festival champion.

As for the rest Ashley Jones was, in my judgement anyway, the 'driver of the day', with a stunning victory in Junior Elite - well done buddy! Oliver Hodgson meanwhile, whom I have already 'blogged' eslewhere after a well-deserved win recently at Kimbolton, was suitably awesome in the Junior Festival race after a difficult weekend. The 'Open' champ won as easily as Jones did in his race - it would have been worth seeing them have another head-to-head at Whilton...