Name: Dean Antony Golba

DOB: 18/06/1987

Home Town: Wigan

Kart: JKH TKM

Team: Flex Motorsport

 

 

Dean started having an interest in karting back in 1996. When he moved to Wigan his father Steve heard about a circuit called Three Sisters. By 1997 he had his first kart. It was a '96 Boxer K3 Junior TKM with a brand new engine. Sadly when Dean went for his ARKs test he failed. The kart was just too fast for him and in the end the kart was sold. Karting was never forgotton about and in 2004 Dean planned to try his hand at karting again. In March time he bought a 2002 Project One chassis and took his ARKs test again. This time he passed and completed his first race in June that year at Three Sisters. After he completed his novice races it was clear that he had some pace and would be challenging for trophies very soon.

During the '05 season Dean finished the championship in 6th place at Wigan and 8th at GYG. He also met his girlfriend Gem at the beginning of the year. In '06 Dean entered the championship again at Wigan but also entered the Motors TV championship. In the club champs he finished 5th this time but in Motors TV against very good competition he managed to finish in 6th place. He recorded a memorable podium in the May Motors TV meeting, finishing behind Phil Smith and Matt Bell. The biggest difference for Dean in the '06 season was the move onto a 2004 Venom Sidewinder. The kart performed well and allowed him to get himself much closer to the pace, sometimes setting it!

For the 2007 season a new homologation in the TKM class came into effect. At the time Dean was using H2H Motorsport for engine rebuilds and Nick at H2H had designed and homologated a chassis with Parolin, the Z-One. Dean used this chassis for a few races although it became apparant that it needed further development and Dean was planning to race at the Super One British Championships so the decision was made to buy James Duxburys '06 JKH chassis to begin Super One on. As it turned out Super One was pretty hard to get the hang of and visiting other tracks and having to learn them wasn't easy so after two rounds Dean stopped to further improve his racecraft with a return for the last two rounds planned. At the Gold Cup in June Dean qualified 2nd and was looking good until in the prefinal his bumper snapped. This forced him to start last in the final. He still managed to finish 6th in the end with the pace to win it. After returning to S1 Dean did a lot better and showed good pace at Lydd and then Shenington. He finished the MBKC season in 3rd. A switch to Flex Motorsport also saw a benefit for Dean as he ran with them at the two final S1 meetings and used them for engine rebuilding. He also achieved his first race win at Three Sisters in November. He started the heats at the back of the grid and used old tyres but still managed his first win.

For the 2008 season it was decided to concentrate on S1 and some select big events. Dean also bought a brand new JKH chassis for the season. S1 started at Ellough where Dean had done the previous club round. Sadly the event had bad weather and the race was cancelled as the result of a big crash which involved Dean. Luckily kart and driver were ok. For the second round at Larkhall Dean had a shocker and managed to not finish any heats. This put him last on the grid for the B final. He did however have a gutsy drive through to the A final and managed to show good pace in the end. This really messed up chances of a seeded number in the championship. Going into the next two rounds Dean struggled a little to really make an impression. It was decided that Dean was to go back to basics and run at some club rounds to try and gain some confidance. The first race he did was at Hooton Park. Once Dean had entered the race late it turned out that the race was the Cheshire Oaks trophy, the biggest event on the calendar for the circuit. He started the heats at the back again with old tyres and managed to win the final. His second race win. He then did the GYG Prix in Wales and finished 2nd in the final behind Tom Oliphant. His pace was good enough to win but he got held up early in the race which hampered his progress. He then did a clubbie at Wigan which was only his third race at Wigan that season and started last in the heats again on old tyres and won the final. Earlier that year he finished 3rd in the Platinum Cup and 2nd in the Gold Cup. Before going back to Super One he did a Whilton Mill and his pace was very good although while coming through the front 7 drivers from 13th on the grid he got involved in an incident and failed to finish the race. Things were looking great going into the final two rounds. He managed to test at Clay Pigeon before the S1 round there. He did well and learnt the track very quickly. It was the same story at the S1 round and although he snapped a throttle cable in one heat (finished the heat controlling the throttle with his hand) and came off in another heat he started the final grid 13. This ended up giving him his best S1 finish of 10th. He then the weekend after went to compete at the 0 plate event at PFI. It was his first time there and on the Friday he got within a few tenths of the fastest time set. Sadly on the Sunday Dean had to abandon the event as his girlfriend Gem had some bad news that her Gran had died. The following weekend Dean was at Buckmore for the final round of S1. Again he had never been to the track before but on the Friday he managed to set some quick times and wasn't too far off the pace. Come qualifying he managed 12th out of 28 which was good. The heats went well and he qualified 9th for the final. After the second lap he got upto 3rd and things were looking good when a red flag was thrown for some reason. Sadly at the restart Dean got fired off and ended up finishing the final a lowly 14th. He missed out on a seeded number but ended the season on a high. Things went a lot better towards the end of the season and are looking good for the campaign in '09.