If you are going to have a natural talent for a sport, you could do a lot worse than motorhead Mikey Gleeson.

The nine-year-old from Wimbledon Chase first got behind the wheel of a kart aged just five and he already has last year’s Bambino Star Pupil Championship and the 8-11 Monza Winter Cup titles under his belt.

Now the AFC Wimbledon fan is going all out to win the 8-11 Monza Cup championship, and he has made a winning start taking top spot in the opening two races.

The championship is held at the Rye House Kart Raceway in Hertfordshire, where F1 champion Lewis Hamilton first put the pedal to the metal.

However, according to his dad Nick, Mikey is not yet dreaming of the heady heights of F1.

“Mikey just wants to drive and race, he is not bothered about F1,” he said.

“He asked if he could go driving when he was five, and he seems to have a natural talent for it. We’ve taken some of his friends and they bang into the tyre walls because they didn’t realise they had to turn the wheel.

“He could only start driving competitively from aged six, and we went to the Sandown track where he was racing against lads much older than him and he’s improved every year.”

He added: “I don’t want to push him too hard, if he loses a race, then that’s fine, it is how you learn.

“I know plenty of parents who are too pushy, and only very few actually make the grade. There are plenty on great young drivers out there, but there is such a bottleneck at the very top.”

The next step for Mikey is a shot at the World Series title – Buckmore Park has produced winners in the past and it would be an opportunity to race at venues all over the world, with this year’s final in Le Mans.

But, for the time being, Mikey is concentrating on the Monza Championship, with the next meeting on May 20.