Arriving the day after a major Typhoon had slammed ashore, rain and rain again would be inevitable on this famous race track. Sandy came here for the first time and had to master both the track and the weather fast to stand a chance. The competition was tough with some of Asia's best junior racers to compete with. Only 3 practice sessions was offered and all on full wet conditions before Saturday mornings qualifying heats. The track is very fast and has pleasant elevation changes. Both the track and organizers displayed very high standards and made this a very enjoyable race.

Only one qualifying heat could be completed because of the heavy rains, but Sandy managed to storm through the weather with second fastest time overall and first in the Rotax Max Junior class.

The 3 first heats then saw Sandy moving up and down between race lead to 5th position, as he gradually learnt the varying wet conditions on the track. This eventually gave him a pre-final starting position of 4th overall place.

The pre-final which went on wet tires as well as the Final race which was the first on slick tires became nail bitters, as there were numerous overtaking's and very good and clean racing. In the end Sandy took the checkered flag as second in the Rotax Max Junior class and 4th overall. Considering the engine disadvantage towards the KF3 engines on this fast track, Sandy was very pleased with his position. He now is in a clear position to challenge for the Championship lead going into the next round in the Philippines in the end of July.

Good preparations is half the race and prior to the third round of the 2008 SuperKart Thailand event Sandy had got his kart set up down to fine art. The circuit is 1300 meter long with very fast and demanding corners and has always been a favorite circuit to Sandy. Again in Friday and Saturday practice he was untouchably fast, showing his Birel's full capability. The weekend finally saw new exhaust pipe regulations and a lottery draw for the exhaust. After receiving his allotted exhaust Sandy did one final test session after more then 120 set up laps and posted his fastest time of the day, only barely beaten by the normally much faster KF2 karts.

In qualifying, which was cut down to only 5 minutes due to the live TV coverage and tight timing schedules, Sandy went out and secured Pole Position.

Heat 1 was 3 fast laps and a huge gap to the rest of the field had been created, with Sandy posting similar lap times to the KF2 class. A lonely race in cruise control.

Heat 2, same recipe as the first and Sandy again secured a large and controlled lead. The team had though noticed that arch rival Kittitat had been matching Sandy's times, although stuck inside the 12 kart chasing field.

The Final and what a showdown that became ! Sandy set of in his usual style, only this time he had a shadow - only millimeters behind Kittitat was charging hard after Sandy. Clearly one of the highlights of this race event, as every single spectator was on his or her feet. Lap 3 and Kittitat made his move after slip streaming Sandy down the long straight and got past. Sandy slotted in 2-3 millimeters behind Kittitat again and sure enough, at the U-turn corner in the middle of the track Sandy found space inside Kittitat and took the lead back. Now it was Kittitat's turn to chase and chase he did, no less the 6 lead changes in the final, but in the end Sandy managed to hold on to the lead and take the win. In the process finishing the 14 lap race in 13:57:499 minutes, even faster then the KF2 class !

With live TV coverage, several interviews, new and improved regulations, the third round of the SuperKart Thailand series became a blast and Sandy would like to thank the race organizer, Khun Kitti for an excellent event - again ! Further a big thank you to Sandy's sponsors, The Pizza Company, Sizzler and Swensens for their fantastic support.

The team prepared especially hard for this race and felt with very fast practicing times through Thursday, Friday and Saturday that the kart and engine was optimal. Sandy also felt and looked very strong on track.

It was not to be though, as come qualifying Sandy could just not come close to the 2 fastest karts. During the heats he would close in through the tight sections, but on the long straights he did not stand any chance. The race then only became a fight to try to set up the kart and engine for an impossible task and this became clear in the final after setting the engine ignition timing much higher then normal in a faint hope that this would help. It instead went the other way and although Sandy briefly went up and took the second position in the start and traded the position a couple of times, as soon as the race settled in he could not keep up at all and instead lost several positions, finally ending the day in a disappointing 5th.

The team will now focus its energy on the AKOC series as well as Rotax Max races and are looking forward to its next international event in the end of June for the Macau season opening race.

Finally a painted helmet ! Sandy's new Arai SK5 was professionally made up in the Pizza Company Motorsport colors by Thailand based british helmet artists Simon. Thai Airbrush spent only 3 weeks completing the helmet in Candy Red, Pearl White and Green and Sandy was very happy with the result.

Sandy Nicholas Stuvik offered test drive for Meritus Formula BMW Team

During the 2008 Fast Forward Faster Press Conference Sandy and his team were surprised by Meritus Formula BMW Team Manager Peter Thompson announcing on the stage to a media packed crowd, that they were offering Sandy a free Formula BMW test with their team at Sepang F1 Circuit in Malaysia at the end of the 2008 season.

Sandy is thrilled with the offer and this has further added to his motivation for the ongoing racing season. Although probably still too young to race in the series at least for a year or two, it has for a long time been Sandy's dream and intention to progress from kart racing into Formula BMW when the time is right. A test with Team Meritus in the middle of December 2008 will further this ambition. Sandy and his team is very grateful to Peter Thompson for this opportunity.

It has been through the help of his incredibly good and enthusiastic sponsors that Sandy has managed to get this far and Sandy gracefully acknowledges the assistance from all his sponsor and especially the main sponsor The Pizza Company and its CEO Paul Kenny.

The 2008 Pizza Company Racing Campaign has been called the "2008 Fast Forward Faster" and clearly indicates the Pizza Company's resolve towards motorsport racing and its brand development world wide. With the resent signing of famous Thai 250cc World Championship motorbike racer Ratthapark Wilairot, the Pizza Company team is now represented in kart, touring car, Formula and motorbike racing world wide.

Sandy is pushing hard this year to reach both of his potential World Championships in addition to the Asia Championship and Thomas will join some of the Asia Touring Car Championship races, including the world famous Macau race. James will be racing the Asia Formula V6 series this year, one of the fastest race series in all of asia and now Ratthapark will be showing the Pizza Company to a world wide audience through the Moto250 races.

The Pizza Company racing team and resolve has come a very long way from a just a few years back when the team consisted of a few kart drivers from Thailand....

Sandy wins at Bira

The layout at Bira this time was just over 1200 meter long and a little more technical than usual, all to Sandy’s liking. During early practice on Friday he was very fast and consistently setting the fastest's laps as the Mojo rubber went down. Then Saturday would be the same and the team tried working around temperatures over 40º C and to optimize the set up for the very hot track surface.

Qualifying went well and Sandy took Pole position with a time of 54.13 seconds, his fastest ever on this layout and a good 2 tenths off the second placed kart. It is worth noting that only one DD2 gear kart was able to better Sandy’s time of the whole event.

The first heat was a run away and Sandy could cruise to victory taking the checkered flag a long way in front. The second heat became a copy of the first and again Sandy had the whole straight between himself and the second placed kart by the end of the race.

Then came the Pre-Final and again Sandy’s Birel proved to have the best set up in the scorching heat. Sandy won by the largest distance of the day.

In the Final the team had noticed that Thanapol had worked his way up the field and would be starting 3rd. Already aware that he had posted similar times to Sandy in the pre-final it was clear he would be giving Sandy a run. As expected, Thanapol went straight up to second place in the start and from there on it was a nail biter as Sandy was really hard pushed to hold his position. The two provided an intense but fair race throughout and left the rest of the field a long way behind, but in the end Sandy held on to his lead to score an excellent victory.

This now places Sandy in second place in the Championship, only 1 point behind Round 1 winner Alex and well in contention for that elusive World Finals seat.

If the second national round was an exercise in character building and weathering adverse conditions, then Sandy passed his test with flying colors. Saturday morning saw 3 laps before the freshly overhauled engine came to an abrupt halt. A loose internal cylinder bolt meant that the cooling water went straight into the cylinder. After a quick repair by the service center, the engine was fired up and sounded worse then ever. Another check revealed a loose object had been in the cylinder head and by now damaged piston and cylinder top. A change over to the spare engine was needed and by now half the set up day was gone.

Come Sunday morning and the engine was fine for the warm up session and Sandy posted very fast times. Then minutes before qualifying the skies opened up and the team hurriedly changed to wet set up. But, what to do, an electrical problem saw Sandy's engine sputtering around in the poring rain and he could only qualify 6th. Full chaos in the camp to replace Sandy's electrical system and improve set up for the next heat. Then came heat one and Sandy drove well through the virtual non-visibility and got him self up to 4th. Then.... DQ for being underweight. Somehow the team got the weighting wrong and in all the stress with the electrical system ran out of time to recheck the karts weight. Oh well, Sandy then started heat 2 from 13th and last. He drove himself up to 7th position.

Then came the final, starting from 10th, Sandy was careful in the start to avoid any first corner pile up as the rain was coming down heavily. Unfortunately the Marshal's had decided to reduce the race by almost half the laps due to lost time with all the rain. So, Sandy fought his way back up the order, but at the end had to settle for an eight place.

Now Sandy is looking forward to his next race, which will be the second Rotax Max race on April 20. The team has now also decided to compete in the Asian Kart Open Championship this year and will have its first race in Macau on June 21-22.

Having only ever driven with rented ROK Junior engines the team was hard pressed running in and finding optimal settings for the brand new engine on Friday's practice. By Saturday the team was confident the set up was good, as times lap times seemed to be very competitive. Come Sunday morning qualifying, Sandy could only qualify 3rd, a half a second a drift on the 2 front runners. Again the team scrambled to find the deficit and soon realized the engine set up was far from what it needed to be. In the first heat a half way solution was tried and Sandy was fast enough to keep up with the front runners and although he could get up to second in the tight infield, he was out powered down Saraburi Circuit's long straight and ended the heat in third. In the second heat the settings were tweaked a bit more, but still far from the edge and this time Sandy could challenge a bit more. It was several overtaking's up and down the heat and although he was in second by the end, Sandy dropped himself to third on the finish line to opt for the better 3rd place starting position in the final. The final became a nail biter, with many excellent overtaking's by both Sandy and his opponents and in the end Sandy secured second place. The team left Saraburi happy with another solid performance and will now learn the new engine to know better for the following races in this exiting and very challenging series.

The first of the 2008 Thailand Rotax Max Challenge saw Sandy setting a scorching pace to secure P2 on this very competitive grid. The race was held a Bira Circuit on March 2nd. In early practice Sandy had a huge crash, his first in over a year. While trying to avoid another slowing kart Sandy was forced onto the outside line which was covered in sand from all the track works and could only hang on to the kart as he smashed through the barriers and ended up in the pit lane.

The very same dusty conditions on the track would come back to haunt Sandy in the heats, as he again found himself on the non grippy outside line through the double left hander's on the track. Each heat start would see him dropping down several places and through the heat he would claw his way back up again. In the end Sandy got himself on the podium in 5th position, a position he would have to be content with all things considered.

So, a good start to the Rotax Max series for 2008 and Sandy will continue to fight for this championship through the year. The next race now on Sandy's calendar will be the first SuperKart race of the season, this time at the Saraburi Circuit in 2 weeks time.

Sandy was off to a very good start to the season, confidently qualifying P1 in the weekends first round of the National Championship. In Heat 1, he instantly opened up a gap to the rest of the field and went ahead to secure a good heat win. In the second heat, Sandy again managed to loose the rest of the grid and could concentrate on his own race to finish with half the Bira straight ahead of the second placed kart.

All heats went in hot and dry conditions. Just a few minutes prior to the final race, dark clouds accumulated over the track and the temperature dropped rapidly - showing rain was imminent. The team unfortunately reacted too slow and sent Sandy on track with the same jetting he earlier had used. He started off the final and tried to make a run away push, but only managed to open up a few meters. Not enough to build a gap and the field had soon caught back up to him. As the temperatures dropped further and the first drops or rain started falling, he could no longer hold on and had to relent two positions. Then the rain started coming down heavily and the team was hoping Sandy's rain skills could bring him back up the grid again. But, it was not to be, the opposition did drive very well in the wet conditions and Sandy had to settle for third place in this season opener.

The Thailand Rotax Max Challenge Junior at Bira circuit is now the next race in another 2 weeks and Sandy is already preparing for this very exiting race series.

Last weekend was Sandy's first trial and run-in with the brand new Birel R31 frame after years of running the very successful ItalKart chassis. The R31 turned out to be a blast to drive and Sandy instantly improved on his lap times in the new kart. The kart is now being prepared with the full sponsorship livery. The Pizza Company Racing Team has again been confirmed to be sponsored by :

2007 became Sandy's best season so far, securing podium in 13 out of 17 races and always chasing for the race lead. The rewards of the year became as follows:
- True Vision Junior Kart Championship - Champion
- SuperKart Thailand – Runner Up
- National Championship – Vice Runner Up
Sandy is full of optimism and eager to achieve even higher goals for the 2008 season, one which he hopes to also start racing internationally.