Scott Barnes is counting his lucky stars to have escaped with only minor injuries from a potentially serious crash in the popular Gilbert Lamb Fun Day go-kart race in St David’s on Good Friday.

The Bermuda Karting Club president and highly decorated driver had spectators gasping for breath when his go-kart went spiralling off the road and into a ditch after being involved in a collision with eventual race winner Chris Pitcher.

Thankfully, the 38-year-old managed to walk away from the mishap with far less serious injuries than initially feared.

“It definitely could have been a lot uglier than it turned out to be, but we got lucky,” Barnes told The Royal Gazette.

“I got a little scrape on my elbow, some bruises on my back and a stiff neck. But other than that I got pretty lucky; the helmet did its job.

“I was pinned there for a couple of seconds and the car couldn’t move, but the officials got to me pretty fast and got the car off me.

“It was probably one of my worst wrecks in a go-kart, and it was a push cart. Twenty-seven years of karting and that’s one of the worst wrecks and with no motor.”

Barnes was leading the race when his fortunes took a drastic turn for the worse.

“I thought I was finally going to get the win in this race,” he added. “This was my fifth time going down and we led the whole race.

“We had a good start and were 200 feet from the finish line and I looked back and Chris was coming fast. I guess he thought he had some room on the inside and he hit my left corner panel and pushed me into the trees. It happened so fast that I didn’t have time to react.

“It is unfortunate but it is what it is and I got lucky that there was a gap in the fence. I didn’t get decapitated because ten feet before that I would have been in the railing.”

The mishap has made Barnes all the more determined to get that elusive victory.

“Now more than ever I want to win this race,” he said. “This race seems to be my jinx race. I came second in my first year I raced and last year we got spun out right at the start by Chris again.

“I have had some bad luck in this race and if I win I will retire from it. It will be one and done.”

The annual race starts from St David’s Lighthouse and finishes near the entrance to St David’s Cricket Club.

It was started by founders George Cannonier and Elvin Pitcher in 2001 and has since evolved into one of the most popular attractions of the annual Gilbert Lamb Fun Day.