KELTY karting ace Dean MacDonald made a flying debut in Europe by taking second place in the first round of the Euromax Challenge in Belgium.

The West Fife youngster was taking part in his first race in the junior section in Genk as the mini max class he competes in in the UK is not run in Europe and he more than held his own in the field in the field of 70 competitors.

The majority of karters had a year's experience under their belts compared to MacDonald but the current 2014 Trent Valley Kart Club and Buckmore Part Kent Club winter series champion recovered from a disappointing qualifying position of 16th to finish in second place in each of the three heats before racing on finals day, which consisted of two races.

In the pre-final, MacDonald, from a grid position of fourth, made an excellent start in moving up to second before the race was red-flagged, forcing a restart. He quickly regained his focus and he worked his way back into second place, where he finished with a time of 8:46.000, just 2.839 seconds behind Austria's Thomas Preining.

He started on the front row of the grid in second place for the last final of the day but slipped into third with Preining making a good start. MacDonald was made to work hard before cruising back into second, but was over two seconds adrift of the race leader.

Although MacDonald pulled clear of the chasing pack, he was unable to catch the Austrian over the 12 lap circuit and finished 2.087 seconds behind. However, the Strawberry Racing driver ended the final a convincing 12.495 seconds clear of Dutchman Richard Verschoor in third place.

The result leaves MacDonald in second place in the championship with three races to go. The next round will be held from 26th May to 1st June at Casteletto in Italy.