Saunders begins Junior Saloons season in style
Lewis Saunders, the 2018 Junior Saloon Car champion, was in dominant form when the season finally got under way at Cadwell Park as he replicated his title-winning performances with a double victory.
Charlie Hand and polesitter Alex Solley had the initial duel for the lead, before Solley ran wide at the Gooseneck, leaving
Saunders free to challenge Hand. Ciceley Motorsport-backed Saunders went ahead through Charlies on the penultimate lap to seal the win, with Hand a solid second from Ben Greenhill.
It was a lights-to-flag triumph for Saunders in race two, with Hand and Solley a race-long second and third.
After an early battle with Paul Dobson’s Mazda-powered Locost, Paul Rose was a comfortable CNC Heads Sports/saloons winner in his Saker. Dobson managed to hold onto second, but the twin Spires of Jon Woolfitt and Danny Bird remained a constant threat.
Rose managed to lead from the start of race two, but a gear-selection problem put him out after five laps. That left Dobson, Woolfitt and Bird to fight it out again. Dobson just held on to take the spoils, with Woolfitt holding off Bird for second.
Alec Graham was in charge for most of the opening 2CV race. Lien Davies nipped ahead briefly mid-race, before they were
joined by Sandro Proietti to make it a three-way battle. Proietti led a lap from home, but Graham made the decisive move into Coppice, forcing Davies to settle for a lonely third, well clear of a duelling
Mick Storey and Brian Heerey.
For a while it was a seven-car lead train in race two, with Graham still the driver to beat. But Luca Proietti went one better than dad Sandro, pouncing on a rare mistake from Graham at the Gooseneck to steal a last-lap win, while Storey held off
Davies to complete the podium.
Le Mans 24 Hours victor Guy Smith was a double winner on his Pre ’66 Touring Car debut. His Lotus Cortina was pursued in both races by Roger Stanford, while Smith’s father Peter made it an all-cortina top three. Smith Sr had his hands full of James Everard’s Alfa Romeo Sprint GT in race one, but was on his own second time out.
Michael Pensavalle’s BMW M3 E46 took a dubious Classic Thunder win, after diving past the Ford Falcon of Andy Robinson with all four wheels on the grass at the Hairpin on the last lap. Robinson’s avoidance spin still gave him second, with Adie Hawkins (Alfa Romeo 33) third after Andy Wilson (Holden Monaro) clashed with a backmarker.
Although Pensavalle ousted Robinson on the opening lap of race two, his jumpedstart penalty gave Robinson the victory, with Hawkins third again after an early duel with Stephen Sawley’s Honda Civic.
The Honda Civic Type R of Alexander Owen was never seriously troubled on its way to a Pre ’93 and Pre ’03 Touring Car double. When Ian Bower’s BMW departed on lap three, the Civic of Ben Griffiths was clear in second. Griffiths then followed Owen home again in the second race.
Liam Morley was a triple Superkart winner, but didn’t have it all his own way. After a dominant race-one win over Ross Allen, it took until lap five of 11 to hit the front in race two, when a piston seized in Allen’s engine, leaving Carl Hulme second. Hulme led the finale initially, finally settling in third behind Morley and Lee Harpham.