Orton’s spin gives Wrigley the lead

Ginetta GT4 Supercup

A chaotic third Ginetta GT4 Supercup race finally separated title favourites Jamie Orton and Tom Wrigley, who had each taken a win in the first two contests.

The third partially reversed grid race was won by Will Burns, who took his first ever Supercup win in his third year in the series.

Burns’ victory came after Carl Boardley spun out of a comfortable lead on lap 11 and was confirmed when the race was stopped five laps early after a heavy crash between Fraser Robertson and John Wall.

Wrigley leaves Brands with an eight-point championship lead over Burns because Orton, who had held Wrigley at bay to win the opening race, finished 11th in the finale after he was tapped into a spin by Tom Hibbert at Clearways on lap 19.

Race two winner Wrigley made a poor start in the final event but charged back to finish third, which would have been second but his pass on Reece Somerfield was reversed when the results were counted back.

KNOCKHILL: SMRC BY JONATHAN CRAWFORD

Former champion Vic Covey Jr returned to the Scottish Mini Cooper Cup and found himself in the thick of the action with pole position for the first race.

Hannah Chapman made the better start and led the first eight laps. Covey got a better run out of Scotsman on the final lap and bravely ran side-by-side through Butcher’s to grab the lead and the win. The drama continued at the hairpin as Ian Munro made a late attempt to grab second but Chapman defended.

At the start of race two, Chapman and Munro made contact with the former coming off worse as she spun down the hill at Duffus. This created enough of a gap for Covey to scamper into a one-second lead, which he held to the flag. Dominic Wheatley emerged at the head of a four-car battle for third which was only resolved on the last corner.

The top eight were reversed for race three and newcomer Dylan O’donnell did a sterling job to maintain the race lead until the last corner when William Blake pounced to take the win.

Reigning Saloon and Sportscar champion Ian Donaldson immediately took advantage of the difficult wet conditions in his Mitsubishi to grab the lead from Adam Kindness in his Subaru. Kindness had taken pole but continued to slip back and retired on lap nine. Colin Simpson took second but it was Paul Brydon who provided the entertainment on his way to third, having started last in his BMW.

With drier conditions for race two, Simpson made the better start and led the first six laps but was subsequently called in with a black and orange flag after smoke was pouring from his Marcos. Donaldson survived a high-speed run down the hill at Duffus before suffering a blown engine soon after taking the lead. Having just inherited the lead, Kindness also suffered an engine problem and retired. With broken cars littering the track, the race was red flagged, giving the win to Phil Dryburgh.

Greig Sutherland headed David Mcnaughton from lights to flag in the first BMW Compact race and scored his first win. Mcnaughton fought back in race two and briefly grabbed the lead on lap four. The top two were joined by Gary Clark and Cliff Harper until the drama of lap seven, when Sutherland collided with a backmarker and retired. Thereafter, Mcnaughton settled into a rhythm and pulled away for his first win.

Jordan Gronkowski looked the more confident in the wet conditions of the first Scottish Formula Ford race and came home three seconds clear of Neil Maclennan. However, Maclennan took the win in the dry of race two as Gronkowski slipped back to third behind a spirited Jamie Thorburn.

Harry Simpson dominated the Classic Sports and Saloons races after Tommy Gilmartin spun off in race one. Despite starting at the back, Gilmartin fought back to third in race two, while Raymond Boyd showed consistency to take two second place finishes.

John Paterson took two wins in Legends despite the best efforts of David Hunter, who won the first heat. Wayne Macaulay dominated both Ford Fiesta races although the highlight was a spirited battle for second between Peter Cruickshank and Kevin Whyte in race two.

1 Vic Covey Jr 12m47.998s (59.38mph); 2 Hannah Chapman +1.487s; 3 Ian Munro; 4 Des Wheatley; 5 Paul Bell; 6 Jock Borthwick. FL Daniel Dreelan 1m07.634s (67.43mph). P Covey Jr. S 23. Race two (9 laps) 1 Covey Jr 10m09.907s (67.30mph); 2 Munro +1.210s; 3 Dominic Wheatley; 4 Bell; 5 William Blake; 6 Brandon Walsh. FL Borthwick 1m06.470s (68.61mph). P Covey Jr. S 23.

1 Blake 12m43.619s (53.75mph); 2 Dylan O’donnell +0.125s; 3 Borthwick; 4 Bell; 5 Dominic Wheatley; 6 Covey Jr. FL Covey Jr 1m04.601s (70.60mph). P O’donnell. S 23.

1 Ian Donaldson (Mitsubishi Lancer E9) 11m49.065s (77.18mph); 2 Colin Simpson (Marcos Mantis) +19.728s; 3 Paul Brydon (BMW M3); 4 Mark Dawson (SEAT Leon Cupra); 5 Phil Dryburgh (Ginetta G50); 6 Graham Robertson (BMW E46 M3). Class winners Simpson; William Robson (Ford Focus RS); Charlie Fraser (Westfield). FL Donaldson 56.851s (80.22mph). P Adam Kindness (Subaru Impreza). S 14. 1 Dryburgh 8m01.243s (75.81mph); 2 Brydon +4.879s; 3 Dawson; 4 Scott Tollan (Ford Escort Cosworth); 5 Robertson; 6 Robson. CW Tollan; Robson; Fraser. FL Donaldson 55.066s (82.82mph). P Donaldson. S 13. 1 Greig Sutherland 20m34.632 (55.41mph); 2 David Mcnaughton +0.936s; 3 Cliff Harper; 4 Gary Clark; 5 Neil Macinnes; 6 Lee Elrick. FL Harper 1m08.924s (66.17mph). P Sutherland. S 21. 1 Mcnaughton 17m13.422s (52.96mph); 2 Clark +0.196s; 3 Harper; 4 Elrick; 5 Macinnes; 6 Steven Goldie. FL Mcnaughton 1m03.923s (71.34mph). P Sutherland. S 21.

1 Jordan Gronkowski (Van Diemen JL012K) 12m48.776s (71.19mph); 2 Neil Maclennan (Ray GR09) +2.731s; 3 Jamie Thorburn (Ray GR15); 4 Matthew Cowley (Van Diemen JL13); 5 Sebastian Melrose (Ray GR14); 6 David Thorburn (Ray GR15). CW Matthew Chisholm (Van Diemen RF92). FL Gronkowski 1m03.203s (72.16mph). P Gronkowski. S 12.

1 Maclennan 13m33.814s (67.25mph); 2 Jamie Thorburn +7.623s; 3 Gronkowski; 4 Melrose; 5 Cowley; 6 Chisholm. CW Chisholm. FL Maclennan 57.614s (79.16mph). P Gronkowski. S 12. 1m04.411s (69.02mph). P Simpson. S 12.

1 Simpson 26m42.671s (54.58mph); 2 Boyd +4.132s; 3 Gilmartin; 4 Bernard; 5 Montgomery; 6 Crow. CW Boyd; Gilmartin; Crow; Daltrey. FL Gilmartin 59.043s (77.24mph). P Simpson. S 12.

1 David Hunter 9m11.224s (66.19mph); 2 John Paterson +0.119s; 3 Billy Wait; 4 Ivor Greenwood; 5 Ross Marshall; 6 Pino Palazzo. FL Paterson 1m07.242s (67.82mph). P Stewart Black. S 11. Race two (8 laps) 1 Paterson 9m00.974s (67.44mph); 2 Hunter +8.886s; 3 Marshall; 4 Black; 5 Greenwood; 6 Palazzo. FL Paterson 1m06.629s (68.45mph). P Paterson. S 11.

1 Paterson 10m26.426s (72.80mph); 2 Hunter +5.801s; 3 Marshall; 4 Greenwood; 5 Black; 6 Palazzo. FL Paterson 1m01.187s (74.52mph). P Billy Wait. S 11.