CROFT: BRSCC BY TOM ERRINGTON
Three Caterham titles were decided last weekend, with close racing throughout.
Back-to-back wins gave Aaron Head the premier Superlight R300-S crown. He was handed a respite in the first race, as a poor start due to driveshaft problems went unpunished thanks to a red flag.
Leaving it late, Head swept through the field, eventually passing podium finishers Jack Sales and Lee Wiggins for the win.
The win meant he only needed to finish 16th or higher in the finale, but he still made it two wins from two. An excellent safety car restart helped his path from third to victory, passing Stephen Nuttall and Wiggins late on.
Anthony Barnes won the Tracksport Championship, with a brace of second places enough to take the title. He was kept off the top step of the podium by a superb defensive display from polesitter Alistair Calvert.
At the start, Barnes rose from third to challenge Calvert, creating a long battle that ended side-by-side at Barcroft with Calvert edging ahead to win. Second place would virtually seal the title for Barnes, but he admitted afterwards that he “couldn’t resist” another go at Calvert. Their battles in both races meant lonely thirds for Damian Milkins and Daniel Bremner respectively.
The third Caterham champion was William Smith in the Supersports, with a win and a fourth enough to seal the title.
Race two winner Ben Tuck was his rival throughout the weekend, hounding Smith all the way to the end of race one. Smith’s victory started with recovery from a poor start as he fell to third from pole, before eventually besting Tuck despite his stubbornness to yield. Those battles meant Jack Brown was a lonely third twice.
In the Caterham Roadsports, Russ Olivant stormed to two wins that all but sealed his title ahead of the season finale. In both races he beat Guy Hawkins, with Alan Cooper and Daniel Quintero sharing the two third positions.
The Caterham Academy championship contenders continued their learning curve, with the split grids producing Jay Mccormack and Steven Tozer as the winners.
The Formula Ford 1600 Championship Post-’89 title was decided last time out, but it didn’t stop champion Niall Murray from taking a brace of wins in his Van Diemen.
Chase Owen came closest to beating Murray, with the American pipping him to the lead at the start of the first race. A drive-through penalty for a supposed practice start under the green flag sent him down the order, leaving Murray to a comfortable win ahead of Graham Carroll and David Mcarthur.
Murray made it two from two in the second race with Carroll and Mcarthur swapping places on the podium. Ben Tinker took two class victories in a combined grid Pre-90s class.
The eclectic grid of the Northern Saloon and Sportscar Championship had wins for Jeff Wilson and Andrew Morrison, but the real story was all about title protagonists Martin Whitehouse and Matthew Kirby. Level on points in the final race, each having recorded the same number of victories, the finale was a heartbreaker for Kirby as he retired on the last lap, losing the title on dropped points to Whitehouse.
Jeff Cooper won both Honda VTEC and 4Two Cup races, with Peter Dixon, Robert Burkinshaw and Paul Donkin all scoring podiums. Alan Palmer and David Nash shared Smartcar victories.