BRILLIANT BURTON STORMS TO HAT-TRICK OF LO COST VICTORIES
Racing novice Mark Burton extended his Locost Championship lead in style with a stunning clean sweep of victories at Croft.
The ex-sprinter didn’t start any of the three races from the front row, but proved the man to beat in a trio of slipstreaming encounters.
Reigning champion Ian Allee endured a nightmare meeting, receiving two post-race penalties and a three-place grid drop for the next round at Pembrey.
Allee led race one from pole but was quickly caught by Burton and Martin West.
West and Allee each took turns in the lead but it was Burton who surged past both into Tower to seize the lead on the final lap, as Allee ran wide and finished fourth behind title contender Ben Powney.
West battled Burton valiantly in race two but lost second on the final tour to Louis Wall at the Complex. Allee finished runner-up on the road but was relegated to fifth after being deemed to pass Wall off-track.
Burton had a relatively sedate final race before last-lap chaos ensued. Allee ceded top spot to Burton after running wide at the Complex and collected the innocent West as he rejoined the track, which allowed Jack Coveney and David Mason to complete the podium.
It was a similar story in Formula Vee as Craig Pollard struck late on in both races to become the first driver to claim two victories this season.
Points leader Pollard fought tooth-andnail with 2008 champion Daniel Hands throughout a thrilling first race and only claimed victory after Hands slid wide at the hairpin on the penultimate lap.
The pair resumed their battle at the start of race two but a clash of wheels exiting Tower sent Hands out of the top five, enabling Class B runner James Harridge to challenge Pollard.
But any chance of Harridge and Pollard duking it out for top honours were curtailed when Jamie Harrison and Richard Rainbow’s stricken cars brought out the red flags.
Two podiums and a penultimate-lap retirement for title rival David Whitmore allowed Tom Coller to extend his
M3 Cup points advantage. Coller finished a distant second to Paul Cook in the opening race, profiting from Simon Walker-hansell hitting gearbox trouble in the closing stages.
Third in race two behind Walker-hansell and winner Cook was made even sweeter for Coller by Whitmore grinding to a halt after losing drive at the final corner.
Darren Ball resolutely fended off countless assaults from David Drinkwater and Lewis Carter to prevail in the 330 Challenge.
Ben Rushworth got himself back into Hot Hatch championship contention after scoring a brace of comfortable victories.
The Pullborough driver stroked his Honda Integra DC2 to victory by four seconds from points leader Ali Camp’s Ford Fiesta ST in race one. Camp ran third in a restarted second race when a dead battery forced him to retire. Stephen Sawley finished second while Rodren Vella and Michael Winkworth took class honours.
Defending RGB Sports 1000 champion and current points leader Billy Albone claimed both wins in his Spire GT3. Albone beat Chris Wesemael and Paul Smith to remain unbeaten in 2018.
Andy Ebdon and Paul Wells (Caterham Seven 310R) struck late on to deny Class B runner Imran Khan and secure victory in an attritional Roadsports Endurance race.