TWO NARROW WINS FOR MCINTYRE AIDS TITLE BID
Scott Mcintyre took another step towards the Junior Saloon Car Championship title, with a tremendously hard-fought winning double at Anglesey.
After an initial skirmish with outgoing champion Lewis Saunders, Mcintyre was locked into a duel with double Mallory Park winner Alex Jay. They remained inches apart for the duration, but Mcintyre got the verdict by 0.067 seconds over Jay, with Owen Hizzey snatching third from an ailing Saunders at Peel on the last lap.
The lead duel recommenced in race two, but Mcintyre kept his nose ahead, before Jay made a late challenge out of the final turn, missing out on this occasion by 0.064s. Behind, Harry Ashley fended off Charlie Hand and Saunders to take third.
Although Danny Bird’s Spire
GTR won all three CNC Heads Sports & Saloons races, he didn’t have it all his own way. In race one, Paul Dobson’s Locost Mazda led as far as Rocket on the opening lap, but from thereon had to settle for second behind Bird. Robert Burkinshaw’s Honda Integra took third, after ousting Tim Foxlow’s Ford Escort three laps from home.
Dave Harvey’s Locosaki proved to be Bird’s toughest opponent, as it took until lap 11 of 14 for his defence to be breached in race two. But, once ahead, Bird soon consolidated his lead, while Dobson retained a racelong third.
Harvey led again in race three, but Bird was ahead by Peel on lap two, leaving Dobson a solitary third again.
The Classic VW Cup, BARC Saloons and Honda VTEC Challenge were combined to make a healthy 21-car grid. Chris Sparks’ Honda Civic and Mark De’ath (Subaru Impreza) had been fairly close in race one, after dropping poleman Steve Rothery’s Peugeot 308.
But after a three-lap safety car intervention, Rothery snatched second as De’ath briefly fell back. Sparks managed to retain his lead, while De’ath fought back to retake Rothery on the penultimate lap.
Although David Matthias’s Ford Sierra Cosworth charged away at the start of race two, Rothery was ahead by Seaman’s on the opening lap and was never headed.
As Matthias continued to fall back, De’ath and Sparks moved into second and third and started their own duel. But De’ath ran wide exiting the final turn on lap nine of 12, allowing Sparks through, who then managed to reduce Rothery’s victory margin to only 0.469s.
Newly-crowned MAX5 champion Paul Roddison took two wins out of three. It was a lights-to-flag victory in race one, with Ian Loversidge a safe second and Andrew Pretorius third, after duelling throughout with Jeremy Shipley.
Although Roddison led from the start of race two, Loversidge nosed ahead a couple of times and finally got a run on his rival into the hairpin with two laps to go to clinch the win, with Shipley getting the better of Pretorius for third after a continuation of their tussle. But in the third race Roddison signed off with another lights-to-flag win from Loversidge and Pretorius.
Lee Harpham had a winning treble in Division 1 of the British Superkarts. It was a last-lap victory in race one, after Andy
Bird had led for most of the race.
Bird succumbed on the third lap in race two, leaving Tom Rushforth to chase Harpham to the flag. Rushforth was the main challenger again in race three, but Harpham was never headed.