JOHNSON MAKES A WINNING COMEBACK
Richard Johnson enjoyed a successful Donington Park return at MotorSport Vision Racing’s season-opener, taking a win and a second in Sports 2000.
Having made a fiery exit during last season’s visit, Johnson triumphed in race one after Michael Gibbins suffered a clutch failure while holding a 10-second lead. Gibbins stormed from 17th to fifth in race two, but a gear linkage issue prevented him from gaining further places.
Johnson led the early stages but was beaten to victory by Joshua Law, who made a wellexecuted pass into the Roberts chicane in his updated MCR S2n machine. “A little unexpected,” reflected Johnson on the weekend. “This time last year I had a smashed radial head and here we are, almost a year to the day, back racing again.”
Caterham’s 7 Race Series did not disappoint, with two typically frenetic races in the 420R class. Phil Jenkins prevailed in a multi-car battle to lead Mark Stansfield and Anthony Barnes when the race was brought to an early conclusion with five minutes remaining.
The victor had the track all to himself on his cool-down lap, having not seen the chequered flag first-time by.
The 2020 series champion Jenkins swiftly climbed from 10th to third in the partially reversed grid race behind Paul Thacker and Barnes, and swept past the pair exiting Redgate as they contested the lead. But, while trying to keep his tyres warm in the cold conditions during a late safety car period, Jenkins inexplicably lost control and dropped out of the top 10. Thacker controlled the restart to take victory ahead of Barnes, with the chequered flag again waved early after Oliver Gibson and Stewart Calder collided through the Craner Curves.
Peter Morris led from start-tofinish in the opening Porsche Club race, with Chris Dyer and reigning champion Simon Clark finishing close behind. But race two was far more dramatic, thanks to a rain shower leaving parts of the circuit damp. Morris was the first to be caught out in the slick-shod machines by spinning out of the lead, with Dyer and James Caley following suit.
Clark took a dominant win in his 996 ahead of the recovering Morris, while Bill Caley - making his Class
1 debut in Clark’s 2021 titlewinning Cayman - was pipped to third by his father James in the closing stages after suffering overheating brakes.
The five-hour EnduroKa event once again lived up to its fun reputation, with the likes of British Touring Car Championship driver Ollie Jackson and Scott Parkin double-victor in the weekend’s Focus Cup - taking part.
There were plenty of creative team names among the 45 entrants, not least the YippeeKA-yay team of Ben Gillas, Mark Johnson and Mark Harrison, which triumphed after the AxiaMetrics squad pitted from the lead in the final half-hour.