Gray continues to ride the crest of Fiesta wave
As true as the saying ‘calm seas never make a good sailor’ may be, reigning Scottish Fiesta ST Cup champion Steven Gray has been riding the crest of a wave since July last year.
Of the past 10 points-scoring races at Knockhill, he’s won every single one of them. Another double victory last weekend took Gray’s 2022 tally to four from four, despite fierce competition from his long-term rival Dave Colville.
Gray may have a 100% record in the championship so far this year, but he’s had it far from easy. Proof of that came in qualifying, with the top four cars split by a mere 0.077 seconds. Gray led off the line from pole position in the opening race, with Colville recovering from a poor initial getaway from third to sneak past impressive youngster Broddy Orr at Mcintyres.
From then, Gray and Colville broke clear at the front as the leading quartet split into two squabbling groups. Colville briefly got alongside Gray over the line on the 10th lap of 12, which brought Mark Dickson into a three-way battle for the win. But Gray held on to claim a narrow victory from Colville, with just six tenths covering the podium finishers. “I tried everything I could to get past him, but he defended really, really well,” admitted Colville.
Gray again led the way in race two, but Colville remained glued to the back of the leader’s Fiesta. A missed gear exiting the Hairpin from Gray allowed Colville to pull alongside into Duffus Dip before he snuck through into the lead when Gray dipped a wheel onto the grass at Leslies. Keen to make a break, Colville pushed too hard on the following lap, running deep at the Hairpin and allowing Gray to reclaim the lead, which he maintained to keep his unbeaten run alive.
While the Fiestas flew the flag for the Blue Oval in the Scottish championship, the visiting Modified Ford Series proved equally entertaining around the Fife circuit, with Dave Cockell taking his
Escort Cosworth to both victories.
Cockell, driving at Knockhill for the first time, had taken pole position by 1.7s from closest rival Jack Gadd, but didn’t have such an easy time come the race. He’d opened up a two-second advantage but was caught by the chasing Mk1 Escort in the closing stages. Just half a second split the pair at the line, with Piers Grange’s Mk2 Escort third.
Race two was red-flagged following a spectacular incident for Paul Daly when he lost a wheel approaching the Hairpin. Cockell led from start to finish, but it wasn’t a straightforward run as he was pushed by Gadd throughout. “My dash stopped working and I couldn’t see the rev counter or any of the real-time warnings, so it was a bit nerveracking near the end,” explained Cockell.
First-lap contact between Grange and Malcolm Harding’s Mk2 Zakspeed Escort ended Grange’s race in the Clarks barrier, while Harding went on to take third.
The Scottish C1 Cup produced two excellent 10-lap races, with Thomas
Comber and Sam Corson taking the wins as reigning champion Ross Dunn completed a damage-limitation weekend. Dunn qualified on pole but started race one from the back after his front-left tyre was deemed too worn by officials. His recovery from 19th to seventh was one of the drives of the weekend. Comber fended off 2019 champion Finlay Brunton in the opener. Brunton collected another second place in race two, behind Corson, while a frenetic seven-car battle for third was settled in favour of Paul Winfield.
Michael Weddell extended his Mini Cooper Cup points lead with two wins and a third. Former champion Oly Mortimer made a one-off appearance in the turbocharged R53 class and took both overall wins, while Jack Irvine won the reversed-grid finale.
John Kinmond took his Rover 3500 to both Classic victories, beating Andrew Graham’s Triumph TR8 in the opener before fending off double champion Alastair Baptie’s new MGB GTV8 in the second.
The depleted Super Touring Trophy field was topped by double British Touring Car champion John Cleland’s Vauxhall Vectra.