Close racing but it’s Smalley that joins the Ginetta Junior Elite
In true Ginetta Junior championship fashion, the title fight between Adam Smalley, Louis Foster and Luke Browning all came down to the final weekend of the season, with Smalley ultimately taking the crown in Sunday’s final race.
James Hedley set a blistering lap in qualifying to take pole for the first race, but too much wheelspin off the line allowed Smalley to snatch the lead, with Browning close behind. Proceedings were interrupted by a safety car for an incident between Will Martin and Theo Edgerton at Graham Hill Bend, which neutralised the race until there were just three minutes left on the clock. Smalley initially held onto the lead again at the restart until Browning made a decisive move at Surtees to secure the win and keep him firmly in contention for the championship fight. Patrick Kibble completed the podium, while Foster came home in fourth, lamenting the end of his consecutive run of podium finishes.
The second race of the weekend was a muted affair at the front, as Smalley went on to take a comfortable win – but battles further down the field meant that the race ended behind the safety car. The biggest incident was a spin for Hedley, demoting him to 10th which in turn caused damage to Browning and all but spelled the end for his championship hopes in fourth. Foster, meanwhile, managed to avoid trouble to take second and Kibble was third again.
Smalley was on pole for the deciding race but lost the lead to Browning who led a charge from fourth, with Foster snatching second place as Smalley slipped through the order to fifth. But anything within the top eight was enough for Smalley to win the title, while Browning and Foster continually exchanged the lead throughout and battled for consolation in the race win. It was Foster who triumphed over Browning, as Kibble held onto another third place.