HARRIS WINS AS FAIRHURST IS LEFT DEJECTED WITH LAST-GASP SHOOTOUT DEFEAT
The 2022 BriSCA F1 shootout to determine the National champion reached a thrilling conclusion on Saturday night. Going into the 10th and last round, Lee Fairhurst had to win the race and hope Tom Harris failed to finish to snatch the title from Harris and prevent him from winning the title for a third consecutive year.
At the drop of the green flag Harris passed Fairhurst and began making his way through the field, up front, where Callum Gill held the lead followed by Sam Makim.
At the halfway point Fairhurst closed in on Harris and nudged him into the wall, but Harris bounced of the fence and continued. However, on the following turn, Fairhurst barged Harris into the fence once again, this time Harris received sufficient damage to eliminate him for the race.
Fairhurst began to close on the race leaders but appeared to be too far behind until a red flag was thrown when Rob
Plant rolled his machine. On the restart, Makim took the lead and Fairhurst moved into second but with five to go Fairhurst blew a right-rear tyre.
A dejected Fairhurst said: “I had to give it a go, so when I got behind Harris, I seized my opportunity. I knew what I had to do but the shootout title was lost over the series, not tonight, I was just not consistent enough.”
Harris was delighted. He said: “I could have sat back and followed Fairhurst for the whole race and won the title easy, but that is not what the fans wanted to see, they came here to be entertained. I tried to win the race as I always do, and I knew that Fairhurst would try and take me out if he got the chance. I am delighted to win the title, it’s thanks to my sponsors and the hard work of the crew that I won it.”