SNETTERTON DOESN’T DISAPPOINT!

The Wandsworth wonder Timothy Dickens won both Caterham Tracksport races. Photo: www.snappyracers.com

The BRSCC East Anglian Centre got their season started on the Snetterton 300 circuit over the weekend with a busy schedule of eighteen races, which all took place in day and mainly bright conditions.

The favourite for the Caterham Roadsport crown, David Webber, made a great start to his title quest with a very close fought victory in the first round on Saturday, after Olly Wigg who crossed the line first, was disqualified for a technical infringement. Webber just edged out Scot Paul Aram, with Steve McCulley bumped up to third. However, the second outing on the following day didn’t go to plan for Webber when it was red flagged on lap 5 after he and Olly Wigg had a ‘coming together’ at Brundle while leading. McCulley, a former Royal Marine, was the main beneficiary collecting his first ever win with Aram again having to settle for second. Anthony Barnes came home in third to celebrate his first podium finish.

James Robinson demonstrated he is more than capable of taking the Supersport battle to Stephen Nuttall by beating the triple champion into third place in Saturday’ race. The veteran Clive Richards also provided ample evidence that he can still mix it with the younger competitors with an assured drive to take P2. An almighty battle ensued when the Supersports took to the track again on Sunday with the lead changing hands several times between Danny Killeen, Robinson and Nuttall before Robinson and Clive Richards both suffered a DNF on lap nine. Nuttall now had the lead from Philip Jenkins with Killeen third. Jenkins looked to have won the day when he got ahead on the penultimate lap but both Nuttall and Killeen squeezed past him on the dramatic final tour to finish in that order.

The BookaTrack.com Caterham Superlight R300-S Championship produced two fantastic races with the lead pair David Robinson and reigning champion Aaron Head exchanging P1 and P2 positions several times in each encounter. However, when the chequered flag was shown it was Robinson in the ascendency both times, although the margin of victory was incredibly tight. It looks certain that we have a title fight on our hands that will run for the whole season. P3 spoils were shared some way in the distance by Matt Dyer and Sean Byrne.

If the weekend’s two Tracksport races are anything to go by it also looks like we are set for an ultra-competitive championship this season. The evidence so far is compelling – less than a second covered the top five drivers at the end of each thirty minute race! The man keeping his cool at the head of the chasing pack at the end of both rounds was Wandsworth resident Timothy Dickens – even more remarkable was the fact that these were the Londoner’s first ever race wins. Henry Heaton made Dickens work for his success finishing just 0.144 seconds adrift in Saturday’s race, with Jack Sales third. Sales moved up a place on Sunday, reducing the gap to a paper thin 0.017 seconds! Caterham employee, Lee Bristow, completed Sunday’s podium.

After lying in second place after the Fiesta Junior Championship opener at Silverstone over Easter, Michael Higgs demonstrated to rival Aaron Thompson that he is definitely a force to be reckoned with in the FJC title fight. Higgs beat Thompson into second place in both of Sunday’s race to cut the points gap to just three. Plenty of plaudits in the FJC paddock went to Nathan Edwards who scored his first podium finish of his career in round three and then did it again in round four.

Horncastle’s Jason Tingle won the inaugural Teekay Couplings Mk5 GTi Series race beating Martyn Walsh by four seconds with Rob Sadler an impressive third. Tingle and Walsh were again the top two in the second race but this was a much closer affair. Sports car specialist Craig Fleming was third. In the Mk2 Championship, which is also sponsored by Teekay, debutant Thomas Witts stole the show with back to back wins. Tingle had a busy weekend as he also turned out in a Mk2 and was rewarded with second. Chris Webb was third and he improved on that in the second race taking P2, with another championship newbie, Josh Johnson, third.

Fiesta ST drivers Samuel Priest and Scott Robertson shared top honours in the Jam-Sport Fiesta Championship. Robertson accrued the most points courtesy of P2 in the first race while Priest dropped to third spot in the second race. Specialized’s Simon Horrobin continued his good start to the season, following the Silverstone double-header, with third in round three while Jam-Sport’s Jamie Going was second in round four. David Nye took two Class D (Zetec S) victories as did Jamie Styles in Class A (Si) and John Cooper in Class B (Zetec).

Lewis Smith produced two stunning drives in his Vauxhall Tigra to win both of the Avon Tyres Intermarque races. The Billericay teenager came from fourteenth place on the grid to win Saturday’s opener ahead of Malcolm Blackman and the experienced Chris Brockhurst. Smith started the second encounter in eighth place but still managed to repeat the feat, again beating Blackman to the line with his uncle Simon Smith third in a BMW Z4.

All the results from the eighteen races, plus lap analysis can be found at SNETT RESULTS and you can listen to the race commentary, courtesy of DownForce Radio at http://downforce-radio.co.uk/racedaylive-brscc-snetterton/