SNETTERTON JULY 24/25 PREVIEW – NANKANG TYRE BMW COMPACT CUP
It might seem like a rather tough task to try and match the quality of the racing that took place at the most recent rounds of this year’s Nankang Tyre BMW Compact Cup at Knockhill, but this weekend’s triple header at Snetterton will certainly be trying hard to be just as intense. This will especially be the case as the last race of the weekend on Sunday will be doubled in length, meaning the drivers will have to contend with dicing amongst one another for a full 30 minutes!
The man in command is once again Steven Dailly, after he managed to press his home advantage last time out in Scotland and take two wins to add to the single victory he also picked up at the opening rounds at Croft. So far he hasn’t finished off the podium in any of the first five races run up to this point, something which is fairly typical of Steven given that he’s the four-time defending champion, of course! That said, he knows his competition is never too far away, and keeping him in close attention are sure to be both Ben Huntley and Ian Jones. While Ben hasn’t yet won a race this season and Ian has, Ben has been able to reach the podium three times already having taken a hat-trick at Knockhill. Whether or not Snetterton will suit either of them better than Dailly is a question that’s all set to be answered.
Right now, the battle for 4th overall in the standings is also shaping up to be an almighty scrap over the Masters title as well between defending holder Paul Maguire and Ray MacDowall, both drivers currently tracing a similar path of results over the first two meetings but Maguire managing to hold a 12 point advantage at this stage. Ray will want to push hard and try and get ahead of Paul in the running order from the outset in order to close his deficit. Mikey Doble’s double duty with Ginettas this year doesn’t appear to be slowing him down or tiring him out, as 6th in points tied with MacDowall means that he can still put himself into championship contention if he can keep on putting in strong performances from hereon in.
The remaining top 10 positions in the standings heading to Snetterton are currently held by Rhys Claydon, Guy Davis, Matt Flowers and Richard Sutherland, all of them having shown solid top 10 pace at least and can certainly hold their own in a battle for the higher points-paying positions. If any of the front runners hit trouble or slip up in any instance, watch out for one or more of these four as they will surely be in a position to pounce.
Scott Woodwiss
