Glorious sunshine and a bumper crowd welcomed the 2011 Scottish Car Racing Championship competitors to Knockhill today (Sunday 10th April). In an entertaining day of motor sport, the action was thrilling and frantic with close racing and spills galore.
In the Celtic Speed Mini Cooper Cup Vic Covey racked up a brace of wins ahead of the Sleigh brothers, Tim and David. All three must be congratulated on the highly competitive nature of their racing throughout the day, particularly in the 2nd race which saw both brothers duel with each other for the race win. This was remarkable considering they could easily have had a team one and two and blocked the advances of the ever eager Covey.
2010 Scottish Formula Ford runner up Ken Thirlwall returned to Knockhill and set about winning the Championship from the off. Mechanical gremlins hampered his season last year which prompted a complete engine rebuild during the winter, that hard graft certainly paid of as Thirlwall took 2 race wins with relative ease.
“It’s a great start to the year and that hard work during the winter certainly shows signs of promise. We just need to keep it going, there’s a long way to go but it’s an excellent start,” said Thrilwall.
Elsewhere on track there were two race wins for Andy Smith driving his black Morgan +8, only just beating 2010 Classic Sports and Saloons Champion John Marshall in his Ford Escort. In the Fiesta XR2 Championship the spoils were shared between Dave Colville and Russell Milloy. Experienced XR2 competitor Peter Cruickshank had an extremely unlucky day, having been involved in a few incidents during both races when in was in contention for race wins.
In the Scottish Sports and Saloons Championship, Garry Watson dominated the field in his 2200cc Westfield taking two victories. However, it was the all new aerodynamic system on the underside of his car that got everyone talking.
“Happy with the win, the aero system adds that little something else to the Westfield and that’s what this class is all about. It’s a great start and we’ll continue to try our hardest at each outing, but it’s a long season,” commented Watson.
Other action on track included the Legends Championship and Fiesta ST Championship featuring this spectacular crash from John Sheridan. The next Scottish Championship meeting at Knockhill takes place on Sunday 1st May, tickets are available now and we look forward to welcoming you back.
