The latest instalment of the Scottish Motor Racing Championship season, held at Knockhill Racing Circuit on Sunday 15th June, saw a number of the leading title contenders signal their intentions with some dominant displays.
Before the weekend, we had identified the Scottish Formula Ford trio of Ciaran Haggerty (Johnstone), Jordan Gronkowski (Banff) and Graham Carroll (Musselburgh) as ones to watch this weekend; and that’s certainly how things played out, with Haggerty in particular, in exceptional form. The 17 year old, hot from an impressive display at Oulton Park, capped a fine few weeks by claiming pole position for the opening race in the morning’s qualifying session, closely followed by his other two title protagonists.
As race one got underway, everyone waited with keen anticipation for the action to start; and fans didn’t have to wait long, as almost immediately, Carroll took the lead from Haggerty. Growkowski then got in on the action, with an audacious move around the outside of both Haggerty and Carroll at Clark’s, to take the lead. As the trio raced three abreast up the main straight, Carroll once again edged ahead. The order continued to change lap by lap, and by the 4th lap, there had been approximately eight changes of lead at the head of the pack.
Haggerty then set a number of fastest laps to edge a slight advantage at the front, however, Carroll and Grownkowski reeled him back in to set up a grandstand finish. As the three cars, came into the final corner in quick succession, it all came down to the drag up the hill. Haggerty held on for his first Formula Ford win of the season, with Carroll in second and Gronkowski in third. Carroll was later disqualified for a technical infringement, promoting Gronkowski to 2nd and Adam McKay to 3rd. In the second race, with Carroll seemingly out of it at the back of the grid, that left Haggerty and Grownkowski to fight it out between themselves; and despite massive pressure from Gronkowski, Haggerty held his nerve to claim his second win of the day.
There was also double delight for BMW Compact Cup driver Alan Kirkcaldly (St. Andrews) after he claimed his 4th and 5th wins of the season. Those results extended Kirkcaldy’s lead at the top of the Championship standings with Steven Dailly (Wallyford) in second following his two 2nd place finishes at the weekend. Gary Clark (Macduff) and Cliff Harper (Ellon) shared the other two 3rd place podium positions.
Indeed, even in the Peoples Ford Fiesta Championship their was a recurring theme of double delight; as Wayne Macaulay (Forfar) drove his ST to two impressive race wins, crossing the finish line, on both occasions, more than six seconds ahead of his closest rival. That maintains Macaulay’s 100% record for the season, and who knows, if he wraps up the title early like last year; we may see the Fiesta ace jump series before the end of this campaign as well; with the Mini Cooper Cup looking like the next logical destination.
In the XR2 Championship, Steven Gray (Aberdeen) saw his two-race winning streak come to an end as Hamish Smart (Edinburgh) and Steven Ward shared one race win apiece. Other podium scorers in the ST class included Peter Cruikshank and Kevin Whyte, with two 2nd and 3rd place finishes respectively. In the XR2 races, Gray had to be content with one 3rd place finish, whilst, Smart and Ward again shared the other two 2nd place finishes. Fiesta XR2 newcomer, Jim Deans claimed the final 3rd place podium slot and he’ll be well chuffed with his on-the-road podium score.
In the Celtic Speed Mini Cooper Cup, Kenny Thirlwall (Haddington) rocked into Knockhill sporting an all new colour scheme on his Championship leading Mini. That was really the only difference, as Kenny quickly resumed his race winning antics to secure a brace of wins in the opening two races. Joe Tanner (Dunfermline) secured one race win (last race) and a 2nd and 3rd place finish, which sees him still maintain some degree of pressure on Thirlwall heading into the next round.
David Sleigh (Edinburgh) enjoyed his best weekend to date, taking 3rd, 2nd and 6th places in Sunday’s three races. He’ll now be looking to get in amongst Kenny and Joe at the front, if only to remind the pair, that he’s not a former double Champion for nothing. The BTCC’s Aiden Moffat returned to Mini racing following his last BTCC outing at Oulton Park and was quickly in the thick of it, taking a trio of newcomer podiums with his 2x 4th and 5th place finishes. Malcolm McNab (Glasgow) enjoyed his highest race finish of the season by securing a 2nd place rostrum slot during the final outing of the weekend.
The Legends series was once again wide-open with six different drivers all enjoying podium success. Knockhill commentator and race driver, Duncan Vincent (Glenrothes) had a strong weekend; but despite leading two of the day’s races, Vincent would have to settle for a solitary race victory following some mechanical issues with his New College Lanarkshire, Burnett Motorsport backed machine. Naas racer, Paul O’Brien secured the most points over the weekend, following his 2nd, 1st and 2nd place finishes. Championship leader heading into the weekend’s action, John Paterson (Motherwell), got off to a flying start taking victory in the first Legends race of the day. He couldn’t repeat that performance for the following encounters, finishing with two 6th place finishes. Other podium scorers included Ben Mason (Maud), David Hunter (Alva) and Kyle Reid (Aberdeen) who also competed in the Celtic Mini Cooper Cup, taking to the track on six different occasions.
Andy Smith, returning to Classic Sports and Saloons action at Knockhill behind the wheel of his Championship winning Morgan, battled his way to two on-the-road race wins ahead of Tommy Gilmartin and Shonny Paterson; with Gilmartin and Paterson sharing the 2nd and 3rd podium slots in both races, albeit in a differing order each time. That however, is only half the story!
The Classic Sports and Saloons Championship is made up of seven different classes, with individual class wins going towards an overall Championship, plus individual class honours. To give you an idea, Raymond Boyd (class D) finished 4th and 5th (on-the-road) in the two races this weekend. However, he was the top driver in class D, therefore, taking two class wins. That, added to his other four class victories already this season, sees him remain top of the overall Championship standings with a 100% record.
The Scottish Saloons and Sports Car Championship runs in a similar vein to the Classics, with class wins going towards an overall title. This weekend’s races saw on-the-road wins for Colin Simpson (Dundee) and Ian Donaldson (Dumbarton), whilst, Cameron Purdie (Aberdeen – 2 x 2nds), Garry Wait (3rd) and Andrew Morrison (Stirling – 3rd) secured the other on-the-road podium credits. Morrison’s fine on-the-road podium secured is 2nd class win of the day, following his opening 4th place effort in the first race. Those two class victories will ensure that he heads the overall standings heading into the next round.
You can find all the race results from this latest event via MyLaps and further SMRC information can be found via their official website.
The next SMRC action at Knockhill takes place on Sunday 13th July.
We hope you can all make it!!