John Paterson secured his 2nd 600-pointer of the year during the opening Legends bout at Knockhill today – a continuation from the previous event back in June that was brought to a premature end due to rain. He also looked odds-on to make it three 600-point hauls for the season after taking the opening two race wins of the July meeting. Alas, however, he couldn’t quite manage – what would potentially have been a Legends record – as David Newall secured the final race win of the weekend. Paterson comfortably leads the series heading into the next round in August. There were additional podium successes for Daniel McKay (x2), David Hunter (x2), Scott Hynds and Alan Freeland.
17 year old Neil MacLennan secured his first-ever Formula Ford race win in the day’s opening encounter – in-part due to a racing incident involving his closest rivals Adam MacKay and Jordan Gronkowski. However, MacKay bounced back in emphatic style to take the 2nd race win and his 6th of the season ahead of MacLennan and Gronkowski. MacKay, although despondent after the initial race, showed just why he’s been signed up by the Ecurie Ecosse Young Driver Initiative by taking the chequered flag some 8 seconds ahead of the field.
In the Scottish BMW Compact Cup, Steven Dailly remains the man in charge following another brace of wins today. Gary Clarke took the other heat win whilst Greg Sutherland, David McNaughton, Derek Kinghorn and Cliff Harper walked away with runner-up podium positions for their weekend’s work.
In the Scottish Saloons and Sports Car Championship, things remain tight at the top of the overall standings following further class-winning success for Roddie Paterson and Ian Donaldson – sharing one on-the-road win apiece. A further 3rd place podium apiece only goes to consolidate both driver’s positions at the top of the Championship standings. Finlay Crocker, helped himself to two outright 2nd place finishes and if he can start to get is SEAT Leon Eurocup car off the line at the start of each race, he could well be challenging for overall wins in this series before to long.
Shonny Paterson finished off a dominant weekend by taking qualification pole, and two race wins in the Classic Sports and Saloons Championship. Those two wins will go along way to rocketing Shonny up the overall standings from his 23rd place berth at the start of the weekend’s racing activities. Harry Simpson (2 x 2nds), Keiron Baillie (3rd) and Raymond Boyd (3rd) were the other on-the-road podium scorers today.
George Orr and Wayne Macaulay resumed their titanic struggle in the Fiesta ST class – with Orr taking the opening race winning plaudits this weekend, closely followed by Macaulay by just 0.134 of a second. Chris Milford finished the opening race in 3rd but failed to finish the second encounter of the day. Similarly George Orr suffered a mechanical failure in the second race; a race eventually won by Kevin Whyte to claim his first Fiesta ST win. However, Orr’s DNF allowed Macaulay to gain some ground in the Championship as he added another 2nd place podium to his weekend account; whilst, John Balfour claimed the remaining on-the-road 3rd place rostrum position.
Andrew Christie managed to inflict a rare XR2 defeat on Steven Gray and Jim Deans on the day’s final XR2 encounter, with Gray and Deans taking the one-two in the opening race, and a two-three finish in the second. Josh Orr claimed his 5th podium of the season en-route to 3rd in the first race of the day, however, this Championship is still very-much a two-horse race with Gray and Deans set to fight it out all the way to the end of the season for Championship glory.
Of the leading Championship contenders in the Celtic Speed Mini Cooper Cup, Oliver Mortimer endured a weekend to forget; only managing 19th, 5th and 6th place finishes in the day’s three races. Those results, allied to another two race wins for Thirlwall and two 2nd place finishes for Tanner sees Mortimer drop to third in the overall standings. Thirlwall also secured a 3rd place podium in the last race – dominated by Chris and Kyle Reid, with Kyle adding a win to his earlier 3rd place finish in race two – but was penalised 5 seconds for gaining an unfair advantage, demoting him to 6th in the amended race result. Morgan Murray was the final rostrum man, securing a hard-fought podium in the opening race of the day against Shane Stoney.
The next Scottish Championship race meeting takes place at Knockhill on Sunday 16th August; the weekend before the third and final ‘major event’ of the year, the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship on 22/23 August.
We’ll finish off with thanking all the marshals, medic, fans and competitors for another action-packed day of action at Knockhill Racing Circuit. Hope to see you next time.
Tickets can be booked online now – subject to advanced booking discounts.
Also, a huge thanks to Dan Jess for providing all the images of today’s proceedings.
