The 2007 PlayStation Junior Ginetta gets underway this weekend at the recently rebuilt Anglesey circuit in North Wales.

Class of 2007

Fifteen junior racers aged between 14 and 16 years old will attend this first of seven race weekends in the third year of this popular one-make Championship.

The 2006 Championship concluded in true Ginetta style – in a closely fought battle that went down to the last race. It was James Harrison that took the honours by just ten points ahead of Jordan Williams and Henry Surtees.

This season’s warm-up earlier this year with the Spring Cup in Pembrey gave everybody a flavour of what’s to come this year and Dominic Lakeman-Petit expressing dominance by taking four wins out of four races.

However, newcomer Nigel Moore is sure to be a championship contender straight from karts to cars, displaying impressive form at Pembrey – particularly in race four, keeping the pressure on Lakeman-Petit all the way from lights to flag.

Strong drives from last year’s competitors Tom Sharp and Chris Clayton will no doubt also see them regularly on the podium having had a year’s experience in the car. Also expect BRDC Stars of Tomorrow Scholarship winner Jordan Lennox-Lamb to be making a podium appearance as he adjusts to the 1400cc, lightweight car.

Action begins on Saturday 30th June at 12.25pm with qualifying on the ‘Coastal Circuit’ and race one on the same day at 3.30pm lasting 15 minutes.

Sunday’s racing is on a slightly different circuit configuration – the ‘International Circuit’ and so a new qualifying session is at 10.20am followed by race two at 1:30pm.


Round One:

Yorkshireman Nigel Moore is the first winner of the 2007 PlayStation Ginetta Junior Championship having driven a difficult race following a first lap incident.

Fifteen cars have come to the recently reworked Anglesey circuit in North Wales, where it has rained for most of the day today – Saturday 30th June 2007. We welcome back returning racers, but also welcome newcomers to Ginetta racing.

No-one had raced here before, but some came to test on the Coastal circuit (that’s in use today) on Thursday and on the International GT circuit yesterday.

A wet morning qualifying session was mostly dominated by 15-year old Moore, but Spring Cup winner Dominic Pettit snatched Pole by 0.154 seconds on the final lap. The rain caused misting problems for some drivers, and extra caution for most – and a trip onto the grass in the closing stages by Moore meant he lined up alongside Pettit on the grid.

The rain had virtually stopped by the time the cars had lined up on the grid, but the track was so wet, a dry line never quite appeared…

It was Fergus Walkinshaw who made the best start – from 4th to lead into the first corner, but could not hold off Pettit and Moore for long as they made their way past approaching Church. Contact between Walkinshaw and Moore coming out of Peel gave Pettit an a time advantage and dropped Moore down to 7th place with nearside damage.

Unfortunately for Nick Ponting, he had also been collected by Walkinshaw and endured a broken right rear upright so returned to the pits to retire.

The order after 2 laps was 66, 34, 72, 19, 8, 6, 25, 20, 4, 10, 50, 5, 28, 91,

In pushing hard to extend his lead, Pettit spun at Peel and dropped down to 4th, handing the lead over to Chris Clayton who had extended a gap from Cassey Watson.

In his fight for recovery, Pettit sets the race’s fastest lap of 1:31.042 on lap 5, but goes on to spin again on the slippery new tarmac. Most of the latter half of the field go on to spin and recover whilst learning about driving such conditions including an improving Thomas Carnaby, karter Jordan Lennox-Lamb, George Richardson and Walkinshaw having a further trip over the grass on the outside of the back straight.

With Moore up to 3rd and lapping around a second a lap quicker than Clayton and Watson ahead of him, he closed up on his racing rivals – only to be 1-tenth of a second off Watson at the end of lap 6. Watson has to defend heavily in difficult conditions, but a mistake into Rocket gives Moore the opportunity he had been waiting for and gets past with his sights now set on Clayton.

Lap 8’s order was 34, 25, 72, 66, 20, 10, 19, 91, 8, 6, 5, 50, 28 and number 4 – Paul Marsh retiring to the pits with a loose pipe under the bonnet.

A final lap chance for Moore came at Rocket having caught up with Clayton and pressurised him for the lead which he claimed to win the first race by one second.

Watson’s first podium in a Ginetta gives her the accolade of the first racer to have a podium in all three ‘major’ Junior sportscar categories – T-cars, Saxmax and now Ginetta Juniors. She is also the first young female to take to the Ginetta podium.

Tomorrow’s weather forecast is predicting showers – and on the international GP circuit configuration, it’s sure to provide more of the unexpected once again.


PlayStation Ginetta Junior

Anglesey - Coastal Circuit - 30th June
Qualifying:

Position

Car #

Drivers name

Time

1	66	Dominic Lakeman-Petit	1:32.149
2	25	Nigel Moore	+0.154
3	34	Chris Clayton	+0.741
4	91	Fergus Walkinshaw	+1.390
5	72	Cassey Watson	+1.406
6	10	Tom Sharp	+1.445
7	19	Ashley Bird	+1.491
8	7	Nick Ponting	+1.509
9	4	Paul Marsh	+1.899
10	6	Tom Carnaby	+1.999
11	5	Jordan Lennox-Lamb	+2.185
12	8	James Jefferson	+2.330
13	28	George Richardson	+3.159
14	51	Kieron Vernon	+4.222
15	24	Joe Shaw	+9.798

Weather / Track: Wet

Round 1 Result:

Position

Car #

Drivers name

Time

1	25	Nigel Moore	15:32.647
2	34	Chris Clayton	+1.067
3	72	Cassey Watson	+7.879
4	66	Dominic Lakeman-Petit	+25.824
5	51	Kieron Vernon	+26.866
6	10	Tom Sharp	+27.215
7	19	Ashley Bird	+33.550
8	91	Fergus Walkinshaw	+44.667
9	8	James Jefferson	+50.537
10	6	Tom Carnaby	+1:01.389
11	5	Jordan Lennox-Lamb	+1:10.223
12	24	Joe Shaw	+1:19.116
13	28	George Richardson	+1:22.735

 

DNF:	4	Paul Marsh
DNF:	7	Nick Ponting

Fastest Lap:
Pettit 1:31.042 ; 59.830 mph

Weather / Track: Rain-Cloudy / Wet-Damp


Round Two:

Double wins for Moore

Tockwith Motorsport’s young driver Nigel Moore took a lights to flag win in this weekend’s second race at Anglesey in his first Championship weekend racing cars.

Karting graduate Moore took his first pole position in a wet morning qualifying session ahead of Dominic Pettit. Tom Sharp and Tom Walkinshaw nip ahead of yesterday’s race runner-up Chris Clayton on a last lap qualifying charge. Cassey Watson – who scored her first podium yesterday – could only qualify in 14th place having got a traffic cone wedged under her car.

The rain had ceased for a couple of hours leading up to the race, but a short shower as the cars arrived in the assembly area dampened any dry line that might have appeared on the circuit.

A perfect start by Moore fended off any chance of Pettit getting into the first corner before him and the pair remained closely connected throughout the fifteen minute race, completing 9 laps of the 2.10 mile circuit.

Pettit stayed right with his racing rival and despite Moore getting the fastest lap time, Pettit’s best lap time was just 0.013 seconds slower in a true display of how closely matched the two drivers are.

A last-minute attempt on the final lap by Pettit coming onto the start-finish line didn’t pay off, but as Moore crossed the line to win, Pettit was only 0.237 seconds behind him.

Further down the line, Chris Clayton dropped down the order having spun in the early stages. Taking 4th from Walkinshaw on the first lap, he spun on the last corner – pushing to the limit in his efforts to catch the leaders. This dropped him down to the back of the field, going on to take 9th.

A strong race by Cassey Watson got ther to 7th place by lap 3, but contact at the rear at Rocket by George Richardson’s car sent her into a spin and down to 13th.

Tom Sharp retained his third place despite a challenge by James Jefferson. Having taken Walkinshaw, Jefferson was on a charge and caught Sharp, putting him under pressure in the closing stages, but a final lap ‘do or die’ move on the final corner send him onto the grass and into a spin, yet able to recover to take 6th.

Joe Shaw and Kieron Vernon also enjoyed trouble-free racing in their first ever Ginetta Junior race. Vernon stuggled in today’s qualifying conditions, but battled away to an impressive fifth place – replicating yesterday’s impressive charge.


PlayStation Ginetta Junior

Anglesey - International Circuit - 1st July
Qualifying:

Position

Car #

Drivers name

Time

1	25	Nigel Moore	2:00.054
2	66	Dominic Lakeman-Petit	+0.164
3	10	Tom Sharp	+1.145
4	91	Fergus Walkinshaw	+1.487
5	72	Chris Clayton	+1.501
6	10	Paul Marsh	+1.540
7	34	James Jefferson	+1.679
8	7	Jordan Lennox-Lamb	+1.772
9	4	Ashley Bird	+2.284
10	6	George Richardson	+2.724
11	5	Nick Ponting	+3.062
12	8	Kieron Vernon	+3.201
13	28	Tom Carnaby	+3.555
14	51	Cassey Watson	+3.933
15	24	Joe Shaw	+8.253

Weather / Track: Rain / Wet

Round 2 Result:

Position

Car #

Drivers name

Time

1	25	Nigel Moore	15:37.473
2	66	Dominic Lakeman-Petit	+0.237
3	10	Tom Sharp	+11.947
4	91	Fergus Walkinshaw	+20.688
5	72	Kieron Vernon	+20.982
6	10	James Jefferson	+23.479
7	34	Ashley Bird	+31.391
8	7	Paul Marsh	+31.568
9	4	Chris Clayton	+32.259
10	6	Tom Carnaby	+32.494
11	5	George Richardson	+34.148
12	8	Nick Ponting	+34.554
13	28	Cassey Watson	+50.360
14	51	Joe Shaw	+1:11.347
15	24	Jordan Lennox-Lamb	+1:22.131

Fastest Lap:
Moore 1:55.339 ; 65.546 mph

Weather / Track: Cloudy / Wet-Damp