Race 1

Due to events occurring during race one, the results did not stand and the race cancelled with no plans for it to be re-scheduled.

James Jefferson had been promoted to the front row of the grid and led from Vernon into the first corner, but the red flags flew after four minutes to recover Mikey Crabtree who had spun at Clark Curve.

At the reace re-start, Vernon had the better start to get ahead of Jefferson, but on the second restarted lap, the race was cancelled.

Paul Marsh span on the exit of Paddock and into the middle of the track. Most of the field avoided him, but Cavan Corcoran ‘T-bone’ hit the passenger side of Marsh’s car at high speed. 14-year old Corcoran’s car came to rest in the gravel, and meanwhile Fergus Walkinshaw went head-on into a wall in avoidance of the accident.

Despite being shocked, Marsh and Walkinshaw were given a clean bill of health by the medics, but Corcoran had to be cut free from his car with a broken ankle. His foot had slipped in between the pedals in the collision.

“It was one of the worst accidents I’ve seen in a while” said MSA Scrutineer Steve Walker. “The cars have stood up very well to the accident. The rollcages remained intact & undamaged – it could have been lot worse.”

Ginetta would like to thank everybody involved for their assistance – especially the marshals and medics and wish Cavan a speedy recovery.

Race 2

Kieran Vernon held his place off the line to lead into Paddock Hill bend, but Jefferson made up two places to challenge for the lead. Moore lost out four places to Dino Zamparelli, Chris Clayton and Nick Ponting.

A returning Jordan Lennox-Lamb gained four places as did Fergus Walkinshaw - who had a spare car (Jade Edwards’ car from the 2006 season) delivered to the circuit overnight having severely damaged the front of his car in Saturday’s accident. As a result of changing his car, Walkinshaw had to start from the back of the grid.

Pressure from Jefferson could not force Vernon into a mistake – a consistent drive by Vernon gradually opened up a gap of almost 4 seconds on lap 12 out of 15.

Enjoying the Brands Hatch Indy circuit, George Richardson kept on the tail of Jefferson in pursuit of 2nd place, and clocked up the race’s best time of 59.295 seconds and a new Ginetta Junior lap record on lap 6. – just 0.008 seconds quicker than Jordan Williams’ 2006 record.

His strong run in third developed into runner-up spot when Jefferson came to lap Mia Morgan at Graham Hill bend. A spin by Jefferson dropped him down to 12th on the 13th lap. Morgan then retired to the pit lane with a gearbox problem.

A fuel problem in qualifying for Dominic Pettit had been rectified for the race, and coming through from 10th to 4th gave the Dunlop Great and British spectators overtaking manoeuvres they came to see.

Pettit and Lennox-Lamb came across the line to start their third lap side-by-side all the way up to Druids where Pettit took Lennox-Lamb’s 9th place. Just one lap later and Pettit is threatening Tom Sharp in his slipstream at Paddock Hill and passing both Sharp and Chris Clayton at Graham Hill.

Sixth time around, Pettit, Sharp, Clayton and Lennox-Lamb were nose-to-tail closing up on Nick Ponting and Nigel Moore ahead.

Meanwhile, in only his third race, Dino Zamparelli was running steadily in 4th place but could not hold off Moore on the 10th lap at Druids and then relinquishing his place to Pettit on the penultimate lap.

In his first Sportscar race, stepping up from the Stars of Tomorrow karting Championship, Chris Smiley took a respectable 18th place finish ahead of Ashley Craig and Jake Ratenbury.

Joe Shaw’s continuing improvement gave him a 7th place start but dropped to 15th on the first lap and finishing just out of the top 10 in 11th place having duelled with Alice Powell mid-race.

“I’m very happy to have got my first win” said Vernon. “I’ve had some bad luck lately, so I’m relieved. I just pushed to open up a big lead and once I’d done that, knew I’d be ok.”

“I put a lot of pressure on James” said Richardson. “I did well to catch up with him in a few spots and he was pulling away from me in others so it all balanced out quite well.”

“I knew that all I had to do was stay on to score points” said Moore. “I didn’t have the best of starts, but I managed to achieve what I went out for so I’m happy.”

Race 3

Another perfect start for Kieran Vernon from pole gave him the advantage out of Paddock Hill bend to lead from Nigel Moore who got up to 2nd, but George Richardson was slow off of the line and dropped to 4th ahead of Dino Zamparelli, Nick Ponting and Dominic Pettit.

Jefferson took 2nd place on lap two at Surtees and set upon his pursuit of Vernon who was just half a second down the road, but a gap steadily opened up to a little over four seconds by the end.

George Richardson looked set for his second podium of the day in claiming third from Moore on lap 3, but the two traded places two laps from the end.

Drama at Graham Hill bend on the third lap occurred when Ashley Bird and Tom Sharp were together, and as Bird went into a spin, collected Thomas Carnaby who launched up and over Bird’s bonnet (below, left). All three drivers went on to finish, but Carnaby pitted for a quick bodywork repair and collected a point for 18th place albeit a lap down.

Nick Ponting and Chris Clayton spent much of the race battling over 6th and 7th with Clayton temporarily getting ahead of Ponting on lap 8 and again two laps from the end, but the pair of them lost out to Sharp at Druids on the last lap.

Joe Shaw and Simon Austin rounded off the top ten at the finish between them. Shaw had spent much of the race behind Austin, but got ahead on the 13th lap to finish an encouraging 9th.

Ashley Craig and Chris Smiley had a photo finish as the pair took the chequered flag side-by-side in 14th and 15th respectively. Dino Zamparelli failed to finish having pushed to hard at Druids and ending up in the gravel on his 4th lap. Fergus Walkinshaw’s weekend ended after just two laps when the gearbox on his replacement car failed. He had made up six places on the start.

Jordan Lennox-Lamb dropped down to 17th from 13th on the third lap but fought back to reclaim his 13th place behind fellow karting graduate Alice Powell.

Two clean-fought races concluded a weekend that has closed up the top places at the table behind Nigel Moore with 2nd, 3rd and 4th covered by just 6 points.

“We’ve been on the pace and I’ve had three podiums before this weekend so I’m really glad to have my first wins at this double-header” said Vernon. “I could see battles going on behind me, but I was glad to be out of it to be honest. It was much more comfortable leading with quite a big gap.”

“It was a good race, I just didn’t have an answer for Kieran that time, but I will next time. I’m just here to prove myself really” explained Jefferson.

Third place finisher and Champion leader Moore added “I’ve scored some more points this weekend so I’ve still got a decent lead going into the next round. I’m mainly driving for points – just getting as many as I can without making moves that could end the Championship.”

The Championship concludes with another triple-header weekend back at Brands Hatch on 27/28th October as part of the Formula Palmer Audi and Junior Festival.

• Jefferson has since been reinstated his 5th place from race one at Pembrey following a successful appeal from his exclusion. However, he will no longer be eligible for Championship points for the remainder of the 2007 season