SECOND WIN OF WEEKEND FOR ON-FORM CARNABY Scunthorpe’s Thomas Carnaby capped off an outstanding weekend’s work in the Ginetta Junior Championship with his second victory of the race meeting during round 16 of the season at Oulton Park Island Circuit yesterday, Sunday, 27th July.In scorching conditions – even hotter than those experienced on Saturday during round 15 – Carnaby closed to within just two points of long-time championship leader Dino Zamparelli by recording yet another victory and also the bonus points for pole position and fastest lap of the race.The Tollbar Racing star was in a class of his own at Oulton Park, while Zamparelli could only manage fourth place and lap times a second shy of Carnaby’s best. With eight races remaining, the 2008 championship is heating up perfectly and Carnaby certainly appears to be in the ascendancy as the title pendulum begins to swing in his favour.“It was unbelievably hot in the car, more so than on Saturday, and the track did seem to be breaking up a little bit, especially down at Knickerbrook”, explained the race winner, “The heat was getting to the track and you could definitely feel that in the car, it was so unstable in certain places but a great race even so.“It’s good to have closed in on Dino (Zamparelli) even more but I’m not getting carried away, we’ll just focus on the rest of the championship and hopefully go past him and win the title! Hopefully we can continue this recent run, I’m sure we can.”Much like Snetterton a fortnight ago, round 16 was a Tollbar podium lock-out with Josh Hill taking second place a mere seven 10ths of a second ahead of George Richardson. Zamparelli, in fourth, headed home Aaron Williamson and Fergus Walkinshaw but Williamson was later excluded for driving into Walkinshaw after the finish.The incident wasn’t Williamson’s first of the race, contact with the rear of Daniel Lloyd’s car at the hairpin on lap two pitching the latter into a spin and relegating him down the order. Fighting back as hard as possible, Lloyd came home in 10th place in the end but the removal of Williamson from the points promoted him into ninth spot.At the start of Sunday afternoon’s encounter, Carnaby and Hill led away fairly evenly from the front row with the pole-sitter maintaining the advantage. Just behind, George Richardson held third place ahead of Zamparelli. Lloyd, meanwhile, moved up to fifth from seventh while Williamson went in the opposite direction.Walkinshaw pushed Lloyd back to sixth at the hairpin as Williamson closed on the pair, while for Dominic Pettit any hopes of a second visit to the Oulton Park podium were dashed during the opening lap exchanges – the front end of his car becoming re-arranged following contact. He eventually came home in 11th position.As the race entered lap two, Carnaby was already beginning to stamp his authority on proceedings and pulled out a one second gap as Hill lost second to Richardson and Walkinshaw made his way past Zamparelli for fourth. At the hairpin, Lloyd’s podium bid came to an end after the aforementioned contact from Williamson.

At mid-distance, Carnaby started reeling off fastest laps and on the penultimate tour he posted a new Oulton Park Island Circuit lap record for the Ginetta Juniors of 1m 47.267 seconds (74.70mph).Richardson, meanwhile, was still managing to keep Hill at bay but the latter got the smallest of opportunities at the hairpin on the final lap. As Richardson marginally locked a wheel under braking, it was all the invitation Hill needed and after edging alongside on the run over Hill Top, he made the pass stick into Knickerbrook.Zamparelli came home in fourth and following the post-race exclusion of Williamson, Walkinshaw took fifth, Simon Austin was sixth, Jake Farndon ended the race in seventh position and Ashley Craig was eighth just ahead of the recovering Lloyd.As on Saturday, the day belonged to Carnaby and after similar success at Snetterton a fortnight ago the Tollbar star heads to the next two rounds three weeks from now at Knockhill in Scotland as the form driver.“I’ve never been to Knockhill before, I’ve seen the layout of the circuit though and it looks good to me”, he said, “I like circuits where there are crests and blind apexes, you have to learn them quickly and I think we should be able to do that at Knockhill. I’m really looking forward to it as the championship is getting very close.”Knockhill Circuit in Fife will host rounds 17 and 18 of the Ginetta Junior Championship over the weekend 16th/17th August.Provisional 2008 Ginetta Junior Championship Positions (after Rd16):1st Dino Zamparelli, 417pts; 2nd Thomas Carnaby, 415pts; 3rd Josh Hill, 314pts; 4th Daniel Lloyd, 291pts; 5th Jake Farndon, 274pts; 6th Dominic Pettit, 261