Mark Davies and Stuart Pearson won their respective classes in the Ginetta Challenge at Silverstone at the weekend, as the final races of the season provided plenty of drama.
Race one
Early morning rain subsided before the Ginetta Challenge drivers took to the circuit, but it was still a wet track off-line. As the lights went out, Ryan Ratcliffe (Piranha Motorsport) made the best start and led away but Mark Davies (Optimum Motorsport) sneaked ahead as the cars went through Copse Corner. Behind the G40s, G20 championship protagonist Stuart Pearson made a mistake at Becketts and went off through the gravel. He rejoined, but a long way adrift.
Davies led from Sean Huyton (Academy Motorsport) but the two cars made contact at Luffield. Huyton clipped the rear of Davies’ car and the Yorkshireman spun off into the gravel. It took four marshals to push his car out of the gravel but he was able to rejoin, albeit a long way adrift of championship rival Huyton. As Huyton led, William Burns (HHC Motorsport) became the star of the race as the ex-Castle Combe Saloon Car Championship racer made his way up into contention. From the back of the grid, he had passed 16 cars in three laps.
Up front, Ratcliffe spun out of the leading group after contact with Kieren Clark at The Loop, which allowed Huyton to take the win. However, he was excluded post-race for his contact with Davies, which gifted a win to Clive Richards (Colards Motorsport) from Thiago Calvet (Optimum Motorsport), while the excellent effort from Burns netted a terrific third place.
Dominic Pettit (Reflex Racing) won the G20 class from Tom Mallett, while Stuart Pearson moved himself back into contention for the championship by securing third place in class.
Race two
Ratcliffe led away at the start of race two but Davies was alongside him and Huyton also joined the lead battle. The cars were three-wide heading through Becketts, but Huyton came out ahead of Ratcliffe with Davies chasing them hard in third. Race one winner Richards exited from the race with a smoky engine, leaving Huyton, Davies and Ratcliffe to fight for the lead. Behind them, Mike Robinson (TCR), Rick Parfitt junior (HHC Motorsport) and Graham Johnson (TCR) were all squabbling, while William Burns was on the move up from the back of the grid.
Huyton hung on to take the win despite running side-by-side with Davies through the Stadium on the last lap. Behind them, Ratcliffe took third ahead of Parfitt, while Burns fought up to fifth.
The G20 class produced a stunning lead battle between Pettit and Gary Simms (Optimum Motorsport) who ran together for much of the race. Simms was ahead when it mattered and took the class win by just a second, while Matt Flowers took third behind Pettit.
Provisionally, the drama at Silverstone secured Mark Davies (392 points) the G40 class title from Sean Huyton (38 points) and Clive Richards (300 points), while Stuart Pearson won the G20 division with 398 points ahead of Gary Simms (377 points) and Matt Flowers (317 points).
