After a break of four weeks, the battle for the 2005 Porsche Carrera Cup GB resumes for rounds nine and ten at Croft in North Yorkshire over the weekend of 16/17 July.
Heading to the challenging motor racing circuit near Darlington, Richard Westbrook (Ipswich) and Damien Faulkner (Co Donegal) are absolutely level on points with 126 each; that's a 30-point advantage over Jason Templeman (Nottingham).
As the championship reaches the half-way point, this is a critical stage in the title race. The Croft weekend starts a run of seven races in four weekends as the Mondello Park and Snetterton events follow quickly in the busiest part of the 2005 season. With a road-going Porsche Carrera 911 Coupe awaiting the champion at the end of the season, there is a great deal still to play for.
In reality, Faulkner has an advantage over Westbrook, as the rain postponed round eight from Oulton Park will now be run at Mondello Park. As Westbrook missed the Oulton weekend whilst competing in the Porsche Supercup race at Indianapolis (USA), he cannot contest the additional Mondello race and so Faulkner effectively has a race in hand.
But before that situation unwinds, they will go head-to-head at Croft, while Templeman and Tim Harvey (Woodstock) battle to get into the lead contest. Westbrook will arrive at Croft fresh from Supercup races at Magny Cours (France) and Silverstone in the preceding weekends, while Faulkner has had a month away from racing. Last year, Croft proved to be a troubled weekend for Westbrook, so he will be pushing very hard to continue his unbeaten 2005 Carrera Cup run.
Harvey, however, has had a torrid season so far, with all sorts of bad luck hindering his title bid. He won both races at Croft last summer and needs a repeat of that success if he is to keep his title hopes alive. Currently, Tim is down in fifth in the points table as Nigel Rice (Beverley) moved into fourth when Harvey had a disastrous weekend at Brands in early June.
Rice, along with Red Line team mates Jason Young (Oakham, Leics) and Stephen Shanly (Clapham), is working hard to close the gap to the championship's big four and the fact that Croft is the home track for the Red Line squad will give them an added boost. All of the Red Line racers have the pace to be on the podium at Croft.
Meanwhile, Steve Clark (Stourbridge) and David Ashburn (London) will make their Croft Carrera Cup debuts, while Michael Corridan (Sudbury, Suffolk) is due back in action following a major testing accident at Brands.
