PENALTY SCUPPERS DOUBLE TOP TEN FINISH

After a strong ninth place finish in round nine of the SCSA Championship at Rockingham, Team Catchpole were well in contention for a repeat in round ten, until a drive through penalty was given for a pitlane infringement

The Corby based team were back on the pace in qualifying, thanks to assistance from rivals and neighbours Team West Tec and Torquespeed.“We made adjustments to the springs and found an extra 1/10th which got us onto the fourth row of the grid. It was a big improvement on our season so far. We now have a raceable set up and hope for better things in the races,” said team driver Phil Weaver (Southampton).

In race one Weaver was in 10th place when the first caution was called after two laps. Despite the attentions of Tony King, he held his place as the compulsory pitstops were made, before moving into ninth on the 26th lap. Although a recovering Oli Playle charged past lap 51, Weaver retaliated by retaking ninth from Gavin Seager a lap from home, pulling out a two second advantage as he took the chequered flag.

“Extensive testing had accounted for more usage of our tyres, I knew it would be a problem. The tyres didn’t come in for the first 10 laps, then the middle of the race was Ok. I couldn’t push on, as when I did the tyres went off again,” Weaver explained.

There was justified optimism at the start or race two. After running just outside the top ten in the early laps, he had worked up to tenth as the pitstops approached. With the whole field pitting together, the Catchpole crew made a lightning stop and emerged from the pitlane ahead of a number of the championship contenders.Weaver was then awarded a drive through penalty, as the crew were alleged to have entered the pitlane before the car had stopped. Suddenly the promise of another strong finish was wrecked and after a number of other pit visits for minor alterations, he was classified 12th.