Jenkins wins double as title race sharpens
Scott Jenkins (Bristol) delivered two fine drives when they counted, taking two victories as the Renault Formula JICA championship battle intensified at Clay Pigeon on Sunday, 30th July.
He started the first points-scoring Super One final behind championship leader Jack Harvey (Lincoln), but both were passed by championship challenger Oliver Rowland (Penistone) on the opening lap. While Harvey dropped back to fifth, Jenkins passed Rowland on lap two and didn’t surrender the lead, although the leading pair quickly eased away from the rest of the field.
Although his win gave him pole position for final two, Jenkins had to contend with Richard Bradley (Blackheath, London) as well as Rowland, who was eager to further close the championship gap to Harvey.
Bradley rocketed from sixth on the grid to take the lead from Jenkins on lap two. Rowland also got past Jenkins but when he made a move for the lead, Jenkins followed him past Bradley, who dropped to fifth. It took another six laps for Jenkins to regain the lead of the race, passing Rowland at Billy’s corner, only for Rowland to move ahead once again a lap later.
Rowland sensed another move from Jenkins on the final lap, but moved to defend his line too early, losing speed and allowing four chasing karters to go through. He crossed the line fifth, with James Godbehere (Doncaster) following Jenkins through, and Tom Joyner (Braintree), who had started the race in 15th place, taking an excellent third place at the end. Richard Bradley partially recovered from his earlier slip to finish fourth.
After two eventful races at Clay Pigeon, Rowland erased five points from Harvey’s championship lead, which is now just 12 points with two races to go.
Jordan Chamberlain (Newport, Gwent) fell out of close contention of the leading two after dismal heats netted a non-finish and an exclusion, putting him in 29th place on the first final grid. Things were looking bleak after final one, which saw Chamberlain retire after five laps, but in his last race of the day, he moved up 18 places to take ninth at the flag and conserve his third place slot in the series, now 46 points behind the leader.
He finished the second final just behind Laura Tillett (Addington), who made a superb climb from 20th on the grid to seventh position in the first championship final. She started final two in seventh place, finishing in eighth position.
Renault Formula JICA Championship provisional points
1st – Jack Harvey 450pts; 2nd – Oliver Rowland 438pts;
3rd – Jordan Chamberlain 404pts; 4th – Richard Bradley 389pts; 5th – Gary Thompson 364pts; 6th – Robert Butler 363pts.
