Dominic Pettit and Mark Davies shared the wins at Oulton Park, Easter Monday, in two thrilling rounds of the Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship. A win and a second place put Davies ahead in the title race after two 20-minute races.

Qualifying

Mark Davies (Optimum Motorsport) took pole position by over four-tenths of a second at the end of the qualifying session, Andrew Smith lining up alongside in the second Optimum-run car. Russell McCarthy (McCarthy Motorsport) and Julian Barratt (Reflex Racing) shared row two whilst Sean Huyton’s car racing debut started well with the fifth fastest time. A driver’s second best time established the race two grid with Davies and Smith again sharing row one with David Jackson setting fourth best time.

Race one

Mark Davies grabbed the lead at the start of the opening race and led as far as Shell Oils Corner, only to loop the car and fall to 14th place. That allowed Julian Barratt into the lead, chased by Andrew Smith and Dominic Pettit whose Dominant Motorsport car was up from row three. Pettit dived past Smith at Old Hall Corner on lap two to grab second place, whilst Alex Dziuryzynski and Russell McCarthy fought over fourth place. Barratt continued to lead but then he, too, made an error, spinning at Island Bend and allowing Pettit into the lead from Smith and an impressive Sean Huyton (Academy Motorsport), whilst Dziuryzynski ran fourth ahead of rookie Freddie Hetherington and David Jackson. Hard on their heels were McCarthy, George Murrells, Matt Flowers, the recovering Barratt and Davies making an 11-car train for the lead!

By lap four, McCarthy had wriggled up to second behind Pettit, but lap five heralded drama: Smith spun coming out of Old Hall (“What a plonker,” he would say afterwards) and a corner later McCarthy spun, too. In avoidance, Huyton went off at Cascades as well. By the end of the lap, Pettit led Dziuryzynski with Davies up to third! Jackson was fourth and Barratt ran fifth.

Huyton had another moment at Cascades on lap six, as Davies took second from Dziuryzynski at Hislop’s. Davies was hustling on in pursuit of Pettit, the gap tumbling from 4.3 seconds to 2.68 in half a lap. He grabbed the lead at Lodge on lap eight, whilst Barratt hit the back of Dziuryzynski’s car at Cascades, both of them spinning off.

With Davies leading Pettit, Jackson, Murrells and Smith fought over third, but Pettit was still on the attack. He retook the lead at Britten’s, but Davies retook him at Knickerbrook a lap later. They crossed the line almost level to take the chequered flag, but Pettit got the nod by 0.126s. Smith recovered for third ahead of Murrells, Jackson and Matt Flowers.

Race two

The second round was a little quieter – but not much. Davies led to Shell but was far more cautious than in race one, losing the lead to McCarthy in the process. He fought back at Hislop’s, robustly moving past McCarthy who was knocked into a huge tank-slapper. Russell held it well but was forced to relinquish second to Pettit as they raced up Clay Hill. Davies pulled away as Smith and Pettit argued over second place, Smith running wide and allowing race one winner Pettit and the recovering McCarthy back past. After a poor first lap Julian Barratt was making progress up to seventh, whilst contact at Cascades dropped Jackson and Dziuryzynski down the order. Barratt took fifth place on lap four and set off in pursuit of Smith taking Huyton with him, but then Smith powered past McCarthy at Lodge.

As Davies reeled off the last laps, Pettit’s car developed a problem: it cut out completely on the penultimate lap but he limped to the flag for third place although Smith was now clear in second place. Attention turned to the fight for fourth as McCarthy, Barratt and Huyton ran nose-to-tail to Old Hall starting the last lap. As Barratt went to the inside of McCarthy’s orange car, Huyton braked too late, whacked the back of Barratt’s car causing both to spin. That gave McCarthy a safe fourth place with an annoyed Barratt recovering for fifth ahead of his aggressor.

Provisional 2009 Texaco Havoline Championship Positions (after Rd2):

1 Mark Davies 68pts; Dominic Pettit 65pts; 3 Andrew Smith 52pts; 4 George Murrells 32pts; 5 David Jackson 31pts; 6 Matt Flowers 30pts.