Andrew Davies and Mark Davies scored a win apiece in the Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship at Rockingham Sunday, May 31, although Davies’ win came in a shortened race brought about by a race stoppage for a car in a dangerous place.

Qualifying

Andrew Smith (Optimum Motorsport) secured pole position during the sole qualifying session from team-mate Mark Davies and Dominic Pettit, his Dominant Motorsport car the only non-Optimum runner in the top five. David Jackson was fourth fastest ahead of Freddie Hetherington, but expected front-runner Russell McCarthy could only manage 11th fastest, whilst Sean Huyton ended the session in the gravel.

Race one

Andrew Smith headed the pack away from the start of the opening race from Davies and David Jackson who in turn was chased by Dominic Pettit and Russell McCarthy. Davies took the lead on lap two and started to edge away from Smith with Jackson dropping away in third place. After his poor qualifying, McCarthy was making great progress and was soon up to fourth by lap three but then spun at Gracelands a lap later, falling to 10th place. Just a few corners later, Oulton Park race winner Pettit was out, too: he ran wide at Chapman Curve and lost a wheel that bounced clear of his stranded car. Davies held sway at the head of the field until he made an error at Tarzan on lap seven allowing Smith to take the race lead. Davies chased him hard, keen to make amends for his mistake, and he set a series of fastest laps in his efforts to catch the leader. By the chequered flag, he was just 1.2 seconds adrift of a delighted race-winning Smith. Jackson too third, despite being caught towards the end by a charging Freddie  Hetherington and Sean Huyton, whilst former Formula 3 racer Stephen Colbert took sixth place in his Motorsport News-entered car.

Race two

Smith took the lead once the lights went out at the start of race two, but he ran wide at the Deene Hairpin allowing Davies and Pettit past him. Davies led for the remainder of the lap but was passed by Pettit at Turn One on lap two, followed by Smith who mirrored the manoeuvre on Davies a lap later. McCarthy was on another charge, carving his way up to fifth place from 10th on the grid.

Davies and Pettit continued to trade the lead as a four-way battle raged on for fourth place behind Smith.  David Jackson, Russell McCarthy, Andrew Spencer and Sean Huyton ran nose-to-tail as ahead of them, the race leaders clashed.

As Davies and Pettit turned on to the banking, Davies tapped Pettit who had a wild moment, falling to seventh place as the pack swarmed by. He fought his way up to third behind Smith and race leader Davies, but the pack behind would have an impact on the race. Sean Huyton and Andrew Spencer clashed and Spencer’s car ended its race at Yentwood stranded in an awkward place. Race officials elected to stop the race allowing Davies a second win of the season from Smith and Pettit with David Jackson taking fourth ahead of McCarthy and Huyton.

Said Davies: “It was a shame the race was stopped, but I am happy to win. It was a great race with lots of action at the front.”

His second victory of the season increases his lead in the championship over Smith.