WILLIAMSON CONQUERS OULTON HEAT TO TAKE SECOND WIN OF YEAR

Aaron Williamson secured his second race victory in three races at Oulton Park Island Circuit Sunday, 31st May, during round eight of the Ginetta Junior Championship with Henderson Insurance, as series leader Sarah kept her title bid well on course with yet another podium.

Action-packed throughout, the outing produced incident aplenty and was very much a race of attrition with a third of the entry failing to finish. The encounter also came to an earlier than expected conclusion, red flags shown on lap seven with cars off the circuit at Hill Top.

Williamson got away well at the start from the outside of the front row to lead into Old Hall ahead of pole-sitter Tom Ingram, Jake Hill in third place, Chris Swanwick in fourth and Sarah Moore moving through into fifth ahead of Carl Stirling.

While the leader built a small advantage early on in his Muzz Racing car, as the race headed into lap two Ingram had closed the deficit to just four 10ths of a second although he was under increasing pressure himself from Hill, the latter striving for his first win in the category.

On the inside at Cascades on the second tour Hill went through past Ingram, as did Chris Swanwick, although the later was soon pushed back to fourth at Island Bend and then fifth when the ever present Moore made her way through into the top four.

Into Hislop’s on lap two Moore took third place and then at the same part of the track on the third tour, Hill went through into the lead after passing Williamson – a good move the Tollbar driver started down at Island Bend.

Williamson immediately hit back though, a great pass on the inside at Druids giving him first place again. Moore, meanwhile, followed his lead and also passed Hill to grab second on entry to Lodge before the latter slipped further back when Stirling climbed past into the top four.

On lap four Moore headed the field after taking the lead at Cascades at the same time as Hill re-passed Stirling for third place. Under increasing pressure from Williamson, Moore handled it well but she was unable to repel the erstwhile race leader’s passing attempt at Druids – a carbon copy of the successful move he produced on lap two.

With all of the duelling at the front slowing the main podium contenders up, the battle became a nine-car affair as a train of jostling Ginetta Juniors headed to Island Bend for the fifth time. Moore went to the outside around the hairpin as she looked for a way to get back ahead but this delayed her and allowed Hill to get through and pass both for the lead with Stirling moving up to second.

Further behind, several of the midfield cars made contact on the run up towards Hill Top which led to the appearance of the Safety Car at the beginning of lap seven. Before the race came under caution though, Hill was once again wondering what might have been when a problem with his car forced him into retirement.

Williamson, therefore, retook the lead of the race ahead of Stirling and Moore and that was the finishing order on the classified timesheet when the outing was halted a lap from home. Mitchell Hale wrapped up a fine fourth place with Max McGuire in fifth and David Moore sixth.

Commenting on win number two of the season, Williamson said: “When I won at Donington I said it was my hardest ever race but this one, today, was definitely the hardest! The lead changed hands so many times, there wasn’t a split second where you could think about backing off, you had to keep going and going until the last lap.

“It was really, really hot in the car and very hard work. To come away with a win is fantastic, it could possibly have been two but I made a mistake in the first race on Saturday. It’s great to be on the top step, the team has done a fantastic job with the car all weekend.”

Pippa Coleman was an unfortunate non-starter for today’s race after her car received major damage during the first of the weekend’s two encounters.

Saturday’s incident-packed race also resulted in lengthy judicial discussions taking place, one of the issues of paramount importance for Ginetta Cars being fairness and accountability for young drivers where they may have made rash decisions on track in the heat of the moment.

All forming a vital part of the learning process, the outcome of the round seven judicial hearings meant Jake Cook was excluded from his eventual 13th place finish and received four penalty points on his licence – the punishment also meaning 20 championship points are subtracted from his total.

Ashley Craig, who didn’t finish Saturday’s race, was handed a three point licence penalty, 15 point championship deduction, while Williamson was given a two point penalty on his licence, and docked 10 championship points, following an incident in Saturday morning’s free practice.

Rounds nine and 10 of the 2009 Ginetta Junior Championship with Henderson Insurance will take place two weeks from now, 13th/14th June, at Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire.

Provisional 2009 Ginetta Junior Championship with Henderson Insurance Positions (after Rd8):1st Sarah Moore, 209pts; 2nd Alex Austin, 194pts; 3rd Aaron Williamson, 158pts; 4th Jake Cook, 124pts; 5th Thomas Howard, 123pts; 6th David Moore, 121pts