Danbury’s George Murrells scored victory in the opening Ginetta Challenge race of the season although just one of the two races was run, the second being declared null and void after an early red flag.
Murrells qualified on pole position and led from the start of the 20-minute race but lost the lead to Ormskirk’s Sean Huyton on the opening lap at Shell Oils Corner. Andy Richardson ran third on the opening lap before former MG racer Tom Jones made a move to grab third place at Old Hall on lap two. He chased after Murrells who struggled to find a way past the leading Huyton while David Jackson’s Optimum Motorsport car also moved past Richardson to secure fourth place.
As Jackson closed on Jones for third place, Murrells renewed his efforts to pass Huyton and on lap seven, Huyton ran wide exiting Old Hall. That allowed Murrells’ Optimum Motorsport car to level with Huyton on the run to Cascades but Huyton (Academy Motorsport) managed to hang on to his lead.
On lap eight, Huyton ran wide at Cascades and found himself on the slippery grass. As he struggled for traction, Murrells nipped into the lead and the fish-tailing car of Huyton bounced back on to the road between Jones and Jackson with contact narrowly avoided. As Huyton tried to regain pace, Jackson moved up to third place and Huyton tried to fight back over the remaining laps.
Jackson managed to make his car wide enough to keep Huyton at bay, but when James Haynes went off alongside Lakeside Straight the race was stopped and that deprived Huyton of a final chance to move past Jackson.
Murrells was a delighted winner with Jones second from Jackson, while Huyton headed home Andy Richardson who was unable to maintain his qualifying pace that had put him second on the grid. Sixth, after a grassy moment at Knickerbrook, was Mark Wania while Stuart Pearson took seventh form former champion Gavin Mitchell.
Ninth was the best of the Ginetta G40s for Dominic Pettit in his HHC Motorsport car against the lighter G20s with the top 10 rounded out by Paul Morgan who spun mid-race.
Murrells led race two but on lap four, tail-ender James Hamill suffered an engine failure in his privately-run car which coated the braking area for Old Hall Corner in oil. Murrells was the first to discover it and skated off into the tyre wall, with Huyton lucky to survive. Jones ploughed off the road as well and the safety car was deployed followed by a red flag. With just three laps run and the curfew looming, the race was declared null and void and championship officials intend to reschedule the race later in the season.
Ginetta Challenge round one results:1st George Murrells; 2nd Tom Jones +6.413s; 3rd David Jackson; 4th Sean Huyton; 5th Andy Richardson; 6th Mark Wania; 7th Stuart Pearson; 8th Gavin Mitchell; 9th Dominic Pettit; 10th Paul Morgan. Fastest lap: Murrells 1m58.701s (81.64mph).
