Moore Unstoppable in Scotland

Eighty-four points worth of cushion is in Nigel Moore’s hands at the top of the Ginetta G50 Championship points table following Knockhill’s two races North of the border in Scotland.

Tockwith Motorsport’s talented young driver again qualified on pole for both rounds, and controlled the pace at the front of the pack to notch up two more wins and a total of six wins out of six races.

The same two faces accompanied Moore on the podium during the weekend - Frank Wrathall crossed the line in second place from fourth and Clive Richards followed at the conclusion of two frought races around the tight circuit.

Race 1

A first lap accident during Sunday morning’s first G50 Championship race eliminated five cars from the race immediately. Four of which did not make it out for race two.

Spinning on the exit of Clark’s on cold tyres, Toby Newton was a sitting target for the close bunch of Ginettas browing a blind hill after their rolling start. Richard Sykes and Tom Dunstan’s cars becoming the worst casualties, but Michele Tommasi and Rod Carman also endured mechanical and bodywork damage (below).

Out of the five, only Carman managed to make it out for race two due to the efforts of his Rob Austin Racing team in the three-hour timescale they had to repair the damage.

A re-started race one - and reduced to 20 minutes - was dominated by Moore’s orange car, followed by the orange car belonging to Tom Sharp out of Scotsman’s bend. Christian Dick lost out to Frank Wrathall and Paul O’Neill at Butchers. By the end of lap one, Wrathall was up into 2nd and set about breaking free from ensuing battles behind him.

Dick regained a place a head of O’Neill but spun right down to last-but-one second time into Seat Curves after slight contact during a scrap with Sharp.

O’Neill lost ground at the hairpin tussling with team-mate Sharp which gave Richards the chance he’d been waiting for to advance his position, then put the pressure on Sharp.

Richards seized his opportunity for third when he and Sharp had to take evading action to avoid Alan Bonner who was rejoining the track after he spun at the hairpin during his duel with David Dove for 8th and 9th.

Meanwhile, O’Neill must have had a sense of déjà vu on lap ten, when a look on the inside of Sharp at the hairpin didn’t work out for him and Elliott got ahead – as Richards had done earlier.

A lap later, and Elliott was side by side with Sharp into Seat, held the inside line for Scotsmans and advanced up into 4th.

Three laps from home, Sharp was out on his own thanks to a drive through penalty for O’Neill. According to stewards, he was repeatedly driving too close to tyres marking out the chicane and applied the punishment for driving standards.

More headed the reduced field home with a comfortable 6.3 second lead over Wrathall who had Richards just one second behind him at the flag.

“I’ve just got 100% confidence in the car” explains Moore. “Being at the front, I can control the pace of the start, keep focused, pull out a gap and control the race from there.”

Race 2

Thirteen cars started race two in sunny, dry conditions again. However, the 30-minute duration was cut short by six minutes thanks to rainfall catching out Alan Bonner’s slick tyres on the exit of the Chicane and leaving him stranded at Clarke’s. Red flags prompted a premature end and another victory for Moore.

Despite Moore’s dominance, behind him provided plenty of entertainment – Tom Sharp and Christian Dick’s cars both looking rather ‘second hand’ at the flag.

Race one rivals Dick lead Sharp and Wrathall until third time out of Scotsmans where he’s forced wide and the pair go ahead. Wrathall has a look on the inside of Sharp at the hairpin as well, but has to slot in behind for now.

Behind this battling trio, Paul O’Neill lead another train of three cars consisting of himself, Clive Richards and Ben Elliott.

Jon Cook attaches himself onto the back and the two separate bunches of car close and merge to have 2nd through to 8th all within four seconds of each other along the pit straight – but much closer in the corners.

Wrathall’s pressure on Sharp paid off on the 6th lap, which forced the Ginetta Junior graduate across the grass and gravel at Clarke’s removing some of the rear diffuser in the process. Sharp rejoins in 7th. His team-mate O’Neill also loses out to Richards and Elliott in the process.

Dick himself has a high-speed trip into the gravel at the Seat curves in his quest for second place, which also gives him rear bodywork damage, Richards third place and eases the pressure on Wrathall.

However, Richards still has his mirrors full of Dick and Elliott behind him – the two battling over 4th and 5th place right from Hislops to Butcher’s where Elliott squeezes ahead. This allows Richards to stop defending, break away from the fight and secure his podium finish.

Dick meanwhile slips back even further on the following – Sharp (left) at the hairpin and O’Neill into the Seat Curves on lap 11 and succumbing to Jon Cook at Clarke’s on lap 14.

With ten minutes of the race remaining, the rain begins to fall and catch out the drivers – Richards taking 2nd from Wrathall who would go on to regain the position on the last lap at Hislops when Richards loses momentum coming out of Clarke’s. Jon Cook also benefited by moving ahead of O’Neill and Sharp in the closing stages to take 5th.

Moore’s second win of the race gives him an 84 point advantage at the top – and it would have been a maximum points weekend but Christian Dick and Richard Austin both had a fastest lap apiece during the weekend.

“I’m really happy” exclaimed Moore. “My main target was just to score good championship points but two more wins on the trot makes it six out of six and I can’t really ask for much more.”

“As soon as the rain came down it became really tricky and whichever car was in front was easier to follow because they hit the corner first and you could judge track conditions but luckily the red flags came out at the right time and I was in second” said Wrathall. “Nigel’s had the edge on everyone again this weekend so to come away with two second places is really good for us and the Team. We’ve had some bad luck so it’s good to produce a couple of good results.”

“I think we are closing the gap on our pace to Nigel” comments Richards. “We just need to figure out what he’s doing and we’re not! When we go to some other circuits that perhaps aren’t so tight, the likes of us might be able to give him a run for his money! But we’re getting more confidence in the car all the time, loving the car and loving Knockhill!”