Nigel Moore’s 100% win record was broken at Croft this weekend (27th April 2008) during the second race of the Ginetta G50 Championship.

Race 1

Round 7 of the Ginetta G50 dry-ran race was again dominated by Moore to the flag, but Austin and Wrathall came through for 2nd and 3rd.

It had rained at the Yorkshire circuit, but the cars in the preceding race had created a dry line on the track. This prompted a last-minute tyre change for most drivers in the assembly area from the treaded wets to smooth slicks.

Christian Dick made a great start from 6th to 3rd at the first corner to the expense of Rob Austin and Clive Richards. But Richards also has Frank Wrathall and Tom Sharp ahead of him by the end of the opening lap, seemingly struggling in the part dry / part damp surface.

Dick, Austin and Wrathall remained with each other until the fifth when Austin powered ahead of Dick on the run up to Tower and began hunting down the two ahead. Dick came under fire from Wrathall who moved ahead into fourth four laps later when Dick got out of shape lapping his team mate Richard Sykes.

Meanwhile Moore was under pressure from the yellow car of Elliott, but the pressure eased on lap 9 when a determined Elliott spun off pushing hard at Clervaux. Post-race, he explained that the car “still had wet setup on the suspension, but dry tyres on so was softer than what I was used to”.

He went on to rejoin in 5th, promoted to 4th when Dick retired with a differential problem.

Toby Newton and Richard Austin enjoyed a dice with each other in the closing stages, Newton getting ahead at Tower on the 16th lap.

Taking seven wins out of seven starts, Moore told Ginetta Cars “I just got another good start and I realised that Ben was catching me so I kept on my toes, stayed on, stayed consistent, stayed on the black stuff and got another win!”

“The last couple of laps I got badly held up by backmarkers in the wrong places” said Wrathall. “I could see Ben was closing in on me but I just had to push and keep it consistent.”

“I just didn’t get on it hard enough in the first few laps” admitted Rob Austin. “I lost a couple of places, got them back, but it was too late. I could have done with another five minutes!”

Race 2

Rain fell as cars exited the assembly area, which caused pandemonium in the pit lane as cars pulled into the pit lane to change to wet tyres from slicks.

Rob Austin – joining the grid as a guest racer – took second place from Elliott at the start, but inherited the lead when Moore got caught out by standing water at the Jim Clark Esses on the second lap. The young Championship leader ran wide onto the grass but rejoined in 6th, and then fifth a lap later from Tom Sharp.

Frank Wrathall was on target for another podium in 3rd, but under pressure from Christian Dick. Emerging from the hairpin together on the fourth lap, there wasn’t enough space for the two of them and contact dropped Wrathall last and Dick fifth.

This promoted Moore back into his podium finish and Sharp behind him.

A lap later, Dick got caught out by the conditions at Tower and ended up in the gravel – shortly followed by Jon Cook who hit the tyre wall. Meanwhile, Tom Sharp also went off at Sunny In blinded by Moore’s spray ahead of him and hit a tyre wall leaving him stranded.

A safety car period lasted 6 laps to the end of a 20 minute, already reduced race due to a delayed timetable.

“I’d have liked a bit more wet running” said Austin. “They’re really nice to drive in the wet! Nigel ran wide but I had the pace as well so took the lead. It was a bit short, but a good race.”

“It makes up for the spin I had in race one” comments Elliott. “As the rain came down harder, the cars were floating between some of the corners – especially Clervaux and Sunny In – it got quite scary!”

“I just ran a bit wide down the back there, caught water and aquaplaned off” described Moore. “But I got back on, focussed and managed to get on the podium for points so I’m happy. The wet weather doesn’t really bother me – it doesn’t matter if it’s wet or dry – it’s still good fun!”