AVO Ginetta Championship Rounds 3 + 4 at Brands Hatch April 29th/30th

Richard Austin enjoyed the perfect race weekend by claiming his second win of the day in the AVO Ginetta championship to go with the pole position he claimed during qualifying. From the word go there was no catching him despite the efforts of his rivals who trailed him for the duration of the race.

Max Henderson made a terrific start and slotted into second place as the cars made their way around Paddock Hill bend for the first time and he looked a potential race winner. Behind him was Stewart Linn, the former champion, who surrendered his third place to Dave Devine in the early exchanges but regained it by the halfway stage.

Further down the field Phil Keen powered his way through the pack, starting on row seven; he was sixth by lap eleven and three laps later he was up to fifth. It wasn’t long before he took fourth as well and was really battling hard with Linn for the final podium position. However the race may have ended a lap too soon for him as he crossed the line in fourth just as it looked as if he was about to claim third.

Earlier an action packed race one saw Austin convert his pole position into a win. Devine flew off row two at the start of the race but Austin defended his advantage to lead as they headed down Paddock Hill bend. However a spinning David Willoughby took out four other competitors as everyone made their way towards Druids and subsequently out came the red flag.

The restart again saw another powerful move by Devine but Austin repeated his defensive stance to hold the lead. Stewart Linn turned a good start into a disastrous one as he spun out at Paddock.

With two laps completed it was Austin who led followed by Devine, Julian Barrett third with Mark Wania fourth, holding onto his position until he too spun out on lap four.

The man on the move by lap five was Max Henderson who knocked up successive quick laps to move up to third at the expense of Barrett yet any designs he had on improving on his placing were put on hold when the safety car came out following an incident at Clearways.

In came the safety car with two laps to go and it was a dash for the cash and a bold move by Henderson to grab the lead backfired and he dropped from third to fifth. He quickly recovered one place but it was too little too late and he had to settle for fourth behind Barrett with Austin holding his advantage over Devine to take the chequered flag.

“What a relief!” exclaimed race-winner Richard Austin. “I’ve waited a long time to win a Ginetta race. I came close last season, close at Oulton Park a few weeks ago but now I’ve finally done it. However it was getting a bit anxious at times what with cars spinning off and following safety cars around the track. I was really anxious for this one to end.”

“Richard and myself managed to pull away early on and I thought it’s just going to be us two,” said David Devine. “Then of course the safety car bunched us back up again and it was a bit fraught until the flag. I could see them squabbling behind me.”

“I managed to mug Max Henderson going into Druids,“ said third-placed Julian Barrett. “I was quite lucky really because the safety car meant we were bunched up and I managed to make my move.”

David Willoughby won the first of the three Avo Ginetta championship races on Saturday. He finished a second quicker than Tudor Alexander in second and John Griffith third in an incident packed race which saw the safety car having to come out on more than one occasion.

“I was watching in my mirror and could see all the action behind me,” said a delighted Willoughby, “and thankfully that’s where it stayed as far as I was concerned."