PW Racing take first win at stormy Anglesey but JPR UVio look for the title

It was windy it was wet, it was Anglesey. Unusually Anthony Reid led the first 27 laps of the first race, until the first pitstop window opened and he handed the PW Racing car to Paul Wighton.

 

Nigel Greensall soon worked his way to the front too for CCS Media, pitting from second to hand over to Ciro Carannante, having demoted Peter Belshaw’s Team Sherardize car on lap five.

 

With Marcus Clutton in for Belshaw, he flew up the leaderboard, ousting Wighton from the lead as the first hour was completed. CCS were still in third but Graham Roberts had brought JPR Uvio up to fourth, at the expense of Track Torque 2 Rent Dominos Neil Burroughs, while Tom Mils and Paul Turner had combined to bring ECO Racing 209 up to complete the top six.

 

As the race wore on the Sherardize showed their pace, but their lead was increased to over 30 seconds when PW received a drive through penalty. They were still second after the second hour was completed, with only ECO 209 and JPR Uvio still on the lead lap.

 

The Sherardize lead was cut back rapidly in the last hour as Roberts mounted a late charge. Having moved into second, he lost it again after an overshoot at the Hairpin, which handed the place to Wighton, who was also closing on Belshaw’s lead.

 

The lead finally changed just before the final stop, when Wighton got by at the Banking Hairpin, but with Sherardize taking on fuel and Reid in for PW’s final stint, Clutton had his work cut out and was left chasing Deott’s JPR Uvio car. “At last it’s been a long time coming,” said Wighton, as Reid sealed the win for PW by 6.841secs.

 

Clutton was still second, somewhat disappointed,” I lost two or three seconds when I threw it off at the Hairpin,” he admitted. Deott completed the podium, with Paul Abrahams bringing the ECO 209 car home fourth, as JPR OBR and Team Lane Roofing Evolution completing the top six.

 

RESULTS

 

1 PW Racing (Anthony Reid/Paul Wighton) 116 laps in 2h59m54.844s (59.96mph); 2 Team Sherardize UK (Peter Belshaw/Marcus Clutton) +6.841s; 3 JPR Uvio (Farquini Deott/Graham Roberts); 4 ECO Racing 209 (Tom Mills/Paul Turner/Paul Abrahams); 5 JPR Team OBR (Mark Burton/Eugene O’Brien); 6 Team Lane Roofing Evolution (Nigel Griffiths/Chris Weatherill/Geoff Fawcett); 7 Apollo Motorsport (Zoe Wenham/Harry Mailer/Guy Wenham); 8 CCS Media (Nigel Greensall/Ciro Carannante/Bob Tomlinson/Alan Honarmand); 9 Racelogic (David Denyer/Julian Thomas/Jon Tomlinson); 10 Kinetix Motorsport (James Harrison/Michelle Hayward/Chris Webster). Fastest lap Reid (PW Racing) 1m20.632s (69.20mph).

 

JPR Uvio had drawn pole for the night race and Roberts quickly took charge as Henry Dawes (2 rent Dominos) and James Littlejohn (Despatch Bay) duelled for second. But Greensall was in his element in the dark wet conditions and after a brief one lap safety car intervention, he led in the charge to Rocket on lap six.

 

Roberts fought back and retook his lead two laps later, but they swapped twice more before the first pitstop window. CCS pitted in front but Deott emerged with the lead for JPR Uvio and they were still there after the first hour, but only 0.906secs ahead of Carannante. “I tried to some pressure on him to see if he would go off, but it didn’t work,” said Ciro.

 

Burroughs 2 rent Dominos car had managed to get a break on Andy Bicknell’s Despatch Bay, but they were still third and fourth, while Reid had bought PW up to fifth, despite not being able to find the main beam light switch.

 

Mills also revelled in the conditions to bring ECO 209 up to sixth despite starting from the pitlane after a late electrical problem, “I love the dark and wet,” he said. Paul Turner had completed the second stint, having stated to have never spun the car, so he did it three times!

 

The rain had stopped briefly and it was down to Deott keeping Clutton at bay for the lead, from the threatening PW Racing and 2 rent Dominos, while Despatch Bay were still close enough to count in fifth.

 

Clutton got the lead on the 76th lap as the rain came down again, but shortly after handing to Belshaw again their race was run, with a transmission failure.

 

Over the final hour the Deott/Roberts duo reigned supreme for JPR Uvio, to secure their third win of the year and take a step nearer to the title. “We had it under control and did what we had to do,” said Deott. “The conditions were hard though, wet, then damp, back to full wet, but the car was just great,” Roberts added.

 

PW Racing completed their best ever Fun Cup outing with second place to add to their earlier win, after Reid ousted Dawes Track Torque 2 rent Dominos car at the Banking Hairpin. “We needed another safety car to have had a chance of winning, but can’t grumble and maybe we should have new tyres too,” said Wighton. “We had no wipers again but learned to drive in the rain,” Burroughs added.

 

Fourth went down to the wire too with Carannante proving his worth in the CCS car, under tremendous pressure from Abrahams for ECO 209. “We didn’t see the chequered flag either and kept racing,” said Ciro after securing the place by 0.280secs.

 

Despatch Bay also finished strongly with Littlejohn holding off the JPR OBR car to complete the top six.

 

RESULTS

1 JPR Uvio 111 laps in 2h55m29.922s (58.82mph); 2 PW Racing +49.843s; 3 Track Torque 2 Rent Dominos (Henry Dawes/Neil Burroughs); 4 CCS Media; 5 ECO Racing 209; 6 DespatchBay.com (James Littlejohn/Andy Bicknell); 7 JPR Team OBR; 8 Team Honeywell (Tim Wheeldon/Neil Plimmer); 9 MCAC Racing (Matthew Jones/Morgan Jones/Philip Jones/Gareth Jones); 10 Kinetix Motorsport. Fastest lap Clutton (Sherardize) 1m27.408s (63.83mph).