Jonny Mills takes victory in junior championship
ROUND seven of the Down Autograss Championship was very well supported compared, with a number of visiting drivers making the journey from the Republic of Ireland to compete.
The rain threatened a number of times but never arrived, much to the satisfaction of the competitors.
The Junior class was the centre of attention with local drivers with Mills at the front and McNeill in the wars. Scott McNeill had won his two heats with ease and was looking good for another clean sweep of wins ahead of the final which took two attempts.
The first run saw McNeill pushed out of shape and received a huge hit on the passenger side, almost turning the car onto its roof. Fortunately Scott was back out in the re-run but with his confidence knocked slightly.
The winner of the final was somewhat unexpected, Newcastle's Jonny Mills in his Peugeot 106. Jonny finished second and third in his heats, and was very much the underdog going into the final.
It was a simple flag to flag win, reaching the first corner at the head of the pack and remaining there for the seven laps. A fine result for Jonny in his first year's racing which has bumps him up another spot in the championship standings to sixth.
McNeill held third position in the final for four laps before Christopher McCracken made a move up his inside for the place. Christopher now lies just four points behind brother Jonny in the points standings who had another poor run.
The pace in class one was set by the Jess brothers of Matt and James, taking a heat win apiece, before a bumper to bumper race in the final left Matt the victor.
Matt's championship lead is now 15 points ahead of James, and with just two race meetings remaining, the title is almost in the bag.
Both Jess minis will be travelling to Herefordshire in two weeks time to represent Northern Ireland at the National Championships and should definitely be on the pace if Saturday is anything to go by.
Down Autograss will be having a static display at the Lurgan Park Rally this Saturday with a car from almost every class of racing on show.
The next championship round is August 14-15, a two day event with racing on Saturday and Sunday. Go to www.downautograss.com for directions and maps.
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Weather for Banbridge
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
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