Erstwhile Driver’s championship leader Seb Hopkins heads to Knockhill later this week now second in the standings, Will Jenkins remains fourth with Josh Rowledge eighth following the most recent race at Oulton Park (1 Aug).
Rowledge was in superlative form in qualifying on Saturday afternoon, claiming a maiden double pole-position. Race 1 became a race of two halves when it was Red Flagged due to an on-track incident on lap three with Rowledge leading. Unfortunately for Josh, when racing resumed for a four-lap “sprint”, a nudge from behind cost him the lead and dropped him to fourth.
He battled hard to regain a podium position but had to be content with fourth overall and top Rookie at the chequered flag, just 0.518secs behind the race winner – nevertheless Rowledge’s highest overall race finish of the season and third Rookie win of the season which moves him up to second in that category having also set the fastest Rookie race lap.
Hopkins arrived at Oulton with a one-point championship lead but endured a miserable quali as did Will Jenkins. Having each made up four places, Seb and Will finished eighth and seventh respectively in Race 1, Hopkins losing the championship lead in the process, and both understandably frustrated with the limited number of green flag racing laps to recover further places.
Joe Warhurst and Max Hall fell foul of track limits in quali, both having multiple lap times disallowed for exceeding track limits, Joe and Max recorded 18th and 20th in Race 1 – sandwiching Jack Sherwood, a last lap skirmish dropping the latter a couple of positions. The second Junior race scheduled at Oulton had to be postponed by officials until Knockhill due to multiple delays in the day’s hectic race programme. Knockhill is held this weekend (14-15 Aug) and will feature four races.
Eddie Ives, Team Owner & Manager:
“Second in the championship by 39-points with nine races done and 16 races to go, so there’s absolutely everything to play for in the remaining five events.
“Josh excelled in quali but was ultimately a little unlucky in the race.
“Seb and Will had a mountain to climb after poor qualifying but they both managed top-eight results despite the shortened race."
“Joe, Jack and Max all moved up multiple places in the race to continue their learning curve."
“We'll now have four races at Knockhill which will make it a very hectic event for the drivers and our team."
