PETE TAKES THE PRIZE

Such was the size of the entry for the opening races at Brands Hatch that the field had to be split into three groups, with each one racing the other two once.

Pete Walters hit the front early in the A & B race, streaking away at a canter to dominate by over 11 seconds from Tom Cockerill, narrowly beating Alan Cooper to second place. Guest entry Tom Wyllys defended from a late charging David Yates to win the A & C group race with Harry George rounding off the top three the next day, after on-road winner Stephen Lyall copped a track limits penalty. Walters then doubled up later that afternoon with victory in the B & C race, after a late safety car bunched up the pack and allowed Pete to steal the win from Lyall on the final straight, ahead of Lars Hoffmann in P3.

James Wingfield strategically worked his way to the head of the leading group at Snetterton in Saturday’s race, pouncing on a missed gear from Walters exiting the final corner to slip past him before the chequered flag and win, while Cockerill completed the top three just behind them. Thankfully for Pete, he only had to wait until the following day to redeem himself, constantly fending off all challengers in Sunday’s race to eventually beat Harry George and Blair McConachie as the trio claimed the podium covered by less than four tenths. George also got his own back as the championship headed to the Silverstone GP circuit, dicing heavily in damp conditions as he and James Wingfield respectively denied Lyall victory once again to take first and second respectively with Lyall third, before returnee Jack Sales drove superbly to go from fifth to his first win back, dominating in the end by almost four seconds from Cockerill and McConachie.

Walters, meanwhile, couldn’t better 11th and 7th at Silverstone, allowing his main rivals to close in substantially. Thankfully he was back to his best next time out at Donington Park, as underneath the summer sunshine he managed to come back from deep in the lead pack in the final minute to beat George and Ben Lopez-Appleton in the first race, followed by an easier second encounter on Sunday after more battles with George and a safety car mid-race. Then at Anglesey, it was the turn of McConachie and Harry Cook to visit the top step in Wales as Walters had to make do with a pair of sixth places. McConachie managed to lead from pole and remaining with the leaders, he managed to capitalise on a last lap mistake from Walters and then benefitted from a post-race penalty for Harry George to gain victory. As for Sunday, Cook survived two red flagged starts to fight his way to the front, fending off Sales, George and Alan Cooper as the quartet finished together covered by less than seven tenths.

Again proving that you can never keep a good driver down, Walters performed another rebound at the Knockhill Super Round, leaping back to victory on the clockwise layout after sharing the lead with Sales, Cooper and Cook all race long before all three were shuffled backwards by George and Carl Jones in second and third respectively. It was even closer on the Sunday running the reverse layout, as George was heavily involved in the lead fight with Walters and Sales, leading through a safety car and then putting both Walters and Cook in their place at the chequered flag to win by a mere fifteen thousandths of a second!

For the finale at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, victories went the way of Cook and Sales respectively, but all Walters needed was a second place in the first of that weekend’s races to clinch yet another Caterham title in the 310R class. Even a non-score in the second allowed Pete to gain back a dropped score to win by five points, while George’s pair of third places gave him the runner up spot and Sales’ last day victory helped him earn third in the standings.