Autumn Shoot Out Series Rd3 – Report
The penultimate round of the Autumn Shoot Out Series was held at C.A.R.S in Chesterfield. Round 3 saw a field of over 50 entries and Andy Murray was on form in the LMP 10.5 qualifying as he took TQ by a clear three laps from Richard Norris. The 13.5 class was a lot closer with Fred Hatfield just managed to take the TQ in the last few stages for qualifying. The Formula class qualifying could’t have been more exciting, Mark Burgess took an early TQ but run into a lot of problems in the remaining rounds. It was James Wright who took control in the latter rounds with a dominant run to take TQ by a clear lap. He would be joined on the front row with Swifts team mate Stephen Baggley. The remaining five positions were split by just five seconds. For GT12, qualifying was controlled by Craig Mawson who held TQ from start to finish. He was closely followed by Mark Jewitt and Andy Murray. The final promised to be another entertaining show like Round 2.
In the 10.5T class final, Murray was untouchable and took a great victory from Keiren Manders. Richard Norris took third after Adam Catchpole retired with car problems. The LMP 13.5 saw Liam Hammond control the race from start to finish while Fred Hatfield and Alan Leighton had a close battle for second. It was Hatfield that managed to break free to secure second while Leighton completed the podium.
The Formula final was full of dramas as a lot of cars were struggling with grip roll. Wright took the early lead with Burgess trying to hunt him down in second. On lap eight everything seemed to happen as both Wright and Burgess hit issues which allowed Darren Newton to move up into second place. Wright started to break away again until a second issue cost him the lead, Newton continued his perfect final to take the victory.
The GT12 final was the most impressive with a start to finish battle between Mawson, Jewitt and Murray. Jewitt made an early charge and managed to get passed Mawson in the early stages, this left Mawson trying to fight for the lead while he also had to defend from Murray. In the final stages of the race Mawson made his challenge to get the lead back, the pair collided and Mawson courteously allowed Jewitt back passed. On penultimate lap Mawson managed to get into the lead but it was short lived as Jewitt counter attacked back passed to take a rewarding win. Murray completed the top 3.
Source: Swifts Raceway [swiftsraceway.co.uk]
