Photo: PSP Images

Stewart Whyte beats Patrick Watts to Donington glory

By

Stewart Whyte took his first win of the year as he drove a hard fought race with the race one winner Patrick Watts.

The majority of the race seemed to be a case of deja vu as it looked like Watts was on course for a lights-to-flag victory. However, Whyte was on the Peugeot’s tail for the entire race and utilised some lapped traffic with just three minutes remaining to take the lead and put a gap between himself and Watts.

Off the line, the Ford RS500 of Craig Davies took to the top of the pile, before heading in to the gravel trap at Hollywood following a mistake from Watts. From then it was the Watts and Whyte show, while a thrilling battle ensued behind for the final podium positon between Neil Smith, Tom Gladdis, Mark Jones and David Jarman.

Smith and Gladdis began working a gap on the others, with the two switching positions a few times before Smith finally got the better of the new name in the series.

Following their retirements in race one, John Cleland and James Dodd made their break for the top having started from the back of the field. Cleland’s progress was much faster than Dodd, who had to reacquaint himself with the Nissan Primera following a clutch problem sidelined his Honda Accord.

Cleland soon caught up with Jarman, and the two fought tooth and nail for a couple of laps before disappearing from the timing screens somewhere around the back of the circuit. Cleland later pitted and apologised for his part in the incident, while Jarman was left in the gravel trap.

With the retirements of Cleland and Jarman, Jones was left to take a lonely fifth, followed by Paul Whight, Andy Wolfe, Harry Whale and Steve Dymoke rounding out the top ten.

Dymoke only just held on to tenth in his Alfa Romeo following a close battle with Tony Absolom’s Vauxhall Cavalier and Ric Wood’s Mazda 323 in the latter half of the race.

There were also retirements for Mark Smith and Paul Smith, with the latter making his second trip to the gravel in as many races as he gets to grips with his new Audi A4.