Harry Woodhead has extended his lead at the top of the 2013 Ginetta Junior Championship standings to 45 points after taking his fourth consecutive victory of the season in Round Four at Donington Park.
The 15 year old has been utterly dominant so far this season, with the reigning Winter Series champion adding another lights to flag victory to his tally after early challenger Ollie Chadwick had an off track excursion.
Chadwick started alongside pole-sitter Woodhead on the opening row and was right on the leader’s rear bumper during the opening lap, but a mistake coming out of Redgate on lap two allowed Will Palmer alongside, with Chadwick being forced wide at the Old Hairpin, slipping five more places in the process.
As Woodhead started to pull clear, the action continued behind, with Chadwick working his way back ahead of Tom Jackson and Keith Donegan, before a moment with Donegan going around Schwantz Curve dropped him back behind them.
Woodhead’s lead was slashed at the front though when the safety car emerged, the interval allowing for the recovery of Jack Rawles’ and Jack Mitchell’s cars, the rookies having come to blows at the Old Hairpin on lap four.
At the restart, Woodhead edged away and with Palmer forced to defend from those behind over the remaining handful of laps, his HHC Motorsport team-mate was able to storm clear to take victory by over six seconds.
The fight for second went down to the final lap, with Palmer having to fend off a resurgent Chadwick and James Kellett, Chadwick having passed his sister Jamie Chadwick and Kellett in the previous couple of laps.
Chadwick got a run out of Coppice, getting alongside as they went into the final chicane, with both cars running wide on the exit. This allowed Kellett to storm past both of them to take his first ever podium finish, with Chadwick taking third ahead of Palmer, the trio split by 0.346s at the flag.
The fight for fifth saw Jamie Chadwick slip behind Donegan two laps from the end, with the rookie looking to regain the spot at Redgate on the final lap. The rookie made contact with the rear of the Douglas Motorsport machine though, sending them both spinning round, Donegan finishing the race tenth ahead of Chadwick.
Benefitting from this to take fifth was Jackson, with Josh White completing the top six ahead of fellow rookies Connor Mills, Ben Pearson and Ryan Hadfield.
Provisional Ginetta Junior Championship standings (After Rd.4):
- Harry Woodhead – 146pts
- Ollie Chadwick – 101pts
- William Palmer – 98pts
- James Kellett – 80pts
- Tom Jackson – 79pts
- Jamie Chadwick – 60pts
- Keith Donegan – 57pts
- Jack Rawles – 50pts
The full race result can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/toca/2013/131603gij.pdf