Max Coates took two victories at Croft over the weekend to reduce the gap between himself and Renault UK Clio Cup championship leader Jack Young who endured a tough race on the Sunday.
Coates was the best out of two drivers on Saturday when he placed his Team HARD Clio on pole for both races. Young however wasn’t too far behind.
Race One
In a shortened race one due to horrific weather conditions hitting the Yorkshire circuit. Max Coates weathered the storm and led every single lap to take victory ahead of Young who was pushing Max most of the way. The MRM Racing driver only fading when he went off track on lap five.
On his return to the series, Nathan Edwards was set to get third but a charge from seventh on the grid from Jamie Bond secured the Team HARD driver’s first podium finish in the series. Taking the position on the penultimate lap of the race.
On his return to the championship, James Colburn took fifth ahead of Jade Edwards in sixth who made an excellent move on Brett Lidsey to get the position on the final lap at Tower.
Ben Colburn took eighth ahead of Luke Warr who finished a lap down. Finlay Robinson and Ethan Hammerton sadly retired during the race. Ethan enduring a wild moment through Clervaux.
Race Two
With both championship protagonists side by side from the start round to the chicane, Coates managed to edge ahead of Young to take the advantage. However, just a few laps later the MRM youngster took the initiative and passed the Yorkshireman in a daring move to take the lead.
Jack’s joy was short-lived however when he was given a ten second penalty for creeping on the grid. This mean that Max could stay behind and take victory if he stayed in Young’s wheeltracks.
Despite Young’s best attempts to damage Coates’ points haul from the race by trying to back him up into MRM teammate Brett Lidsey, Max kept his calm and took victory ahead of Lidsey at the flag.
Jamie Bond took his second podium finish of the weekend and it was a total surprise to the Team HARD driver who didn’t know that Young had a penalty. Young managed to pull out enough of a gap to take fourth and keep him relatively safe at the top of the championship.
Ben Colburn and Jade Edwards took fifth and sixth, the latter enjoying a battle with Finlay Robinson early on in the race. Finlay eventually took seventh ahead of Nathan Edwards.
In ninth was Luke Warr ahead of James Colburn who also got a penalty for creeping on the grid and Ethan Hammerton did not finish for the second race in a row.
