Wood completes Grand Prix weekend with second win

24 January 2021 / Events

The two race winners of the weekend - Ryan Wood and Simon Evans – lined up on the front of the grid for the round finale and it was Evans who made the best getaway, leading comfortably into the first turn ahead of Wood and Rowan Shepherd.

Evans lead didn’t last long however, as a great move by Ryan saw him take the lead and immediately establish a lead of a few car lengths. A bit of rough and tumble at the back saw Justin Allen take to the grass for a brief moment but the field survived and at the end of the first lap it was Wood, Evans, Shepherd, Brock Gilchrist, impressive youngster Marco Giltrap and the rest.

A nice battle developed early on in mid-field with John Penny fighting off the attention of the Dayle ITM Racing duo of Ronan Murphy and Christina Orr-West with Mark Mallard, Justin Allen and Alexandra Whitley swapping order corner after corner to the delight of the large crowd.

With Wood and Evans enjoying a small advantage, Rowan Shepherd had to turn his attention to Brock Gilchrist who was charging along and filling his mirrors and he found a way through on lap four. That meant it was Wood out front, from Evans, Brock, Shepherd, Giltrap and Penny.

Wood was flying through the middle of the race and built up a lead over Evans of around three seconds. Evans tried to respond with a couple of his best laps but really had nothing to challenge the flying youngster and Wood took the chequered flag to win the race.

Evans did manage to hold onto second despite Gilchrist pressuring him all the way around the final lap, while Shepherd had to fend off a similar attack from Giltrap to hold onto fourth. Behind these two, Ronan Murphy came home sixth. Allen recovered from his first lap to come home seventh and John Penny made it home in eighth and winner of the Masters class.

Best Bars Toyota 86 Championship Round 1 Race 3