HENRY HOWARTH RETURNS TO TOP STEP AT KNOCKHILL

Henry Howarth returned to the top step of the JCW Sport podium for the first time since Snetterton with victory in the second Vertu MINI CHALLENGE race of the weekend at Knockhill.

Having won three of the first five races, the Jamsport driver had been able to hit the front in the championship race but had then failed to win in six races to see his advantage at the top of the standings come down.

Lining up fourth on the grid, Howarth held station at the start as Nicky Gauci retained the lead having been drawn onto pole ahead of Ben Crossley.

Following an early caution to recover an errant JCW car from the gravel, Gauci was able to keep his advantage at the front ahead of Crossley, with Howarth and race one winner Archie Johnson wasting little time in jumping ahead of Will Crooks.

The pair then cleared Crossley on lap 10 to make it a Jamsport 1-2-3, with Howarth wasting little time in making his move on Gauci for the lead – going down in the inside at the hairpin a lap later.

From there, he was able to race away to his fourth win of the campaign, with Johnson following him home in second spot having also managed to clear Gauci.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been on the top step and we had the disappointment of a retirement at Croft, so it’s nice to bounce back here,” Howarth said. “It wasn’t easy though and I had to work for it, but it was important given the pace Archie has shown in recent events.

“He had a mega weekend at Croft to bring the gap down and he’s keeping me on my toes but hopefully I can maintain my advantage at the front.”

Behind the two youngsters, Gauci took third spot as he bounced back from the power steering failure he had suffered on Saturday, albeit only surviving a hit from Crossley late on at the hairpin.

That would cause Crossley to ease off in the final stages and allowed both Crooks and Mackenzie to get ahead as the JRW Motorsport man dropped down to the rear of the field.