TWO IN A ROW FOR NATHAN EDWARDS WITH KNOCKHILL WIN

Nathan Edwards followed up his win in the second race of the weekend at Croft with victory in the opening Vertu MINI CHALLENGE encounter at Knockhill.

Edwards had grabbed pole in qualifying at the Scottish circuit and also lined up on pole for the opening race thanks to his second best time in the session, which was better than any of his rivals were able to manage.

At the start, Edwards was able to keep Jamie Osborne at bay despite seeming to bog down slightly off the line but having kept the championship leader behind, he was then in complete control at the front.

Although Osborne kept him honest, Edwards eased clear to take the flag more than four seconds clear for win number two of the season, and also bagged the bonus points on offer for fastest lap.

“I knew Jamie would be strong off the start and once we’d got a small lead, it was a case of managing the tyres in the heat,” he said. “There were a few wild moments wit backmarkers but overall it was awesome.

“I know it didn’t look like the most exciting MINI CHALLENGE race for the fans, but it’s the ideal result for me and thanks to EXCELR8 for once again giving me a great car.”

Although Osborne almost matched Edwards in terms of his fastest lap, the NAPA Racing UK man lacked the pace across the race to challenge for victory but was still comfortably clear of team-mate Lewis Selby as he came home six seconds further back in third.

Whilst it meant he once again missed out on the top step of the podium, second for Osborne allowed him to extend his championship lead.

“It was a tricky one as our pace was good over a lap, but the overall pace wasn’t quite as good,” he said. “We couldn’t keep up when the tyres dropped off but we’ve scored good points again which is important.”

Off the podium, Harry Hickton took fourth spot and Rookie Cup honours after a race long dice with Owen Hillman, who backed up his strong qualifying performance with easily his best race of the season to date.

The pair diced throughout with Tom Ovenden and Alex Solley as they took sixth and seventh, with Josh Porter racing his way through to eighth after a disappointing qualifying session.

Porter will now hope to carry his pace into Sunday morning’s race after the top nine drivers on the grid were reversed – putting Cameron Richardson onto pole.

Charlie Hand took tenth spot, with Harry Campey, Gerry Hendry, Max Edmundson, Jacob Hodgkiss and Ned Anthony rounding out the finishers.

Edmundson had hoped for more but lost major ground at the start that he then struggled to recover, whilst Anthony suffered a mid-race spin at the chicane and also picked up a five second penalty for exceeding track limits.