CHRIS MACKENZIE SCORES MAIDEN JCW SPORT WIN

Chris Mackenzie picked up his first win in the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE with victory in the opening JCW Sport race of the weekend at Snetterton.

Mackenzie had lined up in fourth place on the grid at the wheel of his Bitcoin Racing-run car, with Ben Crossley leading the field away when the lights went out for the start.

Crossley would head the early part of the opening lap before suffering a spin going into the final corner after contact with points leader Henry Howarth behind.

Howarth had been caught out by Crossley seeming to brake early for the corner and whilst it was the Jamsport man who inherited the lead with Mackenzie behind, he did so having picked up damage to the front splitter on his car.

That would ultimately result Howarth being handed a black and orange flag that forced him to return to the pits, allowing Mackenzie through into the lead with a sizeable gap to the field behind.

It would be a lonely race from that point on but Mackenzie wasn’t concerned as he came home to the flag more than six seconds clear to open his win account.

“I’m over the moon to get that first victory; it’s only taken me a year!” he said. “There was a bit of carnage ahead of me on the opening lap and then Henry got his penalty but I’m chuffed to score the win and we showed we had good pace.

“Having such a big gap was really nice as I could manage the race from the front, and this is a great start to the weekend.”

With Howarth out of contention having dropped off the lead lap, and Archie Johnson losing ground with a trip off track at turn one at the start, the battle for second spot would rage between Nicky Gauci and Ben Crossley, with the Maltese driver running ahead as Crossley looked to recover from his early spin.

Gauci held on to second spot until the seventh lap when he made an error going into the final corner and suffered a half spin, which opened the door for Crossley to get back ahead to secure the runner-up spot.

Despite his moment, Gauci had more than enough in hand to round out the podium spots as he picked up a second top three finish of the campaign.

“I’m really happy with a podium as I had a great battle and defended well until a small mistake near the end saw me have a spin,” he said. “The tyres were a bit dirty and I just got it wrong, which meant I missed out on second spot.”

Johnson was on the back foot from the moment he suffered his excursion on lap one, but he was able to take fourth late on from Will Crooks to maximise the points available, with Crooks taking fifth and Howarth two laps down in sixth.