HENRY HOWARTH DOUBLES UP IN JCW SPORT FINALE

Henry Howarth cemented his early lead in the JCW Sport standings with victory in the final Vertu MINI CHALLENGE race of the weekend at Donington Park.

Howarth had scored victory in the opening race of the weekend and started from pole for the second time in the 25 minute finale, holding his advantage when the lights went out ahead of Ben Crossley.

The pair battled hard in the early stages for the lead of the race before a clash at the Old Hairpin saw Crossley run off track, leaving Howarth out front ahead of team-mate Archie Johnson.

The pair had Chris MacKenzie for company in a three-way battle at the front, which briefly had the JCW car of Owen Hillman involved in the fight on track before Johnson dropped out of the battle with a puncture-induced spin.

Hillman then suffered a similar problem at the Craner Curves that forced Howarth to take avoiding action and run across the grass before resuming at the front of the pack.

From there, he was able to keep MacKenzie at bay, with a penalty for track limits for the Bitcoin Racing man ultimately leaving a gap of more than five seconds by the finish.

“That was a very chaotic race and Hillman spinning in front of me livened it up,” he said. “I didn’t know where to go and thought do I go left or right, and ultimately decided to go across the grass.

“I had to hope we didn’t get the front end full of grass and luckily we escaped without an issue and held on to get the victory.”

MacKenzie followed home to take second place, with Will Crooks rounding out the podium in third for his first silverware, despite a late scare when he was forced to make an unscheduled trip to the pits.

After being forced to pit for a new tyre, Johnson was able to rejoin the race to take fourth ahead of Crossley, who also found himself pit bound after his mid-race dramas.

Nicky Gauci was unable to take the start as a result of damage he picked up with an off in the second race of the weekend.