ARCHIE JOHNSON DOUBLES UP WITH DOMINANT SUCCESS

Archie Johnson made it two wins from two at Silverstone with victory in the JCW Sport class during the second race of the weekend.

Johnson had taken victory in race one after a penalty for team-mate Henry Howarth, with the result leaving the pair level on points going into the reverse grid encounter.

Chris Mackenzie started the race from pole and managed to retain the lead despite a slightly tardy start, with Howarth and Johnson both getting away well to move up into third and fourth.

Johnson then battled ahead of Howarth into third before the Jamsport duo quickly cleared Will Crooks and then Mackenzie, who was struggling with a loss of power steering on his car.

Once out front, Johnson would be in a class of his own as he raced away from his rival to score a dominant success, keeping pace with the rear of the JCW field and taking the flag two seconds clear having slowed late on when his tyres started to lose performance.

“That’s definitely the best race of the season for me,” Johnson said. “The pace in the car was unreal, particularly with the tyres that we were on. They felt pretty good for the first three quarters of the race but in the last five minutes they fell off a cliff, and it meant Henry could close in a bit.

“I’m trying not to think too much about the championship as there are still four races to go and anything could happen. We’ve just got to take it one race at a time.”

Howarth would end up comfortably clear of what was a huge battle for third between Mackenzie, Nicky Gauci and Will Crooks – with the latter having one of his strongest races of the season.

Gauci managed to get into third at one stage before Mackenzie fought back, and the pair were both lucky not to get caught up when Crooks dived down the inside of both into Brooklands and ran wide across the grass.

Mackenzie would ultimately hold on to take third spot, with Gauci crossing the line just four-tenths of a second behind.

“That’s probably the hardest race I’ve ever had as I lost my power steering on lap one or two,” Mackenzie said. “I don’t know how I brought it home to be honest because it was such hard work. It was a good battle with Nicky and Will, and I’m honestly surprised we’ve come out with third.”

Behind Gauci and Crooks, Ben Crossley had a somewhat lonely run to sixth place.