MAX EDMUNDSON OVERCOMES LATE SCARE FOR RACE ONE WIN

Max Edmundson picked up his third win of the Vertu MINI CHALLENGE season despite a late scare in the opening race of the weekend at Silverstone.

The Pro Alloys Racing driver was chasing a second successive victory having won the final race of the weekend at Knockhill last time out, and started on pole thanks to having the best second quickest time on the grid.

Edmundson led the way from the start and established a slender lead over Lewis Selby in the early stages before the NAPA Racing driver started to reel in the leader, with the front pair breaking away from the fight for third.

Selby started to close in in the second half of the race however, and when Edmundson started to suffer a fuel surge issue, Selby looked set to pounce.

However, he too then suffered a similar problem which meant that despite the pair going side-by-side more than once over the final two laps, it was Edmundson who emerged on top.

“I made a few little errors towards the end, and over the final four laps, I kept getting fuel surge,” he said. “We’d had an issue in qualifying but thought we’d sorted it out and then it returned – which meant I was stressing!

“Lewis made it difficult towards the end but it’s great to hold on for the win.”

Second for Selby still allowed him to close the gap to team-mate Jamie Osborne in the standings after he was ruled out of the weekend on medical grounds, with his fuel surge issue arriving with two laps to go.

“My car was healthier than Max’s so credit to him for holding on!” he said. “I could see he had an issue and thought the race was mine to win but then I developed the same problem. It was a good race between us, and he drove well.”

Tom Ovenden held third on the opening lap but the EXCELR8 man dropped back avoiding running into the rear of Selby on lap two, which instead allowed debutant Jenson O’Neill-Going to move into a podium spot.

O’Neill-Going picked up two time penalties for exceeding track limits as the race wore on and would be shuffled down the order late on as Alex Solley battled his way into third, but with a charging Nathan Edwards – who had taken a grid penalty – and Harry Hickton close behind.

Solley held the position until two laps from the end when Edwards nipped ahead at Luffield to grab third place, with Solley and Hickton close behind.

Ovenden recovered from his lap two moment to take sixth and has now closed right in on Osborne in the points with Josh Porter, Harry Campey, Charlie Hand and Ned Anthony rounding out the top ten.

O’Neill-Going would finish back in twelfth after his penalty.