The BRSCC Quaife Fiesta Championship so far | Class C (Races 1-6)

Class C is the fastest class in the championship - high powered cars coupled with a huge grid of talented drivers makes for some fantastic racing. Just twenty five points covers the top five drivers and with six races remaining it's still all to play for.

Rounds one and two

The season got underway at Snetterton with Samuel Priest claiming the first pole position of the season with Nick Sanderson alongside. Reigning Fiesta Junior champion, Aaron Thompson, lined up an impressive fourth. A fantastic start saw Thompson take the lead off the grid from Priest, Kevin Stirling and Simon Horrobin. This created a race-long battle of talent, speed and racecraft. Priest briefly took the lead on lap four but just one lap later Thompson snatched it back again and he would remain there for the rest of the race. Jamie Going ended up making several great passes to claim second with Simon Horrobin in third after Priest got handed a twenty one seconded penalty for unsafe driving that dropped him to seventh.

The race two grid was set by the drivers' second fastest time in qualifying. This lead to an unchanged top three but race one winner Thompson would have work to do from seventh on the grid. Nick Sanderson made a great start to lead lap one but an incident between Jamie Going and the class D car of John Cooper brought out the red flag meaning Sanderson would have to repeat his start. He couldn't and Priest would end up leading the field by three seconds after just one lap. Thompson made a great start up to third and quickly made his way into second on lap two but try as he might, there was no catching Samuel Priest who went on to claim victory. Thompson ended up duking it out with Kevin Stirling for second with the youngster managing to hold on to finish second with Stirling in third.

Rounds three and four

The second race meeting of the season took the teams and drivers to the "Home of British Motorsport" - Silverstone. Once again it would be a close and fraught weekend. Sam Priest once again claimed pole but by just 0.055 seconds from Nick Sanderson. Aaron Thompson had a nightmare qualifying session and had to start twelfth. Jamie Going made the best start from third on the grid and lead the field on lap one with with Priest and Simon Horrobin keeping him on his toes. Priest squeezed past Going at Stowe with teammate Horrobin completing the same move just one lap later. The three jostled for the podium positions with Horrobin eventually taking victory from Going and Priest.

Race two, and it would be an identical top four on the grid. The second row men Horrobin and Going both made great starts and both moved past the two front row starters. An early safety car after a huge shunt in class D kept the field close and on the restart Priest and Going would pull away. Behind them, Aaron Thompson was the man on the move and he very quickly made his way up to third. The lead battle was getting seriously close as Priest and Going rubbed panels on the exit of Village. This allowed Thompson to close and he snatched second from Going at Stowe corner before charging around Priest on the outside of Vale, side by side into Club and contact saw Priest get out of shape and head to the run off area. This allowed Going a chance to get past Priest but he couldn't quite make it. The top three were as close as you like on the final lap with Thompson taking win number two of the season from Priest and Going.

Rounds five and six

Just up the road from Silverstone, Rockingham in Corby played host to rounds five and six of the championship. A split grid meant there were no class A, B or D cars for the drivers to worry about. Sam Priest and Nick Sanderson once again proved that they're the kings of qualifying as they locked out the front row of the grid for the third time in three qualifying sessions. Jamie Going and Aaron Thompson both struggled - they lined up tenth and eleventh respectively. Once again though the front row men would loose out on the start, Simon Horrobin rocketed away from fourth to lead from Priest and Sanderson. The top three were very much in a race of their own until Horrobin was handed a ten second penalty for an out of position start. This relegated him to fourth post-race which meant Sam Priest would take the victory from Sanderson and Kevin Stirling who has promoted to third after Horrobin's penalty. Aaron Thompson and Jamie Going both had tough races. Going retired early and Thompson would get involved in an accident that damaged his car and earned him a ten second penalty that relegated him to ninth.

The race two grid was relatively unchanged and it would once again be Priest and Sanderson on the front row. This time Priest was able to make a good start and he lead from teammate Simon Horrobin, the pair more than three seconds clear at the end of lap one. Jamie Going made a reasonable start before contact from Nicholas Bowers sent the Jam-Sport driver spinning down the order. For most of the race it looked like a domination by Priest and Horrorbin until disaster struck on the last few laps. Priest hit mechanical problems that caused him to come stop on the final lap. This allowed Horrorbin to take his second win of the season ahead of Myles Baker who scored a career best second for Jam-Sport. Nicholas Bowers finished third on the road but was excluded for his contact with Going, this promoted

Alfonso Skriczka to third. Going eventually finished eleventh but it was a weekend to forget for him. Aaron Thompson finished a reasonable sixth but he would have preferred to be higher up the field.

The drop score system came into affect after Rockingham and this left Priest as championship leader but by only ten points from Horrobin and Thompson was just a further point back. There was a titanic battle over fourth with Stirling, Sanderson, Going, Skriczka and Nathan Edwards all separated by just four points. Make sure to read part two of this article to find out what happened in the next four races.

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