The BRSCC Quaife Fiesta Championship so far | Class C (Races 7-10)

In case you haven't already, make sure to read the article covering the first six races of the season. It can be found here

Rounds seven and eight

The championship reached its halfway point at the same place it started - Snetterton, in Norfolk. Over thirty cars were entered into the event across the four separate classes which lead to a very packed race track. A damp track saw Sam Priest's run of pole positions come to an end although he would still start on the front row of the grid in second. It was Simon Horrorbin who took the pole with Ryan Faulconbridge an excellent third. Nick Sanderson had his worst qualifying of the season in fifth. Once again though, the Jam-Sport teammates Aaron Thompson and Jamie Going would struggle in qualifying, Thompson was eighth and Going didn't even make it into the top ten in fourteenth.

As the lights went out for race one, the front row men were able to make great starts and keep their positions at the end of the first lap. Nick Sanderson made a reasonable start but he would loose one place to Alfonso Skriczka. A blistering start by Jamie Going saw him charge through the pack to eighth and he ended the first lap right on the tail of teammate Thompson. As was the case at Rockingham the pair of Horrobin and Priest would spend the race in team formation with Horrobin managing to slowly but surely edge out a gap of 2.8 seconds on his way to win number three of the season. In the end it would be a 1-2 for Specialized M-Sport as Sam Priest would take second despite the intentions of a charging JJ Ross. After making great starts, the charge of Jam-Sport swiftly stagnated as both drivers struggled for pace. Aaron Thompson dropped back from the leaders and into the clutches of Nicholas Bowers and the youngster only just managed to hang onto seventh place by two tenths of a second. Jamie Going had a reasonably quiet race and he could only manage ninth- this was bad news for Jam-Sport as both drivers dropped back in the championship standings.

The grid for race two was decided by the second fastest time that each driver set in qualifying. This put Priest back in his accustomed pole position with JJ Ross alongside. Simon Horrobin was third, Nick Sanderson was fifth whilst both the Jam-Sport cars were outside the top ten - Snetterton was not being kind to the team.

Not for the first team this season Sam Priest would drop back on the start. JJ Ross lead the field into turn one with Priest slotting into second ahead of Horrobin. A small mistake on lap two dropped Priest from second to tenth and left him with an awful lot of work to do. Horrobin and Ross would start to pull away from the field, over eight seconds clear on lap five. A rare mistake from Ross saw Horrobin through and into the lead but the 2015 champion didn't give up and Ross threw everything imaginable at Horrobin but there was nothing he could do and the Specialized M-Sport driver would take a clean sweep of race wins. Behind them, an almighty three way scrap was happening for third. Alfonso Skriczka would end up coming out on top and taking a career first podium in the process. Nick Sanderson was involved in that battle for third but he would eventually finish fifth but this was still better than the other championship challengers. Aaron Thompson could only manage seventh and Priest and Going would both finish outside of the top ten.

Rounds nine and ten

Castle Combe in Wiltshire was the host for rounds nine and ten of the championship. Fast and flowing, this circuit offers no chance to rest and only the very best drivers are capable of victory here. Joint championship leader Horrobin would make it two pole positions in a row with reigning champion JJ Ross alongside. Sam Priest was third ahead of two Fiesta Junior graduates. Nathan Edwards made his presence felt in fourth and after a lacklustre run at Snetterton, Aaron Thompson was happy enough with fifth. Jamie Going and Nick Sanderson both struggled, they lined up next to each in other in ninth and tenth.

The field got away well but a big crash just a few laps into the race caused the red flag to be thrown and the race to be stopped. Nick Sanderson and the class D runner John Cooper were the two men involved in the accident. Disaster struck for Simon Horrobin as he was unable to make the restart, Ryan Faulconbridge suffered the same fate. On the restart it would be Sam Priest who lead the first lap from Nathan Edwards and Aaron Thompson. This leading trio would escape away out front and spend the race battling amongst themselves. On lap two, Edwards snatched the lead but Priest wasn't going down without a fight, he stayed right on the back of the leader but Edwards was having none of it and he went on to score his first victory of the season. Sam Priest came home second and scored valuable championship points ahead of Aaron Thompson. There was a train of cars battling over fourth and Myles Baker, Skriczka, Ross and Going were all incredibly close. Despite their closeness, the quartet stayed in the same order until the penultimate lap when Skriczka made a move to take fourth. Baker ended up with with Ross and Going ending up sixth and seventh respectively.

Once again the grid for race two was decided by second fastest lap times from qualifying. It was the same drivers in the top five albeit a slightly different order. Horrobin again had pole, JJ Ross was once again alongside with Nathan Edwards now third from Priest and Thompson. Going and Sanderson were once again together in ninth and tenth. Any hope Horrobin had of redemption for his race one problems very quickly went out of the window after mechanical problems forced him into retirement after just three laps. This left JJ Ross to lead from Priest, Thompson and Edwards although this order swiftly changed as Edwards found his way past Thompson very early in the race. As Ross began to pull away out front, Priest and Edwards were left to battle it out for second as Thompson began slipping back. In the end it would be JJ Ross who took the win ahead of Priest and Edwards who were only ever separated by a few tenths of a second. Jam-Sport teammates Jamie Going and Aaron Thompson ended up fifth and Sixth while Nick Sanderson's championship hopes suffered a blow as he was unable to start race two after his earlier accident.

Currently it is Sam Priest who leads the championship with 256 points but Alfonso Skriczka, Nathan Edwards and Aaron Thompson are covered by just 25 points. Some poor results and bad luck in recent races has hurt Horrobin, Going and Sanderson. They sit fifth, seventh and eighth in the standings respectively with a lot of work to do as the championship heads into Silverstone on the 27th and 28th of August. It's going to be a great weekend and you will not want to miss it.

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