Patrick Watts dominates opening race of Super Touring year
Patrick Watts took a dominant victory in the opening round of the 2015 HSCC Super Touring Car Trophy as many big name runners fell by the wayside.
Watts led off the line, beating pole-sitter Paul Smith to the punch on the first lap and never looked back, setting a blistering pace for much of the race.
Following Watts across the line was Stewart Whyte, who put in a late charge to close the gap but it was ultimately to no avail. Meanwhile, the battle for third was hotting up between John Cleland and Neil Smith, with Paul Smith dropping down the order with a spin in his Audi.
Cleland and Smith battled for a couple of laps before the Alfa Romeo made its way past the Vauxhall Vectra. Cleland then began to drop down in to the grasp of Tom Gladdis in the ex-James Kaye Honda Accord. Cleland would later retire with a right-rear puncture and a brake issue that he had fought for the entire race.
Neil Smith, Watts and Whyte swapped fastest laps for the duration of the 20 minute encounter, with Whyte eventually taking the fastest lap with a time of 1:14.202. Rounding out the top five was the Renault Laguna of Mark Jones.
Sixth place saw the top Group A car of Craig Davies, who pulled off an impressive drive from 17th on the grid to finish sixth, followed by series organiser Dave Jarman in the ex-Matt Neal Nissan Primera in seventh and Andy Wolfe in the Opel Astra in eighth.
Rounding out the top ten was Harry Whale and Mark Smith, with the pair of BMW M3’s resuming their battle from last season, which saw them sharing tarmac at almost every round. Whale got the better of Smith on this occasion, but only on the final lap of the race.
Elsewhere there were issues for both James and Graeme Dodd in their pair of Honda Accords, both suffering mechanical issues, while Keith Butcher also ended his race early.
