Murray delivers perfect comeback in chaotic National race at Knockhill

Niall Murray became the first double winner of the Avon Tyres National FF1600 Championship after a hectic second race around Knockhill.

Murray shared the front row with Team Dolan team-mate Matt Round-Garrido, but lost out through the first corner after being edged out onto the gravel, dropping him towards the bottom of the top 10.

Round-Garrido established an early lead despite an early charge from Neil Maclennan who briefly passed the round 4 winner heading into the chicane, only to lose the position once again at the hairpin a lap later.

Maclennan wasn’t about to give up however, and two laps later positioned himself around the outside of the hairpin to sneak past Round-Garrido and take the lead as the pair charged down to Hislop’s.

Having pulled that same manoeuvre on Maclennan yesterday, Murray was on a fightback and copied Maclennan’s move to rob Cliff Dempsey Racing’s Jamie Thorburn of fourth.

Fourth soon became third for Murray as drama was about to befall Round-Garrido. The throttle on his Media was stuck open, meaning he lost it through the chicane and got beached in the gravel.

That left Maclennan out in front with Nick Gruber up in second, ahead of the hard-charging Murray, Thorburn and Ross Martin.

Murray’s job became that bit easier however when Gruber ran too deep into Scotsman. The Cliff Dempsey Racing driver lost time as he scrambled for traction on the kerbs, allowing Murray and team-mate Thorburn to pass.

Murray then set his sights on race leader Maclennan, who was vying to become the fifth different winner from as many races this season. Maclennan, whose Ray was set up for a wetter track, lost a lot of time to Murray who made his move for the lead stick as the pair completed their ninth lap, stealing the inside for the hairpin.

The safety car was then brought out after incidents for Fergus Paton and the fourth Cliff Dempsey car of Jonathan Browne, but the action wasn’t done yet.

With two minutes left the racing resumed and individual entrant Martin executed a clinical manoeuvre up the inside of Gruber to steal fourth place.

However, just one corner later the Scotsman’s race was over after his Ray fired off into the gravel at Clark’s. This prompted a red flag and froze everybody’s positions, leaving Maclennan and Thorburn to join Murray on the podium with second and third respectively.

Gruber ended up fourth, ahead of Kevin Mills Racing’s Michael Eastwell. Joey Foster and Luke Cooper made quiet progress after starting eighth and ninth respectively, with Cooper getting the better of his rival to pinch sixth.

After the race Foster was disqualified for his part in the incident that led to Martin’s retirement, promoting Cooper to sixth.

Seventh place therefore went to Joshua Smith after a great recovery drive following hub bolt issues yesterday, with Rory Smith and Carter Williams and Sebastian Melrose completing the top 10.

Jack Wolfenden, James Clarke and Sebastian Job were 11th, 12th and 13th.

Vincent Jay headed the Clubman Post89 class in 15th, one lap ahead of Richard Morris. The pair have now moved to the top of the class standings, with Jay heading Morris by seven points.

Race results

Pos	Class	Driver	Car	Gap
1	Pro	Niall Murray	Van Diemen	12 laps
2	Pro	Neil Maclennan	Ray	+0.174
3	Pro	Jamie Thorburn	Ray	+0.644
4	Pro	Nico Gruber	Ray	+1.293
5	Pro	Michael Eastwell	Spectrum	+1.397
6	Pro	Luke Cooper	Swift	+1.631
7	Pro	Rory Smith	Medina	+2.115
8	Pro	Joshua Smith	Van Diemen	+2.828
9	Pro	Carter Williams	Ray	+3.721
10	Pro	Sebastian Melrose	Ray	+5.342
11	Pro	Jack Wolfenden	Firman	+5.559
12	Pro	James Clarke	Mygale	+5.976
13	Pro	Sebastian Job	Van Diemen	+7.317
14	CM89	Vincent Jay	Ray	+9.271
15	Pro	Fraser Gray	Ray	+10.172
16	Pro	Davide Meloni	Van Diemen	+14.152
17	CM89	Richard Morris	Swift	+1 lap
18	Pro	Jonathan Browne	Ray	+2 laps
DNF	Pro	Ross Martin	Ray
DNF	Pro	Fergus Paton	Van Diemen
DNF	Pro	Matt Round-Garrido	Medina Sport
DNF	Pro	Hugo Bentley-Ellis	Spectrum
DSQ	Pro	Joey Foster	Ray
Fastest lap: Murray, 53.235

Championship standings

Pro
1 Murray 146   2 Cooper 104   3 Round-Garrido 93   4 Thorburn 87   5 Foster 79   6 R Smith 76   7 Gruber 70   8 Eastwell 68   9 Michael Moyers 53   10 Maclennan 51
Clubman Post89
1 Jay 123   2 Morris 116   3 John Ferguson 94   4 Daniel O’Beirne 78   5 John Svensson 34   6 George McDonald 28   7 Sam Street 26