Adam not soft at Croft Jonathan Adam kept the pressure on current championship leader Robert Lawson by setting the quickest time of the day to land a pole position for Round 10 at Croft. After James Appleby recorded a top six time in Round 9 qualifying, the second session saw Adam, Lawson and the usual top qualifiers of Martin Byford, Andrew Heron, Carl Breeze and Daniel Welch redress the balance. Yet Appleby may be making a case for there now being a top seven drivers sharing the spoils with a 7th place start for Round 10.

Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR) set out his marker early at his local Croft circuit, taking just three laps in the first session to record his pole position time. Lawson’s JHR team-mate Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR) followed behind him to make sure he will also be on that all-important front row for Round 9 on Sunday. At a technical circuit like this though anything could happen and the JHR pair will have Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing) and Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing) breathing down their necks from the second row of the grid, with great starter Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/Welch Motorsport) ready to pounce from the third row the moment the lights go out. Impressively Freddy Nordström (Plumbertraining.com/Advent Motorsport) managed to finish with the 8th quickest time despite suffering badly from suspected food poisoning, and David Nye (DW Nye Limited/Daniels Motorsport) put in the 12th quickest time even though he’d been in Darlington hospital until 10:30pm the evening before having sliced the tops of two of his fingers off.

For Round 10 qualifying it was Adam’s turn to take a pole position, and just like Lawson, he did so within just three laps. Lawson was actually slower in this session than the earlier one but will again be starting from the front row with the inside line into the first corner. Herron couldn’t quite match his Round 9 qualifying time either but he’ll still be in contention from the second row alongside Byford, while Breeze again looked to be struggling with his car, finishing 5th quickest which he’ll be disappointed with. His Welch Motorsport team-mate, Daniel Welch (Marriott/Welch Motorsport) regained a top six position though after James Appleby (Hardinge Machine Tools) had set the 6th quickest time in Round 9 qualifying, and that in turn kept Appleby down in 7th during the second session. Nordström again managed an 8th quickest time with David Green (Daniels Motorsport) continuing his improvement with a time only just off that of Nordström. In fact there are improvements throughout the grid, meaning the gaps are getting closer… and the racing should be getting even faster and more furious.

ROUND 9
1. Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR)…1:27.293
2. Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR)…1:27.700
3. Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing)…1:27.738
4. Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing)…1:27.762
5. Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/Welch Motorsport)…1:28.284
6. James Appleby (Hardinge Machine Tools)…1:28.595

ROUND 10
1. Jonathan Adam (Total Control Racing)…1:27.229
2. Robert Lawson (Bardon/JHR)…1:27.390
3. Martin Byford (AB Glass/Z Speed Racing)… 1:27.589
4. Andrew Herron (Brian Herron Plant/JHR)…1:27.879
5. Carl Breeze (Blue Chip/Welch Motorsport)…1:28.217
6. Daniel Welch (Marriott/Welch Motorsport)…1:28.617