Turney runs hot at Bushy Park

OUT FRONT: Eric Ward in his Nissan Datsun B110, heading the field in a Group 2B race. (Pictures by Rawle Culbard.)

IMPRESSIVE FIRST-TIMER: Seth-Ross Turney taking the chequered flag in his Honda CRX.

Dirk Gray, who won two of his three Group 2A races, trying to keep ahead of two other drivers.

Veteran Peter Thompson was a surprise winner in one of the Group 3 Class 1 races.

By Stefan Walker | Mon, July 02, 2012 - 12:03 AM

Debutant Seth-Ross Turney has put the circuit racing community on notice.

The young driver blew away his competition in the second annual Beacon Festival of Speed race meet at the Bushy Park circuit yesterday.

Turney’s Honda CRX was driven for the first time last Friday and was ready for action yesterday.

He faced stiff competition from Group 1 members Daniel Wiles, Pierre Clarke and Anderson Roachford.

However, Turney swept all three races in his class. He was entered for the handicap, but his car gave up and he had to quit the race.

Experienced campaigner Dirk Gray won two of his three Group 2A class races after he failed to get a good position in the first race.

Jermin Pope put in a fine drive in the first race of the group but afterwards he encountered challenges.

Another notable driver in that class was Stuart Knaggs in his vintage 1968 Toyota Corolla. He collected two third places on the day.

Group 2B’s Eric Ward also completed two of three class wins in his Nissan Datsun B110, although he met some difficulty after breaking the lap bracket for his class and had to start in the later positions for the last two races.

Shawn Boxill also drove well in Group 2B. He won one of his races and came second in another, but his most noteworthy performance came in the handicap when he held off Kurt Thompson and Stuart Williams.

The hotly contested Group 2C had mixed fortunes for Kenrick “Snappa” Husbands as he placed second in the first two races.

For the last race, it all went wrong from the start line and he finally called it quits after he appeared to be trying to finish the race and collect extra points.

The real winner in this class was Mark Thompson, who put in three fine drives, and, like Turney, also swept his class in his Toyota Starlet.

Mark Thompson was not the only one from the family celebrating today, as his brother Kurt Thompson and father Peter Thompson took all the wins in group 3 Class 1.

Peter Thompson was a surprising winner of the first race.

Peter Thompson also came second as he and son Kurt took two places in the last race for their class.

Kurt Thompson scored two class wins even though it sounded as if his car had problems for the duration of the event.

Williams was unchallenged in Group 4A as other class members did not show up.