News Archive
- 12 September 2008
Ashley: “I will fight to the finish” - 02 June 2008
Ashley delighted with fighting fifth - 28 May 2008
Craig confident for Croft - 19 May 2008
Suspension problems cost Ashley at Thruxton - 16 May 2008
Craig targets podium this weekend - 07 May 2008
Ashley scores a brilliant 4th place and then rolls out of second race - 01 April 2008
Steady start for Ashley in Ginetta Junior
Ashley Craig bounced back from a string of disappointing races to score a brace of top-ten finishes in last weekend’s (31 May/1 June) Ginetta Junior round at Croft, near Darlington.
“I enjoyed the weekend” he said. “It was my best so far in the series - everything just clicked together.”
Having suffered two dramatic crashes in previous rounds - and suspension failure in his last race – the 16-year old had vowed that Croft was where his fight-back would begin.
His qualifying performance put him on the 4th row for the start, delighting his team. But they were left throwing their hands in the air when he lost five places on the opening lap. Gamely sticking to his task, Ashley battled his way back up to 10th at the finish.
“I made a couple of stupid mistakes” he confessed with his customary honesty. “I spoke to my race engineer and we ran through my performance – analyzing what had gone well and not so well. We then worked out a strategy for the next race and it almost came off perfectly.”
Starting from 5th on the grid for Sunday’s race – his highest starting position of the season – Ashley was thankful to British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) star Tom Onslow-Cole for some valuable advice.
“The track was greasy (from overnight rain) and after the touring car race, Tom told me where the track was very slippy and where be careful.”
As the lights went green Ashley’s wheels span on the wet surface, desperate for traction. Dropping a handful of places, he gathered himself quickly and realised that something had to give among the front-runners. He sensibly opted to hang back and wait for the inevitable collisions.
Three drivers duly had a coming together, putting them out of the race. Several laps later, the conditions caught another driver out - Ashley was now moving back into contention.
Sadly, with just half a second separating him from 4th place, the chequered flag denied him of making any further progress up the order.
Ashley now faces a six week break before the next round at Snetterton in Norfolk on 12/13 July.
Watch him in action, via www.itv.com/CatchUp.
Photo courtesy Jakob Ebrey.