Anglesey - 2010

31st July and 1st August 2010 - National Championship
Rounds eight and nine
Anglesey

Both the weather and the fortunes of the Burnett Motorsport squad were mixed on the annual visit to Anglesey. John Jon Higgins was the only one of the quartet to take overall victory with one on each day, his performance mirrored by Peter Morton and Lawrence Davey.

The first of Saturdays heats had to be restarted after a first corner shunt. As from the original start Lee Fitzpatrick made the best of the restart, joined by Davey and Morton on a first lap break. "Lawrence got me on the inside at Peel, but after that my steering was out after a touch," he explained.

Morton headed Davey through Church on the second lap and kept his nose ahead for the duration, despite a late comeback charge from Davey. "I managed to get away a bit when Lawrence and Lee had a battle," said Morton. "I just couldn't get Pete at the end and didn't want to slide into him and take us both off," Davey replied.

But Fitzpatrick persevered and made sure there was Burnett representation on the podium, despite having Stephen Treherne and John Mickel in his wheeltracks after a last lap exchange. "I got John into Rocket, then he shot ahead again on the inside at Peel but overshot, so I took him back again," said Treherne.

Higgins struggled home in a solid sixth, "I had chronic understeer for the whole race," he explained. Darren Gaulton just missed out on a top ten finish by 0.193secs, while Ross Marshall had to mount a recovery drive after being nudged out of fifth at the Corkscrew. "Simon Belcher tapped me on the rear corner and spun me," he said.

After a lap behind the safety car heat two became a four car break from the green flag, with Dean Brace heading Higgins, Treherne and Nick Brace. Treherne snatched second into Rocket and briefly led on a couple of occasions, but after going ahead again on lap six, he began to pull away briefly.

Dean Brace still had second, but behind him Higgins was poised to challenge, while behind him Marshall pushed hard to reel in Nick Brace.

With a lap to go Higgins had already grabbed second before draughting passed Treherne to lead into Rocket. "It was a struggle and I had to work a lot harder. It was a case of going slower to go faster, but once I had got Dean I knew Stephen and I would be close. So I didn't brake until he braked," said Higgins after taking victory by 0.173secs over Treherne.

Marshall snatched fourth on the last lap, with Gaulton a fraction ahead of Fitzpatrick to complete the top ten, after losing out to Meredith on the last lap. "I was still suffering, no grip front or rear and the whole car seemed to wash out in the corners," Fitzpatrick concluded.

Once the initial sort out had settled in Saturday's final, Davey emerged with a good lead, after charging from fourth to second into Rocket on lap five. Higgins managed to fight his way into second passed Meredith on lap seven, but spun into the Corkscrew and dropped back to seventh, "I was four inches off my normal line and I spun. It was very slippery but I enjoyed the race though," said Higgins.

Fitzpatrick was next to challenge Meredith, but his quest didn't prove to be easy. While Davey took the flag with over two seconds in hand, Fitzpatrick made his move on the back straight for the final time and emerged with second by inches as they braked for Rocket. "I liked it damp, I just kept my head down, but could see Niki in my mirrors for a long time," said Davey. "I hustled it around but the car was a lot better. People kept spinning off all over, then I got into a rhythm and started to pick them off," said Fitzpatrick

Early leader Stephen Whitelegg secured fourth from Gareth Martin and the recovering Higgins. Marshall had to complete another recovery drive after an early off. "I was taken out again and left doing doughnuts on the wet grass," he explained. Gaulton completed the Burnett Motorsport quartet again, after a frustrating drive into 16th.

There was no sign of the dampness from the previous day as the cars lined up for the first of Sunday's heats. Starting from the second row of the grid Higgins wasted no time in taking charge. Treherne and Matthew Pape shared a couple of exchanges for second, before Davey came charging from seventh on the first lap to second into Rocket a lap later.

Morton made it a three way fight for second with Higgins long gone at the front. But after Davey had survived a few bumps from Treherne on the back straight, the Karcher driver suddenly speared off left into armco as they started to climb to Rocket. "I had touched wheels with someone earlier and something must have broken. The wheels turned left and my steering wheel was straight," he explained.

The race was immediately red flagged with Higgins the victor by over two seconds. "It felt like a long race and it was only five laps. The others gave me the break though, so if I can't win from there," he said.

"I had made a good start and went up the inside at Rocket for second when a couple of cars got sideways," said second placed Davey. Morton was third following Treherne's demise, with Fitzpatrick just holding off Belcher for fourth. "There was a lot of traffic and spinners again, so I just threaded through and got going," said the defending champion.

Gaulton's challenge was frustrated yet again, "I had got boxed in at the start, then it was Ok as I worked through to ninth and then spun at Rocket," he explained after finishing 12th. Marshall was in the wars again too, "I had a coming together with one of the Brace team cars, he said after finishing 18th.

It started so well for Marshall though in heat two, leading a Burnett one two from the start, as Fitzpatrick tucked in behind. Morton slotted into second but was soon under pressure from Treherne's hastily rebuilt car.

The lead trio had started to pull clear by the end of lap two, as Mickel began to put pressure on Treherne for fourth. Into Peel both Fitzpatrick and Morton had demoted Marshall, who then made a sensational manoeuvre to squeeze inside his two rivals as they headed onto the pits straight.

The lead had started to grow again as Treherne, having shaken off Mickel, successfully challenged Morton as they arrived into the final turn of lap three.

Suddenly it was any one of three for the lead, but Fitzpatrick and Treherne bump draughted ahead of Marshall and left the Burnett youngster fighting back in third as they headed for Rocket. But his challenge was his downfall as he careered off across the grass and flew across the track before finding the tyre wall.

It was still a three way fight to the finish as Treherne took control over Fitzpatrick and Morton. After numerous exchanges Fitzpatrick led onto the final lap, but as they charged along the back straight Morton and Treherne draughted passed. But with Treherne going sick on the last lap, Morton took the win from the ailing Karcher car with Fitzpatrick third and Higgins a solitary fourth after shaking off Mickel. "Very had work but what a brilliant race," said Morton. "The car felt Ok, a cracking race, really enjoyed it," replied Treherne. "It just shows you don't want to lead onto the last lap. Lots of sideways stuff, but really enjoyed a good clean race," said Fitzpatrick.

Gaulton was just outside the top ten again in a four car battle for ninth, "I was in the mix but the trouble was we were all about the same pace, so passing was very hard," he said.

Following his earlier retirement, Marshall had pole for the final and made a good clean start to head Paul O'Brien, Paul Simmons and Meredith. Davey shot into second on lap two, but his efforts to grab the lead put Marshall out of contention. "He tapped my rear corner at Church and spun me out," Marshall explained.

Meredith became the new leader as Davey began to attack again, while both Treherne and Higgins closed in too. Davey had the lead onto the pits straight for the third time, but ran wide onto the grass and Meredith retook. A lap later they swapped again on the back straight and Davey got a slight a break.

It was soon back to three cars nose to tail for the lead, but Fitzpatrick and Morton worked together and made it five for the last three laps. Treherne dived into second at the Hairpin and on lap eight Fitzpatrick and Morton draughted passed Meredith on the back straight.

Morton had started to fall back a little which left Fitzpatrick to challenge for the lead from third. Although Treherne had the lead at the Hairpin with a lap to go, it was almost three abreast for the charge up to Rocket for the final time. Fitzpatrick had the lead, but it was shortlived, as he explains. "Lawrence made a do or die attempt on me and took the front of my car and I spun."

Davey therefore took the win from Treherne with Morton snatching a late second after Treherne struggled into third with a plug lead off, from the recovering Fitzpatrick. Higgins claimed fifth after Meredith spun at Rocket. "I think he went to bump me, missed and spun," said Morton.

"I had been knocked back to last after Simon Belcher got me on the first lap. So back to fifth and with no second gear, I am happy with that," said Higgins. Gaulton just missed out on the top ten yet again, at the tail of a four car train for ninth.

But a podium finish from one of the Burnett Motorsport quartet in all but the last race of the weekend, once again showed the teams strength in depth and leaves both Higgins and Fitzpatrick both still in with a shot at this years title.

	Saturday
	No - Driver	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	5 - John 'Jon' Higgins	6	1	6	480
2	12 - Stephen Treherne	4	2	7	475
3	19 - Lawrence Davey	2	12	1	465
4	1 - Lee Fitzpatrick	3	10	2	455
5	32 - Peter Morton	1	7	8	450
6	95 - Niki Meredith	7	8	3	420
7	8 - Nick Brace	10	5	11	340
8	3 - Ross Marshall	14	4	10	320
9	7 - Dean Brace	13	3	13	310
10	55 - Ben Power	8	6	17	290
11	4 - John Mickel	5	15	14	260
12	11 - Simon Belcher	9	11	15	250
13	2 - Darren Gaulton	11	9	16	240
14	66 - Steve Whitelegg	0	13	4	235
15	52 - Gareth Martin	16	17	5	220
16	96 - Paul O'Brien	15	14	12	190
17	14 - Paul Musselle	12	16	20	130
18	33 - Chris Bell	0	0	9	120
19	15 - Paul Simmons	17	19	23	50
20	53 - Dominic Spurr	18	20	19	40
21	43 - Mick Mercer		18	18	40
22	47 - David Jones	19	21	24	30
23	39 - Jess Gwynne	0	0	21	20
24	29 - Nathan Anthony	0	0	22	20
	Sunday
1	32 - Peter Morton	3	1	2	555
2	19 - Lawrence Davey	2	6	1	525
3	5 - John 'Jon' Higgins	1	4	5	510
4	1 - Lee Fitzpatrick	4	3	4	490
5	11 - Simon Belcher	5	10	7	380
6	12 - Stephen Treherne		2	3	355
7	43 - Matthew Pape	6	9	10	350
8	7 - Dean Brace	13	8	6	330
9	33 - Chris Bell	8	11	8	330
10	66 - Steve Whitelegg	7	13	13	270
11	4 - John Mickel	0	5	9	265
12	2 - Darren Gaulton	12	12	12	240
13	8 - Nick Brace	9	17	11	230
14	14 - Paul Musselle	10	15	0	155
15	95 - Niki Meredith	0	7	0	140
16	15 - Paul Simmons	11	16	0	135
17	96 - Paul O'Brien	0	14	14	125
18	29 - Nathan Anthony	16	0	15	95
19	55 - Ben Power	14	18	0	85
20	39 - Jess Gwynne	15	19	0	65
21	47 - David Jones	19	20	16	60
22	53 - Dominic Spurr	17	0		35
23	3 - Ross Marshall	18	0	0	30