It was a good start to the season for RAW Motorsports, with reigning Hagerty Radical Cup UK Champion James Lay, taking three wins, three pole positions and three fastest laps, while debut racer Theo Micouris made two wins from three in the SR1 Cup.
Lay had managed to fend off an early challenge from Daryl de Leon in race one, when the red flags came out with oil down and cars in the gravel.
RAW team mate John Macleod was one of the casualties. “I had made some places and was going well chasing Andy Lowe. Mid corner I hit the oil, we made contact and I was in the gravel with a damaged front corner,” he explained.
So Lay had to do it all again. “He kept me on my toes after trying at the first corner and just had to make sure I didn’t make any mistakes,” he said after taking victory by just 0.382 secs over De Leon.
Ben Stone had been in seventh place, but his race ended early too in he Coppice gravel. But for the Hart GT supported SR1 debutant Theo Micouris it was a maiden victory.
“I could see the battle for second in my mirrors for a while, but then got away from them,” he said after taking his win by over two seconds.
Lay made the best of the start again in race two and led an early three-car break. The pressure was relieved somewhat after eight laps when De Leon spun at Coppice.
Although Caisley lapped consistently in second, Lay was never under pressure, taking his second win of the weekend by over six seconds.
Stone had climbed to sixth by the end of 10, before entering a duel with Lowe. He briefly made fifth, but Lowe retook after a safety car intervention.
He still made it home in sixth, with Macleod climbing to 12th, after starting at the back of the grid.
Micouris had the early lead again in the SR1’s, but had to give best to the more experienced Tom Wood into Redgate on lap 10. He was still well clear of any threat as he retained a solid second.
Both Macleod and Stone were casualties of first corner incident in the final race, which brought out the red flags. Stone had been nudged from behind by Zielonka, but the incident triggered more contact, in which Macleod was an innocent victim.
It was down to Lay and Micouris to uphold RAW’s honour and they both did it in style.
It was side by side down the Craner Curves at the restart, but Lay played safe into the Old Hairpin and gave De Leon room to lead.
They stayed in close formation until De Leon was first to take his mandatory stop, with Lay following a couple of laps later.
Lay managed to rejoin with his lead intact and consolidated his advantage to 3.384 secs to secure a clean sweep with his third win.
Micouris had battled with Wood for the SR1 lead again, losing out on lap five after a strong start.
He was the first of the two to pit, but was back in front when Wood stopped and dominated the second half for his second win.
Published by Peter Scherer for RAW Motorsports, April 4th 2023
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