Despite being in only his first season of car racing James Lay had already impressed in the Radical SR1 Cup, with second place finishers to championship leader Will Hunt.
On their second visit to Snetterton this season, Lay managed to turn the tables on the unbeaten Hunt and take pole position for both races and wins in both races.
“I was already having a good run in qualifying and when I caught Will and Dean Warriner on track, I thought it was looking good for pole position,” he said.
Hunt was due to start the first race alongside the RAW Motorsports driver, so the start was going to be critical.
From lights out it was virtually side by side between the pair as they arrived at Riches, before Lay edged ahead at the Wilson Hairpin.
Hunt made a challenge on the opening lap, but not only did it fail, he also picked up some grass on his tyres which would soon cost him dearly.
Lay began to extend his lead as the battles behind intensified, but on lap six the safety car was out, and all the hard work to build a lead had all but gone.
Hunt was still fifth, but from the green flag the duel for second boiled over and both were off and out of the race.
Hunt was back into second with a lap to go, but Lay held on with his lead reduced to 0.585 secs, to celebrate his first race win.
“It was a bit close at the start, but I then got away and was able to maintain the gap. The safety car was not what I wanted to see, it was harder than the original start and I went too early at the green flag,” he explained.
It was Hunt that made the best of the start in race two, with Lay tucked in close behind as they charged through Riches.
Within a couple of laps he was challenging for the lead, but Hunt’s defence held tight until lap eight.
“I had lost out at the start but managed to stay close. I was losing a bit as I just wasn’t as quick as him on the straights. But then he went too deep into Wilson and I went through,” he said.
With three laps left he still couldn’t shake-off Hunt though. “I felt under pressure but still confident that I could hold him off and keep the lead,” Lay added.
He succeeded and made it two wins from two races, taking the flag with 0.152 secs to spare.
The next rounds of the Championship is at Silverstone on August 14th.