Nigel Redwood achieved his first race victory on Saturday – then to prove the success was no fluke, he did it again in race two. And if win number one was a trifle lucky, the second owed no favours to anybody.

Points leader Hideto Yasuoka was forced to watch race one, his mechanics needing just another five minutes or so to repair damage inflicted in practice.

Aaron Stroud led, but he was under pressure from Kazumi Seta. When the Brit made a slight mistake at Paddock, Seta misjudged his closing speed, ran into the back of Stroud and careered off at the hairpin.

Stroud pulled off a lap later as his car was too damaged to carry on. That promoted Redwood to the head of a very thin list of survivors. Anthony Halliwell finished second and a slightly surprised Jonathan Potts third.

Yasuoka joined race two at the back of the grid, but there was a gap this time where Seta’s battered car should have been. Anxious to be in the running, Yasuoka suffered a rush of blood on lap one and plunged into the Druids gravel trap. He was lucky to escape, resuming well behind the rest.

Redwood, Halliwell and Potts was the early order, but by half distance Stroud had taken third, then grabbed second from Halliwell, who crashed out of third on lap eight – which presented Potts with another place on the podium.

Stroud badgered the leader over the closing laps and pulled alongside at the flag. Yasuoka dealt quickly with the backmarkers but backed off when it was clear he could not improve on fifth place.

“I’ve led here before but crashed,” said double winner Redwood. “I made a few mistakes, but in the second race thought if I covered the line at the hairpin I would be OK.”

For second man Stroud, a good points finish was preferable to a heroic failure. “I worked hard to pick people off. I had a better line out of Clearways on the last lap, but when Nigel started to come across I decided second place was better than nothing.”

(Taken from Motor Sports News 17-7-02)