A TEENAGE racing driver from Northallerton has left the competition trailing in his wake after completing his first successful year in the Junior Saloon Car Championship in 2016.

15-year-old Ethan Hammerton stepped up from karting to the JSCC last year and has since competed at the UK’s major racing tracks including Silverstone, Brands Hatch, Donington Park, Snetterton, Oulton Park, Rockingham as well as his local circuit of Croft.

Ethan surprised some older and more experienced drivers in the series by finishing the season fourth overall out of 26 entrants and in addition, he was also the JSCC’s highest ranked rookie. The JSCC bridges the gap between karts and cars, offering young drivers between the ages of 14 to 17 the opportunity to get behind the wheel and compete at top UK national circuits. A number of previous JSCC competitors have gone on to have successful senior careers in the British Touring Car Championship, the UK Clio Cup and the Ferrari GT Championship.

Ethan, who is studying for ten GCSEs at Northallerton School and Sixth Form, started racing karts in 2014 and he achieved 23 podiums in only two years of racing, competing in both the Northern TKM Club Championship and the Rowrah club championship.

In his first race of the JSCC season at Oulton Park, Ethan qualified third out of 23 entrants and his success continued throughout the season, qualifying in the top five numerous times.

His first podium finish came in his fourth race of the season when he finished third at the Rockingham circuit.

He gained confidence from this fantastic result and qualified strongly at Brands Hatch in the next round before a clutch problem dropped him down the field from fifth to 19th. However, he recovered well and some skilful overtaking enabled him to finish fourth meaning he was named Driver of the Day for his race.

The season ended on a high with the final race at Silverstone where the heavens opened just as the cars were going to the grid and Ethan had never raced in the wet. However, he kept his cool and he and four other drivers pulled away from the field. With some impressive driving, Ethan finished second, his highest finish of the season.

In race two he made a great start and moved into the lead by the end of lap three and led the whole race until on the last lap with one corner to go he was forced wide off the track and had to settle for third place on the podium. It was still a fantastic finish to a very successful season with four podium finishes, one Driver of the Meeting award and also winning Rookie of the Year.

Walter Thompson (Contractors)-backed Ethan said: “I look forward to battling for the 2017 JSCC title and I am pleased that four of the 2017 races will be televised so people at home can watch the action live. The JSCC grids in 2017 should be bigger and better than ever and I look forward to some very close and competitive racing. Thanks to all my sponsors for their support in 2016 and look forward to welcoming them back for this season.”

LAST FEW ENTRIES AVAILABLE FOR JACK FROST STAGES RALLY

With just over a week to go to Darlington and District Motor Club’s annual Jack Frost Stages Rally in association with Cartersport which takes place at Croft Circuit on Sunday 15th January 2017, the entry list is just about full with only a handful of entries remaining.

Already, around 80 crews have entered the 18th annual running of the event which will again comprise up to eight stages totalling around 40 stage miles on the asphalt of the North East’s only permanent race track and is a qualifying round of three major local championships including the SG Petch ANECCC, the AS Performance North of England Tarmac and the Fuchs Titan Race ANCC Championships.

That means only around ten places remain, whereby the organisers are keeping them open for a few extra days, despite yesterday’s closing date. Included in the entry list so far is last year’s winners, Guy Smith and Patrick Walsh, who, having won the recent Swift Signs Christmas Stages Rally, return in their Ford Focus WRC but will face a tough challenge to continue their winning ways.

Former triple winners, Chris Wise and Tracey Taylor-West return to the fold in a recently acquired Ford Fiesta S2000 and will be joined on the start line by the unique VW Polo WRC of Craig Pennington/Wayne Priest adding some spice to proceedings.

Christmas Stages podium finishers, Graeme Bell and Russ Radford, will again be in action in their Millington-engined MEM Proton Neo Satria with other front-runners expected to be Peter Smith/Graham Wild (MG Metro 6R4), John/Matthew White (Subaru), Mark Jasper/Don Whyatt (Ford Escort Mk2) and the returning Kev Monaghan/Chris Purvis in their Ford Escort F2 Maxi.

As usual, there is a very strong entry throughout the classes with the likes of Des Campbell (Peugeot 206), John Gaskin, Martin Peters (both Citroen Saxos), Barry Lindsay (Peugeot 106) and Stevie Irwin (Vauxhall Nova) favourites for the 1600cc class whilst it’s anyone’s guess in the 2000cc class with Alistair Hutchinson (Renault Clio) and Ed Todd (GTM Coupe) set to lead the way.

Throw in the likes of Rob Snowden and Charlie Taylor’s identical Millington powered 2.5 litre Ford Escorts, Ben Cree in the SGP Motorsport prize-drive Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 and Bob Grant’s Hyundai Accent WRC and it’s an eclectic mix for sure.

The online entry form is available here.

Scrutineering and documentation takes place between 12.00 and 16.00 on Saturday 14th January 2017 and also from 06:00 on Sunday 15th January 2017 (by appointment only) with the first car at MTC1 at 08:57.

The entry fee is £260 and there are classes for cars up to 1400cc, up to 1600cc, up to 2000cc, over 2000cc and all four wheel-drive cars as well as Historic rally cars.

For further information, please contact Craig Hope on 07814 492134 (between 19.00 and 21.00 only), or via email at cars.ddmc@gmail.com. Regulations are still available at www.darlington-motor-club.org.uk.