fastest and two of the other Jakes, Cook and Rattenbury, filling row three.

Unfortunately for Swanwick, he wasn't able to convert his pole start into the getaway he wanted and this gave the others opportunity to snatch the lead into Clervaux. Hill was also beaten on the run to the first corner with Williamson taking the early initiative ahead of Ingram, however, Hill battled back quickly and moved back into second at Sunny.

Ingram wasn't about to let Hill run away with second place and he mounted a fresh challenge for the place at Tower on lap two as the latter also applied his own pressure to Williamson. Into the complex, Hill dived down the inside and seized the lead while Ingram slipped from third to fourth at the hairpin behind a recovering Swanwick.

Just one corner later, Williamson was back at the front having passed Hill into Clervaux but it was a case of history repeating itself for Hill when a moment on lap three meant he dropped to last place and had it all to do to try and salvage as many points as possible.

Swanwick - who ended the race with the fastest lap - moved into the lead at the end of the third tour and he continued to do so for the next couple of laps as the top two did begin to break away from the rest of the field. Into lap six, Swanwick was a second clear of Williamson and really looked set for a memorable debut victory...but nothing in Ginetta Junior racing is ever that certain!

Cook started to apply more pressure to second placed Williamson with less than three laps remaining while Thomas Howard held fourth position ahead of Ingram and championship leader Sarah Moore.

Into the penultimate lap, the top five were all equidistant and as they ran through the Sunny In/Sunny Out right-hander, Swanwick had a moment which dropped him to fourth place behind new race leader Williamson, Cook and Howard.

Cook mounted his bid for the lead of the race on the final lap at Tower but Williamson managed to keep him at bay and at the chequered flag the latter was four 10ths of a second to the good. Third place went the way of Swanwick, his second career podium in cars, after he got by Howard at Sunny Out and held him off at the hairpin. Howard also lost fourth to Ingram by just 0.037 seconds. Hill, meanwhile, ended the race a disappointing 17th.

"What a race!", said the victorious Williamson, "We had a brilliant start, straight into the lead and although positions did change throughout, we came through in the end to win which really helps our championship. Obviously the aim now is to keep winning to close down the two ahead of me in the championship - we've still got a long season ahead of us."

Sixth place ensures Moore heads into Sunday afternoon's televised 10th round of the season 23 points ahead of Tockwith team-mate Alex Austin in the championship standings, Austin finishing a disappointing 11th today behind Moore's younger brother David. Max McGuire was seventh, Mitchell Hale - who was involved in a skirmish off the grid - took eighth and Carl Stirling was ninth.

Ginetta Junior competitors return to action at Croft Circuit tomorrow, Sunday, 14th June, with the 10th round of the campaign timetabled to get underway at 15.55. Leading commercial station ITV4 will broadcast the race live across the UK on Freeview channel 28, cable channel 117 and digital satellite channel 120.

Swanwick starts on pole position once again tomorrow afternoon and will be aiming to try and seal his first ever victory. Hill is also on the front row again in second place, with Ingram third on the grid, Williamson fourth, Cook fifth and Jake Rattenbury rounding out the top six starters.

Provisional 2009 Ginetta Junior Championship with Henderson Insurance Positions (after Rd9):
1st Sarah Moore, 227pts; 2nd Alex Austin, 204pts; 3rd Aaron Williamson, 193pts; 4th Jake Cook, 154pts; 5th Thomas Howard, 143pts; 6th Tom Ingram, 140pts