CASSEY Watson's race weekend in the blistering heat at Brands Hatch was certainly a mix of highs and lows.

The weekend looked to be over early two laps into free practice on Saturday morning when a drive shaft broke and punched a hole in the gearbox.

Thanks to a competitor lending a spare, the Vale racer was able to make the race but missed qualifying - a sequence of events that meant starting round two of the SAXMAX Championship at the back of the grid.

With only 11 laps to race, a finish in the top 15 looked a tall order.

However, a superbly mature drive from the Eve-sham teenager saw her storm through the field to eighth place - an achievement that won her the Commentators' Driver of the Day award and her first trophy of the season.

Mechanical gremlins plagued Watson the next day when she only completed some of the qualifying time available but still managed to qualify on the third row in sixth place.

Unfortunately, a massive start line shunt led to serious damage to the car but a red flag gave the team time to cover the car in tape in order to try and make the restart.

Despite wheels rubbing on bodywork and a broken radiator causing the car to overheat, Watson still managed to snatch seventh place.

Thanks to a superb driving display and hard work from the team, Watson left Brands Hatch fifth in the Cham-pionship and still in the hunt for top honours.