Castle Combe circuit press officer John Moon has made the headlines himself.

The Batheaston-based driver enjoyed the most successful and prestigious weekend of his career after taking pole position and victory at the famous Monza circuit in Italy, over the weekend.

Moon, a regular competitor in the FISC EuroTour championship for historic sports cars, was competing at the International AVD Race Weekend at the home of the Italian Grand Prix.

Prior to the event, Moon had been lying in fourth place in the series, but potentially able to take the title, with little separating the top four drivers in a season which encompassed other classic former Grand Prix circuits such as Dijon, the legendary Nordschleife and Zandvoort in Holland.

After taking a stunning pole position in his 1959 Frogeye Sprite, significantly faster than most of his more modern opposition, Moon took an immediate lead in the first of the three 13 lap races of the weekend.

His close rival in both the points battle and qualifying, Adam Cunnington, mounted a formidable challenge however, the pair dicing continuously throughout and trading places on numerous occasions. Also taking it in turns to lead was Dutch driver, Pieter Bakker, the erstwhile championship leader in his professionally prepared and aptly named, Monza' Sprite.

As the trio entered the final lap, Moon knew tactics were of supreme importance.

He explained: "Monza is all about slipstreaming, so if you are close behind another car as you enter the main straight you will almost inevitably overtake it.

"As we entered the final Parabolica corner, I decided to tuck in behind Adam, getting a clean run out of the corner and ducking out from behind him as we approached the line. Luckily it paid off, but it was close."

Moon's winning margin was just 0.080 of a second.

Race two saw Moon dropping back as the race progressed, his front brakes wearing out half way through, allowing Dutch driver Hans Dullaert to take second.

Moon was pleased to take third however, commenting: "Things got so hot, one of the pistons in my front brakes welded itself to the calliper, the competition was so intense. My brake pedal was going to the floor in the last couple of laps and I don't know how I finished."

The third race of the weekend again saw Cunnington build an early lead, Moon starting a row back and also hampered by his new brakes which had not thoroughly bedded in.

Nevertheless, after a few laps, Moon's pace resumed to that of race one, but with Cunnington now too far ahead to be caught Moon had to settle for second place, some 12 seconds ahead of his closest rival, his overall score for the weekend placing him third in the championship, on 323 points behind the winner, Bakker, with 331 and Cunnington with 326.