CTCRC Mallory Park 18th & 19th May 2024
The Classic Touring Car Racing Club’s season reached the halfway stage at the lakeside venue of Mallory Park in Leicestershire over the weekend of the 17th and 18th of May. The 1.35-mile-long venue first opened as a tarmac circuit in 1956 and its new incumbents Real Motorsport Limited got the venue going again in recent times after a troubled exit for the previous leaseholders. The club trialled a new entry system for the meeting, with a sliding scale that reduced the entry fee if a minimum of 85 participants registered to compete at the event and the threshold was met by the entry closing date.
Classic Thunder
Qualifying: The red flags flew after only a few minutes of the qualifying session when Simon Collier's Vauxhall Tigra silhouette stopped approaching the Shaw’s Hairpin. Nick Vaughan’s aerodynamically enhanced Audi A3 Turbo took pole position by 0.379 seconds after the resumption and headed the car that had set the pace before the stoppage, Joe Collier’s E46 M3. The reliveried Historic Mk1 Escort of Colin Voyce wound up third fastest and had the M3 V8 of David Blackie alongside. James Janicki's brutal two-wheel-drive Nissan Skyline GTR and Gary Hufford's BMW M3 E46 formed the third row. Ian Bower was quickest of a posse of Pre ‘93 BMWs and qualified the car an impressive seventh fastest, the M3 being joined on the fourth row by the similar car of defending Pre '93 champion Stuart Waite. Kevin Denwood's 3 Series Compact and William Davison's Pre '93 BMW completed the top ten. Shaun Morris in another E36 M3 and the returning Civic Type R of an under-the-weather AJ Owen made up the sixth row, the High Wycombe resident taking part in his first race meeting in the Honda after its engine detonated at Snetterton last September. The superbly presented Peugeot 205 spaceframe of Jonathan Gill lined up fifteenth for his debut race.
Race One: Eighth qualifier Stuart Waite withdrew before the race and Kevin Denwood took his place on the fourth row, with Shaun Morris being elevated into the top ten. Nick Vaughan converted pole to lead from Colin Voyce into Gerard's, with Joe Collier looking round the outside of the Escort to regain second. However, a coming together between Simon Collier's turbocharged Tigra and the gorgeous Nigel Baker Mk1 Escort at the tail of the field sent both into barriers. The Tigra briefly rose up onto two wheels before crashing back to earth and the pair went into the tyres together, thankfully with no injury incurred except to their bank balances. The red flag quickly followed and the restart would be contested over eleven minutes. Vaughan led into Gerard’s once more but Collier drove all the way around the outside to briefly hit the front before the Audi’s power told down the back straight. David Blackie and Gary Hufford were squabbling over fourth when a grassy excursion for the Scot exiting Gerard’s for the first time dropped the black M3 to ninth. Collier ended the lap down in third behind Voyce after getting well crossed up at the hairpin and the BMW was also coming under fire from James Janicki's Skyline GTR, which had rocketed past Gary Hufford towards the Esses as Blackie bounced along the grass. Hufford sat in fifth at the end of the opening lap and Ian Bower followed in sixth with their BMWs. AJ Owen had a good first lap to finish it in eighth but soon lost out to the recovering Blackie, with Kevin Denwood’s 3 Series Compact the Scot’s next target but the M3 V8 was still 0.262 seconds down at the end of lap three. Vaughan worked hard to make his escape out front and had got his lead out to more than one second by the end of the third tour as Voyce’s Escort saw off the attention from Collier and Janicki. Further down the standings, Jonathan Gill stopped in the Devil's Elbow gravel trap at the end of the third lap after his 205's motor threw a rod. The stranded Peugeot forced a second stoppage as the front runners headed onto their fifth circulation, the chequered flag unsurprisingly soon followed with Vaughan's Team Prawn Racing Audi classified as the winner after three complete laps from Voyce's Escort Mk1, who was the leading Historic car home, and Collier's BMW M3 E46. Janicki, Hufford and Bower formed the top six finishers, with Denwood, Blackie, the Class D-winning Owen and Morris filling out the top ten.
Race Two: Race One winner Vaughan had discovered some abnormal readings on his data logger so the engine was taken apart to be inspected during the morning but still took up his pole position, with the race distance extended to twenty minutes to compensate for the curtailed opening race on Saturday. Voyce powered into the lead at the rolling start and checked out during the opening moments as Vaughan held off the pack headed by James Janicki, Joe Collier, Gary Hufford and David Blackie. All wasn’t well with the Audi and Vaughan pulled to one side through the Devil's Elbow at the end of lap two after a snapped gear linkage bracket left the high-powered hatchback stuck in second gear. Janicki and the BMW group reeled in Voyce as he built up the turbocharged Mk1's tyre pressures in the welcome sunshine, with the top five all together by half distance. The Escort weathered the storm and opened out a lead again to take a deserved victory by 6.967 seconds and also claimed the Historic Thunder spoils. Janicki kept the BMW brigade behind the Nissan until the final lap when the car appeared to switch off approaching Gerard's. Hufford's green E46 M3 thus took a narrow second from Blackie by 0.277 seconds, who took his maiden podium finish in third aboard his four-litre E92 M3. Janicki still claimed fourth after the Nissan burst back into life and crossed the line in front of earlier challenger Collier, who had a spin at Gerard's just after mid-distance. Ian Bower ran in an early sixth but spun on oil from Don Hughes’ blown Peugeot on lap nine and became embroiled in a tough scrap with Shaun Morris’ similar E36 M3, with the Bastos car coming out on top in sixth. Guest entrant David Avis was eighth with his E46 M3, whilst AJ Owen scored a second class win aboard his Civic Type R in ninth and Kevin Denwood’s 3 Series Compact rounded out the top ten.
Classic Thunder
Qualifying: The red flags flew after only a few minutes of the qualifying session when Simon Collier's Vauxhall Tigra silhouette stopped approaching the Shaw’s Hairpin. Nick Vaughan’s aerodynamically enhanced Audi A3 Turbo took pole position by 0.379 seconds after the resumption and headed the car that had set the pace before the stoppage, Joe Collier’s E46 M3. The reliveried Historic Mk1 Escort of Colin Voyce wound up third fastest and had the M3 V8 of David Blackie alongside. James Janicki's brutal two-wheel-drive Nissan Skyline GTR and Gary Hufford's BMW M3 E46 formed the third row. Ian Bower was quickest of a posse of Pre ‘93 BMWs and qualified the car an impressive seventh fastest, the M3 being joined on the fourth row by the similar car of defending Pre '93 champion Stuart Waite. Kevin Denwood's 3 Series Compact and William Davison's Pre '93 BMW completed the top ten. Shaun Morris in another E36 M3 and the returning Civic Type R of an under-the-weather AJ Owen made up the sixth row, the High Wycombe resident taking part in his first race meeting in the Honda after its engine detonated at Snetterton last September. The superbly presented Peugeot 205 spaceframe of Jonathan Gill lined up fifteenth for his debut race.
Race One: Eighth qualifier Stuart Waite withdrew before the race and Kevin Denwood took his place on the fourth row, with Shaun Morris being elevated into the top ten. Nick Vaughan converted pole to lead from Colin Voyce into Gerard's, with Joe Collier looking round the outside of the Escort to regain second. However, a coming together between Simon Collier's turbocharged Tigra and the gorgeous Nigel Baker Mk1 Escort at the tail of the field sent both into barriers. The Tigra briefly rose up onto two wheels before crashing back to earth and the pair went into the tyres together, thankfully with no injury incurred except to their bank balances. The red flag quickly followed and the restart would be contested over eleven minutes. Vaughan led into Gerard’s once more but Collier drove all the way around the outside to briefly hit the front before the Audi’s power told down the back straight. David Blackie and Gary Hufford were squabbling over fourth when a grassy excursion for the Scot exiting Gerard’s for the first time dropped the black M3 to ninth. Collier ended the lap down in third behind Voyce after getting well crossed up at the hairpin and the BMW was also coming under fire from James Janicki's Skyline GTR, which had rocketed past Gary Hufford towards the Esses as Blackie bounced along the grass. Hufford sat in fifth at the end of the opening lap and Ian Bower followed in sixth with their BMWs. AJ Owen had a good first lap to finish it in eighth but soon lost out to the recovering Blackie, with Kevin Denwood’s 3 Series Compact the Scot’s next target but the M3 V8 was still 0.262 seconds down at the end of lap three. Vaughan worked hard to make his escape out front and had got his lead out to more than one second by the end of the third tour as Voyce’s Escort saw off the attention from Collier and Janicki. Further down the standings, Jonathan Gill stopped in the Devil's Elbow gravel trap at the end of the third lap after his 205's motor threw a rod. The stranded Peugeot forced a second stoppage as the front runners headed onto their fifth circulation, the chequered flag unsurprisingly soon followed with Vaughan's Team Prawn Racing Audi classified as the winner after three complete laps from Voyce's Escort Mk1, who was the leading Historic car home, and Collier's BMW M3 E46. Janicki, Hufford and Bower formed the top six finishers, with Denwood, Blackie, the Class D-winning Owen and Morris filling out the top ten.
Race Two: Race One winner Vaughan had discovered some abnormal readings on his data logger so the engine was taken apart to be inspected during the morning but still took up his pole position, with the race distance extended to twenty minutes to compensate for the curtailed opening race on Saturday. Voyce powered into the lead at the rolling start and checked out during the opening moments as Vaughan held off the pack headed by James Janicki, Joe Collier, Gary Hufford and David Blackie. All wasn’t well with the Audi and Vaughan pulled to one side through the Devil's Elbow at the end of lap two after a snapped gear linkage bracket left the high-powered hatchback stuck in second gear. Janicki and the BMW group reeled in Voyce as he built up the turbocharged Mk1's tyre pressures in the welcome sunshine, with the top five all together by half distance. The Escort weathered the storm and opened out a lead again to take a deserved victory by 6.967 seconds and also claimed the Historic Thunder spoils. Janicki kept the BMW brigade behind the Nissan until the final lap when the car appeared to switch off approaching Gerard's. Hufford's green E46 M3 thus took a narrow second from Blackie by 0.277 seconds, who took his maiden podium finish in third aboard his four-litre E92 M3. Janicki still claimed fourth after the Nissan burst back into life and crossed the line in front of earlier challenger Collier, who had a spin at Gerard's just after mid-distance. Ian Bower ran in an early sixth but spun on oil from Don Hughes’ blown Peugeot on lap nine and became embroiled in a tough scrap with Shaun Morris’ similar E36 M3, with the Bastos car coming out on top in sixth. Guest entrant David Avis was eighth with his E46 M3, whilst AJ Owen scored a second class win aboard his Civic Type R in ninth and Kevin Denwood’s 3 Series Compact rounded out the top ten.
|
|
|
Pre '66
Qualifying: Little and large machinery was to be found on the front row as the Mini Cooper S of Dan Lewis secured pole position, his second of the season, from Alan Greenhalgh’s Ford Falcon by just 0.075 seconds. The second row was an all-Lotus Cortina affair as Ian Thompson headed Garry Townsend and 0.697 seconds covered the leading four cars to promise a competitive pair of races. A star-studded third row comprised former champion James Ibbotson in fifth and current champion Billy Kenneally lined up beside the Imp with his Anglia in sixth. Robyn Slater was next in line behind his former mount with his Cortina and Ed Gibbs' Anglia completed the fourth row. Kevin Swann's Anglia set the ninth fastest time and Shrigley Engineering guru Andy Jones rounded out the top ten with his Imp.
Race One: The poleman Dan Lewis had to give best to the V8 grunt of Alan Greenhalgh’s Falcon down to the first corner before the Mini grabbed the lead around the outside of Gerard's. The Falcon boomed back alongside down the back straight but Lewis ended the opening lap ahead after snatching the lead back into the Esses. Lewis would be second into Gerard's starting lap two, however, as superior straightline speed saw Greenhalgh blast ahead once more until Lewis repeated his opening lap move to take the lead again. The David vs Goliath battle continued as the Falcon got back ahead on the Stebbe Straight but Lewis flung the Mini around the outside of the Esses to retake the lead and was able to hold on into Gerard's for the third time so started to take control of the race. Greenhalgh regrouped to sit almost within striking distance of the lead with a then-fastest lap fifth time around and it would take until the end of the eighth tour for the leading Mini to stretch its lead to over one second. Lewis gradually eased away as the race progressed into the closing stages to take an impressive victory by 3.589 seconds from the American machine. Billy Kenneally dived into third at Gerard's for the first time and held off Garry Townsend's Cortina for a long period before the pair were caught by Ian Thompson's Alan Mann Cortina, who’d passed Ed Gibbs’ Anglia into Gerard's for the fourth time but Gibbs went straight back under the Cortina. Thompson eventually made a move stick in the same place on lap six. After mounting a stout defence of his third place for close to three-quarters of the race, the reigning champion’s Anglia began to fall back when Townsend got around the outside into the Esses at the eleventh time of asking with Thompson also getting by on the run down to Gerard's half a lap later. Gibbs also battled past before the Esses on lap twelve to become the leading Anglia, Kevin Swann's similar car went by in the same place two laps later and Ed Crossley's Mini further knocked back the spluttering Anglia exiting the Shaw's Hairpin on lap fourteen with less than one and a half minutes left. James Ibbotson took his Imp past Kenneally on lap fifteen before the 2023 champion disappeared on the sixteenth and final lap with a burnt piston, the gutted Sheerness man faces his season coming to an end with a potential three-month wait for a new one to be made. The Anglia’s demise left Townsend to fend off Thompson for the final podium step, which he accomplished by a slender 0.266 seconds. Gibb's took a highly respectable fourth place, 2.973 seconds away from the podium battle. Ibbotson was fifth into Gerard's for the first time with his Imp but had slipped behind Gibbs' Anglia climbing up to the hairpin on lap one. Thompson also passed the 2021 champion through the Devil’s Elbow as the Cortina recovered from a slow start. Kevin Swann later got up the inside into the Esses on lap six for seventh place, after the Anglia had fought through from tenth place by passing the Andy Jones Imp, Robyn Slater Cortina and Crossley Mini during the early stages. The latter pair also demoted Jones' Hillman when it oversteered wide at Gerard’s for the fifth time. The inexperienced Ed Crossley went well with his Mini and also passed Ibbotson down the start/finish straight at the start of the tenth tour to take an eventual seventh place, after getting ahead of Slater’s Cortina on lap seven at Gerard's, and finished just 0.852 seconds down on Swann’s sixth spot. Ibbotson's Imp took the Class E spoils in eighth, whilst Slater's Cortina and Jake Swann's Anglia, which had started fourteenth after pulling off at Gerard's during qualifying, completed the top ten finishers.
Race Two: The Race One runner-up Ford Falcon of Alan Greenhalgh was a non-starter, which elevated Garry Townsend's Lotus Cortina to the front row. The polesitting Mini of Dan Lewis was swamped by the Cortinas of Townsend and Ian Thompson off the line but claimed back second from Thompson into the Esses for the first time. The Cooper S then headed the leaderboard by the completion of lap two after usurping Townsend around the outside of the Esses. The Mini soon scampered clear despite the Cortinas going with Lewis early on and took the chequered flag for the second time with a comfortable 14.967 seconds in hand from Thompson’s Cortina. Townsend’s similar car had held second until suffering a grassy moment at Gerard's after Thompson muscled past with five minutes to go, the ex-TCR UK racer rejoined in fourth behind Kevin Swann’s Anglia. Townsend took third from the Anglebox on the outside into Gerard's starting the last lap and clung on despite Swann’s best efforts to regain the spot, the Cortina had already attempted a move a lap previously but Swann was able to repass as Townsend ran wide. Swann had claimed fourth place into Gerard's for the first time from the similar car of Ed Gibbs, who would be jumped for fifth place by Ed Crossley’s Mini at the hairpin as the first lap reached its conclusion. The Mini’s excellent run ended on lap seven when the car pulled off at the entry to Gerard's and Gibbs also went out two tours later so fifth place eventually went to Robyn Slater’s Cortina from Jake Swann in sixth. The black Anglia had earlier escaped from a great three-way Hillman Imp scrap for the Class E victory between a fast-starting Michael Loveland, Cadwell Park podium finisher Adrian Oliver and 2021 champion James Ibbotson, which went the way of the former by just 0.179 seconds as Ibbotson DNF’d after each had taken a turn leading the trio. Brendan Rooney’s purple Imp also scooped a top-ten finish in ninth ahead of Luc Wilson’s Class D-winning Austin A40.
Qualifying: Little and large machinery was to be found on the front row as the Mini Cooper S of Dan Lewis secured pole position, his second of the season, from Alan Greenhalgh’s Ford Falcon by just 0.075 seconds. The second row was an all-Lotus Cortina affair as Ian Thompson headed Garry Townsend and 0.697 seconds covered the leading four cars to promise a competitive pair of races. A star-studded third row comprised former champion James Ibbotson in fifth and current champion Billy Kenneally lined up beside the Imp with his Anglia in sixth. Robyn Slater was next in line behind his former mount with his Cortina and Ed Gibbs' Anglia completed the fourth row. Kevin Swann's Anglia set the ninth fastest time and Shrigley Engineering guru Andy Jones rounded out the top ten with his Imp.
Race One: The poleman Dan Lewis had to give best to the V8 grunt of Alan Greenhalgh’s Falcon down to the first corner before the Mini grabbed the lead around the outside of Gerard's. The Falcon boomed back alongside down the back straight but Lewis ended the opening lap ahead after snatching the lead back into the Esses. Lewis would be second into Gerard's starting lap two, however, as superior straightline speed saw Greenhalgh blast ahead once more until Lewis repeated his opening lap move to take the lead again. The David vs Goliath battle continued as the Falcon got back ahead on the Stebbe Straight but Lewis flung the Mini around the outside of the Esses to retake the lead and was able to hold on into Gerard's for the third time so started to take control of the race. Greenhalgh regrouped to sit almost within striking distance of the lead with a then-fastest lap fifth time around and it would take until the end of the eighth tour for the leading Mini to stretch its lead to over one second. Lewis gradually eased away as the race progressed into the closing stages to take an impressive victory by 3.589 seconds from the American machine. Billy Kenneally dived into third at Gerard's for the first time and held off Garry Townsend's Cortina for a long period before the pair were caught by Ian Thompson's Alan Mann Cortina, who’d passed Ed Gibbs’ Anglia into Gerard's for the fourth time but Gibbs went straight back under the Cortina. Thompson eventually made a move stick in the same place on lap six. After mounting a stout defence of his third place for close to three-quarters of the race, the reigning champion’s Anglia began to fall back when Townsend got around the outside into the Esses at the eleventh time of asking with Thompson also getting by on the run down to Gerard's half a lap later. Gibbs also battled past before the Esses on lap twelve to become the leading Anglia, Kevin Swann's similar car went by in the same place two laps later and Ed Crossley's Mini further knocked back the spluttering Anglia exiting the Shaw's Hairpin on lap fourteen with less than one and a half minutes left. James Ibbotson took his Imp past Kenneally on lap fifteen before the 2023 champion disappeared on the sixteenth and final lap with a burnt piston, the gutted Sheerness man faces his season coming to an end with a potential three-month wait for a new one to be made. The Anglia’s demise left Townsend to fend off Thompson for the final podium step, which he accomplished by a slender 0.266 seconds. Gibb's took a highly respectable fourth place, 2.973 seconds away from the podium battle. Ibbotson was fifth into Gerard's for the first time with his Imp but had slipped behind Gibbs' Anglia climbing up to the hairpin on lap one. Thompson also passed the 2021 champion through the Devil’s Elbow as the Cortina recovered from a slow start. Kevin Swann later got up the inside into the Esses on lap six for seventh place, after the Anglia had fought through from tenth place by passing the Andy Jones Imp, Robyn Slater Cortina and Crossley Mini during the early stages. The latter pair also demoted Jones' Hillman when it oversteered wide at Gerard’s for the fifth time. The inexperienced Ed Crossley went well with his Mini and also passed Ibbotson down the start/finish straight at the start of the tenth tour to take an eventual seventh place, after getting ahead of Slater’s Cortina on lap seven at Gerard's, and finished just 0.852 seconds down on Swann’s sixth spot. Ibbotson's Imp took the Class E spoils in eighth, whilst Slater's Cortina and Jake Swann's Anglia, which had started fourteenth after pulling off at Gerard's during qualifying, completed the top ten finishers.
Race Two: The Race One runner-up Ford Falcon of Alan Greenhalgh was a non-starter, which elevated Garry Townsend's Lotus Cortina to the front row. The polesitting Mini of Dan Lewis was swamped by the Cortinas of Townsend and Ian Thompson off the line but claimed back second from Thompson into the Esses for the first time. The Cooper S then headed the leaderboard by the completion of lap two after usurping Townsend around the outside of the Esses. The Mini soon scampered clear despite the Cortinas going with Lewis early on and took the chequered flag for the second time with a comfortable 14.967 seconds in hand from Thompson’s Cortina. Townsend’s similar car had held second until suffering a grassy moment at Gerard's after Thompson muscled past with five minutes to go, the ex-TCR UK racer rejoined in fourth behind Kevin Swann’s Anglia. Townsend took third from the Anglebox on the outside into Gerard's starting the last lap and clung on despite Swann’s best efforts to regain the spot, the Cortina had already attempted a move a lap previously but Swann was able to repass as Townsend ran wide. Swann had claimed fourth place into Gerard's for the first time from the similar car of Ed Gibbs, who would be jumped for fifth place by Ed Crossley’s Mini at the hairpin as the first lap reached its conclusion. The Mini’s excellent run ended on lap seven when the car pulled off at the entry to Gerard's and Gibbs also went out two tours later so fifth place eventually went to Robyn Slater’s Cortina from Jake Swann in sixth. The black Anglia had earlier escaped from a great three-way Hillman Imp scrap for the Class E victory between a fast-starting Michael Loveland, Cadwell Park podium finisher Adrian Oliver and 2021 champion James Ibbotson, which went the way of the former by just 0.179 seconds as Ibbotson DNF’d after each had taken a turn leading the trio. Brendan Rooney’s purple Imp also scooped a top-ten finish in ninth ahead of Luc Wilson’s Class D-winning Austin A40.
|
|
|
Pre '83
Qualifying: Mark Cholerton took a slightly unexpected pole position aboard his RS2000 by 0.205 seconds from Jonathan Corker’s Datsun when the fifteen minutes were over. Category leading light Stephen Primett’s Mk1 Escort was back running on all four after its Cadwell Park troubles and lined up third alongside the big SD1 Rover of Nick Williamson that profiled from the Escort’s woes to win in Lincolnshire. Carl Shreeve's Triumph Dolomite Sprint and Dave Thomas' Mk1 Capri V6 lined up in the third row, whilst Graham Smith's Mk1 Escort and Nic Strong's mint Mk1 Capri made up row four. Peter Bulbick's oversteering Mk3 Capri and the Juicy Fruit Golf of Malcolm Jeffs sealed the final two places inside the top ten. The field was completed by Anton Martin’s Mk3 Escort and Mark Fowler’s earlier VMW Motors Mk1, which failed to set a time after pulling off at the Shaw's Hairpin on the out lap with what appeared to be a fuelling issue.
Race One: Mark Cholerton lost his great starting position with a misfire so Jonathan Corker led into Gerard’s from Stephen Primett and the polesitting RS2000. The eleven-time champion then ousted the Datsun from the lead into the Esses, whilst the poleman plummeted down the order before retiring into the pitlane due to fuel starvation. The leading Mk1 Escort couldn’t escape from the irrepressible Corker as the pair drew away from Nick Williamson in third, who repassed Carl Shreeve down the Stebbe Straight after the Triumph went under the Rover at Gerard's. A slip from Corker as he missed fourth gear at the four-minute mark saw him lose ground to Primett but he clawed back the one-second deficit before a repeat of the missed gear put the Datsun 2.168 seconds down with eight minutes to go. Having got his head down, Corker started the final lap on Primett’s bootlid but the Escort held on to win by 0.252 seconds. Williamson slipped back from third on the penultimate lap after the inlet trumpets came loose on his V8 and jammed in the throttle mechanism, leaving the Rover with no more than 25% power and giving Shreeve his maiden overall podium. A short distance behind the Dolomite was Nic Strong’s immaculate Class B-winning Mk1 Capri and Graham Smith’s Escort Mk1, who’d battled past Dave Thomas’ Mk1 Capri on lap two. Williamson trailed home in sixth, in front of squabbling Thomas and Malcolm Jeffs’ Golf. Peter Bulbick’s sideways Capri was the last classified finisher in ninth.
Race Two: Stephen Primett converted his pole position into the race lead at lights out after fending off Jonathan Corker's Datsun in a drag race towards the first corner but the Japanese machine wasn't content to follow the Escort and Corker forced the multiple champion to defend his position down to the Esses for the first time. Nic Strong's Capri made a strong start and threatened the front-row pair off the line before slotting into third at Gerard's, ahead of Carl Shreeve's Triumph and Nick Williamson's Rover SD1. Race One polesitter Mark Cholerton started from the back row after fixing his RS2000 and reached sixth overall by the Esses, having arrived at the sequence three abreast with Graham Smith's Escort Mk1 and Malcolm Jeffs' VW Golf. Williamson attempted to take Shreeve's fourth place on the inside of the Esses on lap two but the Triumph outbraked the Rover on the outside as they slowed for the hairpin to keep the position. Cholerton nipped up the inside of Williamson for fifth at Shaw's Hairpin on lap three as the SD1 dropped back from Strong and Shreeve but the move took almost as far as Gerard's to complete. The quartet were back together by the end of lap four and the RS2000 tried to dummy inside Shreeve at Gerard's before completing his move at the Esses for the fifth time and would be third by the end of the following lap with another lunge at Gerard's. The lead two were never more than half a second apart as they drew away from the third-place contest and Corker attacked on the inside approaching the Esses for the sixth time but the leader held firm, Primett's defences were tested again as the Datsun sped alongside across the timing line closing the eighth lap. Having tailed Primett from the start, Corker threw the Datsun up the inside into Gerard's to take the lead with less than five minutes to go and the rare Japanese saloon quickly began to pull away with the race's fastest lap. A late misfire set in for Primett after a rocker fell apart in the Mk1 Escort's engine as the race headed for its conclusion. As the former leader's pace started to ebb away, Cholerton started to catch the older Escort at a rate of knots and took second at Gerard's for the last time. Primett was able to stagger home in third and had an 11.879-second cushion in hand from Shreeve in fourth. Strong crossed the line in fifth after Shreeve's Dolomite demoted the Capri at the Esses on lap seven. A haze began to emanate from Williamson's Rover at half distance, forcing the Cadwell Park race winner into retirement with overheating and elevating Smith's Escort into the top six. Dave Thomas enjoyed a race-long dice with Jeffs in seventh and eighth, with Bulbick's Capri last of the nine remaining finishers.
Qualifying: Mark Cholerton took a slightly unexpected pole position aboard his RS2000 by 0.205 seconds from Jonathan Corker’s Datsun when the fifteen minutes were over. Category leading light Stephen Primett’s Mk1 Escort was back running on all four after its Cadwell Park troubles and lined up third alongside the big SD1 Rover of Nick Williamson that profiled from the Escort’s woes to win in Lincolnshire. Carl Shreeve's Triumph Dolomite Sprint and Dave Thomas' Mk1 Capri V6 lined up in the third row, whilst Graham Smith's Mk1 Escort and Nic Strong's mint Mk1 Capri made up row four. Peter Bulbick's oversteering Mk3 Capri and the Juicy Fruit Golf of Malcolm Jeffs sealed the final two places inside the top ten. The field was completed by Anton Martin’s Mk3 Escort and Mark Fowler’s earlier VMW Motors Mk1, which failed to set a time after pulling off at the Shaw's Hairpin on the out lap with what appeared to be a fuelling issue.
Race One: Mark Cholerton lost his great starting position with a misfire so Jonathan Corker led into Gerard’s from Stephen Primett and the polesitting RS2000. The eleven-time champion then ousted the Datsun from the lead into the Esses, whilst the poleman plummeted down the order before retiring into the pitlane due to fuel starvation. The leading Mk1 Escort couldn’t escape from the irrepressible Corker as the pair drew away from Nick Williamson in third, who repassed Carl Shreeve down the Stebbe Straight after the Triumph went under the Rover at Gerard's. A slip from Corker as he missed fourth gear at the four-minute mark saw him lose ground to Primett but he clawed back the one-second deficit before a repeat of the missed gear put the Datsun 2.168 seconds down with eight minutes to go. Having got his head down, Corker started the final lap on Primett’s bootlid but the Escort held on to win by 0.252 seconds. Williamson slipped back from third on the penultimate lap after the inlet trumpets came loose on his V8 and jammed in the throttle mechanism, leaving the Rover with no more than 25% power and giving Shreeve his maiden overall podium. A short distance behind the Dolomite was Nic Strong’s immaculate Class B-winning Mk1 Capri and Graham Smith’s Escort Mk1, who’d battled past Dave Thomas’ Mk1 Capri on lap two. Williamson trailed home in sixth, in front of squabbling Thomas and Malcolm Jeffs’ Golf. Peter Bulbick’s sideways Capri was the last classified finisher in ninth.
Race Two: Stephen Primett converted his pole position into the race lead at lights out after fending off Jonathan Corker's Datsun in a drag race towards the first corner but the Japanese machine wasn't content to follow the Escort and Corker forced the multiple champion to defend his position down to the Esses for the first time. Nic Strong's Capri made a strong start and threatened the front-row pair off the line before slotting into third at Gerard's, ahead of Carl Shreeve's Triumph and Nick Williamson's Rover SD1. Race One polesitter Mark Cholerton started from the back row after fixing his RS2000 and reached sixth overall by the Esses, having arrived at the sequence three abreast with Graham Smith's Escort Mk1 and Malcolm Jeffs' VW Golf. Williamson attempted to take Shreeve's fourth place on the inside of the Esses on lap two but the Triumph outbraked the Rover on the outside as they slowed for the hairpin to keep the position. Cholerton nipped up the inside of Williamson for fifth at Shaw's Hairpin on lap three as the SD1 dropped back from Strong and Shreeve but the move took almost as far as Gerard's to complete. The quartet were back together by the end of lap four and the RS2000 tried to dummy inside Shreeve at Gerard's before completing his move at the Esses for the fifth time and would be third by the end of the following lap with another lunge at Gerard's. The lead two were never more than half a second apart as they drew away from the third-place contest and Corker attacked on the inside approaching the Esses for the sixth time but the leader held firm, Primett's defences were tested again as the Datsun sped alongside across the timing line closing the eighth lap. Having tailed Primett from the start, Corker threw the Datsun up the inside into Gerard's to take the lead with less than five minutes to go and the rare Japanese saloon quickly began to pull away with the race's fastest lap. A late misfire set in for Primett after a rocker fell apart in the Mk1 Escort's engine as the race headed for its conclusion. As the former leader's pace started to ebb away, Cholerton started to catch the older Escort at a rate of knots and took second at Gerard's for the last time. Primett was able to stagger home in third and had an 11.879-second cushion in hand from Shreeve in fourth. Strong crossed the line in fifth after Shreeve's Dolomite demoted the Capri at the Esses on lap seven. A haze began to emanate from Williamson's Rover at half distance, forcing the Cadwell Park race winner into retirement with overheating and elevating Smith's Escort into the top six. Dave Thomas enjoyed a race-long dice with Jeffs in seventh and eighth, with Bulbick's Capri last of the nine remaining finishers.
|
|
|
Pre '93/'03/BOSS
Qualifying: The very quick Mk2 Escort of Piers Grange took the overall and BOSS pole position, whilst second qualifier Olly Allen made it a BOSS-exclusive front row with his trick Fiesta a little over a second behind. An all-BMW E36 Pre ‘93 field was headed by 2023 champion Stuart Waite and was just 0.031 quicker than Ian Bower's example as the pair formed the second row. The fastest Pre ‘03 car belonged to Gary Prebble in fifth and the Honda shared the third row with Terry Davies' Pre '93 BMW. Three more Pre ‘93 BMWs in the hands of Wiltshire-based drivers Shaun Morris, Kevin Willis and William Davison filled the seventh to ninth positions, with the Pre '03 Peugeot 306 of Don Hughes making up the top ten.
Race One: Piers Grange got a good launch from pole position and held onto the lead as Olly Allen fell behind Stuart Waite and Ian Bower's Pre '93 BMWs plus Pre '03 top qualifier Gary Prebble by the first corner. Waite had squeezed his M3 through a narrow gap between the poleman and the Fiesta to gain second place. After building momentum through Gerard's, Allen took Prebble into the Esses for fourth place on the opening lap, then moved past Bower into third on lap three before the Fiesta displaced Waite to go second a lap later at his favoured Esses. The charging Lincolnshire man reeled in leader Grange as lapped traffic came into the equation and the Mk2 Escort was forced to get its elbows out as the Fiesta searched for a way past. At the halfway point, Allen saw his chance to dive up the inside of Grange for the race lead into the Esses but skated wide and lost the battle for control before reversing into the barriers, which flattened the Fiesta’s exhaust. The race continued for a few more laps before being stopped to recover the stranded Duratec-engined machine. A four-way BMW battle contested fifth to eighth places overall and third in Pre '93 before the stoppage as Davison fended off Terry Davies, Shaun Morris and Kevin Willis, Davies and Morris having swapped places at the Esses on lap one. Graham Myers' Pre '93 M3 was next up, with the rest of the top fourteen going to Pre '03 drivers Cavan Grainger, Don Hughes, Mike Nash, John Hillyer and Anton Martin. A five-minute rerun would be the last race of the meeting's opening day. A fast-starting Waite got the drop initially but Grange drove around the BMW into Gerards to take the lead, with Bower settling into third. As the Mk2 Escort's slick tyres came into the window, Grange was able to make his escape to victory by 3.063 seconds from the Pre '93-heading BMWs of Waite and Bower. The next five positions also went to Pre '93 BMW M3s as Davies fought off Morris and Willlis, with Davison and Myers following them home. Pre '03 front runner Gary Prebble slipped into the midst of the battling E36s at the start but moved back up to fourth at the Esses for the second time. Inside the last 90 seconds of the race, Prebble fell back behind the four following BMs and eventually retired with fuel pump failure when the field went onto the final lap to hand the category win to Don Hughes' unmistakable Peugeot 306. The French hatchback took the Pre '03 win by 4.367 seconds from Grainger's E46 BMW in ninth and tenth overall, the pair had swapped places at the Esses just before the category-leading Honda's problems started. William Hunt, Tim Mizen, Craig Owen and Sam Daffin were closely tied for second of the BOSS competitors throughout. The battle was resolved when Owen's Sierra passed Mizen on the last lap after the Fiesta ran wide at the Esses to grab the final spot on the BOSS podium behind Hunt.
Race Two: Saving the best until last, the second Pre ‘93/‘03/BOSS encounter produced the drive and race of the weekend. Olly Allen had fixed the 2.5-litre Fiesta overnight after his Race One incident and would start from 24th, last in other words. Pre '03 pacesetter Gary Prebble and Daz Owen's BOSS Mk2 Escort started towards the back too, in 22nd and 23rd respectively. As in Saturday's five-minute sprint, front-row starter Stuart Waite launched ahead of poleman Piers Grange off the grid with his Pre '93 BMW but Grange swept around the outside into Gerard's to take up the running. However, the Mk2 Escort was quickly back under pressure from Waite, who took a long look at the race leader along the Stebbe Straight for the first time. Bower established himself in third as the top three got away from the tussling M3s of Terry Davies, Shaun Morris, Kevin Willis and William Davison. Willis had a big spin on dropped oil exiting Gerard's for the third time to fall back from sixth position, whilst Prebble's Honda in tenth followed the BMW off when he was close to catching the Pre '03 leader Cavan Grainger and was three places ahead of Allen's Fiesta at the time as they climbed through the field. The top three were locked together on lap four and Bower took second overall from his Pre '93 rival on the run to the Esses on the fifth circulation. Two laps later, Waite made a bid to regain the Pre '93 lead around the outside of the Castrol M3 at the Esses but contact was made as Bower stuck to the racing line. The coming together tore the front bumper off Waite's BMW and the damage would prove terminal as the M3 went out on lap nine. After making solid progress through the field in the early stages, Allen's Fiesta was coming on strong after setting continual fastest laps once he’d reached clearer air. The 2.5-litre Fiesta took third overall off Davies into Gerard's on the twelfth tour and still had five minutes to catch the lead pair 3.519 seconds up the road. Impressively, the flying Ford got there inside three laps and sliced into second towards Gerard's with three minutes to go. Grange defended his lead with all he knew but on the last lap among a gaggle of lapped BOSS and Pre '03 traffic, Allen boxed in the Mk2 Escort behind Craig Owen’s Sierra Cosworth along the Stebbe Straight to take the lead and a fairytale win by 0.566 seconds, much to the delight of many bystanders. Grange was second in both BOSS and overall to the thrilled Fiesta pilot and Bower sealed the Pre '93 win in third overall and was 2.100 seconds down on the victorious Allen, whilst Davies kept the leaders in sight in a lonely fourth as he took the Pre ‘93 runner-up spot. Fellow category contenders Morris and Davison’s E36 BMWs were fifth and sixth after crossing the line together. Prebble fought back from almost last after his Gerard's off to be the top Pre '03 competitor home in seventh, just ahead of fellow spinner Willis and the pair spent close to a whole lap abreast as they fought their way through the pack. Graham Myers was ninth past the flag with another of the Pre '93 BMWs, whilst the newer Cavan Grainger and Anton Martin E46 BMWs came home second and third among the Pre ‘03s in tenth and eleventh, split by less than half a second, after being caught and passed by Prebble’s recovering Honda with four minutes to go. Craig Owen took his second BOSS podium of the weekend in twelfth and was closely followed across the line by John Hillyer's E36 BMW 3 Series Touring. Tim Mizen fought hard for the BOSS Class D spoils in his Fiesta and took the trophy by less than a second from William Hunt's newer example.
Qualifying: The very quick Mk2 Escort of Piers Grange took the overall and BOSS pole position, whilst second qualifier Olly Allen made it a BOSS-exclusive front row with his trick Fiesta a little over a second behind. An all-BMW E36 Pre ‘93 field was headed by 2023 champion Stuart Waite and was just 0.031 quicker than Ian Bower's example as the pair formed the second row. The fastest Pre ‘03 car belonged to Gary Prebble in fifth and the Honda shared the third row with Terry Davies' Pre '93 BMW. Three more Pre ‘93 BMWs in the hands of Wiltshire-based drivers Shaun Morris, Kevin Willis and William Davison filled the seventh to ninth positions, with the Pre '03 Peugeot 306 of Don Hughes making up the top ten.
Race One: Piers Grange got a good launch from pole position and held onto the lead as Olly Allen fell behind Stuart Waite and Ian Bower's Pre '93 BMWs plus Pre '03 top qualifier Gary Prebble by the first corner. Waite had squeezed his M3 through a narrow gap between the poleman and the Fiesta to gain second place. After building momentum through Gerard's, Allen took Prebble into the Esses for fourth place on the opening lap, then moved past Bower into third on lap three before the Fiesta displaced Waite to go second a lap later at his favoured Esses. The charging Lincolnshire man reeled in leader Grange as lapped traffic came into the equation and the Mk2 Escort was forced to get its elbows out as the Fiesta searched for a way past. At the halfway point, Allen saw his chance to dive up the inside of Grange for the race lead into the Esses but skated wide and lost the battle for control before reversing into the barriers, which flattened the Fiesta’s exhaust. The race continued for a few more laps before being stopped to recover the stranded Duratec-engined machine. A four-way BMW battle contested fifth to eighth places overall and third in Pre '93 before the stoppage as Davison fended off Terry Davies, Shaun Morris and Kevin Willis, Davies and Morris having swapped places at the Esses on lap one. Graham Myers' Pre '93 M3 was next up, with the rest of the top fourteen going to Pre '03 drivers Cavan Grainger, Don Hughes, Mike Nash, John Hillyer and Anton Martin. A five-minute rerun would be the last race of the meeting's opening day. A fast-starting Waite got the drop initially but Grange drove around the BMW into Gerards to take the lead, with Bower settling into third. As the Mk2 Escort's slick tyres came into the window, Grange was able to make his escape to victory by 3.063 seconds from the Pre '93-heading BMWs of Waite and Bower. The next five positions also went to Pre '93 BMW M3s as Davies fought off Morris and Willlis, with Davison and Myers following them home. Pre '03 front runner Gary Prebble slipped into the midst of the battling E36s at the start but moved back up to fourth at the Esses for the second time. Inside the last 90 seconds of the race, Prebble fell back behind the four following BMs and eventually retired with fuel pump failure when the field went onto the final lap to hand the category win to Don Hughes' unmistakable Peugeot 306. The French hatchback took the Pre '03 win by 4.367 seconds from Grainger's E46 BMW in ninth and tenth overall, the pair had swapped places at the Esses just before the category-leading Honda's problems started. William Hunt, Tim Mizen, Craig Owen and Sam Daffin were closely tied for second of the BOSS competitors throughout. The battle was resolved when Owen's Sierra passed Mizen on the last lap after the Fiesta ran wide at the Esses to grab the final spot on the BOSS podium behind Hunt.
Race Two: Saving the best until last, the second Pre ‘93/‘03/BOSS encounter produced the drive and race of the weekend. Olly Allen had fixed the 2.5-litre Fiesta overnight after his Race One incident and would start from 24th, last in other words. Pre '03 pacesetter Gary Prebble and Daz Owen's BOSS Mk2 Escort started towards the back too, in 22nd and 23rd respectively. As in Saturday's five-minute sprint, front-row starter Stuart Waite launched ahead of poleman Piers Grange off the grid with his Pre '93 BMW but Grange swept around the outside into Gerard's to take up the running. However, the Mk2 Escort was quickly back under pressure from Waite, who took a long look at the race leader along the Stebbe Straight for the first time. Bower established himself in third as the top three got away from the tussling M3s of Terry Davies, Shaun Morris, Kevin Willis and William Davison. Willis had a big spin on dropped oil exiting Gerard's for the third time to fall back from sixth position, whilst Prebble's Honda in tenth followed the BMW off when he was close to catching the Pre '03 leader Cavan Grainger and was three places ahead of Allen's Fiesta at the time as they climbed through the field. The top three were locked together on lap four and Bower took second overall from his Pre '93 rival on the run to the Esses on the fifth circulation. Two laps later, Waite made a bid to regain the Pre '93 lead around the outside of the Castrol M3 at the Esses but contact was made as Bower stuck to the racing line. The coming together tore the front bumper off Waite's BMW and the damage would prove terminal as the M3 went out on lap nine. After making solid progress through the field in the early stages, Allen's Fiesta was coming on strong after setting continual fastest laps once he’d reached clearer air. The 2.5-litre Fiesta took third overall off Davies into Gerard's on the twelfth tour and still had five minutes to catch the lead pair 3.519 seconds up the road. Impressively, the flying Ford got there inside three laps and sliced into second towards Gerard's with three minutes to go. Grange defended his lead with all he knew but on the last lap among a gaggle of lapped BOSS and Pre '03 traffic, Allen boxed in the Mk2 Escort behind Craig Owen’s Sierra Cosworth along the Stebbe Straight to take the lead and a fairytale win by 0.566 seconds, much to the delight of many bystanders. Grange was second in both BOSS and overall to the thrilled Fiesta pilot and Bower sealed the Pre '93 win in third overall and was 2.100 seconds down on the victorious Allen, whilst Davies kept the leaders in sight in a lonely fourth as he took the Pre ‘93 runner-up spot. Fellow category contenders Morris and Davison’s E36 BMWs were fifth and sixth after crossing the line together. Prebble fought back from almost last after his Gerard's off to be the top Pre '03 competitor home in seventh, just ahead of fellow spinner Willis and the pair spent close to a whole lap abreast as they fought their way through the pack. Graham Myers was ninth past the flag with another of the Pre '93 BMWs, whilst the newer Cavan Grainger and Anton Martin E46 BMWs came home second and third among the Pre ‘03s in tenth and eleventh, split by less than half a second, after being caught and passed by Prebble’s recovering Honda with four minutes to go. Craig Owen took his second BOSS podium of the weekend in twelfth and was closely followed across the line by John Hillyer's E36 BMW 3 Series Touring. Tim Mizen fought hard for the BOSS Class D spoils in his Fiesta and took the trophy by less than a second from William Hunt's newer example.
|
|
|
The CTCRC’s biggest event of the season comes next as the club heads to Brands Hatch for the second Super Touring Power promotion on the 29th and 30th of June, with races taking place on both the Grand Prix and Indy layouts.