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Thruxton 11th September 2004
Race report from Andy Hodson: 21 entries for Thruxton was a bit disappointing
considering our grid sizes this season. However, it was only one down on last
year, and we were missing championship hopeful Paul Walton and therefore
Richard Shelton. It was also good to see Euro Fordster Alan Crocker making a
rare outing in our series, along with The race meeting itself was extremely odd – 250cc
karts (they must be totally mad, doing 150mph round here with nothing to strap
them in and only an inch off the floor…), mixed up with an hour an a half of
Britsports, 2 hours of Britcars (yawn yawn), with only Classic FF1600 and 2000
providing ‘normal’ entertainment. Not the greatest race meeting run at BARC’s
home track, but never mind. The sun was shining (after a week-long forecast of
torrential rain), and our season of dry races was set to continue. Qualifying went reasonably well for most. Dave
Penlington got down to business immediately from the front of the queue, but
ran out of road at the complex on his fifth lap, taking off his nose and
bending a siderail. He spent the remaining 8 minutes watching, but so fast was
he in his limited time on track that nobody could better his time. The other Dave (Lowe this time) came closest,
a quarter of a second adrift, with Anthony Wills a happy third alongside Simon
Davey. Anthony reckoned the car was better than ever, having been repaired by
Bernard following his Snet pitlane shunt 2 weeks earlier. It was good to see
him back to his old self again. Alan – lap record holder back in 2000 – could
only manage 6th, and then announced his intention to start from the
back of the grid. Officially he didn’t want to interfear with the big points
scorers, and had the wrong first gear in the box which he reckoned would cause
problems off the grid. Excuses, excuses….he just wanted to have some fun ! Colin Williams lined up a happy 7th,
despite leaving his nosecone at the side of the track midway through the
session, and tempting a bored The only other casualty was Ollie Robinson, whose
front upright bolt sheered, giving him a busy lunchbreak. Dave Malpas retired midway through the
session with an overheating engine, a problem that he was unfortunately unable
to remedy come the race. The gap between practice and race seemed to go on
forever. Atleast Dave P appreciated this, as he was kept busy getting repairs
sorted. The RP26 was patched up, although Dave was unsure as to its ability to
go round corners, and warned that he might (just might) peel off on the warm up
should the handling not be to his taste. Sadly for the competition, he remained on track, and
took up his position on pole. Dave Lowe
briefly led into the complex on the opening lap, but the Dave P was having none
of it, and retook the lead before the end of the lap, and thereafter drove away
from his pursuers to a faultless second victory. The scrutineers took a keen
interest in his nosecone however, but somehow the tanktape and rivets held the
thing together for ten laps. With pole and fastest lap, he went home 13 points
better off. Nicely played. Behind, the battle for second to sixth was fantastic,
and kept the commentator extremely busy. From my observations on the pitwall, 2nd
place changed 4 times, 3rd changed 3 times, 4th 5 times,
5th 6 times and 6th 4 times. This was certainly no
procession, and Classic FF1600 was yet again providing the best entertainment
of the day. The man on the move was a confident Jon Nash, up from 10th
to 6th by the second lap. By the end of lap 4 he was 5th,
4th by lap 5, 3rd by lap 6, and took Simon for 2nd
on lap 7 ! This was new territory for the Londoner, but he was keeping it under
control despite intense pressure from Messrs Davey, Lowe and Wills. With 3
abreast into the chicane on lap 8, Jon kept position. But it all went pear
shaped at So, the race-long battle ended with another second
place finish for Simon (his fourth on the trot), with Dave Lowe a tenth adrift
to take the Class A win (and, with Paul’s absence, retakes the overall
championship lead). Anthony took 4th, a fraction clear of Jon, with
Pete Denham a similar distance behind for 2nd in Class A (which
moves him up to joint second in the Class A points with Steve Collyer). Alan, starting at the back remember, was up 5 places
by the end of lap 1, and was 8th by lap 4. He steadily hauled in
Colin, and overtook him on the final tour to finish 7th, and 3rd
in Class A. So much for not wishing to interfere with the points Alan…. With Colin having a rather lonely run to 8th,
Paul McMorran and Ollie (both Thruxton first-timers) rounded out the top 10.
Ollie took the Novice win for the fourth time this season, with Jeff Palmer
keeping a watching brief in 11th. The only non finisher was Dave No 3 (Malpas), who
packed it in on lap 5 with similar overheating troubles to those he had earlier
in the day. So, another excellent race – well played guys. Thanks
to all those who ventured down on Friday for the barby (nice one Chubbs). Sorry
to the Mancunians who arrived too late courtesy of the M6 (the lamb burgers
were too nice to keep). Silverstone in a weeks time then : 3 rounds to go, and the championship remains wide open. Sadly we say goodbye to Simon as he will miss the final races due to business commitments. ADH.
Cobra Driver of the Day - Jon Nash | |
