Despite ending the season at a track that few people wanted, the entry for the final round was remarkably strong. A 27 car grid included a season-best 8 cars in Class A, bolstered by Paul Hubbard in his first and last outing this year (Chubbs has instead ventured across the channel on a few occasions this season), Chris Dinnage (in Dan Collins’ Lotus 69), James Denty (hoping for somewhat more than his DNF here in May), Albert Clements in his fourth outing of the season, and Paul Sleeman in his third. It was also good to see one of the Pre 74 stalwarts from years gone by, Paul Simms, who brought along his March 718 which he had not raced in 8 years !  

In the Bs, David Penlington was out for his one and only championship race prior to the WHT. It was abundantly clear that David has saved shed loads of dosh this year by his lack of competition – not only a smart new green and yellow awning to match the colour scheme on the RP26, but similarly coloured floor tiles to match ! Mmm, nice.. Other ‘irregulars’ included Michael Burdon (third race) and Matthew Edwards (second). 

Surprisingly Norfolk provided a fully dry weekend, which allowed the Saturday night barby to be enjoyed by all those who made it for the AGM. Thanks to Kevin and Lynda for taking charge of the cooking whilst the rest of us piled into the cobras.

Poor Anthony Wills’ luck doesn’t seem to get much better. He had driven up to spectate, but on arrival announced that on account of a dodgy sausage (at home – nothing to do with the barby you understand), he was in the throes of severe food poisoning ! He departed for London almost as soon as he had arrived, but not before he had left his mark in the paddock !

Qualifying : A late morning practice allowed a fairly leisurely start to the proceedings. The 15 minute session went without any major drama except for poor Michael Burdon who buzzed his engine so badly that it broke the crank. Exit one PRS. Hope to see more of you next season Michael !  As expected, circuit specialist Simon Davey took pole comfortably by 1 second from a surprised James Denty, despite a failed luminition towards the end. Dave Lowe was only a tenth adrift of James, with Paul Walton an uncharacteristic fourth, having suffered a mysterious braking problem which baffled Robin. Under heavy braking, the car was veering to the right so badly that Paul could barely make the left hander at the end of the Revett Straight. A visit to the pits did not rectify the problem, although it seemed to cure itself towards the end of the session. ‘Possibly gravel in the calliper, in which case it’s the first time I’ve ever heard of it in a racing car’ was Robin’s plausible explanation. In the circumstances then, fourth (only 1.3 seconds away from pole) was pretty damned good.

David Penlington was happy enough with fifth, although Paul Sleeman was none too pleased to be 1.5 seconds adrift. Richard Shelton and Steve Pearce took the fourth row, with Jon Nash and Dave Malpas rounding out the top ten. Dave would have his work cut out to retain second place in the B Championship, what with Mr Davey on form and looking for a win.

Robert Boyer blew his head gasket a few laps into his session, which necessitated a busier-than-expected lunch hour. And Michael Valentine’s meticulous car preparation let him down when he discovered a leaking water pipe just before heading out. With ever increasing temperatures, he pootled round at 2000rpm to do his 3 timed laps. Next time Michael you may want to keep off the racing line. Colin Williams was unimpressed when he came up to him on the exit of Coram – ‘having to hit the grass whilst flat in fourth is no joke whatsoever’ he said. Fortunately for him, he was able to resume the circuit after Russell without damage.

Post race scrutineering saw Matthew Edwards declared 4kg underweight, which baffled him somewhat, as the RF79 was already ballasted. ‘I haven’t touched the car since I bought it from Ken (Thorogood) earlier in the year, so what is he doing selling me an underweight car ?!’ was Matthew’s tongue-in-cheek response back in the paddock. Until Paul Mills came to his rescue with some of his own lead, Matthew’s good lady was seen smashing a transformer to smithereens in their attempt to put on some weight ! One way to do it I suppose !

The Race : With Michael Burdon long since departed, 26 cars lined up on the grid come mid afternoon. Bearing in mind the carnage when the Classics last came here, we hoped for 10 trouble-free laps. Well, how wrong can you be.

Matthew intended to start from the back (due to being underweight in practice), but the startline marshals placed him on his grid position. Being the gentleman that he is, he then proceeded to let the rest of the field go past him on the first run down the Revett Straight.

Up front, Simon and James were side by side going through Riches, and James took the lead into Sear, although this lasted only the length of the back straight as Simon then Paul Walton slipstreamed past into the Esses. Over the line for the first time we had Simon leading from Paul, James, Dave Lowe, Paul Sleeman and Jon Nash. Steve spun at Russell, undoing his good qualifying work, and resumed towards the tail of the field.

The leading trio opened up a slight gap to Paul Sleeman in fourth, who had his mirrors full of Dave’s 69, whilst Jon Nash kept a watching brief (no doubt mindful of his end-over-end here 5 months ago). Next up were Richard, Dave Malpas, Dave Penlington, Colin, Neil Marshall, with a gap to Phil Norris and Paul Hubbard.

Paul Walton was leading at the end of lap 3 when Dave Malpas made a rather opportunistic lunge into Russell, trying to outbreak Richard. The resulting contact pitched Richard into a spin (from which he recovered), but Dave was out on the spot, seeing his chances of second in the B Championship evaporate. With his car stationary at Russell, the race was red flagged.

The re-grid was based on the positions at the end of lap 3 : Simon, Paul Walton, James, Dave Lowe, Paul Sleeman, Jon, Richard, Dave Penlington, Colin, Neil, Phil, Paul Hubbard, Alan Williamson, Keith Ward, John Hesp, Jeff Palmer, Paul Mills (overheating), Robert Boyer, Doug Kibble, Steve, Chris, Matthew, Albert and Michael Valentine. As well as Dave Malpas, we had lost Paul Simms, who had (I think) made contact with a spinning Keith Ward. Paul drove the March back to the pits to retire.

At the restart (of a 6 lapper), Paul Walton led from Simon, Dave Lowe, James, Jon and Paul Sleeman, Richard, Dave Penlington, Colin, Neil and Paul Hubbard. At Sear on lap 2, John Hesp locked up and tapped Alan into a spin. Keith had nowhere to go and slammed into Alan’s rear, whilst Steve, having slightly more time on his hands, swapped sides and almost got away with passing Alan on the right. Almost, but not quite…Exit 3 cars, Keith with substantial damage to the whole right hand side, Alan minus his right front, and some damage to the right rear, and Steve also with right front damage. With debris littering the circuit, another red flag was shown.

And so to another re-grid : Simon, Paul Walton, James, Dave Lowe, Paul Sleeman, Jon, Richard, Dave Penlington, Colin, Neil, Phil, Paul Hubbard, John, Jeff, Paul Mills, Robert, Doug, Chris, Albert, Michael and Matthew. This would be a 4 lapper, if it could get that far…

For the third time of asking, Paul and James were up to first and second by Sear, with Jon doing well to get up to third. Simon retook this position going into the Esses. Over the line at the end of lap 1 we had: Paul Walton, James, Simon, Jon, Paul Sleeman, Dave Lowe, Dave Penlington, Colin, Richard, Neil, Paul Hubbard, Phil and John.

Simon took second from James on lap 2, otherwise the order remained unchanged. Doug pulled off, out of fuel (!)

The final two laps saw Paul hold off Simon to take the final win of the year, (amassing an incredible 105 points after dropping his worst score – 9 points !), with James taking the Class A win in third overall. Dave Lowe took fourth/second in Class, with Jon doing a very good job to bring the RF80 home in fifth (third in Class B), holding of Dave Penlington. Paul Sleeman was the other trophy recipient in seventh. Further back, Neil won the mid-field battle with Richard and Colin, and, another 7 seconds down the road Paul Hubbard held off Phil Norris. John Hesp came home in 13^th, to claim the Novice win (and edge out Paul Mills for second place in the Novice Challenge, who had succumbed to engine damage following the continued overheating on the restarts).

And so to the end of yet another season. Not really the best way to end it, but at least Simon and Jon had hard-fought, clean races (they even shook hands afterwards, which was good to see). With two engines damaged and suspension damage (at the very least) to three cars, it proved to be an expensive end-of-season jaunt for those already mentioned.

Paul Walton was awarded the Cobra Beer Driver of the Day – well, he had to win it sometime this year didn’t he ?

To those doing the WHT, good luck. To everyone, happy Xmas, enjoy the long winter nights getting those cars back in shape for 2006, and hopefully see you all at the dinner dance on Saturday 25^th February.

ADH.