In B, Paul Smith was back out again in the immaculate 25F. It was good to see another old face in Steve Mawhinney, who crossed the Irish Sea with Jamesy Hagan. Steve Hare was out for the first time this year following his wedding to Pratibha, which has depleted his bank balance as well as his energy levels. And Michael Burdon was out again, following his one and only race so far at the season opener at Oulton.

It was fantastic to witness 34 formula fords venturing out to qualify, a sight not seen in the Classics for many years. It was a warm, sunny morning, and the track was bone dry. Immediately on the pace was Paul Walton (who else ?), who benefited from testing the previous day. Paul Smith was up there too, a quite amazing effort considering he had not raced here since 1977 ! Steve Mawhinney was also down into the 1m20s bracket, he too hadn’t raced for 2 years prior to the previous weekend. Simon Davey was clearly looking for a decent result to at least keep alive his championship chances, slim though they were. He was the only other driver to dip into the 20s.

The grid comprised : the two Pauls on the front row, Walton on pole, Smith alongside. Steve Mawhinney and Simon occupied row 2, Colin Williams put in a fantastic effort in putting the PRS fifth, using new tyres to good effect (surely one of his best qualifying performances) with Steve Bradley four tenths back in sixth. Dave Lowe took the Class A pole in seventh, despite an oil line fracture on the 69. Richard Shelton, Anthony Wills and Jamesy Hagan completed the top 10. Steve Hare took 11th, Michael Burdon did well to take 12^th and the top novice driver, with Jon Nash keeping it together to claim 13^th, Andy Powell 14^th, Roger Newman 15^th, Pete Chippindale 16^th, Dave Malpas 17^th, a lacklustre (from what we’ve come to expect) Jon Davis 18^th, Paul McMorran 19^th and Chubby Hubbard 20^th. The remainder of the grid comprised : Keith Ward, an unimpressed Neil Marshall, Phil Norris, Steve Pearce, John Hesp, Ian Millward (but not destined to take the start), Lorraine Gathercole, Mike Whithead, Paul Mills, Mark Pearce, Dave Owen, Robert Boyer, Michael Valentine and Steven Russell.

The Race : The formation of cars onto the dummy grid was delayed by the startline marshals, who couldn’t decide where to put Messrs Pearce and Hubbard. Neither driver appeared on the grid sheet, and they were eventually told to start from the back of the grid (despite empty grid slots further up). At one point, Steve was even asked to jump out of the car and go and see the Clerk of the Course ! All this for a driver who wasn’t even aware that he was a reserve until he turned up and signed on ! ‘There was nothing in my final instructions about being a reserve – in fact there were only 19 entries on the list !’ said a rather miffed Steve after the race. As it was, at least he got to race, which (had Michael Valentine decided to start) may not have been the case. Having changed an engine the preceding day, Steve would have been justifiably well annoyed had they tried to throw him out.