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Snetterton

August 6th

Ridiculous red ruins the race

It is 6 weeks since everyone last gathered up at Oulton, so it was pleasing to see yet another healthy grid for the first of our 3 Snet rounds this season. By electing to drop the Brands Festival race off the Championship, we tried to get a double header at Pembrey instead. Unfortunately that meeting became booked up (with Irish Formula Fordsters of all people..), so we ended up with Snetterton instead. Perhaps not ideal, but at least it provides for a decent bit of socialising on the Saturday night. I hope you’re going Chubbs, as we need the barby !

Steve Hare saw his championship lead reduce somewhat at Oulton, and he came to Snetterton not having raced here for over 10 years. Paul Walton was looking for a repeat of his 2005 performances here, not having won yet this season. Simon Davey was hopeful of a decent points haul to put him back into contention, with David Penlington, Anthony Wills, Ollie Robinson and David Gathercole all in with a shout. Phil Norris surprised us with his very smart Macon M28 which he purchased a couple of years ago, and we had another new Class B entry in the form of FF2000 pilot Colin Wright, switching camps this weekend in his fabulous Merlyn Mk 17. Dave Lowe was hopeful of returning to winning form following a poor start to the season with mystifying electrical troubles. Robert Boyer was back after his Oulton shunt with a very new looking RF81 courtesy of Mr Thorogood. And finally, Garrick Eyre raised a few eyebrows when he turned up with his Crossle 25F in the back of his father’s F1 truck ! To Colin and Garrick, welcome to the club.

Fridays test session was blighted by red flags, a situation that may be expected in the wet, but in what were good conditions it was more than a little unfortunate for those who made the trip up to the circuit early for some practice. Unfortunately it was a sign of things to come over the course of the weekend. The lesson learned here though was not to attend the Friday afternoon session as it was much busier than the morning, and with the busy track came the red flags, spoiling the two 50 minute sessions into about twenty five laps. You just dont want to work out how much that cost per lap! Still a helicopter was spotted arriving early in the evening, no doubt to pick up the copious amounts of money collected from the competitors during the day.

Qualifying went well for most, despite very high ambient temperatures which led to some overheated engines as well as overheated drivers. With everyone trying to get a tow down the back straight, there was little opportunity to run in any cool(ish) air. Nevertheless, nobody suffered an engine failure, although Colin Williams blew his clutch apart late in the session, necessitating a busy afternoon replacing it. David Gathercole had a misfire, and hobbled round to do his 3 laps, ending up 20^th, joining Mrs G on the 10^th row. Joe Walton again blew away the Novice opposition with a strong mid-field grid slot. Dave Malpas was an uncharacteristic 14^th, and Andrew Smith was only a couple of tenths shy of Dave Lowe. Dave still hadn’t solved his misfire however, although he eventually discovered a broken float (‘the first time that has happened to me in forty years’). Alan Williamson was happy to break the top ten, 1.6 seconds off pole. Up at the sharp end, Simon predictably ended up on pole, two tenths up on Ollie. Anthony was mightily impressed with third, arguably his best qualifying performance since Brands 2004. Dave Penlington was five thousandths adrift, sharing row 2, with Paul and Steve Hare behind.

The 2 litre boys managed just the 2 red flags today, one less than last year I seem to remember !

At least it was marginally cooler come the race. At the start, Simon led into Riches, although Ollie was in front once they rounded Coram. David Penlington slipped back to 6^th, whilst, further back, Andrew Smith was swamped as he crawled off the line – from 10^th on the grid, he was only two or three cars off the back at the end of the opening lap. He was to call it a day on lap 6 with horribly high water temperature.

Ollie led all of lap 2, with Simon on his gearbox and Anthony keeping a watching brief in third, then Paul, Steve, David Penlington, Jon Nash going well in 7^th, then Alan, Dave Lowe comfortably leading Class B, Colin, Dave Malpas, and David Gathercole, already up to 12^th from 20^th !

Ollie blew it on lap 3 however, spinning out at Riches, only to resume near the back. This meant Simon led again, but Steve was on the move, firstly dispensing with Anthony on lap 4, before taking the lead from Simon on lap 6. Paul also gained third from Anthony on lap 5, with David Gathercole incredibly up to 6^th.

However, suddenly it was all over. The red flags came out as the leaders were on lap 8. Jeff Palmer spun at Riches, and, although he got going again, the officials made a split second decision to throw the red flag, thus ending what was clearly going to be an interesting last 3 laps. With over 60% race distance covered, they declared the result at the end of lap 5 (!), which meant Simon took the win (his second of the season), which elevated him to third in the Class A chase. With Steve second and Paul third (with fastest lap), the 5 point gap remains at the top of the table.

Cobra Driver of the Day - Alan Williamson & Colin Williams

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