Practice | The Race | Results

Having tested at Mallory about 10 days prior to the race and posting a best time of 54.48, I was looking forward to practice, as I knew where I could gain more time. I set out 2nd in line, just behind Steve Taylor, and spent several laps following him around. After a few laps, we began to come across the last cars in the group, and the traffic meant that I had difficulty in finding a clear lap. This resulted in a disappointing time of 54.721 - over 1 second slower than I had been before. I was annoyed with this, but determined to make a good start.

Several new cars and drivers were making their debuts, notably Martin Smith driving the first ever Procomp LA Gold - designed by Mike Topp's engineer, Ivan Gilmour, of Procomp Motorsport. Martin managed a brilliant time of 53.420 to take class B pole - his first ever. Ian Creba was driving Martin's car from last year, and managed an excellent 10th on the grid, just behind John Sims, one of several drivers making the move to class C (1.8 litre Zetec engines). Jonathan Edwards upheld Westfield's honour, with 4th place on the grid, and Rob Putnam survived a scare when his tonneau cover removed the battery master switch to post a time of 56.931 which put him 19th on the grid out of 22. Notable absentees were Mike Topp, who is finishing off his own LA Gold, and Mark Owen, who has moved to class A with a new Vauxhall engine.

The Race | Results | Practice

I started this race fresh from winning class D of the Roadsports championship - this is the new class for TVR Tasmin cars, and I had been driving the hire car belonging to Steve Lewis. Check out www.pistonheads.com for more details... This was to be my only good result of the day however, as I made yet another appalling start. It was the same old story - pile on the revs, drop the clutch, change into 2nd... neutral... try 2nd again..., OK, off we go. By this time, I was almost in last place, and on the outside going round Gerrards. It seemed as though every man and his dog was getting past me, but once I had gathered momentum, I set off in pursuit of the 4 cars in front of me.

I was right behind Paul Evans for a couple of laps, but just didn't have the confidence to dive down the inside of him under braking for the Esses, although I was exiting Gerrards faster than Paul was. On lap 3 though, we all had to slow for the yellow and black quartered flags, as Simon Childs' engine had expired, and the marshals needed to move the car from Gerrards. We continued around as if a pace car was leading us for several laps, until the green flag was shown, and I continued to pursue Paul Evans. After several attempts, I finally managed to make my move stick, and went through at the Esses. Next in my sights was Tim Childs, but my pursuit was made difficult by the fact that someone had dumped a load of water at the hairpin, which made life rather interesting! It was very slippery both in the braking area, and also around the bend itself, which caused several people to have "moments". Tim Childs managed to spin his Westfield, and I nipped through while he was still pointing at the watching crowd - another place gained. Unfortunately I didn't have enough laps left to catch the next car, which finished 2 seconds in front of me.

All in all, it was a fairly depressing day - I had high hopes after setting good times in testing, but I just seemed to get slower and slower through practice and the race. I was cheered up though when I saw that Martin Smith had won class B in his LA Gold, despite it being the car's first ever race! Martin is one of the nicest guys I know, and is always more than willing to offer help or advice, as are most of the people in the series.

Results | Practice | The Race

Qualifying Times

Race Results