The first Armed Forces Challenge race at Silverstone last weekend provided the best comeback that Jasmin Norman could have hoped for. The Audi TT driver had not raced for two years following a serious accident at Castle Combe, but she took her impressively quick car to the win at the 750 Motor Club meeting. The four-wheel-drive Subaru Impreza of Phil England kept Norman honest in the corners, but England could only lead briefly before being passed again. Polesitter Alex Rivett (Lotus Elise) spun off, then retired with ominous smoke in evidence.
Rivett did not start the second race, but Norman also sat it out due to her car overheating. Scott Townson claimed victory in his Ford Fiesta after erstwhile leaders Richard Phillips (BMW 125i) and England managed to take each other out at the entry to the Wellington Straight.
Joshua North notched up Clio Sport success in race one, sneaking past Peter O’Connor at the start to take the lead. Both O’Connor and Darren Ransom tried to displace him, but it was to no avail. A slide by O’Connor at Brooklands in the final moments then let Ransom past and he claimed second. The start of the sequel was almost the reverse of the earlier bout, with North getting away slowly and dropping down to eighth. Ransom took up the slack and was followed first by Greg Hill, then by O’Connor. North wriggled out of a close three-car chasing group involving Matt Hipkins and Joseph Da Prato to eventually take third.
The first Radical race predictably went to Leon Morrell in his PR6, although he was pushed all the way by team-mate Charles Hall. Morrell’s squad provided the top four cars, with Pedro Oliveira and Aaron Rose making it a green and white front quartet. However, race two quickly provided a different order. Hall charged round Morrell on the first lap and Morrell, despite many counterattacks, was only able to retake his spot briefly. Hall won by three tenths, with Oliveira and Rose third and fourth again.
Matt Higginson was relieved to win the first F1000 race. The Mittell team had changed to his spare Jedi’s engine after a serious malfunction at Brands Hatch and a run in the Monoposto series. He was in dominant form and was over 20 seconds ahead of Thomas Westworth. Westworth, in turn, had been enjoying a furious scrap with Sam Satchwell over second. This pattern continued over all three races, with Higginson setting two lap records in the process.
Reid (l) and Bartholomew shared 750 Formula honours
Photo by: Steve Jones
Also relieved with his performance was David Reid, who won the first 750 Formula race on his HRD’s first proper fire-up of the year. He had qualified on pole, but David Bartholomew (PRS 1b) was soon on his tail and ahead, taking a charging Bill Cowley in his Cowley Mk4 with him. Cowley had endured overheating problems in qualifying, but seemed to have sorted them out. However, Bartholomew had to retire with a misfire, leaving Reid with a decent lead. Cowley found himself behind Clubmans driver Dave Facer after Dave Winter’s Racekits Merlin also began misfiring. Facer took second, with Cowley claiming the runner-up points in his class.
Bartholomew’s car behaved itself second time around and he was the victor in a two-way contest with Reid. Cowley took third, having passed and then lost Winter, who was battling without third gear. The race was ended early after a three-car crash at Brooklands left cars and bodywork all over the track. No-one was injured in the collision.
Historic 750 Formula was conducted at a less frenetic pace, but had its share of drama. Ian Elliott took a fairly straightforward win in the opener in his Jomo H750F, defeating Frenchman Richard Verheyden’s Racekits Falcon and Tim Sage in a Mallock.
Elliott then disappeared from the grid for race two and left eventual winner Verheyden, Sage and Sam Wright in John Village’s Village V2 fighting for honours. This was particularly impressive as Verheyden had been stuck under Gregg Catton’s Dison Type 64 at the first attempt at the race earlier in the day, one of several incidents that led to the contest being red-flagged and restarted at the end of the timetable. Catton also restarted and finished fourth.
More drama ensued in BMW Car Club Racing with Paul Cook the eventual winner of race one. He had led for most of the 20 minutes in his M3, but ran out of fuel on his final turn around Luffield and dropped to second, behind Charlie Dark’s M235i. However, Dark was penalised for a yellow-flag infringement and fell to fourth.
Dark’s penalty gave Cook a reprieve as he ended up winning both BMW bouts
Photo by: Steve Jones
Mike Eustace was second in another M3, ahead of previous winner Steven Schweikhardt’s M3. After the race, Paul Bailey (M3) was disqualified for colliding with another car and then not obeying warning flags or pulling off the track, despite leaking fluid and a door hanging off. Race two was more sensible and Cook made sure he had enough fuel this time, winning by nearly 10s from Eustace and Dark.
On-track oil curtailed the first MR2 encounter, which was won by Adam Lockwood from the fellow Roadster of polesitter Jim Mew by just 0.081s. Race two featured more lead contenders, and was headed by Scott Edbrooke, who just fended off Lockwood on the final tour. Mew also got involved in a lead battle that involved as many as five cars at one point.
Pack action was the general theme for both Mighty Minis and Classic Stock Hatch. Chris Dear and Neil Dudman (both Peugeot 205 GTI) shared the wins in the latter, each having out-drafted Jason Wood’s Vauxhall Nova at the right time. Greg Jenkins took both Mini crowns, overcoming a partially reversed-grid in race two.
The Swift Sport Challenge had another double winner in 16-year-old Lewis Stannard, who begins his GCSE exams next week. He faced stiff opposition in the second bout from Alfie Weymouth, but a charging James Saggers moved rapidly up the order after a race-one track-limits penalty, grabbing second late on albeit unable to catch Stannard.
Schoolboy Stannard faced a stern examination in close second Swift race
Photo by: Steve Jones
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here
