After the enforced cancellation of last year’s awards (due to the then current Covid restrictions and with no invites to parties in Downing Street) this year’s night went ahead as planned. A good turnout of drivers and officials meant that over 130 people would celebrate the various achievements.
John Ward was the master of ceremonies and he enlightened us on how he got involved in motorsport and his career to date, which was very interesting.
We then started with awards for the shortened 2020 season beginning with the intermarque silhouettes. Richard Smith picked up the best senior award and it was good to see Richard present, albeit wearing a brace to support his back following the tractor accident. Danny Smith got his father Colin to pick up third in the main series, with Philip Young netting second and Ray Harris the winner. In the super saloons we had Ronan Bradley winning class B with Rod Birley taking the class A spoils. Moving on to the production saloons (as they were called in 2020) we saw Ian Seale take TP honours, Ken Angell triumphed in T1 and Dave Hutchins taking the overall crown.
Going on to 2021, again starting with the Avon Tyres intermarque, Mike Thurley triumphed in the seniors section and often finished in the top six overall. Daniel Smith picked up third with some tenacious drives in his Mercedes SLK. Although not present Malcolm Blackman took the runner up spot, with Ray Harris again being the series winner.
The Biddenden Motor Racing super saloons had good representation. Starting in class D we had a convert from rallycross (namely Jason Stone) being awarded second in class D, with Jacques Whitehead winning the class in his BMW. Class B had witnessed a fantastic battle between BMW drivers Ronan Bradley and Paul Watson, in the end Ronan took the class by a minute margin. From class A Andrew MacKenzie was classified second in his smart V8 BMW, but there was no stopping Rod Birley taking the class A spoils. The overall series winner , again by a tiny margin, was Martyn Scott in yet another BMW.
The Tin Tops produced a number of different race winners during the year and again we saw a good number of drivers proudly collect their prizes. Winning class T4 was ace video man Alex Baldwin, whilst in TP Ian Seale again triumphed despite stiff opposition from the similar cars of Richard Sanders and Chris Burley. In T3 we had an international flavour as Brazilian racer Angelo Massonetto brought along his very flamboyant supporters to cheer him on. T2 was closely contested all year with several class wins by just tenths of a second. The Honda drivers Vic Hope and Dave Hutchins managed third and second respectively, but Chris Bassett raised the bar with his rapid Peugeot to take the class honours. The overall series winner after coming close several times was Ken Angell, but he didn’t have it easy as Dave Charlton battled hard all year but had to settle for runner up in T1.
The special awards are always interesting, as the recipients are usually very surprised. None more so than with the intermarque as Colin Smith got the award for most improved driver, and Lewis Smith for sheer perseverance with is rather recalcitrant Mercedes SLK. In the Tin Tops Chris Burley got a very nice chocolate bouquet (courtesy of Kelly Dann) for having the best prepared car, whilst Warren Johnson got his award for hardest trier on a low budget. With the super saloons Steve Dann got a trophy for being the “rain master” in 2021 following his success at Silverstone (yes in that monsoon) and at Brands Hatch, with Mark Cripps getting his award as the hardest trier and also getting a class win first time out in a different car (which we think he has now sold).
The final two awards went to people rarely in the limelight. Engine builder Joe Stevens was the unsung hero, he builds engines for a number of our racers, including Ken Angell, Jeremy Sutton and Rod Birley. The official of the year went to race clerk Andy Stevens. We found out that Andy will be clerking the majority of the clubs races next year, which will be good for consistency, with David Brice clerking the others.
A well supported raffle raised over £400 for the Kent air ambulance which was a really good effort. The dancing and discussions went on until after midnight and we thank Krissy Taylor for organising the evening and Sandra Angell for sorting the trophies.
More photos can be seen on this site at https://cmmcs.co.uk/photo-galleries/
Our thanks to Lee Sutton for this report and to Grant Woolway for the photos