After the tight confines of Lydden Hill the super saloons and tin tops paid their first visit of the year to Brands Hatch. With the holiday season in full swing, it was a slightly lower than normal entry list. However, there were some notable additions who made their presence felt.
Qualifying saw a tight three way battle between George Jaxon (Audi TCR), Alex Sidwell (Holden V8) and Peter Seldon (BMW M2). All three were in class S and ducked below 50 seconds, in the end the grid order was settled in the order shown. Adam Shepherd lined up fourth in the Bevan owned Honda Integra, now running on slick tyres in class D, despite having four laps deleted. Fifth would be Martin Reynolds (leading class B) in his Mk.2 Ford Escort, just edging out Mike Thurley with his Mk.1 version. Clive Haynsford returned in his Mazda RX8 turbo to take 7th spot, with Sam Haywood leading the tin tops in 8th. Two more tin tops driven by Terry Waller (Fiesta) and Graham Richardson (Honda Civic) were next up, followed by Colin Claxton (Mk1 Escort turbo) and Steve Walden (BMW E30). In 13th we had Ian Seale (in his usual TP Fiesta), then we had three class A cars all with varying tales of woe. Rod Birley had stopped on circuit in his Escort WRC and it took a while to re-set everything in order for him to complete 3 laps. Andy Woods-Dean (Holden Commodore) and Lee Cleugh (Audi TT) both had various maladies and poor Rick Skelsey found he had no power in his borrowed Ford Fiesta running in class TP.
The customary rolling start for race one saw the mighty Holden Commodore out power the Audi and take the lead. The lap chart shows Sidwell led all the way, although he withstood massive pressure from Jaxon for the whole race. In the end there was less than a second between them in a highly entertaining race. Seldon lost out to Shepherd at the start and then gradually fell back down the field before retiring on lap 11. This left Shepherd on his own to comfortably take third overall and win class D. The battle for fourth was just as entertaining as the lead battle, as Thurley held off Reynolds until lap 11. Next up was Birley who made good progress quickly moving up to 9th, then passing Richardson and Haywood to come home sixth winning class A. Initially the Escort WRC was chased by Woods-Dean in his Holden, but the gremlins struck again and Woody retired on lap 8. Haywood claimed 7th overall, winning the tin top section, with Richardson 8th. Rounding out the top ten were Cleugh (who set his best lap time around the Indy circuit) and Waller (who won class T2). Claxton fended off Walden for 11th, the Escort driver suffering a cracked manifold which restricted his power. Seale took class TP honours, as Skelsey was another non-finishing along with Haynsford.
For race two we had a slightly depleted field of 14 as missing were Claxton, Waller and Woods-Dean. Again Sidwell made the best start with Jaxon slotting into second. As the leaders approached Clearways there was contact and both spun off towards the infield. Shepherd therefore inherited the lead and quickly pulled away from the battling Escorts of Thurley and Reynolds. Birley found himself in fourth, but soon had Seldon join him from the back of the grid. The BMW M2 took over fourth spot on lap 3, but did not close on the other two Escorts. Meanwhile Jaxon started to recover, whilst Sidwell retired to the pits. In the tin top battle it was advantage Richardson, as he led Haywood in their close battle.
As Shepherd serenely went on to take the win, making two wins for class D cars this year, Jaxon recovered to take second. However, a visit to see the clerk of the course meant penalty points on his licence for the first lap incident. Reynolds again usurped Thurley, this time for third overall, as Birley nursed his WRC version home in 5th (winning class A). Richardson took sixth overall (winning the tin tops) from a close following Haywood. Cleugh was not far behind in 8th as Seldon limped home in 9th with more issues in his sick sounding BMW. Walden held off a closing Seale for 10th, as Skelsey completed the finishers in 12th. Haynsford was an early pit visitor.
Here is the report of the incident.
The first lap incident sadly spoiled what could have been another close race, but the battle between Reynolds and Thurley did provide good entertainment.
The CNC consultants intermarque silhouettes are out next at Castle Combe on bank holiday Monday, then all three categories travel to Silverstone at the end of September.