Our annual trip to Snetterton with the BRSCC unfortunately had a few issues this year. Family issues prevented two committee members from attending (Kelly and Knobby) and out thoughts are with them both.
A few withdrawals meant that 25 cars were assembled in the paddock. This reduced to 24 when Chris Ayling was taken ill. The qualifying session was abruptly ended when Dominic Ryan unfortunately spun on some spilt oil and was collected heavily by a close following Steve Phillips. The severity of the crash required careful extraction of Steve from his badly damaged car. A trip to the medical centre was followed by a visit to Norwich hospital. A neck injury was diagnosed and Steve was allowed home later that evening. Dominic suffered bruising, which did not require medical attention. We wish all three drivers a speedy recovery.
Needless to say the grid was a but topsy turvy with the full list here: CMMC Grid. A surprised Russell Humphrey headed the Intermarque group, his return to the series being most welcome. In the saloons section it was Matt Rowling ahead of Rod Birley. The production class runner hoping to repeat his Brands Hatch race win. A mechanical casualty was Phil Spinks, who missed qualifying as he had the wrong fuel in his car.
Race one had a clean start, with the silhouettes leading the way. The saloons were ten seconds back, so each group were racing separately. At the front Reuben Taylor grabbed the lead from Humphrey with Harris in third. Birley led the saloon pack, but Rowling was glued to his bumper. By lap three Harris had the lead and was pulling away from Taylor and Humphrey. Daniel Smith had made his way up to fourth, which became third when Taylor had a slip up. In the saloons Rowling had taken the lead, as Birley slipped back with a bad vibration.
By half distance we had Harris leading by just under two seconds from Humphrey, Daniel Smith, a recovering Taylor, Colin Smith and Richard Smith. Phil Spinks had pulled off his rather smoky Tigra. Birley was falling back with his recalcitrant Escort, so Rowling was clear of a battling Neal Gardiner and Adrian Matthews. Sadly these two had a coming together at Agostini, resulting in the Volvo instantly retiring with damaged steering. The final couple of laps saw the heated battle for second place come to a head. Somehow Taylor got the runner spot behind Harris, with Humphrey a close third from Colin Smith. Both Daniel and Richard Smith (broken diff) pulled off on the final tour. A rather subdued Warren Farazmand took fifth followed by Mick Robertson, despite having an off course excursion at Nelson on the last lap.
In the saloons Rowling was well clear of Gardiner with Haywood third (winning class T1). Terry Waller brought his Fiesta home fourth, but the engine did not sound great. Birley was next, winning the super saloon section, followed by Rick Skelsey (winning TP in his Fiesta). The final three finishers were all super saloons, Stephen Rose beating the similar Audi TT of Lee Cleugh with Phil Bennett completing the race in his BMW E90 after a pit lane start. The other two non-finishers were Nick Bass (Mazda RX8) and our German friend Volker Timm (Audi TT). Returnee Angelo Massonetto missed the race due to issues with his Citroen Saxo.
The semi reversed silhouette grid for the second race saw Farazmand on pole position. Again it was Taylor who made the best start, with Harris going from fifth to second and Richard Smith charging up to third. Colin Smith was fourth as Farazmand had slipped back to fifth pursued by Daniel Smith. In the saloons Rowling led Gardiner and Birley with Haywood holding off the battling Audis. Non-starters included Waller (dropped valve), Matthews ,Spinks and Bass, whilst Massonetto had fixed his car and joined in. An early casualty was Humphrey who pulled off on the first lap, soon to be joined by Birley (bad vibration from transmission) and Timm.
On lap two Harris hit the front, but it was short lived as the diff broke on the multi coloured Ginetta. This put Taylor back in the lead with Richard Smith very close behind. Colin Smith was fairly lonely in third, but safely ahead of Daniel Smith, Farazmand and Robertson. Rowling was well clear of Gardiner and Haywood, whilst Rose had dropped back with a detached boost pipe leaving Cleugh on his own.
As the laps counted down Timm’s rotten luck continued as he pulled off and then Daniel Smith also retired on lap six. Richard Smith’s impressive run sadly went awry on the last lap as he coasted in behind Colin Smith, with Taylor taking the win. Farazmand just held off a fast closing Robertson for fourth, and that was all the silhouettes that lasted. Rowling was an impressive sixth overall, easily winning the saloon section. Gardiner took second with Haywood third. Cleugh was best of the super saloons whilst Rose limped home third from Bennett. In the TP class Skelsey won again from Massonetto, despite TSL not changing his car or class.
It is only three weeks until the final event at Silverstone on October 11th with the HSCC. Hopefully we will see a representative grid