Evans victorious in last-lap title battle
A SEASON OF CLASSIC CATERHAM racing came to a close at Silverstone, where six drivers were crowned on track after some of the most memorable races on the International layout in recent memory.
The Supersport category was the closest, and the most thrilling, since three of the drivers on the grid were separated by only one point on dropped scores. Championship leader Timothy Dickens strengthened that lead with race-one victory after a long battle with title rivals Mike Evans and Henry Heaton. Although all three drivers led, the excitement came in the championship deciding race, during which the lead changed up to twice a lap.
Whenever Evans led across the line, Dickens would pass him at Abbey, only to be demoted down the Hangar Straight. This brought Heaton and Ian Payne into play, and they ran one-two before Evans overtook both at once at Abbey again.
Entering the last lap it was a still a four-car battle, but ultimately it was
Evans who triumphed, followed closely by Dickens, Payne and Heaton.
“Any of us three on that last lap could’ve won the championship,” declared Supersport champion Evans. “I’m so lucky it was me. A gap opened up [at Abbey] and I just thought: ‘Now or never. Do or die.’”
Peter Walters won his title in the first Roadsport race by beating Jay Mccormack by the tiniest of margins. He had qualified a fraction ahead of the Irishman, who took revenge in the second race by 0.097 seconds.
The Seven 420R title battle was over before it had even begun, as Danny Winstanley opted against competing to avoid incurring penalty points. This left
Lee Wiggins to take a double victory in his swansong BRSCC Caterhams weekend.
Another driver to tactically withdraw was Lee Bristow, who held off Chris Rankin in the first Seven 310R race and skipped the second, assuring himself the title. Rankin won the second race.
The Academy races epitomised friendly rivalry, where Daniel French won the Green Group championship, with James Murphy taking an overdue first win. Andy Morgan was White Group champion after a seventhplace finish, with Tom Grensinger the victor.
In the mixed-grid Academy Autumn Trophy, Tom Allen beat both Academy champions to win the first race. Graham Macdonald overcame Murphy in the second.
Rob Watts couldn’t deny Russ Olivant the Seven 270R title despite two muted performances by Olivant, who was overly cautious on his way to 10th place in the first race. That left him needing to finish at least seventh in the second encounter to become champion if Watts won it.
Watts took the lead, while Olivant spun his way down to 15th. Andrew Perry was too fast for Watts, though, then race-one winner Alex Jordan came through to demote Watts to third. Olivant sealed the title in 11th.
In non-caterham racing, Mike Jenvey ended the first OSS race early after his engine blew up. Replacing it with a newly built motor enabled him to win the last race and secure the championship.
Simon Hill and Paul Blackburn (both VW Golf GTI Mk5) were victorious in the two Production GTI encounters, while Chris Webb was crowned Mk2 champion.
Renault Clio drivers Nick Gwinnett and Tony Hunter won the two Track Attack Autumn Trophy races.