Penalties, protests and red flags at Combe
JOSH FISHER ELECTED TO START at the back of the field for the championship-deciding Formula Ford contest at Castle Combe, as finishing the race would be sufficient to seal a second title to follow his 2008 crown.
That decision kept him clear of a titanic dice for the race lead between championship protagonist Michael Moyers, Luke Cooper, Michael Eastwell and reigning double champion Roger Orgee. Cooper had multiple attempts to steal the lead, but ultimately they were to no avail, while Orgee would successfully overthrow his Kevin Mills Racing team-mate Eastwell for third.
But it was fifth-placed finisher Nathan Ward (Spectrum) who was declared the winner after the top four were all hit with track-limits penalties. Orgee’s Ray was ultimately elevated to second despite a five-second penalty, while Moyers (Spectrum) fell to the bottom step of the rostrum with a 15s demotion, and Cooper (Swift) to fourth and Eastwell (Spectrum) to eighth with similar penalties.
As a result of the controversy, multiple drivers staged a standing protest on the dummy grid before the Formula Ford Carnival event. That race became a single-lap shootout after a late safety car was required when Stephen Masters exited the road at Tower. Moyers and Eastwell had led race-long and pulled out a sufficient gap on the restart to be untroubled as they crossed the line, Moyers winning the Carnival for the second time to add to his 2015 success.
Mark Sumpter was in prime position to take the Porsche Club GB Championship in the second race, having dominated the opener, before an uncharacteristic error – a spin to the infield at Quarry – on the seventh lap handed Craig Wilkins the race lead and Mark Mcaleer the championship advantage. Second for Mcaleer, with Sumpter only able to finish fifth, ensured that Mcaleer took the title 10 years after first winning the series. His son Jake took a pair of Class 2 successes and that division’s 2017 crown in his Boxster.
The GT title fight was between Mitsubishi Lancer driver Bradley John in Class A and Ilsa Cox in her Class D SEAT Leon Cupra. Barry Squibb’s Mitsubishi led from pole as John fought from sixth on the grid – he needed to win the race outright and his class to steal the crown. The race was red-flagged after eight laps following a spectacular roll for Steve Hall’s Audi TT Silhouette at the exit of Old Paddock. As medical crews attended
to Hall, who was taken to hospital for precautionary checks, Squibb was pushed off the circuit with head-gasket failure. This left Dale Gent clear on the restart to claim victory in his Subaru Impreza. While John reached the podium, he lost out to Cox, who finished fifth and top of her class. Cox adds the GT crown to her Saloons championship success from 1997.
SEAT driver Gary Prebble was powerless to stop Mitsubishi man Simon Thornton-norris claiming back-to-back Saloons championships, despite securing pole position and the race win. Thornton-norris fell from second to eighth on the last lap, the result of an error at Tower and 30s track-limits penalty.
Will di Claudio ended the first lap of the Hot Hatch finale with his Peugeot 106 a brilliant 3.5s ahead of Chris Southcott’s 205. Craig Tomkinson claimed second position from Southcott with a forceful but fair move into Old Paddock in the early stages, but then suffered with transmission problems that forced his Vauxhall Nova out. Southcott then dropped out with a broken driveshaft. Josh Harvey (Honda Civic), winner at the August Bank Holiday meeting, was promoted to second, albeit over 10s behind, ahead of Mark Wyatt’s Astra.
Jeremy Timms was unstoppable in his bike-engined F3 Dallara, taking a brace of Monoposto wins and beating his own lap record from 2015 in both races by more than 2.5s.
In the fading light, the final race of the Combe season was a Sports vs Saloons amalgamation. Dale Gent made his a perfect day, taking the victory to add to his earlier GTS success, as Lucky Khera was classified fourth but actually crossed the line backwards and ended his season in the startline barriers after losing control of his BMW M3.