Ward stakes claim for Classic Stock Hatch glory
Ford Fiesta XR2I driver Marcus Ward scored two Classic Stock Hatch wins at Pembrey to make it four in a row, putting him in title contention as the season reached the halfway point.
Pete Morgan claimed pole for both races in his XR2, but Ward grabbed the initiative at the start of the first. Morgan remained a thorn in his side until his engine failed on the penultimate lap, promoting the Vauxhall Nova of Ted Cooper and points leader Lee Scott (XR2I) onto the podium.
After replacing a valve overnight, Morgan was back on song on Sunday but, pushed hard by Ward – who found another half-second despite carrying an extra 25kg of success ballast – he repeatedly exceeded track limits and had 15s added to his time. Ward was bewildered to receive a garland, but pleased that his brother Scott (XR2I) was on the podium for the first time after he had made up two places when he went three-wide with Cooper and Lee Scott through Dibeni on the penultimate lap. Cooper was classified third, Andy Philpotts’s XR2I fourth and Scott fifth, his lead over Marcus Ward cut to seven points but with Ward 18 ahead on dropped scores.
Patrick Fletcher’s hopes of claiming the Clio 182 title for a third successive year suffered a setback when he was excluded from victory in the final race after clumsily challenging title rival Jack Kingsbury for the lead at Brooklands on lap one of 11. With Fletcher having to count the zero when scores are dropped, just a handful of points now separate Fletcher, Kingsbury – who retired from race three, having had two podiums earlier in the weekend – Mark Balmer and Ryan Polley.
Balmer had won a tepid opener from Andrew Tibbs, but the second race was livelier, with Tibbs benefiting when Fletcher and Kingsbury touched at Hatchets on the third lap of 12, taking his first win since 2015. Having been delayed by the loss of his front bumper, Balmer retrieved fifth from Polley at Brooklands on the final lap.
Although Fletcher cruised to the on-the-road win in the final bout, Tibbs was promoted to victory. Don de Graaff got his mojo back after a trying start to the year with second and fastest lap on a track that was surprisingly grippy in spite of rain.
Mark Burton won only one Locost race – compared to three at Croft – but he still extended his championship lead by three points. After a second restart, Louis Wall took the opener by passing Burton into the final corner of the race, but Burton retaliated on Sunday morning with an exhibition of defensive driving on a circuit that provides slipstreaming aplenty. Martin West and
Ben Powney – who almost dead-heated with Wall – completed the podium.
The finale was stopped early, much to the chagrin of Wall who had just passed Powney for the lead at Hatchets. Thus Powney, who admitted that he “drove like a plonker” on Saturday, claimed the victory from Wall and West, who remains winless.
Paul Maguire scored two MX-5 wins from three, but Ben Hancy’s delight at his first category win in the second encounter was a highlight. That was set up when Maguire ran onto the grass at Honda on lap three and Hancy seized his chance, just as Maguire’s win in the curtain closer was sealed when he aced the start to lead – from fifth – by Hatchets.
Paul Smith dominated the RGB Sports 1000 encounters, giving the Mittell MC-53 a double victory over championship leader Billy Albone, who endured a trying weekend. Just prior to Saturday’s race Albone’s car wouldn’t start, leaving him to race Jonathan Mcgill’s Spire GT3 from the back of the grid to second.
Electrical issue fixed, he was back in his own Spire on Sunday, but an unwell Albone could not keep pace with Smith, who demolished his own lap record – set a day earlier – by 2s. After 15 years of racing in RGB, Colin Chapman took his first podium, before Danny Andrew took third on Sunday – his first finish in a year, having had his brakes stick on while leading in the early stages of race one.
Rob Johnston took the lead of the first Sport Specials race at Hatchets to win in his Cyana, but in race two the corner proved his downfall as a half-spin there as he challenged leader Matthew Booth’s MK Indy left him playing catch-up. Lee Emm had a strong weekend, a Class B win and second in his Mazda-engined Locost increasing the gap to Johnston, although the fast-starting Rogue Xenon of Leighton Norris defeated him on Sunday.