AND THE WINNERS ARE... COWLEY STARS ON RETURN AS GEARING TAKES TITLE

CADWELL PARK: 750MC BY RORY MITCHELL

Champions were crowned in the sweltering heat as the 750 Motor Club hit Cadwell Park for what was the penultimate round for some championships.

Robin Gearing clinched the 750 Formula title by the end of the weekend, but it was Bill Cowley who impressed on his return to the series after his crash at Mallory Park, which severely damaged his Cowley MKIV.

Cowley changed his gearbox before the first race after it was jumping between third and fourth during qualifying. He started from the second row of the grid, but made a good start and was able to get ahead of Richard Rothery into Coppice.

Gearing drove conservatively, not putting too much at risk by letting the quicker Cowley through when they reached the Hairpin for the lead and ultimately the win.

Cowley mirrored his result on the Sunday, when he started alongside Gearing and took the lead into the first corner. Gearing however, was under threat from Peter Bove, who made his way up to third having passed Mark Glover and Bob Simpson in the previous laps.

Bove then set his sights on Gearing in the closing stages, eventually making his move through Charlies to take second. But third was enough for Gearing to take the championship honours at the penultimate round.

Will Blackwell-chambers leads the MX-5 Championship coming out of this round, despite title rival Jack Sycamore winning on Saturday.

Sycamore had to recover from lost ground in the first race, after he experienced brake pad knock-off. He finished in fourth while BlackwellChambers was able to finish second, behind winner Michael Comber.

But in the next outing Sycamore was able to get up to second and challenge Ben Short for what became a four-car scrap for the lead between them, Blackwell-chambers and Comber. Sycamore was close to Short heading into Mansfield, and in the closing stages the pair made contact, which sent Short off the circuit and back to fourth at the chequered flag.

Matt Rozier took the Classic Stock Hatch Championship, but it was Matt Stubington who took both wins.

Stubington was able to fend off local man Pip Hammond to take his first race win of the series having started from pole and defended Hammond’s late challenge.

The narrow circuit proved difficult to overtake on however, something Hammond experienced in the second race when he attempted to work his way through the field from seventh. He got as high as fifth, as Stubington took another race win ahead of Rozier and Edward Cooper.

In the Hot Hatch races Alistair Camp did the double, but it was the battle for third in Class C in the first race between Mac ‘Dr Evil’ Mccarthy and newcomer Nick De Jesus that provided the action throughout.

De Jesus was close to getting a podium on his debut, but his efforts were thwarted by Mccarthy’s defensive driving through Mansfield and Charlies.

Phil Law was on course to win the opening Stock Hatch race but slowed prematurely, thinking he had seen the chequered flag.

This meant the duelling Paul Jarvis and Ryan Polley became the lead battle. Polley attempted to seal the position through Mansfield but his move was too ambitious, ending his race with half a lap to go while Jarvis was able to continue and take the chequered flag third. This allowed Law back in front to win from Robert Fagg. The second race was less dramatic with Jarvis taking the victory ahead of Fagg.

In the Locost races Danny Andrew shared the victories with Jack Coveney and Ian Allee. There was action in all three races as the drivers managed to go three-wide on occasion through parts of the narrow track. The closest move came when Andrew overtook Allee for the lead through Mansfield on the final lap of the first race.

The Toyota MR2 package was shortened to two races. Kristian White won the first race after Shaun Traynor was given a time penalty for a collision at the end attempting to take the lead. White had to settle for second in the next outing when Jim Davies won.

Richard Buckley won the first MG Cup race in his Rover Tomcat, while James Darby won the shortened final race due to a crash by David Strike coming out of the hairpin. Ben Rushworth took the MG Metro race win on the Saturday.

Paul Boyd won the first of the Protech Sport Special races. Fellow Eclipse SM1 driver Clive Hudson took the spoils in race two.

Robert Spencer took his second win of the season in BCV8 as James Wheeler won in the second race. Russell Mccarthy won the two Thoroughbred Sports races in his MGB, while Will Sharpe claimed victory in the concurrent Super Cooper contests.

Alec Livesley’s Jensen Healey won the Roadsports race and Gregan Thruston won the 750 Trophy race.

1 Bill Cowley (Cowley MKIV); 2 Robin Gearing (Darvi P88) +1.86s; 3 Peter Bove (Darvi Mk 4/5); 4 Bob Simpson (SS/ F 750F); 5 Mark Glover (Racekits Falcon); 6 Richard Rothery (PRS 1b). Class Winners Rothery. Fastest Lap Gearing 1m37.35s (80.62mph). Pole Gearing. Starters 17.

1 Cowley; 2 Bove +1.18s; 3 Gearing; 4 Simpson; 5 Rothery; 6 Max Sheppard (Sheppard MS750). CW Rothery. FL Bove 1m37.28s (80.67mph). P Gearing. S 14.

1 Michael Comber; 2 Will BlackwellChambers +0.45s; 3 Ben Short; 4 Jack Sycamore; 5 Sam Smith; 6 Jason Greatrex. FL Smith 1m46.29s (73.84mph). P Comber. S 28. 1 Sycamore; 2 Blackwell-chambers +0.93s; 3 Comber; 4 Ben Short; 5 Sam Smith; 6 Sam Smith. FL Short 1m46.49s (73.60mph). P Short. S 28.

1 Matthew Stubington (Peugeot 205 GTI); 2 Pip Hammond (Vauxhall Nova GTE) +0.33s; 3 Matt Rozier (Peugeot 205 GTI); 4 Martyn Fowdrey (Ford Fiesta XR2); 5 Lee Scott (Ford Fiesta XR2I); 6 Edward Cooper (Vauxhall Nova GSI). FL Fowdrey 1m48.20s (72.53mph). P Stubington. S 24.

1 Stubington; 2 Rozier +0.60s; 3 Cooper; 4 Scott; 5 Hammond; 6 Martin Cayzer (Ford Fiesta XR2I). FL Stubington 1m48.90s (72.07mph). P Stubington. S 23.

1 Alistair Camp (Ford Fiesta ST); 2 Tom Bell (Ford Fiesta ST) +3.63s; 3 Shayne Deegan (Ford Fiesta ST); 4 Andy Waters (BMW Compact); 5 Andrew Tsang (BMW Compact); 6 Adam Read (BMW Compact). CW Deegan; Read; Phil Law (Citroen Saxo VTR). FL Camp 1m40.04s (78.45mph). P Camp. S 28.

1 Camp; 2 Bell +11.39s; 3 Deegan; 4 Waters; 5 Tsang; 6 David Allen (Ford Fiesta ST). CW Camp; Deegan; Tsang; Jarvis. FL Camp 1m40.06s (78.43mph). P Bell. S 26.

1 Danny Andrew; 2 Ian Allee +0.47s; 3 Ben Powney; 4 Martin West; 5 Paul Clark; 6 David Jones. FL Andrew 1m47.86s (72.76mph). P Andrew. S 21.

1 Andrew; 2 Coveney +2.49s; 3 Neat; 4 Clark; 5 James Millman; 6 Richard Jenkins. FL Neat 1m47.40s (73.07mph). P Andrew. S 20.

1 Allee; 2 West +0.92s; 3 Powney; 4 Neat; 5 Shaun Brame; 6 Jenkins. FL Coveney 1m47.00s (73.35mph). P Powney. S 21.

1 Kristian White; 2 Shaun Traynor +1.38s; 3 Jim Davies; 4 William Gallacher; 5 Paul Cook; 6 Stuart Nicholls. CW Gallacher; David Hemmingway. FL Davies 1m45.23s (74.58mph). P Davies. S 28. 1 Davies; 2 White +8.12s; 3 Nicholls; 4 Traynor; 5 Lewis Ward; 6 Timothy Heron. CW Nicholls; Hemmingway. FL Davies 1m45.02s (74.73mph). P Davies. S 28. James Darby (MGB GT); 4 Lewis Anderston (MG ZR170); 5 James Walpole (MGB Roadster); 6 Nick Arden (MG Maestro EFI). CW Halliwell; Darby. FL Buckley 1m47.87s (72.75mph). P Buckley. S 14. 1 Darby; 2 Buckley +3.13s; 3 Anderson; 4 Walpole; 5 Clive Jones (MGB Roadster); 6 Arden. CW Buckley; Walpole. FL Darby 1m47.46s (73.03mph). P Darby. S 14.

1 Ben Rushworth (Rover 1.4); 2 Andrew Ashton (Rover Metro GTI) +11.23s; 3 Mike Williams (Rover 1.4); 4 Jack Ashton (Rover Metro GTI); 5 Lee Connell (Rover Metro); 6 Richard Garrard (MG Metro Turbo). FL Rushworth 1m46.93s (73.39mph). P Rushworth. S 18.

1 Paul Boyd (Eclipse SM1); 2 Clive Hudson (Eclipse SM1) +0.32s; 3 Matthew Booth (MK Indy RR); 4 Rob Johnston (Cyana MK2); 5 Stephen Ward (Westfield Aerorace 2014); 6 Nigel Brown (Sylva Phaser). CW Martin Buckland (STM Phoenix). FL Hudson 1m34.94s (82.66mph). P Boyd. S 19. 1 Hudson; 2 Booth +9.20s; 3 Boyd (Eclipse SM1); 4 Ward; 5 Johnston; 6 Imran Khan (FRS Arrow 2). CW Mark Hextall (Westfield SE). FL Boyd 1m35.78s (81.94mph). P Hudson. S 18.

1 Robert Spencer (MGB GT V8); 2 Ollie Neaves (MGB GT V8) +4.54s; 3 Russell Mccarthy (MGB GT V8); 4 Neil Fowler (MGB GT); 5 Ian Prior (MGB GT V8); 6 Andrew Young (MGC). FL Spencer 1m38.15s (79.96mph). P Spencer. S 19.

1 James Wheeler (MGB GT V8); 2 Mccarthy +0.61s; 3 Spencer; 4 Neaves; 5 Fowler; 6 Prior. FL Wheeler 1m38.17s (79.94mph). P Wheeler. S 20.

1 Russell Mccarthy (MGB GT V8); 2 Ian Prior (MG GT V8) +0.19s; 3 Jonnie Wheeler (MGB GT V8); 4 Will Sharpe (Mini Cooper S); 5 Martin Barrow (Jaguar E Type); 6 Stephen Rose (Mini Cooper S). CW Sharpe; Barrow; Kathleen Sherry (Morgan +8). FL Prior 1m39.93s (78.53mph). P Mccarthy. S 13.

1 Mccarthy; 2 Prior +0.69s; 3 Fowler; 4 Wheeler; 5 Sharpe; 6 Barrow. CW Sharpe; Barrow; Sherry. FL Mccarthy 1m38.97s (79.30mph). P Mccarthy. S 14.

1 Alec Livesley (Jensen Healey); 2 Andy Marston/ Brett Evans (BMW E46 M3) +44.70; 3 Petteri Jokinen (Mini Cooper S); 4 George Wright/ Jack Wright (Porsche 944); 5 Andrew Stacey (Mini Cooper S); 6 Steve Hewson (Peugeot 106 GTI). CW Jokinen; Hewson; Thomas. FL Livesley 1m40.80s (77.86mph). P Livesley. S 21.