STARS SHINE BRIGHT AT GOODWOOD
Kristensen, Shedden, Jordan and Huff wow the crowds
B
ritish Touring Car champions Andrew Jordan and Gordon Shedden starred at last weekend’s 19th Goodwood Revival, both scoring hard-fought victories.
The duo went head-to-head in Saturday’s wet St Mary’s Trophy Austin A30/A35 opener. Shedden qualified on pole from Jordan, whose car required two engine changes, one of many similarly affected.
Jordan made the best start, holding off tin-top legend Steve Soper initially. Soper’s big slide at St Mary’s allowed Shedden past, setting up a race-long duel.
With Jordan’s replacement engine off song, Shedden’s challenge grew ever stronger, but the leader put his car in all the right places to hold on by 0.144 seconds, with Soper 1.5s adrift. “I had the best view in the house,” said Soper. “They had a fantastic race between them.”
The aggregate result was completed by the owner/regular drivers. James Dorlin came through to win part two, helped by polesitter James Colburn’s engine expiring, but the trophy was fought out by those behind.
Soper’s co-driver Charles KnillJones took second, but Mike Jordan stayed close enough for the fatherand-son combo to take overall victory by a second. Despite an off, Neil Brown (in for Shedden), rose from ninth to fourth to secure third overall.
Shedden had better luck in the RAC TT Celebration. Chris Ward started their 2015-winning Jaguar E-type and built a 10.6-second lead before pitting at the start of the window.
Only a few other cars, including the chasing David Hart/giedo van der Garde and Andrew Smith/oliver Bryant AC Cobras, made it in before Bill Shepherd (Cobra) took Jo Bamford’s Ferrari off into the gravel at Lavant Corner, bringing out the safety car.
Although Shedden couldn’t drop van der Garde after the restart, he looked to have enough in hand until the E-type ran briefly off track at Woodcote, allowing the Dutchman’s Cobra through.
Shedden then launched a mighty assault and got his chance when van der Garde ran wide in traffic at Lavant. The E-type went for a closing gap and clipped the inside kerb. As he corrected, Shedden nudged the rear of the Cobra, itself sideways. “It hardly felt like anything at all,” said Shedden, but it sent van der Garde spinning down to fourth.
The battling Frank Stippler and Bryant thus stepped up to second and third, while Gary Pearson/ Chris Harris (E-type) topped the unfortunate runners who had to stop after the safety car period.
World Touring Car ace Rob Huff won a soggy Whitsun Trophy for pre1966 sports-prototypes, but had to work for it. However, he was rewarded with the ‘driver of the weekend’ honour. Poleman Mike Whitaker – having a first wet run in his Lola T70 Spyder – recovered from a spin before the race started and a tentative getaway. He passed early leader Huff on the exit of Madgwick on lap three, but could not shake off the less powerful Lotus-oldsmobile 19 replica. Eventually the pressure told and Whitaker went off at Lavant, allowing Huff to win by 0.8s.
Stuart Roach was another polesitter to be denied in the front-engined Formula Junior split for the Chichester Cup. The Alexis man lost out to Ray Mallock’s U2 and Chris Drake’s Terrier off the line, whereupon the U2 broke a rear leaf spring and retired. Roach then went around Drake at Woodcote to lead.
A series of fastest laps took Roach clear, with Drake increasingly having to worry about Andrew Hibberd (Lola) after Jonathon Hughes’ similar machine wilted.
Then the Alexis broke on the penultimate lap, just as Hibberd passed Drake. With the Terrier slowed by fuel and front-brake issues, Drake couldn’t respond to Hibberd and lost second to the flying Stanguellini of Joe Colasacco, who stormed up from P8 on the grid.
Having shot his Elva Mk7 from seventh into a 2.1s lead in two laps, Joe Twyman lost the Madgwick Cup for under three-litre sportsprototypes after the chequer. A 20-second penalty for hitting Stuart Tizzard’s Lotus 23B at the chicane on the final lap dropped him to fifth. After a fantastic 23B fight with Andrew Hibberd, Andy Newall wasn’t quite in range to attack Twyman, but was elevated to victor.
Tom Kristensen was superb in the new Kinrara Trophy one-hour enduro for pre-1963 GT cars.
Brought in to share Joe Macari’s Ferrari after double BTCC champion Jason Plato’s late withdrawal, Kristensen qualified on pole during his first session in the car.
Macari fell back to a safe seventh, but Kristensen charged through to defeat the Jaguar E-type of James Cottingham and the Aston of Simon Hadfield, later demoted to fourth after a clash with Henry Arundel’s lapped Chevrolet Corvette at the chicane.
Martin Hunt made the running in the Lavant Cup for two-litre BMW and Bristol-engined cars. The Frazer Nash Le Mans Replica driver could not, however, shake off Malcolm Harrison (Cooper-bristol T25). When Hunt was delayed by backmarkers, Harrison’s bold move at Woodcote on the final lap was decisive.
In tricky conditions, Richard Woolmer handled the monstrous Hwm-cadillac brilliantly to win the Freddie March Memorial Trophy for 1952-55 sportscars. He was nevertheless fortunate it ended early, as Rob Hall’s drifting efforts in the 1952 Goodwood 9 Hours-winning Aston Martin DB3 had brought him onto Woolmer’s tail.
Ward (Lister-jaguar Costin) added to his TT success in the Sussex Trophy, holding off the Lister ‘Knobbly’ of Gary Pearson throughout. James Cottingham’s Tojeiro had just overtaken Oliver Bryant’s Lotus 15 for third when a multi-car shunt brought the race to a premature conclusion.