PENALTY DOESN’T DENY EVERETT WIN
Ian Everett overcame a 30-second penalty for previous winners to claim a thrilling Swinging Sixties race at Brands Hatch.
In very tricky conditions, he squeaked home despite losing 8s to Dan Williamson’s monstrous Chevrolet Corvette on the final lap when a fluffed gearchange locked his diminutive BMW 1502’s wheels.
Donington winner Williamson earlier handicapped himself by taking his own penalty twice, the first – incorrectly – in his own pit box. Wil Arif handed Dean Halsey the lead in their penalty-free Datsun 240Z but it slipped to sixth at the flag, with Richard Wilson’s MG completing the podium.
Swinging Sixties polesitter Richard Wheeler crashed his Lotus Elan on oil on the opening lap but made amends in the Tin Tops. Wheeler dropped to third at the start but made up ground to pit his Ford Fiesta in the lead. Co-driver Jake Hill emerged in second after serving a 30s winner’s penalty, but the British Touring Car racer clawed back over 20s to pass Danny Cassar – who was struggling with wet tyres on a drying track – in just six laps. The Reece Jones/wayne Crabtree Honda Civic overhauled David and Tom Hutchins’ similar car for third.
Surviving scares when Wheeler skated across the gravel and then Hill drove part of a lap with no lights, the duo won Saturday’s second Night Race by more than a lap from Tom Mensley’s Renault Clio. Early leaders Cassar and Garry Barlow lost time when held in the pits under a safety car, dropping to sixth.
On-the-road winner Bill Hardy was slapped with a one-minute penalty for passing the safety car in the first race in darkness, relegating his Vauxhall Corsa to sixth. That handed the win to Mark Lucock’s Ford Escort Mk1, which – together with Alistair Lindsay – passed Everett’s BMW on the final lap when it was baulked at Surtees.
Nicholas Grindrod prevented Tim Davis scoring a double in Sunday’s Catherham-dominated night races by prevailing in a terrific scrap in the second, longer stanza. The pair had onlookers holding their breath as they traded the lead while ducking in and out of backmarkers, until a spin for Graham Charman’s Ginetta G55 – the leading nonCaterham – brought out a safety car and then red flags. Davis comfortably won the shorter race from Hugh Coulter.
A race-long tussle in the Magnificent Sevens also involved Davis, who eventually had to settle for second to Simon Smith. Third-placed Gary Bate’s challenge faded in the closing laps, along with his tyres.
“The best weekend’s racing I think I’ve ever had,” declared Davis, who claimed more silverware with second place in the Open Series race. Darren Burke had helped Paul Lewis to a maiden victory aboard their Caterham Supersport in that. Behind Davis’s C400 version, Christian Szaruta survived a spin at Paddock to finish third in the David Rowe-started Supersport.
James Ramm charged to a dominant Jaguar Saloon and GT Championship double. Pole and a pair of fastest laps completed a near-perfect weekend for the Essex driver that left him tied on points – and awaiting countback confirmation – with Rodney Frost. The South African won his class in each race with a pair of third places. The title challenge of Colin Philpott, second in race one, evaporated when he spun and bent his steering at the start of race two. Guy Connew took advantage to record his best finish of the year in second.
The EX-DTM Audi V8 quattro of Andy Woods-dean and Martin Johnston rumbled to Future Classics victory after Brian Lilley’s Ford Sierra Cosworth – shared with Aaron Tucker – was black-flagged due to tyre irregularities. Dan Rogers’s Mazda MX-5 inherited second when Neil Fowler crashed his MG B within sight of the flag, just holding off the Aston Blake/ Joshua Waddington Porsche 944.
At the wheel of an Audi RS3 TCR, novice driver Sam De Haan took a maiden win in the New Millennium contest, on only his second race weekend. After a slow pitstop, Graham Charman’s G55 was chasing down De Haan until he spun at Clearways. Charman slipped to fourth as a result, behind the Amspeed BMWS of Mark Smith/david Cuff and Dominic Malone who were both saddled with winners’ penalties.
Pitting just before a mid-race red flag – for the inverted Ford Puma of Luke Johnson – was key to Nicholas Olson claiming Modern Classics laurels. He coaxed home his Lotus Esprit amid worrying rattles from its differential. Rob Hardy and Laurence Squires benefited similarly, with Michael Russell’s BMW M3 best of those who had to pit after the restart, in fourth. Jon Attard won the Ford Puma class.