BART ER BEGINS SEASON WITH ROAD SPORTS WIN
Charles Barter opened his 25th season of 70s Road Sports with yet another victory in his Datsun 240Z, but Saturday’s win at Donington Park only came after a self-inflicted handicap.
As the HSCC season kicked off in fine style, Barter made a great start to his title defence, although arriving at Redgate on the first lap in sixth place was not the planned opening gambit. “I went from first to fourth off the line,” admitted Barter as the 33-strong field attempted to mug him.
Once into his stride, Barter quickly worked his way to the front, deposing the Morgan Plus 8 of early leader Russell Paterson in the process. But the Scot didn’t go down without a fight, keeping the pressure on Barter all the way home and little more than a second adrift at the flag. “There’s nothing like making it difficult for yourself,” said Barter. The Lotus challenge wilted a little, but James Dean and Howard Payne made it two Europas in the top four.
There was Lotus payback in the Historic Road Sports when John Davison tigered his Elan clear of a mighty Morgan battle for second. “I was keen to get ahead of the Morgans straight away,” said Davison, after pouncing before the Moggies really got into their stride. Richard Plant got a duff start and had to chase back up the similar Plus 8 of Kevin Kivlochan. After racing Kivlochan’s car last October, Plant knew what he was up against and never found a chink in his resolute defence. However, for lap after lap the rumbling V8s made a wonderful spectacle as they ran in close formation. “He was in my mirrors all the time,” said Kivlochan. “It was fantastic: a really close race.”
Both Jon Milicevic (Brabham BT21B) and Lee Cunningham (Dallara 381/382) took Formula 3 doubles. Milicevic topped the F3 one-litre cars and had to contend with a big challenge from the recovering Andrew Hibberd in the opener. “I hooked second on the downchange into Mcleans and it locked the rear wheels,” said Hibberd of his quick spin. He was straight back up to second and hunted down Milicevic on a track still oily from the preceding race. The final laps were wheel-to-wheel but Milicevic was ahead by just eighthundredths of a second when it mattered. Into third went a jubilant Ian Bankhurst in the rare Alexis. “Those two are in a different league: we won the other race,” he said on the podium. Nobody was more disappointed than Milicevic when Hibberd dropped time with an Old Hairpin spin in the second race as light rain made conditions tricky.
Cunningham blitzed the Classic F3 pack in the newly-restored Dallara from Edginton Racing to win both races in convincing style. The former FIA GT racer won from the front in the largely untried Dallara as Keith White (Ralt RT1), Pat Gormley (Safir) and David Thorburn (Ralt RT3) disputed the other podium places. Chris Levy and Drew Cameron were the best of the concurrent URS Classic FF2000 pack.
The fact that Schryver and Hadfield won the Guards Trophy race in a Chevron B6 had a familiar feel as Michael and Simon have been doing just that for three decades. However, this victory went to the junior team as sons Will Schryver and James Hadfield kept up the family tradition. The cockpit of the Elva of Nick Pancisi filled up with oil early on and the result was an incredibly slippery track. But Schryver turned in a nicely measured opening stint to work clear of the other Chevrons and Hadfield, racing the B6 for the first time, completed the job in style. “It was lads not dads for this one,” said Schryver. Despite sitting in a puddle of petrol and suffering a mid-race spin, Gregory Thornton ran his B8 into second from early leader Charles Allison. John Davison’s Lotus Elan headed the GT pack as the TVRS failed to reach half-distance.
Former VW racer Philip House mastered the Historic Touring Cars on only his second race in his Lotus Cortina, but Viking raider Martin Strommen was a constant threat. Steve Platts was in on the act as well, spending the first half of the race snapping at the ankles of the Cortinas. Eventually, the Singer Chamois dropped a few seconds back but still scored a very impressive third place ahead of many more powerful cars.
Finally, Sam Wilson (Lotus 20/22) had little trouble in scooping Historic Formula Junior spoils, although Peter Morton was still chasing hard at the flag.