Racing reports

As much as the British Racing & Sport Car Club’s first meeting using Knockhill’s reverse configuration presented “new” and “different” challenges for the National Formula Ford 1600 drivers, it was an experienced old hand of sorts who came up trumps in Scotland.

Trundling through the gravel exiting the hairpin on the opening lap of a pulsating second race of the weekend, 2016 champion Niall Murray surely thought his victory chances were slipping away. His sensational recovery to claim the unlikeliest of wins however was one which will live in his memory for years to come.

“Typical Formula Ford race really, it was as frantic as it can be,” said Murray.

“When I was in the gravel trap on the first lap, I was thinking ‘why did I try going round the outside of him?’ I knew he wasn’t going to let me but I had to go for it.”

‘He’ being his Team Dolan team-mate Matt Round-garrido, who for a race-anda-half looked certain to score his second successive victory after breaking his duck in a scintillating opening race.

Despite a hugely frustrating final-race retirement, Murray – who finished second to Round-garrido in race one – left the Fife circuit with a bolstered championship lead over Luke Cooper.

But the weekend produced an episode which could have been catastrophic.

Race three began benignly despite Round-garrido not making the first corner due to mechanical failure. The safety car was deployed at the end of the lap, but was sat stationary over a blind crest on the main straight. With precious few yellow flags, the field of 21 drivers did their best to avoid hitting the road car.

Murray came off worst as he was launched over the Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum of Michael Eastwell before hitting the tyre barriers.

The race was bumped to the end of the schedule with series returnee Neil Maclennan pulling off an amazing overtake on Cooper around the outside of the chicane to take victory in his first weekend since last year’s Festival.

“Unbelievable, it’s a great feeling to be back and being competitive from the word go is really satisfying,” Maclennan said.

The incident though marred what had been an exceptional weekend of racing, which began with a thrilling encounter on Saturday afternoon.

Off the line, Round-garrido and fellow front-row starter Nico Gruber held station into the first corner in race one, with Maclennan just squeezing ahead of Jamie Thorburn.

Before long, Maclennan passed Gruber and engaged in a race-long battle for supremacy with RoundGarrido. The pair exchanged slipstreaming overtakes on one another either side of a safety car intervention for James Clarke’s stricken Mygale.

On the restart, Murray, recovering from qualifying electrical gremlins, stormed round the outside of Maclennan under braking to wrestle second from the Scotsman.

It remained that way until the flag, with Round-garrido delightedly grabbing his first win.

Race two looked to be run in much the same vein, as Round-garrido robustly protected his lead from Murray, who took to the gravel and dropped to ninth.

Round-garrido and Maclennan resumed their earlier battle but the Dolan driver lasted just four laps after a stuck throttle pitched him into the gravel at Butcher’s.

Having made a series of wellexecuted dives into the Hairpin, Murray made gradual progress and powered by Maclennan for the lead with five minutes remaining.

His victory was assured a lap early thanks to Ross Martin’s stuck-throttleinduced off at Clark’s bringing out the red flags.

Thorburn recovered from contact with KMR rookie Hugo Bentley-ellis in race one to score a brace of third places in the remaining two encounters.

Despite his non-score in the final race, Murray left Scotland with a strong points haul, which was the result of driving more with the mind than the heart according to the Irishman.

“You have to know your opponent in these situations,” Murray explained.

“I knew I had the pace. A couple of years ago I would have driven flat-out and gone off, but with a bit of experience, you’ve just got to learn to be patient.”

Patient he was on a day when his title rival Joey Foster endured a weekend to forget.

The FF1600 veteran was disqualified for contact with Graham Brunton Racing’s Martin at the Hairpin in race two. An eighth in race one and 10th in the final encounter failed to boost his mood and Foster now needs to bounce back at Brands Hatch in June if he is to keep up with Murray.

Reigning champion Malcolm Blackman won both of Sunday’s races in the British Automobile Racing Club South Eastern Intermarque Championship, but had to work probably harder than ever before against an inspired Lewis Smith.

Smith headed the triple title-holder in race one until a total electrical failure stopped him after the hairpin, but clawed his way from 20th in race two and sat on Blackman’s tail from lap six. Blackman also had to work hard, starting 10th on a partially reversed grid, and resisted a brave effort by Smith to swoop round the outside on the last corner despite overheated tyres resulting from the early charge. Reuben Taylor and Derek Hales each scored a third place.

Missing out on pole position in wet qualifying for the Michelin Clio series proved only a temporary blip in Ben Palmer’s domination of the early season, who has now netted six wins in six races. Pole holder Ronan Pearson was second in race one after Tyler Lidsey was penalised for an incident at Druids, but Lidsey was a strong second in race two.

Rikki Taylor tightened his grip on the South Eastern Centre Tin Tops points table with a quarter of this year’s races completed. The Essex Ford Fiesta driver maintained a 100 per cent success rate in his class and included an outright triumph on a treacherously slippery Indy circuit. He beat Danny Brooker in a hotly contested second race, but local man Brooker also notably won his class both times and scored a career first overall victory in race one.

The less than pristine appearance of Nick Crispin’s Citroen 2CV is clearly misleading, as he won twice on Saturday in races full of typical slow-motion action. Pete Sparrow provided the main opposition, but retired in race one by responding to a black and orange flag for a loose filler cap, not realising it was the last lap. Race two brought Sparrow a hard-earned second place, but he might have finished anywhere in a jostling lead group.

A storming getaway from eighth on the grid and some good luck with backmarker traffic helped Steven Dickens to win the first of three Clubmans Sports Prototype races. Late entry Mark Charteris several times looked poised to take over after starting at the back, but each time he was thwarted by slower cars. Charteris wasn’t to be denied in race two, but in traffic on the last lap a charging Clive Wood surged alongside in a photo finish. Charteris was firmly in charge in race three.

Brad Kaylor earned his first ever race win in a soggy Classic VW Cup on Saturday with Ken Lark second. Lark triumphed in the dry on Sunday with Daniel Rose second, from ninth on the grid after a poor tyre choice the day before. Kaylor finished sixth.

Two BARC Saloons/honda VTEC races ended with the same top three, but victory was far from easy for Ben Rushworth’s Integra especially in race two, in which Craig Rainer’s potent Ford Escort was very much in the hunt. Rainer ended up losing out in traffic. Robert Burkinshaw’s Integra followed these two at a distance.

Rod Birley’s troubles continued in the South Eastern Modified Saloons, normally his happy hunting ground. Victory over Malcolm Wise in race one looked set to be repeated, but the local man’s Escort suffered intermittent cutting-out and finished a lap behind.

The pair of Classic Formula Ford 1600 races at Silverstone on Sunday lived up to their namesake, with two encounters that will live long in the memory.

A bumper 33-car field meant it was anyone’s game, and the one with the advantage first off was series returnee Adriano Medeiros.

Despite qualifying his Van Diemen RF80 on pole, a broken exhaust connection meant he had to retire on the second lap.

Simon Hadfield in a Titan Mk4 and Mike Gardner (Crossle 30/32F) were left scrapping for the spoils with Scott Mansell (Crossle 35F).

The lead changed hands several times, but it was the decisive move by Hadfield at the back of the Grand Prix layout which sealed the deal.

The second encounter was red flagged after just two corners following a heavy roll for Rick Morris, and while the restarted race was only 18 minutes long, Medeiros didn’t need a second excuse to claim victory from 31st.

His speed was evident after just one corner when he passed six rivals and had scythed past 11 cars by the Village complex on lap one.

Pumping in a series of laps more than a second quicker than the rest, the Brazilian soon found his way into a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

The pair of Britcar Endurance Championship races were won by Ivor Dunbar and Johnny Mowlem, who utilised Mowlem’s prowess at the wheel of their Ferrari 488 GT3 in all conditions.

Mowlem took over the car in the 50-minute race nearly 10 seconds behind Richard Neary and David Mason in the sister Ferrari, but the GT ace’s blistering laptimes meant he passed Neary on the final lap for the victory.

Rain in the two-hour race made it a tactical call for who would jump first for the wet tyres, but Mowlem’s searing pace allowed him to lap the entire field to claim a second win with Dunbar.

A whopping field of more than 50 Caterhams joined for a pair of slipstreaming encounters headed by Jamie Ellwood, Luke Cooper and Oliver Gibson in the Sigmax class.

Race one was settled in favour of Cooper, but his luck ran out when a decisive move from Ellwood on the left-hand run through Maggots allowed the Leicester-based driver to top the second.

Two wins for Colin Wells in the Kumho BMW Championship may have sounded easy, but gone are the days of the James Card/james MacintyreUre domination. Darren Fielding, Garrie Whittaker, Matthew Evans and Piers Reid in the A1 class hounded the championship leader with regular challenges at the Village complex.

Wells did enough to hang on though, following it up with a smoother second race.

The second OSS race was the highlight of the series’ three encounters when Patrick Sherrington, Bradley Smith and Stefano Leaney dueled for the trophy. Leaney and Sherrington were the early leaders as Smith made his way from the back of the grid. Steady progress allowed him to put the Juno into the podium positions, and traffic for the leaders worked in his favour with a committed side-by-side dice through Vale giving him the win.

A second win in race three left him leaving Northamptonshire beaming, while Leaney had to settle for his sole race one win.