Ambulance shortage cuts Mallory meeting
Last Sunday’s 750 Motor Club race meeting was abandoned with one race to go due to a shortage of ambulances after a number of incidents during the day.
The second 750 Formula race was canned, while the final MR2 Championship encounter was redflagged early to allow an ambulance to take Sport Specials racer Sylvia Mutch to hospital after she had crashed her MEV MX150R on the Stebbe Straight.
Earlier, Sport Specials frontrunner Clive Hudson had been released from hospital after he had been in an incident and rolled his Eclipse at Gerard’s Bend, having set a time that would have put him on pole position. MR2 racer David Shead made heavy contact with the pitwall after a startline incident in the second of that categories three races, suffering back injuries.
Two drivers claimed first-time victories after several seasons of trying in the MR2 Championship. Oxfordshire driver Paul Cook won the opener after taking the initiative from points leader Ben Rowe four laps from the end, but Rowe hit back with victory in the shortened finale to extend his championship advantage. Tim Heron, who made his circuit racing debut at Mallory more than six years earlier, took a lights-to-flag win over reigning championship Shaun Traynor in the restarted race two.
Former Locost and Compact Cup protagonist Martin Gambling claimed his first Sport Specials win in the sole surviving Eclipse, outbraking Rob Johnston’s Cyana Mk2 – which went on to win the second race – at the hairpin. Having installed a new engine in his Fiesta XR2I and been unimpressed with its rolling road performance, Marcus Ward was surprised to do the double in Classic Stock Hatch. Ed Pither (750 Formula) and Ben Myall (Historic 750 Formula) completed the weekend winners.