Mccarthy and Spencer share the spoils in eventful BCV8 encounters
Both MG BCV8 races started in similar fashion, with poleman Russ Mccarthy losing out at the start and having to fight his way back against Neil Fowler and Rob Spencer.
Fowler led race one until lap three of nine, when Spencer slipped down the inside into Brooklands. With Mccarthy following a lap later, Spencer’s lead was soon under threat.
It was during traffic, however, that the decisive move was made. With Spencer baulked, Mccarthy went around the outside at Becketts to lead onto Hangar Straight.
Despite a last-lap spin at Abbey, Spencer retained second with Fowler completing the podium after spinning within inches of the Wellington Straight wall.
Spencer was never headed in race two, with Fowler regaining second, after Mccarthy retired having holed the oil cooler.
Both of the concurrent Cockshoot Cup races were won by Ray Collier’s ZR, the second with a critically overheating engine.
After running side-by-side with Pete Morris down the Wellington Straight on the opening lap of the first Porsche Club race, defending champion Mark Mcaleer showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of the field. Morris retained second until both he and third-placed Mike Price spun on oil on lap seven. Tom Bradshaw came out on top of an entertaining duel with Mark Sumpter for second and third, both counting themselves lucky not to have joined the spinners.
Sumpter and Bradshaw’s battle for race two supremacy ended after contact at Luffield on the penultimate lap. Sumpter had led from the start, but Bradshaw had got alongside a couple of times. As he challenged into Brooklands, they rubbed door handles and made further contact with a backmarker into Luffield. Both were out, leaving Morris to take the victory from team-mate Chris Dyer and Kevin Harrison.
Graham Ross secured a winning double in the MG Trophy. Andy Spencer held the initial gap for much of the race in a secure second, with William Payne snatching third from Doug Cole on the last tour.
Both Ross and Spencer held station from the start of race two, but with Gary Wetton pulling off on the first lap, Cole got his revenge over Payne, as he completed the podium finishers.
Jack Rawles’ Austin Healey 3000 had both Equipe Pre ’63 & MGB races sewn up on the opening lap. Martin Brewer’s Aston Martin Project 214 had to chase down John Pearson’s Healey before securing a clear second from lap six. Bob Binfield’s Jaguar E-type just kept Paul Kennelly’s similar car at bay for third, after Pearson had a couple of spins at Aintree.
In race two Brewer headed the pursuit of Rawles throughout, with Binfield third again after Pearson’s early challenge faded.
It was one win each for the TVR Granturas of Will Penrose and Mark Ashworth in Equipe GTS. Penrose just retained a race-long lead in the opener over Ashworth, with Tom Smith’s MGB winning the duel for third over Rod Begbie’s TVR. It came down to the last lap in race two though, with Smith leading to Luffield, before Ashworth took the outside to clinch the win, from Smith, Penrose and Begbie.
Although Tom Stoten’s Gunn was a lights-to-flag Sports 2000 winner, Michael Gibbins’ MCR had shadowed him throughout. That was until a last-lap collision put him out with a puncture and handed Tim Tudor second. David Houghton’s similar car was a distant third.