B&Q trip gets Wood back on track

A trip to buy steel at B&Q allowed Clive Wood to minimise the damage from his crash in the first Croft race and remain in the Clubmans Sports Prototype Championship title battle.

Wood was rear-ended by an unsighted John Lambert after the former broke a halfshaft at the start of the first race and couldn’t get off the front row.

Despite fears the damage to the Mallock Mk23 was terminal, an inspection by the team found the rear-axle was straight but repairs were required to the rollbar support and the rear-end support frame.

That required Wood to make a trip into Darlington to buy steel from B&Q to make paddock repairs as well as borrowing a replacement rear-wing from a competitor to replace his bent unit.

Working until 2300hrs on Saturday night, and then starting again at 0600hrs on Sunday morning, allowed him to get out just in time to start the second race of the weekend a lap down. He finished 13th in that encounter before improving to seventh in the third.

Wood said: “We still had some issues with the nose frame in the last race which cost us time, but

I’m just pleased to get more points on the board. It’s all still to play for at the final round at Silverstone.”

Lambert’s Mallock Mk23 picked up more damage in the crash, with Lambert – who was racing the car for the first time at Croft – saying he will have to thoroughly inspect the machine before deciding on his participation at the final round in two weeks. The car suffered radiator, nose cone and wheel damage.