HOFFMANN SEALS TITLE BY JUST A SINGLE POINT
Lars Alexander Hoffmann took a pair of second placed finishes in the Caterham Roadsport championship at Brands Hatch to climb up the standings and claim the title by a single point.
Pre-event leader Stuart Bell was absent following damage sustained in a collision at Donington Park and, of those remaining, it was Will Rossetti that made the best start to the opener, before tumbling down the order ahead of a mid-race red flag and restart. Andrew Murgatroyd led the second part more or less throughout to keep himself in contention, although main rival Hoffmann was a constant threat. Rossetti could only manage sixth, which proved to be his best finish of the weekend.
Importantly, Murgatroyd led Hoffmann at the start of race two to put himself in a championship-winning position but, when Ben Lopez-appleton passed both of them on the second lap, on his way to an eventual victory, German driver Hoffmann snuck ahead of Murgatroyd to turn the championship tables.
Harry Cook got between the two title rivals – and for a while ahead of Hoffmann, too – but ultimately Murgatroyd’s hopes effectively came to an end with four laps to go when a big moment at Graham Hill Bend cost him a couple of seconds.
The first 420R race went according to the championship form book, with John Byrne heading David Henderson home by 15 seconds. That left Byrne needing just a 13th place finish on Sunday to wrap up the title, but that was in doubt on two occasions: first when he stalled on the grid, dropping almost to the back, and secondly on lap six of 31 when he was trying to pass Matt Higginson for sixth and careered straight on at Graham Hill Bend. He survived both moments, coming home fifth as Henderson took a consolation win. The fight for second was settled eight laps from home when the flying Richard Ainscough and Aaron Head collided at Paddock. Both survived, but Ainscough dropped back to sixth.
Dan French secured the 270R title with an understated sixth place in a restarted race. Tom Allen and James Murphy disputed the win, with just 0.023s separating them as they crossed the line, Allen winning the drag race. The star turn was Caterham Cars CEO Graham Macdonald, who climbed from 12th to finish on the podium after diving inside Greg Monks at Paddock seven laps from the end. French sat out the second race, with Murphy a comfortable winner after Macdonald made a series of mistakes, which eventually promoted Monks to second.
The National Formula Ford 1600 championship had already been resolved in favour of interested spectator Ross Martin, who saw three different drivers take victory over the weekend. Seasonal debutant Luke Cooper (Swift) took the opener, with the pressure from Joey Foster (Firman) coming to an end on lap 14 of 18 when both got sideways at Paddock and Foster spun down the order. Michael Eastwell finished second to Cooper, but the order was reversed in Sunday morning’s race when the Spectrum driver got ahead at Druids shortly before a safety car period.
Rory Smith was on the podium in each of the first two races in his Medina, but was narrowly denied a win in the reversed-grid finale. Spike Kohlbecker amassed a lead of more than 2s in his Ray, but Smith reeled in the American and spent the second half of the race just tenths of a second behind him.
The Classic and Modern Motorsport Club Production Saloon race boiled up to a fascinating conclusion after Jonathan Bevan spun the Honda Integra he was due to share with Rod Birley into the gravel at the first corner. Bradley Lane was chased home in his Civic Type R by the similar car of Dave Hutchins and, latterly, the older model of Jamie Primett/kamran Tunio, which started at the back after being found to be underweight after qualifying.
Birley switched to his Ford Escort WRC for Sunday’s Super Saloons double-header and unsurprisingly took two wins, although Niall Bradley’s BMW M3 ran him close.
Simon Vercoe took his Golf Mk5 to a dominant first victory of the season in the Production GTI opener, with champion Simon Hill stymied by clutch issues. Adam Hance led the opening lap of the second contest, but Martyn Walsh blasted ahead at the beginning of lap two, taking the win.