HOPE AND GLORY FOR LAND IN LOCOST
Craig Land opened his Locost Championship account with two wins as the margin of victory differed significantly for both.
The polesitter battled among a group of 11 cars in the opener and snatched victory on the line from Martin West by just 0.02 seconds. He had an easier time in the sequel, cruising to a seven-second win as David Martin battled to be best of the rest.
Thomas Gadd signalled his intention to claim the F1000 crown with two wins on Sunday. He took the lead from series debutant Matthew Higginson in the partially reversed-grid race just after the midway point from starting ninth and was never headed in the final race from pole. Matthew Booth won Saturday’s opener after getting the better of poleman Dan Gore into Brooklands, as Gadd did the same at Copse for second.
Reigning Toyota MR2 champion Aaron Cooke was in a class of his own as he dominated both races aboard his Roadster, while Donington Park double victor Shaun Traynor could only salvage a best result of seventh.
Scott Austin managed the reliability of his Alfa
Romeo 156 to claim a brace of Alfa wins from champion Tom Hill (Alfa Romeo GT), as reigning champion Barry McMahon was absent from the opening round.
Matthew Weymouth (BMW E36 M3) inherited Roadsports victory after long-time leader John Munro was disqualified with just 10 minutes remaining as his Lotus Elise S2 was deemed to be producing too much noise.
Peter Bove guided his Darvi 88 P to both 750 Formula wins, the reigning champion overcoming Oliver Collett both times – the second after his rival spun from the lead at Brooklands.
Poor starts from Owain Rosser threw away any realistic chance of claiming a maiden win in the Clio Sport Championship, as Andrew Harding doubled up for his first car racing victories. Rosser recovered to second in the opener after initially dropping to seventh. He then put Harding under race-long pressure in Sunday’s race as newer
197 models finished in the top four places.
A slide on oil at Brooklands on lap two dropped Ryan
Polley behind the similar Honda Civic Type R of Philip Wright in the opening Hot Hatch race, but he made no mistake in the sequel as Wright chased home.
Despite contact with Scott Ward into Brooklands, Lee Scott’s similar Ford Fiesta XR2i came out on top in the first Classic Stock Hatch race. He made an early break in race two as Ward battled with Pete Morgan for the runner-up spot.
With Croft hat-trick winner Ben Short not in action, Ben Abbitt took the opening win in the MX-5 Cup by 0.12s from George King but roles were reversed in race two by a margin of just 0.01s.
A mid-race safety car gave Adam Dewis (Vauxhall Astra) the chance to usurp leader Simon Wing (Peugeot 205 GTI) in the first Armed
Forces Race Challenge, with a neat switchback through Brooklands and into Luffield. Wing was already well clear in race two when pursuers
John Cobley (Seat Ibiza Cupra) and Dewis retired with mechanical issues.