GOING FOR A BURTON – ON THE DOUBLE
Sunday’s action on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit kicked off with the opening Thundersports race and despite a slight threat of rain John Burton was peerless in his Chevron B26.
The veteran sportscar racer pulled away from the similar car of James Schryver for another consummate win, while third place was the subject of a great battle between the Lola T70
Mk3B of Alex Montgomery and the two-litre cars of Jamie Thwaites and Gary Furst.
The track was wetter for the second race and starting on wets made Thwaites the quickest of all early on. However, as the track dried the slicks of Burton and Schryver came good and Thwaites was pushed back to third.
The inaugural Griffiths Haig Trophy race for 1950s drum-brake sportscars had a damp-but-drying track and that made the challenge for Oliver Llewellyn in the Allard even greater as the monster V8 slithered around in fine style.
Even a mid-race misfire failed to derail his victory, while Chris Keen brought the V8 Curtis up to second ahead of the best of the smaller-engined cars, the Lola Mk1 of John Chisholm.
In the second race, Tim Llewellyn took over the Allard and carried on where his son had left off in the opener. With a loose plug lead reattached, the car was back on all eight cylinders. On a largely dry track, Llewellyn had a great battle with the Lola Mk1 of Alex Montgomery. They traded the lead numerous times before power finally told and Llewellyn got to the line first by a single second.
Cam Jackson had an eventful weekend in Formula Ford, winning in two different cars in the Classic category. He won the opener in the Winkelmann by a whisker from Jordan Harrison but the Winkelmann was later damaged in the first Historic race. Simon Toyne offered the use of his Lola T200 and Jackson duly won the second Classic race from the back in tough conditions.
Several drivers had spells in the lead on Sunday, including Henry Chart, Harrison, and Tom McArthur (Titan Mk4), but each slipped back into the pack with moments and spins. Meanwhile Jackson was going the other way up the order and squeezed ahead to win.
McArthur switched to his Merlyn Mk20 for the Historic FF1600 races and won a barnstorming opener, with his chances boosted when Ben Mitchell missed a gear on the last lap. Mitchell made amend on Sunday with a fine win as Samuel Harrison headed the chase in his Merlyn.
In the opening Historic FF2000 Benn Simms made it five wins on the bounce in Saturday’s sunshine. Track conditions were rather different for Sunday, however, and the FF2000 pack had two formation laps on the wet track. That was enough to send Simms diving to the pits for wets but others, including Andrew Park, decided to stay on slicks. It was a marginal call as the race developed but ultimately, the pace of Graham Fennymore on wets was the decider. Simms, now with wets on, flew up the order from the back to wrestle second from Ollie Russell, who took the best result of his FF 2000 career to date with third ahead of Adrian Reynard and Park, the leading slick-shod runner.
The Guards Trophy race was a see-saw affair as Julian Thomas battled the Lenham of fatherand-son Simon and Cam Jackson. Thomas went solo in his Chevron B8 and led the early laps from Simon Jackson. Then Jackson handed over to his son and Cam was able to battle ahead of the Chevron and build a small lead. However, during their stop, the Jacksons had been a little too quick and attracted a drivethrough penalty for the infringement.
With Thomas back out and flying, Jackson’s drive through just cost him too much time and, though he was hunting the Chevron down again at the flag, he needed a lap or two more.
The second Aurora race fell to Andrew Smith in the ex-Eddie Cheever March 782, which started from the back after non-finishing the first race. Smith scorched through the field on wets on a drying track and took the lead from Rob Wainwright with several laps to spare. On Saturday, Wainwright had won well in a guest outing in Keith Bisp’s F2 March 762.
On Saturday, Julian Thomas took the first of his three wins when he shared his Daytona Cobra Coupe with Calum Lockie to win the Gentleman Drivers’ race while Will Plant won the 70s Road Sports race at a canter in his Morgan Plus 8.