SMITH GETS HIS SHOW BACK ON THE ROAD WITH TWO MODERN CLASSIC TRIUMPHS
Oliver Smith made amends for throwing away victory at Thruxton last month by claiming a Modern Classics double at Anglesey. Too eager to lap the entire field in Hampshire, Smith had gone off, but made no such error on the Welsh island despite struggling for grip in his E36-shape BMW M3.
Smith benefited from Stuart Daburn’s 10-second success penalty to snatch the opener. He then withstood pressure from Matt Holben to claim Sunday’s victory after Daburn’s challenge ended in a clash with a backmarker. With his Nissan Skyline currently sidelined, Mark Chilton (Porsche 928) twice took the concurrent
Future Classics honours.
Onlookers were denied a grandstand finish in Saturday’s New Millennium race when the tyres on Daniel Petters’s Porsche 911 997 GT3 Cup gave up with 10 minutes to go. Mark Smith eased to victory over Open Series victor Daburn. Chris Petch, in the Ginetta G50 started by son Harry, held off the fast-closing Smith (saddled with a 30s success penalty) to win Sunday’s race as Dylan Popovic recovered from qualifying woes and getting turned around at Rocket early on to take Open honours in his G50 now with seven-litre Chevrolet power.
Stephen Pickering repeated his Anglesey success of last year to win the opening Swinging Sixties Group 2 race after Geoff Beale’s Future Classics Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was hit with a pitlane speeding penalty. Denied by sheared wheelnuts while leading the opener, Jamie Keevill came from the back to win on Sunday from Jon Wolfe/David Thompson (TVR Tuscan).
Quick pitstops and improved pace allowed Richard Perry to score a Group 1 double in two hard-fought races despite qualifying mid-grid. Tim Cairns (twice) and father-daughter duos Ian Whitt/Abigail Whitt and Charles Tippett/Claire Norman each claimed podiums as Sam Polley’s Mini Marcos was thwarted by a success penalty then gearbox failure.
There were maiden wins for Rob Phillips and the Stephen Reynolds/John Ridgeon pairing in Tin Tops, each narrowly rebuffing Adam Brown as his Ford Fiesta almost overcame its success penalty. Brown would rue a cautious start to the opener as he sought to look after his tyres.
Phill Briggs shook off the attentions of Adam Chamberlain/Scott Carruthers to win in Turbo Tin Tops.
Losing his Vauxhall Astra’s brakes, Carruthers dropped to fourth after an off in the opener. Chamberlain then clashed with John Hammersley – second on Saturday – as
Andy Baylie made the most of Briggs’s penalty to score a maiden win.