Equipe Classic races top the bill at Donington

DONINGTON PARK MGCC JULY 14-15

Jack Rawles and his Austin-healey 3000 came out on top of a terrific duel with class frontrunner Tom Smith at the wheel of his MGB to win the Equipe Classic sprint race.

Smith had led from the start, but lost out to Rawles just after a safety car intervention. Rawles took the flag just 0.232 seconds ahead, with Rod Begbie’s TVR a solitary third after 20 laps.

In the previous evening’s inaugural three-hour Enduro relay, the B2 Marcos team of Richard Evans, Chris Keen and George Rolls won by a lap with an MG and a Marcos.

Stephen Collier and David Morrison battled their way to victories in the MG Midget/sprite Challenge, but both had to work hard for their success. On the first lap of the opening race Collier led into Redgate, but polesitter Morrison got ahead at Mcleans. Collier reclaimed the lead at the chicane while Stephen Watkins remained in close attendance in third.

Richard Bridge took third from Watkins as they formed a four-car break, but went off at Coppice on lap four. Two laps later Collier took to the grass at the Old Hairpin avoiding a backmarker, handing the lead back to Morrison, but only for one lap.

Collier finally broke the tow to secure victory over Morrison by 3.89s, with

Watkins a solitary third, 5.35s further in arrears. Bridge recovered to retake fourth from Richard Wildman on the last lap.

The second race started at a similarly frantic pace. Collier lost his initial lead by going wide at the Old Hairpin on the second lap, handing Morrison the advantage. Watkins then burst through into the lead as Morrison dropped behind Collier again, but then both Watkins and Collier retired to the pits within two laps of one another. That left Morrison clear from lap five, and he crossed the line 38.87s ahead of Bridge. Nick Day completed the top three.

A three-way fight for second gave polesitter Russ Mccarthy a good platform to build a lead in the MGBCV8S. James Wheeler initially prevailed over Neil Fowler and Rob Spencer in that battle for second, but he went off on the inside at Mcleans, enabling

Fowler and Spencer to go through and begin to close on Mccarthy.

Into the chicane for the sixth time Mccarthy struggled to engage third gear, and Fowler seized on the hesitation to pass for the lead. Spencer was poised to follow but lost drive and had to pull over, promoting

Ian Prior into third place.

Mccarthy gathered himself and came back with a late charge, making the decisive move on Fowler into Redgate on the last lap as Prior retained third, well clear of Andrew Young. The winning margin was less than a second, with the remaining 19 cars all a lap down after 22 tours.

Graham Ross’s double win made it five for the season in the MG Trophy. His seventh-lap move on polesitter Jason Burgess at Redgate in race one proved decisive, and he crossed the line half a

second to the good over Burgess. Doug Cole was 11 seconds further distant in third.

In race two it was a lights-to-flag win for Ross by nearly four seconds. His task was eased by Burgess’s brakes fading, and this time third-placed Cole was tucked in just behind Burgess as they took the flag.

Ray Collier was another double winner in the Cockshoot Cup in his ZR. He led from the chicane on the opening lap, after Keith Egar (Midget) explored the gravel at the chicane and Phil Standish (TF) went straight on at Mcleans. While Collier eased away, Peter Bramble consolidated second in his MGB. After Mike Peters (Midget) pitted with a blown engine, Simon Lowery completed the podium in his ZS.

It took until lap three for Collier to oust Egar at Mcleans in the second race, but Standish soon followed and Collier spun at

the chicane on the last lap. Standish held second, while Egar took third.

There was another double win in the combined Metro Cup and MG Cup, Richard Buckley leading from start to finish in both races. Peter Birchall was second in race one, while Mike Williams came from the back of the grid to secure third. Williams went one better in race two, taking a solid second to Buckley, with Ian Boulton third.

Andrew Thompson easily won the first Peter Morgan Memorial race, with Philip Goddard recovering from a dreadful opening lap to hold second from lap five. But after leading for 19 laps in race two, Thompson lost out to Goddard three laps from home.

In the Triple M Register Challenge, Tony Seber’s Wolseley Hornet Special went off at Coppice and left the win to Malcolm Hill.

Equipe GTS grid blasts off, with runner-up Smith’s red MGB on pole

Hills (leading) won Triple M after chasing Seber crashed out

EQUIPE CLASSIC RELAY Everything Equipe Classic Racing does seems to work, and the series passed another milestone in running its first relay event. It catered for Pre-1966 GT & GTS cars running to Appendix K specification; since those cars’ fuel tanks would struggle to complete a proper enduro, the relay format avoids that problem. Competitors revelled in the opportunity for a longer race.

TRIPLE M Not only was this owner John Gillett’s first visit to Donington Park, it was believed to be the first time his ex-prince Bira MG K3 had been to Donington for 82 years. “He raced it in 1935 and ’36, before it went to Australia in 1937 and was owned by the same family for 51 years,” said Gillett.