Mittell men bag 1-2-3 on weekend of firsts
SILVERSTONE 750MC AUGUST 11-12
An RGB Sports 1000 podium lockout for Mittell drivers, Christopher Wesemael’s brilliant follow-up win on Sunday and a
1-2 for BMW E92 M3s in Club Enduro highlighted a weekend of firsts on the
750 Motor Club’s annual sojourn to Silverstone’s International Circuit.
Paul Smith, Wesemael and Daniel Larner’s clean sweep, driving cars built in a garage beside father-and-son Ian and Scott Mittell’s Hampshire homes, harked back to the roots of the club, a pioneer of affordable racing since its eponymous Austin Seven-based class began in 1950.
The squadron’s success was helped (to its principals’ genuine disappointment) when champion Billy Albone’s works Spire GT3 was blunted by the same dire misfire that had struck in qualifying. Smith shook his team-mates off, but it wasn’t until Wesemael shot around Larner at Stowe that Saturday’s order was settled.
On dry settings as the remnants of overnight rain dried, Wesemael shot clear at Sunday’s start and beat rivals with a sensational display of pace and consistency.
As Smith faded to fifth, Larner ceded second to the Spire GT3S of MNR graduate David Watson, loving the transition to a mid-engine car. Larner had Colin Chapman (Spire GT3) challenging him at the finish.
Luke Sedzikowski kept his four-litre BMW E92 M3 close to the front throughout the enduro, battling over an action-packed two hours in which class points leader
Andy Baylie’s M3 shed a rear wheel at
Vale at one-third distance. Second for Darren Ball, 16.33s in arrears, compounded the TI Motorsport team’s joy.
Julian Mcbride, going well in his Pdkgearboxed M3, lost third to poleman Martin James, who chased relentlessly after pitting early for his Honda Civic’s damaged nose splitter to be removed. Both passed Class B standout Matt Faizey, who finished fifth.
Matt Nossiter/steve Hewson kept their overall points lead, despite a power-steering pipe bursting on their BMW 328i. Nossiter started half a lap late but they wrestled Andrew Winchester/josh Orr (BMW Compact) for Class C honours.
Joe Stables blitzed all three Bikesports races. Not even a clash with challenger Lee Torrie – which sent both Radical SR3S through the Club gravel bed in Sunday morning’s damp stanza – put him off.
Phil Cooper gratefully grabbed second in the melee from which Torrie emerged fifth. Stables’s father Richard snaffled Class A winner’s points in the first two races, but Torrie bounced back to finish runner-up to his son’s B-car in a close-fought finale.
Bears GAC driver Craig Pollard consolidated his Formula Vee points lead with a double. With Danny Hands starting his GAC from the pits, Saturday’s win over Graham Gant (WEV) was fairly straightforward. Sunday’s race progressed differently, though. Poleman Gant, Hands and Peter Belsey (Spyder) took turns in front
as the top four jockeyed for position.
Hot Hatchers joined in on Sunday and had the worst of the weekend’s conditions following a heavy shower. Despite gearbox oil leaking onto his Honda Integra’s rear tyres, causing lurid slides, Ben Rushworth prevailed over Stephen Sawley (Civic) in the opener. A late gearbox failure struck Class B leader Rodren Vella’s Civic, rewarding Christian Lyne. Having reset the lap record, Rushworth’s car broke in race two, to Sawley’s advantage. Philip Wright claimed Class B while Ian Williamson inflicted a rare Class C defeat on Michael Winkworth in their Citroen Saxo battle.
Double Classic Stock Hatch champion Matt Rozier bested current incumbent Lee Scott both days. Marcus Ward was a smoky third on Saturday, then made a 100-mile dash home for a spare engine, which kept him in the title hunt with fourth, behind Andy Philpotts’s similar car, on Sunday.
Scrapes aplenty coloured the frenetic 10th anniversary Toyota MR2 rounds, an inadvertent wallop from Ben Rowe after a run round the outside at Stowe turning both Shaun Traynor and Rowe round in race one. Traynor recovered to win from returnee Stuart Nicholls (Roadster) and Darren Aldworth, while points leader Rowe came home 11th. The leaders arrived at the Club chicane three abreast, which didn’t work, in the curtain closer. Traynor emerged ahead of Rowe and Jim Davies.