Treble tops for Clowes in F1000 opener
Pole position, three wins and fastest lap was the perfect start to Dan Clowes’ F1000 championship campaign as the spectacular motorcycle-engined Jedi Mk6/7 showcase opened with a 24-car field on the 750MC’S belated annual International Circuit visit.
Sunday’s second stanza, in which JFK Racing’s driver shot from P8 on the partially reversed grid to rob Paul Butcher into Stowe on the final lap, rewarded patience. “Halfway through I thought third or fourth [would be it], but it came to me over the last couple of laps. One of the best races I’ve had,” he enthused.
With the top four averaging 103mph in qualifying the stage was set, but a cracked piston sidelined Clowes’ closest rival Lee Morgan. Dan Gore led Saturday’s opener for a lap, then chased Clowes until a broken gear linkage stopped him. Kart graduate Jack Tomalin grabbed second on his car debut, with privateer Adam Walker a popular third.
Clowes pipped Gore in race three, with Tomalin third and promising Clio 182 convert Eddie Falkingham staving off Walker, Butcher and Elliott Mitchell for another fourth. Engine dramas in Friday testing left champion Matthew Booth’s family team facing a long night. A fourth, third and a DNF were poor reward.
The affordable production sportscar features, Alyn Robson’s 5Club Racingpromoted [Mazda] MX5 Cup initiative and the Patrick Mortell-inspired Toyota MR2 perennial, filled the Hangar Straight and battled throughout.
The MX5 opener was the weekend’s best, polesitter Richard Baxter, Jason Greatrex, reigning champion Ben Hancy and emerging talent Courtney Milnes all leading the cliffhanger. Welshman Greatrex prevailed by 0.16 seconds from Hancy, with Milnes in his draft. From the reversed top nine sequel, Baxter, Steve Foden and Tom Smith carved a different podium. Callum Greatrex was fourth, with Hancy between him and his dad.
With a new cylinder head since Snetterton, multiple MR2 champion Shaun Traynor took his first win of the year in race one, pressured by Nick Williamson and Ali Topley. Traynor’s maiden 1800cc Roadster victory erased Jim Davies’ class and outright (two-litre Mk2) lap records. Spots of rain left The Link slippery for race two, but Traynor lapped quicker still, deposing Topley in the final seconds.
Bikesports blitzed the 1.85-mile track with a superb 31-car field. Centre-seat Radical PR6S ruled, polesitter Martin
Brooks taking the first race with a 1m02.51s
(106.54mph) record lap. Joe Stables and Charles Hall (Spire) kept him honest. In the second, Stables won from Scott Mittell – his eponymous lightweight’s 1000cc motor outgunned by heavier rivals’ 1340cc Suzuki Hayabusas – and Brooks. Michael Chen’s Radical SR3 twice beat Chris Preen’s similar machine in the standard engine class.
Spire dicers Ryan Yarrow and Richard Morris earned a Sports 1000 win apiece. Morris came from the back to second in the opener, then resisted Yarrow’s challenges in the later race. Coached by last year’s champion Chippy Wesemael, Mittell duo Michael Roots and Victor Neumann took third and fourth.
The top 750 Formula quartet put on two tremendous races. Although his
Darvi was not the quickest in a straight line, Peter Bove used his guile to fend off Chris Gough (CGR) and Mark Glover (Racekits Falcon) in Sunday’s outings.
Warren Allen’s Porsche Cayman received the chequer in Saturday’s 45-minute Roadsports race, but pursuer Bradley
Philpot saw him overtake under yellow flags, an indiscretion that brought exclusion. Philpot was awarded the win, with David Vincent’s Honda Civic Type R on his Lotus Elise’s tail. Jamie Sturges (SEAT
Leon Eurocup) claimed third, pursued by Nick Vaughan debuting an unusual Audi A3.
Sunday’s Club Enduro championship opener was contested over 100 minutes – with mandatory COVID-19 extended 3m30s pitstops for greater social distancing – but the result was familiar, Carl Swift/
Rob Baker winning their fourth on the trot in Area Motorsport’s SEAT.
Series debutant Leo Loucas had a torrid one-lap race. Having suffered a left-rear tyre blowout in his Valluga Racing Cayman GT4 approaching Stowe in the Roadsports event, he started from coach Bradley Ellis’s P2. Continuing after an excursion in The Link, he spun over the timing line into the pitwall, triggering a seven-lap safety car hiatus, during which Darren Ball’s BMW E92 M3 caught fire. Several teams made tactical stops at once, while others conserved fuel.
At the green, Swift set the pace as invitee Martin Byford (banished to the back of the 44-car grid for a rideheight infringement) sizzled his SEAT to second ahead of the BMWS of Owen Fitzgerald (E36 M3), Andy Schulz (E46 M3) and Charlie Dark (M235i).
Swift led for 63 laps, relaying team chief Baker for the final 10 minutes after a splash of fuel, with a six-second lead over Rory Hinde (in for Fitzgerald) in the M3, which had recovered the three laps lost during its stop at half-distance. As Hinde closed to within four seconds, Baker “saw a train of about 15 cars in front of me” with one lap to go, but was 6.19s clear at the finish.
Third and fourth were Kevin Dengate (E46 M3) and Steve Cheetham (Porsche Boxster), ahead of Class B victor Kevin Gillespie’s three-litre BMW 130i and the Byford/ Ashley Woodman SEAT after a penalty stop. On a great day for Area Motorsport, Andy Baylie (Civic) won Class C by three laps.
Highlight of the Sport Specials races, in which Andy Hiley’s unique Chronos put Paul Collingwood’s sleek Eclipse in the shade at unprecedented pace, was the separate 16-strong Ma7da Seven field’s progress. Double winner Matt Cherrington pared its lap record back to 1m17.39s (85.06mph) as the pack squabbled behind.
Extending his unbeaten Hot Hatch run, Gary Prebble was the sole competitive
Class A runner. Having graduated to the Honda Civic-dominated B ranks, chaser
Ian Williamson was delighted to land a double over Philip Wright and Tony Perfect respectively. The pace of Dan
Gibbs (VW Golf Mk2) focused C standout David Drinkwater (BMW Compact).