Academy aces top of the class after thrillers
The Caterham Academy’s first-year racers stole the show at Snetterton, where the two groups’ titles were both decided by a single point following hard-fought, clean races.
After escaping to win Saturday’s Green group battle, Freddie Chiddicks headed into Sunday’s damp finale with a twopoint advantage over Geoff Newman.
The duo exchanged the lead throughout before Newman rounded Chiddicks at Brundle on the final lap and nailed the final three corners to crucially snatch fastest lap too, denying Chiddicks the title by the narrowest of margins.
“To me it was just another race,” said Newman. “I came here to learn to drive, so just getting on the podium is something.
All credit to Freddie – if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have put in so much effort.”
Saturday’s White group thriller was decided only when Charlie Lower ran wide at Murray’s on the final tour and was outdragged by Harry George by
0.16 seconds. In Sunday’s rematch, Lower held on to prevail by an almost identical margin and pip George to the title by a single mark. Chiddicks claimed a much more comfortable success over George and Newman when the groups combined for the non-championship Autumn Trophy race.
In a controversial conclusion, Chris Middlehurst clawed back a 38-point deficit with two races remaining in the Formula Ford 1600 National Championship to take the crown for a second time – 10 years after his first title.
Pre-weekend points leader Alex Walker had strengthened his advantage by passing Middlehurst at Riches to win the opener in his Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum. Team Dolan man Middlehurst’s Van Diemen was shuffled back to fifth, just ahead of the third title contender, Max Esterson
(Low Dempsey Racing Ray).
Walker and Team Dolan Van Diemen guest driver Niall Murray ran wide at Turn 3 on the opening tour of Sunday morning’s wet sequel, letting KMR’S Tom Mills escape to a commanding maiden win from Middlehurst. As Murray and Walker disputed third, they clashed at Brundle and Nelson, Walker’s damage forcing him out.
From 12th on the grid, Walker rose to eighth on the first lap of race three before contact when trying to round Morgan Quinn’s Team Dolan entry at Riches left both cars in the barriers and ended Walker’s title hopes. While Murray took a comfortable win from third on the partially reversed grid, Middlehurst’s drive to third behind Mills was enough to seal the crown.
Cosworth YB power helped race sponsor Piers Grange’s ex-matt Moore Escort RSR to Modified Fords success on Saturday, holding off Jack Gadd’s late challenge in a Millington-motivated example. Gadd’s trip over the Murray’s kerbs allowed Ashley Shelswell’s Mustang-engined Sierra XR4I to snatch second. Delayed by Shelswell’s spin in the wet race two, Grange could only recover to second behind James Harris’s giantkilling Pinto-powered Mk2 Escort. With Grange missing, Rod Birley’s Escort WRC looked set to claim race three until dropping into limp mode, allowing Gadd to hold off Shelswell for victory.
Birley sat out the opener to focus on the Super Saloon races. He won the first, but was denied a brace by a loose wheelnut. Nick Sutton’s final-lap exhaust failure on his Mitsubishi Lancer E10 therefore gifted Gavin Dunn’s BMW E36 victory.
Blair Mcconachie eventually eked out a tiny margin over the rest of the six-car
pack squabbling for the lead of the
Caterham 270R opener. Stephen Lyall and Harry Eyre followed him home, and joined him in dispute of Sunday honours. Lyall and Mcconachie had both been rounded by Eyre at Brundle on the final lap when contact between them at Nelson spun the Scot, who slipped to fifth as Eyre won from Lyall.
Lewis Thompson’s run of eight successive 310R victories was ended by a Pete Walters double. Thompson, ducking out of Walters’s slipstream as they approached the chequered flag, was denied by just 0.016s in the first. Roles reversed in race two, where Walters drafted past to win by 0.057s.
On his first Snetterton 300 outing, Ray Harris took a pair of Intermarque Silhouette wins. First-time polesitter Daniel Smith’s challenge was blunted by an oil leak, as he dropped to third behind Malcolm Blackman, and then gearbox woes. His brother Lewis led the second race, until fuel-flow problems thwarted him late on.