Hewlett and Nylan take Type Rs to wire
Christopher Nylan or Jake Hewlett now look certain to be crowned the Type R Trophy champion in 2022 after they took a win apiece at Brands Hatch, while Jack Dwane’s pursuit of a second straight Clio Sport title suffered a setback with a heavy crash.
Both championships featured as part of the 750 Motor Club’s single-day event on the Indy circuit that featured six different categories and 135 qualifiers for the 11 races.
Points leader Nylan qualified fastest ahead of Hewlett for the Type R opener, which was red-flagged on the first lap when another title protagonist, Matt Digby, went out in a skirmish with Mark Dicken at Paddock Hill Bend. At the restart, Hewlett drew ahead as Nylan’s second gear jumped out on the run to Paddock and, as hard as Nylan tried, Hewlett held his nerve for an important win. Conor Murphy took a best result of third just ahead of Chris Smith.
Nylan later produced a stellar drive from ninth on the reversed grid to win race two. He was quickly up to second before passing Daniel Chapman for the lead approaching Paddock. In the remaining six laps, he built up a five-second winning margin from Chapman and Smith, while Hewlett could only make it as high as fifth. With their nearest rival in the standings, Joe Jessup, missing the event (see News), Nylan and Hewlett have now drawn comfortably clear in the championship table with just Snetterton’s triple-header to go.
“These are big results for the championship, particularly with Jake a bit further back in race two,” said Nylan. “But I’m expecting Joe will be back for Snetterton, and he and a few others will have nothing to lose so it could get quite interesting.”
There was a win and a second place each for Andrew Harding and Justin Griffiths in Clios as the newer 197 models dominated once more. Griffiths qualified fastest but Harding, on the favoured high line on the grid, got away in the lead to win race one, truncated by a red-flag period to clear several badly damaged cars including the 182 of reigning champion Dwane (see News).
At the restart, Harding and Griffiths – pals from junior school days – circulated nose to tail and finished in this order, followed by Spencer Stevenson in third.
Griffiths got revenge later in the day after toughing it out with Harding along Cooper Straight, while Stevenson took third again. Jason Pelosi and Scott Edgar took the 182 class wins with fifth and sixth place finishes respectively. Harding, already with no scores to drop, effectively now leads the 197 class with a tally just shy of Dwane’s 182 haul.
Not even a transmission glitch could stop Richard Webb cruising to two more victories as he made sure of the Sports
1000 crown. The title was sewn up in the opening race when he won by close to half a lap in his Spire RGBR. By contrast, Paul Rogers (Spire GT3S) and outgoing champion Ryan Yarrow (Spire GT3-Y) were separated by just 0.18s in their scrap over second.
Webb was similarly dominant in race two, crossing the line more than 20s clear of Paul Smith (Mittell SSRD MC-53) and Yarrow, having completed the last lap stuck in fourth gear.
The Locost and Classic Stock Hatch races produced the closest finishes of the day. Craig Land persevered to pip Daniel
Garrett by 0.04s in the first Locost contest, after timing his final attack perfectly on the run to the line. Garrett then got his win in race two, winning by just 0.11s from older brother Ryan, who he’d earlier squeezed past at Druids. Land took third this time and, with main rival Martin West an off-form eighth and fifth, is now edging closer to a first championship.
In Classic Stock Hatch, meanwhile, the title is shaping up between either Peter Morgan (who could add to son Ryan’s crown from 2021) and Christopher Dear. Both were beaten in the first of two races by Stewart Place (Peugeot 205 GTI), who drew comfortably clear while Morgan and Dear lost ground fighting over second. Dear (205 GTI) looked to have made the position his with a move at Paddock starting the final lap, only for Morgan (Ford Fiesta XR2I) to regain the place moments later at Graham Hill Bend, with just 0.01s separating them at the flag, Dear marginally ahead.
Place’s hopes of a fourth straight win ended when he hit trouble leading into Druids on the opening lap of race two. Morgan therefore took over at the front and was able to fend off Dear to the end, and this time the gap between them was the slightly bigger margin of 0.17s.