Hillard collects a haul on Northampton’s shale
Organiser: Incarace When: September 30 Where: Northampton International Raceway Starters: 8.
The Northampton shaleway had its first trial outing for the Nationals last weekend. Dick Hillard made the most of what was a lucrative points-gathering exercise with just eight cars having decided to brave the first NHR meeting on the loose since the early 1990s.
Hillard went away with a well-taken heat and final double . Chris Lehec was the victor in the second race of the day.
With no practice allowed, the opening heat took place on what looked like an almost perfectly graded and watered surface – exactly what it turned out to be in fact.
Hillard shot straight into the lead from the front of the heat one grid, leaving fellow front-row starting James Meadows to try and fend off the rest. But with Meadows soon forced to fall back, it was Jason Kew, Lewis Shelley, Lehec and Gavin Murray who forged through to scrap over the places.
As the cars started to raise some dust as the race progressed (but some worrying spits of rain in the air) Hillard steadily extended his lead to around a quarter of a lap, while Lehec’s attacking drive took him past Kew, who was left to trade places back and forth with Murray.
Nearing the finish a loud bang signalled that Rob Mcdonald had smacked the wall on the backstraight, dragging the back axle almost out of the car. To his credit the Scot tried to carry on and still claim some points but with smoke pouring out and a strong smell of gear oil in the air he was eventually ordered to the infield. Hillard pressed on to take the flag still well clear of Lehec and Kew.
As Hillard was straight out into the lead of heat two, there seemed no reason a repeat performance shouldn’t be on the cards. But as the track continued to dry and the leader having made an unwise set-up change which slowed him considerably, Lehec was soon nibbling at his back bumper. It took him a while to finally make an outside pass stick but he made it by in the end with Kew and Murray also pouncing on Hillard almost within sight of the flag.
For Mcdonald, however, it was another non-finish – the fluorescent orange car having ploughed into the barriers a second time, smashing the left-front corner to bits this time.
Exit one very irritated Scot, who had so much damage he even struggled to get the car secured onto its trailer for the long ride home.
A suitably chastened Hillard had returned his car to its first heat configuration for the final and shot away fast at the green flag, with Lehec, Murray and Kew all in hot pursuit.
This trio proceeded to have a most entertaining dice for position –Murray going to the front via a move down Lehec’s inside, but at the expense of a black cross.
While Billy Wood made a carbon copy of Mcdonald’s attack on the wall (with similar consequences), Murray managed to chase down the leader. When he caught up he had several stabs at sweeping round Hillard’s outside without quite managing to get the job done, allowing Lehec to also close in. These three then had a terrific fight to the finish, crossing the line as one, still in the order of Hillard, Murray and Lehec. Just five cars made it to the end.