JACKSON IS THEM AN TO BEAT AS HE WINS TIGHT FF 1600 CROFT CONTESTS
The ninth, and so far best, Croft Nostalgia Festival yet attracted record numbers of enthusiasts entering into the spirit of the North East’s premier vintage lifestyle event – and they were treated to some entertaining Historic Sports Car Club racing.
Formula Ford polesitter Cameron Jackson’s breathtakingly tight wins over title rival Ben Mitchell narrowed his deficit to three points. Mitchell had to repass Callum Grant on Sunday and got his Merlyn’s nose ahead of Jackson’s Lola’s several times, but being squeezed onto the grass on the run to Tower rankled. A brush with Jackson there dropped Grant to third on Saturday. “Good starts are important here, because it’s so difficult to pass,” said Jackson, with the momentum going to Oulton Park.
Andrew Wiggins (Titan) won the tough qualifier, Tim Brise (Merlyn), Kevin Stanzl (Crossle) and Lee Penson (Lotus 51A) all within 1.24s.
Spectators saw Yorkshiremen Peter Needham and Jon Waggitt’s orange Lenham P69 take the Guards Trophy chequer, but shared their agony when a 30-second penalty for Needham stopping before the window opened dropped them to third behind Charlie Allison and Philip Nelson in Chevron B8s.
“They were quicker today and deserved to win, so it was a bit of a hollow victory, but I’ll take it,” said Allison sportingly. Fourth overall, Nick Fennell and Jon Milicevic won the earlier sports racing class in Fennell’s ex-robin Widdows Lotus 23 from Rob Wainwright/arnie Black (Crossle 7S).
The GT section sprang a surprise when defending champion John Davison parked his Lotus Elan 26R Gold Bug replica. “An oil line caught on the steering column and popped off, so I spun on my own oil,” he rued, although his points lead remained. With Peter Thompson’s TVR Griffith halted by driveshaft failure, novices Patrick and Roderick Jack emerged delighted victors having driven their Elan beautifully.
Jackson’s HFF double was mirrored across the frontline categories. On pole by 4.377s in his Elan S1, Historic Road Sports crackshot Davison twice outsprinted Kevin Kivlochan’s Morgan +8 to Clervaux and romped away. “I’m afraid I love this circuit – particularly the Jim Clark Esses – so I can’t help myself. I have to try,” said Davison.
Jonathan Rose repelled fellow Elan racer Larry Kennedy for thirds, the latter pursued by Mark Godfrey’s open Ginetta G4 and the class-winning Triumph TR4 of Karl Wetherell (Saturday) and Ben Ferguson (Sunday). Turner ace Dick Coffey heads the table again, the reigning champ finishing clear of Tony Davis’ Sprite and Ian Ross’ Ginetta G15.
After dropping to sixth in Sunday’s 70s Road Sports start (“I wasn’t concentrating on the lights”) Charles Barter and his Datsun 240Z were reprieved by Peter House’s Ford Escort, immobile with a broken transmission. Barter soon charged past fast starter Will Leverett (Lotus Europa) upon whom Jez Clark (Elan) turned Saturday’s tables for second. Clark is chasing Barter in the title race, but a perfect Class D score allowed Brian Jarvis (Porsche 924) to climb to third.
Having charged through a dust storm, legacy of the previous weekend’s rallycross, red flags flew immediately in the Historic F3/junior opener when Steve Seaman and Simon Armer tangled at Clervaux and Andrew Tart could not miss them. Jon Milicevic dashed to victory, pursued by Peter de la Roche from the FJ set. The defending champions repeated on Sunday, when Peter Thompson nicked second overall and Adrian Russell outfoxed John Fyda in FJ.
Phil House’s Lotus Cortina overheated battling Rick Belcher’s, thus missed the Touring Car sequel in which EX-BTCC racer House completed his Croft treble. Spun by Rob Wainwright’s A40 on Saturday, Bob Bullen (Anglia) happily landed second ahead of Steve Platts (Singer Chamois), last year’s champ overjoyed after reliability woes with combative thirds and a Sunday duel with Adrian Oliver (Imp).
It took Mark Charteris four laps to usurp John Harrison in Sunday’s Classic Clubmans opener, in which Phil Hart scored his maiden B-sport win. Smoke from a leaky wheel bearing seal (“I think I was running on coal”) hardly slowed Charteris later as Clive Wood shot from the back to dominate the Ff1600-engined split, in which Hart won a four-car scrap for second.
High oil pressure warnings slowed polesitter Steve Collier in the first
Midget/sprite race, freeing David Morrison to beat Paul Sibley twice. Slowed by restricted revs, Collier and Class E star Pippa Cow traded places countless times before Cow regained third on the line, punching the air.