MINI SUCCESS FOR F1 HISTORIC ACE PAD MORE
Driving a car very different to his classic Williams FW07C, Historic Formula 1 ace Nick Padmore demonstrated his versatility behind the wheel by claiming a pair of Mini Miglia wins in contrasting weather conditions at Brands Hatch.
There was a chaotic start to Saturday’s dry opener when, moments after the fast-starting Aaron Smith and Kane Astin tripped over each other leaving the line, five drivers were eliminated in a pile-up climbing Hailwood Hill leading to an immediate race stoppage.
Reigning champion Rupert Deeth briefly blasted into the lead at the restart, chased by Lee Deegan, Astin and poleman Padmore. By the start of lap four though, Padmore had worked his way to the front as Astin – sporting heavy front-end damage from his earlier clash – and Deeth dropped down the field.
While Padmore pulled clear, Deegan came under pressure from Smith in a thrilling tussle for second. Smith took the position approaching Paddock Hill five laps from the end but Deegan and the recovering Deeth never allowed him time to relax. The trio were separated by just 0.166 seconds at the flag with Smith ahead.
Deegan shadowed Padmore relentlessly in a sodden race two on Sunday but was unable to make a decisive pass as Smith finished a distant third.
There were two first-time winners in the Mini Se7en contests. Spencer Wanstall powered around the outside of triple series champion Andrew Deviny at Paddock en route to sealing victory in a damp first encounter. Reigning Super Mighty Mini champion Scott Kendall claimed an impressive third in his S Class machine. In an even wetter second event, Daniel Budd rewarded his team for all their hard work in rebuilding his car following his huge Thruxton shunt in June by scoring an emotional triumph. Initial race runner-up Deviny was excluded from the results post-race due to ‘driving in a manner incompatible with general safety’.
Max Hunter was promoted to second following a remarkable drive from the back of the grid after an operation had forced him to miss Saturday’s action.
Three further wins for Ant WhortonEales strengthened his claim to the Mini Challenge JCW title, despite not leading a single lap of the first encounter. Jordan Collard had taken a lights-to-flag win in the opener, only to be penalised for an out-of-position start post-race. Collard attempted to fight back in race two, but two trips into the Paddock gravel thwarted his progress, enabling Henry Neal and series debutant Dan Zelos to seal the final two podium spots behind Whorton-eales. A soaking third race was truncated by two red flags as Whorton-eales claimed victory ahead of Nathan Harrison.
Kyle Reid was another driver to claim a hat-trick in the Cooper Pro/am class on his first visit to Brands. After fending off Richard Newman in a dry opener, Reid narrowly held off the challenge of the rapidly-closing Mark Cornell on the sprint to the line in race two after Cornell had gambled on a late switch to wet tyres. Reid comfortably won a soaking race three ahead of the battling Robbie Dalgleish and Newman.
Connor O’brien put in a dominant performance to record his first Super
Mighty Minis win of the year in race one. Neven Kirkpatrick battled his way through to second before series leader Jo Polley produced a superb pass around outside of Surtees to snatch third from David Kirkpatrick in the closing stages.
The Kirkpatrick brothers scored a 1-2 in the wet second encounter ahead of O’brien, with Neven leading home David despite the latter sliding wide at Clearways late on.