STILES COMES OF AGE WITH PRYCE HOMAGE
In parallel with the late Tom Pryce – the driver being celebrated at Anglesey – Ben Stiles is young, talented and underfunded. Appropriately, this was the weekend when Stiles really came of age as a racer thanks to a fabulous double win in Formula Ford 2000. Twice he got the better of Ian Pearson but it was always close.
Running his Van Diemen RF82 on cast-off tyres with his dad Trevor, young Stiles was supreme in the Classic and Historic FF2000 races as Pearson headed the Historics in his Royale RP30. On Saturday, Stiles had to withstand constant pressure from Pearson before taking his first overall FF2000 win.
“I’ve been waiting so long to do this – it’s just the best feeling,” said Stiles. Pearson probed Stiles’ defence but had to finally settle for second.
“He did a good job,” said Pearson. “This is an absolutely brilliant track!”
On Sunday, Pearson got the start he wanted and grabbed the lead as Stiles struggled to get third gear and lost momentum. However, up to Rocket for the first time, Pearson suffered pad knock-off and ran wide onto the grass. Stiles accepted the gift and dived ahead to take a lead he would hold for the remaining 20 minutes, despite a determined chase by Pearson.
The major worry for Stiles was if his largely worn out tyres would last the distance, but they did and he completed a perfect weekend. “I’m over the moon; the best weekend of my life,” said Stiles. Andrew Park ran third on Saturday but missed Sunday’s race due to a family commitment and so Paul Allen rounded out Sunday’s podium.
Kevin Kivlochan came within a wheelnut of four wins as he dominated the twin Road Sports categories. In his AC Cobra, Kivlochan extended the car’s winning sequence to seven wins in seven weeks in Historic Road Sports as Neil Merry (Sunbeam Tiger) and Larry Tucker (Ford Mustang) had two great battles for second.
Aboard his Morgan +8, Kivlochan won the opening 70s Road Sports race despite the best efforts of Jeremy Clark (Lotus Elan). The Morgan was on target to complete Kivlochan’s quartet on Sunday when a wheelnut failed. The resultant strain caused the others to fail and the wheel left the scene. Clark, who had led the opening lap until a grassy moment, retook control to win instead.
Matt Wrigley matched Kivlochan’s tally by winning three races in his March 79B, having twice toppled the mighty Formula 5000s to win both XL Aurora races. Wrigley then added another win in the inaugural Formula Atlantic race but elected to miss the second when damaged gearbox bolts gave cause for concern.
Instead, an enthralling second race had three leaders in the first two laps. Eventually, from the tail of the pack came Bob Juggins to win in style from a hard-charging Iain Rowley.
Four Formula Junior races went with form as Richard Wilson (Brabham BT6) and Chris Drake (Terrier Mk4) both won twice. Marty Bullock headed the opening rearengine race in his Wren but accepted that his drum brakes were no match for the discbraked Brabham. Despite dwindling stopping power, Bullock held on for second on Saturday but was edged back to third on Sunday by
John Fyda’s Brabham.
Callum Grant and Neil Fowler relished two glorious battles in Historic FF1600 as multiple champion Fowler returned in the Winkelmann normally handled by Cameron Jackson. It was nip and tuck as Gislain Genecand went with them and they traded the lead in Saturday’s opener. Grant wriggled ahead and knew that Fowler was stronger on the brakes into the hairpin.
“I was trying to go deeper and it worked for two laps but then I spun,” said Grant after recovering for third behind Genecand. On Sunday, there was little in it, but Grant just eased clear as Fowler found himself occupied with the flying Genecand.
Simon Armer finally had his March 703 running well and duly took two wins in Historic F3, as Mike Scott mounted two dogged pursuits. In the opener, Armer was giving valiant chase to Jon Milicevic when the leader suffered a wishbone failure and ended his weekend at Rocket.
Richard Belcher went untroubled in Historic Touring Cars once his sparring partner Mark Jones was sidelined by what became an electrical fire in his Lotus Cortina.