LISSETER, WELHAM JOIN WINNERS’ CIRCLE
Snetterton’s sinuous 300 circuit played host as more 750 Motor Club 80th anniversary champions were crowned in largely damp and blustery conditions, but breakthrough race victories for Locost and F1000 freshmen Jonathan Lisseter and Robert Welham made the weekend equally memorable. Confidence buoyed, they both doubled up for wins in Welham’s case in a sensational finale.
Lisseter had previously bested at sixth, but his ability to make his SRB entry walk on water either side of Saturday’s safety car interlude stunned rivals. “All those years of Club 100 karting on slick tyres had finally paid off,” said the Romford man, who – following a grassy scare at Agostini before the hiatus – coolly denied poleman and title protagonist Louis Wall in a one-lap dash to the chequer, becoming the season’s seventh winner.
Tom Gadd needed a top-five finish on Saturday to clinch the title but, with the job seemingly done, slid off at Oggies and returned a deflated 11th. “I had a quiet night, talking to nobody,” said the Lincolnshire lad, for whom eighth on Sunday would now be sufficient. That looked a tall order when, having swept into the lead from P4 at the start, he careered off at Wilson hairpin seconds later. “I thought ‘no, no, no,’ when I couldn’t stop on the grass, but didn’t hit anything and refocused,” he said.
Seventh at the end of the lap signalled Gadd’s determination. Fifth by mid-race, he settled for sixth, punching the air as he crossed the line as champion. Meanwhile, Lisseter grabbed the lead from David Mason into Riches and stormed away. Murray Shepherd and Wall, recovering from a Riches moment, deposed Mason to join Locost Ma7da aspirant Lisseter on the podium.
Avon control tyre choice proved crucial across the F1000 triple-header. Dan Clowes and Matthew Booth on wets got the drop on Saturday’s slick-shod polesitter Michael Watton. Clowes won from Booth, Booth’s vanquished title rival Lee Morgan and Suffolk teenager Welham, whose slicks rapidly “turned on” towards the end.
Sunday’s encounters were crackers too. Welham rounded Watton to score his first win in “proper tricky” conditions in the morning. Morgan and a clutchless Booth grabbed second and third after Agostini caught Clowes out. Welham’s jaw-dropping outside pass on Morgan at Riches coloured the finale, for which slicks were de rigueur.
“I knew I had the grip,” said Welham, who resisted relentless pressure from Watton to win by 0.09s.
Bikesports champion Joe Stables swapped his Class B Radical SR3 for father Richard’s Class A PR6 but Josh Smith and Charles Hall – who clashed at Oulton Park last time out – won the races. Hall’s Sr3-replacement Spire was sidelined by a broken chain, which ceded the Class A title to Smith (PR6) in the opener. Hall howled away from Smith in race two.
Darren Berris won both packed Armed Forces Race Challenge bouts in his burbling Rover V8-powered Westfield.
Fellow RAF stalwart Chris Slator (Peugeot 306) snatched the title on a complex index of performance calculation that rewards consistency. Renault Clio drivers chased Berris in, Ben Williams (who needs to practice his starts) and local car dealer
Ray Honeybone posting seconds.
Paul Boyd blitzed Sport Specials.
Cautious pursuer Andy Hiley (Chronos) secured the title in Saturday’s contest, in which Isle of Wight commuter Steven
Wells (Subzero) was a fine third. Stuart Thompson finally landed a Class B win, on countback, after a terrific Sunday scrap with David Winter and Chris Pyke.
The Clio 182 season ended disappointingly; both races were halted after lap-one incidents then decided over three laps. Saturday’s gave Ryan Polley the second chance he needed to claim the crown from James Bark after a poor initial getaway. Polley sat out Sunday’s in which Bark beat Don De Graaff.
A big BMW field was an aural delight,
Dave Kempton and debutant Niall Bradley winning in contrasting M3s as Cup class racer Matt Page (325Ti) emerged champion.
Hot and Classic Stock Hatch title fights will be resolved at Silverstone on October 27. In the latter, Andrew Thorpe and his 1400cc Citroen AX prevailed in Sunday’s soggy opener as 1600cc Vauxhalls, Peugeots and Fords scrabbled for grip. Later, Matt Rozier’s first win this term postponed Lee Scott’s celebrations.