DRAKE CAPTAINS A REAL FORMULA JUNIOR THRILLER
The Donington Historic Festival returned in style with tremendous racing. The weekend wrapped up with the three-hour Pall Mall Cup and a fine win for Roger Wills and Tim Harvey in the ex-Bruce McLaren Lotus 15.
The race for the older Formula Juniors was an absolute stormer as three cars went at it hammer and tongs for the lead. Ray Mallock, Chris Drake and Andrew Hibberd were wonderfully evenlymatched in three very different cars and all had a turn in the lead.
After much place changing and wheel-to-wheel action,
Mallock seemed to have made a small break when Drake was momentarily delayed by a backmarker at the Old Hairpin. But a lap or two later Mallock had the same problem and Drake sliced ahead to take the flag by a smidgen.
The race for the later Juniors lost poleman Sam Wilson and contender James Murray in a first-corner tangle. After a safety car period, it was Richard Bradley who took control of the race from Hibberd, now out in his own Lotus 22. Hibberd chased hard but couldn’t quite much the pace of the Le Mans racer. Bradley ran away and hid in Sunday’s race.
Gary Pearson was mighty in the Jaguar Classic opener and edged clear of a quality pack to take a resounding solo win a month after sharing a similar victory at Donington with his brother John.
Will Nuthall was the class of a bumper HGPCA field and scored a commanding win, despite a mid-race safety car. Lots of battling went on in his wake, but no-one could rival the pace of the local racer, who duly wrapped up the double on Sunday.
The opening Amon Cup for Ford GT40s race made a glorious sight and sound, even though only 11 cars started as some potential runners were hobbled by European travel restrictions. After a relatively steady start, Gordon Shedden battled ahead in the car of Philip Walker and handed it over to the equally capable Miles Griffiths to finish the job. Behind them, there were lots of battles and eventually it was the strong pairing of James Hansen and Andy Newall that came through to take second.
There was also a fine battle in the early stages of the combined Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy as the Tojeiro Jaguar of James Cottingham worked hard to fend off the charging Chris Ward. Ward stayed out as long as he could before handing the Lister Knobbly over to Rob Smith. But Smith, in his first race in the car, could not hold off the charging Oli Bryant in the Tojeiro as Gary Pearson, in his second solo hour-long race of the afternoon, ran home third in his Lister Jaguar.
Father and son Justin and Ben Maeers (Parker GN) emerged proud and triumphant in the Mad Jack for Pre-War Sports Cars in Dad’s aero-engined monster, while Jonathan Bailey and Andy Middlehurst (Nissan Skyline) were convincing winners in the Historic
Touring Car Challenge.