Honours even for Fennymore and Simms
Historic Formula Ford 2000 title protagonists Benn Simms and Graham Fennymore won a race apiece in their Reynards at Croft, although even defending champion Fennymore questioned the 10-second jump-start penalty that denied his rival a double on Sunday.
“It looked fine to me,” said Graham as Simms graciously accepted the drop to fifth that ironically matched Fennymore’s Saturday finish.
Simms qualified second for race one behind Fennymore, but when the latter dived inside Drew Cameron (Royale RP27) in the Complex on a fiendishly wet track his Taylor Made Joinery Reynard spun. “I owe Ollie Roberts a big dinner for missing me,” said Fennymore who rejoined hairily before the midfield train arrived and set about regaining places from eighth.
Former GB3 racer Alex Fores – racing Graham Ridgway’s Reynard and showing no ill effects from his recent Caterham shunt at Castle Combe – kept Simms focused to the chequered flag. Cameron merited third from Ian Pearson (RP30), the recovering Fennymore and Roberts. In the thick of the 28-strong pack Malcolm Oastler drove Adrian Reynard’s ex-Jeremy Rossiter SF78 and, on new wets, beat his old boss the ’79 Euroseries champion’s Canadian Club tribute-liveried SF79 to 14th.
Sunday afternoon’s happily dry sequel was stopped after John Wilkinson’s Reynard spun and smote the barrier backwards leaving the chicane. Fennymore was just ahead of Simms at the time.
Benn edged ahead before Clervaux at the restart, but there was more drama when Fores’s right-front wheel departed as he accelerated towards Tower.
With only sufficient time on TSL’s clocks for six laps, Simms just repelled Fennymore, only to learn of his penalty fate from the commentator.
Cameron, Lee Bankhurst – whose RP30 only just made the grid after a clutch master cylinder change – and Pearson were moved up a place, with Andrew Storer (SF79) finishing sixth.