Motorsport News

THOMPSON LEAVES IT LATE TO POUNCE FOR HIS MAIDEN BriSCA F1 VICTORY

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There were only a handful of corners left, and it looked like a shoo-in for tin-top star Ricky Collard. It had been a remarkable afternoon for grandson of Hot Rod legend Mick ‘Duffy’

Collard already.

Delayed on his way to the track, the 26-year-old was forced to swap cars at the last-minute to a machine proffered by regular racer Jason Cull. His late arrival meant he only got a very few laps of practice too.

Starting from the fifth spot on the grid, drawn in a random order, he was quickly scything his way up the position chart with some prodigious use of his front bumper. Early leader was poleman Ryan Bensley, the Honda Civic Cup title winner who had been partly responsibl­e for inspiring the idea behind the race in the first place, in the car lent to him by Tom Dayman.

Once Collard had got the jump on him, he was able to pull out a sizeable gap. But trouble was coming. Bobby Thompson was flying in Simon Traves’ machine. From near the back, he nudged his way into second spot around the halfway mark by following Aiden Moffat into the Seaside turn in fine BriSCA F1 style. Moffat, in

Chris Cowley’s machine, would drop to fifth in the final placings.

Thompson left it until a couple of laps remaining before he eased off the brake going into Turn 1 and walloped into Collard, pushing him wide and assuming control for the rest of the event.

Behind the action-packed top two, Paul O’Neill completed the podium in Paul Hines’ car. He had been involved in a race-long battle with friend Josh Cook, in the car usually raced by

Mat Newson. Once they had passed Moffat, Cook slipped up and allowed his foe ahead.

Behind Moffat was Bensley, and he fended off Carl Boardley, who was struggling with transmissi­on problems in the car belonging to

Dean Whitwell. Dan Welch drove

Mark Adkins’ car to eighth place after battling to find traction throughout the course of the practice and race.

The two stragglers were Rick Parfitt, in Mark Sargent’s machine, and poor Dexter Patterson in the Ben Howard car. It only took them a couple of corners to get together and fire hard into the inside tyre barriers. Parfitt did extract himself though and was thrilled with his pace thereafter, whereas Patterson was forced into the role of spectator. Results

1 Bobby Thompson; 2 Ricky Collard; 3 Paul O’Neill; 4 Josh Cook; 5 Aiden Moffat; 6 Ryan Bensley; 7 Carl Boardley; 8 Dan Welch; 9 Rick Parfitt Jr; NF: Dexter Patterson.

 ?? ?? Thompson was the toast of the town after claiming the win
Thompson was the toast of the town after claiming the win

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