The Sunday event was limited to the afternoon because of the local church service. There were just 22 runners due in no small measure to the event not being in the Ulster championship – events on a Sunday are strictly ignored. So after two practice runs the three timed runs commenced.
Michael Davidson took a solo win in his BMW although he did try his best with a grass tracking escapade at The Chicane to chuck it away. Kevin Haveron and Geoffrey Kidd took solo wins in the Kit Car classes before the first true contest of the day hit the track. Mal Haveron put in three spirited runs but it was not enough as Noel Bryson in the Uno was 10 seconds clear. Steven Hawthorne then took a solo win in the family Locost before we moved in Sports Libre territory.
With the Radical’s oil leak cleaned up Rory Stephens ran out the easy winner but it didn’t stop Neil Dugan from trying very hard to pull back the deficit. Simon Bainbridge again proved too fast for the opposition as the Audi driver cruised to victory. Patrick Gillian took second in his Impreza whilst Philip Cherry in the Impreza engined Ford focus was third. Joe Courtney then took the 1400 Racing Car class with a consistent set of run times whilst Russell Houston was second after a massive spin at Colonial. Third went to Deirdre Delaney in her FVJ before the Over 1400s came out to play. Once again Nick Algar set the pace finishing over a second clear of Stewart Robb Snr. Sideways Simon McKinley was third as he once again not only went blindingly fast in his elderly Lant but also entertained the spectators and fellow competitors. Colin Birkbeck and Jonathan Toulmin were next before Andy & David Hawthorne completed the class with their FVL. The final class saw just the one runner – Harry Brown in his Avenger – which showed indecent pace for such an ancient saloon car.
With just 5 Sprint Championship contenders available the organisers again rounded this up to the full compliment of 12 with the ‘locals’. This time 11 started the run-off as once again Rory Stephens opted out as the Radical was again dropping oil. Andy Hawthorne led off proceedings but he would take just the one run and end up slowest. Neil Dugan was next and despite taking a second run was fastest on his first when there was less histrionics. David Hawthorne was next in the family FVL and his only run saw him finish ahead of Dugan and his co-driver. Russell Houston left taking his one and only run until the second set so as to give the OMS more time to cool down. That may have been a mistake as he was over two seconds slower. Joe Courtney put in a super first run and was looking equally impressive on his second until he missed the third chicane completely! The final Irish runner was that man McKinley again. The Lant driver was again outstanding and watching him negotiate the chicane on the start/finish straight was mind boggling however his second run was not without problems when an extended trip over the rumple strip seemed to knock the FT200 gearbox into neutral.
We then had the 5 British contenders and it was led off by Simon Bainbridge. Once again the Audi was given the one outing as overheating was still a problem. Simon was stunning yet just failed to match his qualifying time. Jonathan Toulmin then had his turn. Once again that third chicane proved tricky as he locked-up the force and went straight past the chicane and posting a failed run. His second effort was much more conservative and he fell behind Bainbridge but at least he had a time and some more points. Colin Birkbeck was also destined for just one run but not by design. He was super smooth as usual and posted a time close to that of qualifying however as he crossed the finish there was a loud bang from the rear of the car and he felt a blast of heat across his shoulders. He came to a halt in the pit lane and the Dallara was wheeled back into the paddock. The diagnosis was a split fuel tank. The loud bang was a flash fire caused by methanol hitting the hot engine. Thankfully Colin and the car were undamaged.
Stewart Robb Snr was next and his first run was a couple of seconds inside his Q-time however at the half way stage he was less than a second adrift of Nick Algar. Stewart’s second run was superb as he set a new outright course record and moved ahead of Algar by over a second. This left Nick Algar with it all to do. His first run had set yet another new course record but with Robb in the lead Algar was forced to run again. His start wasn’t his best but he was looking far quicker on the run from The Chicane to The Hairpin. Down through Debtor’s the Gould was sparking away as the skid plates hit the track. All eyes in the pit lane zeroed in on the clock. As the NME V8 roared towards the final chicane it was close but in the end Algar had over two seconds in hand.
Stewart Robb Snr was philosophical about the result “A 4 second improvement is all I could expect” he also thinks that the Gould’s quick-shift gear change system is the main advantage that his main rival has. Meanwhile Algar was delighted with the result; when asked about tactics he said “When Stewart beat my time I thought I had better take my second run.” As for all those Outright Records “It was just another day in the office.” The double header week-end at Kames could be all important in who finally wins the 2010 Championship; it will definitely be one not to miss.
SBD Motorsport MSA British Sprint Championship Rd 11
1 Nick Algar (3.5 Gould-NME GR55) 106.19secs; 2 Stewart Robb Snr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd KV4 MP88) 108.60secs; 3 Colin Birkbeck (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall 301) 118.57secs; 4 Simon Bainbridge (4.2T Audi TT Replica 4-W-D) 126.33sec; 5 Jonathan Toulmin (1.5 Force-Suzuki PT) 103.49secs; No other starters
Irish Runners:
1 Simon McKinley (2.5 Lant-Warrior RT4) 115.99secs; 2 Joe Courtney (1.4 OMS Hornet) 125.18secs; 3 Russell Houston (1.3 OMS CF04) 132.26secs; 4 David Hawthorne (2.0 FVL) 137.50secs; 5 Neil Dugan (2.4 Peugeot-Cosworth 205) 140.33secs; 6 Andy Hawthorne (2.0 FVL) 142.94secs No other starters
Class Winners:
Michael Davidson (2.0 BMW 318) 163.06secs; Kevin Haveron (2.0 Westfield SEi) 157.28secs; Geoffrey Kidd (2.0 Tiger Cat) 145.85secs; Steven Hawthorne (2.0 Locost) 145.95secs; Rory Stephens (1.3T Radical SR3) 123.63secs – Record; Simon Bainbridge 125.43secs – Record; Joe Courtney 125.01secs; Nick Algar 110.32secs – Record; Harry Brown (1.6 Hillman Avenger) 163.27secs.