by Steve Wilkinson
As practice progressed on Sunday morning there was the occasional light shower. As the timed runs got underway they became more frequent and by the time of the run-off it was continuous rain. Could Tony Eyles defeat not only the elements but his championship rivals?
In the Mod Prod classes there were victories again for Malcolm Allen and Steve Heath whilst Nigel Hughes took the two litre class. Garry Dickson and John Sampson again dominated the Kit Car Mod Prods but Simon Ashby was starting to enjoy the Quantum as he knocked off another of those 100 things he had to do before he dies! Ross Browne too the 1100 Racing Car class in his smart Force as Henryk Kozlowski fell back with his less powerful Jedi. Keith Sollis took the FF1600 class however Iain Houston had a big accident in the Laser. Fortunately Iain was perfectly OK whilst the car suffered damage to the undertray. As the car exited Honda and headed towards Woodlands it was hit by a freak gust of wind and was literally blown off the track! In the 1600 class Roy Dawson reigned supreme whilst second went to Nigel Hughes in the FVJ. Steve Broughton was third ahead of Jonathan Varley and Kim Kingham. Tony Wiltshire again mopped up the two-litre class but in second spot was Adrian Desoutter in the ex-Mooncrete Reynard. Fred Currell was a delighted third whilst Richard Crisp co-drove the Desoutter Reynard to fourth. In the over two litre class Tony Eyles again won with Martin Dowling and John Payne closing in for second and third. The three Road Car classes went to the same winners as on Saturday with David West the most emphatic. Stephen Fielding managed to beat the Wood family in the first of the Kit Car classes whilst Gordon Hick, Alex Mitchell and Mike Griffiths all took solo wins.
Top Twelve Run-off
As the only dual runner John Payne once again had the privilege of leading off the Top Twelve
Run-off. In the now very wet conditions John's first start was perfect again, he streaked through
Spitfires, down to Hatchets and then launched the car down the long straight to Honda. His first
run would see him in sixth and when he first bogged his first start then was slightly hesitant off
the line his second run would end up slower. Orkadian Garry Dickson was next and with the clutch
slipping he would have to be very careful. His first run in the wet conditions saw him climb to
eighth however he was unable to defend the place as the clutch finally cried enough. He would see
his first run efforts beaten as he fell down to eleventh. Phil Lynch was next and somewhat off
the pace in the qualifying runs however he was soon into his stride and moved into seventh.
Despite an improved second run the Midlander dropped to ninth. Mark Smith was hampered by only
having slicks! To qualify was an achievement and to lie in tenth after the first runs was
incredible however his luck didn't hold and even though he cut over two tenths off his time he
dropped to last place. John Sampson on the other hand had no such handicap. His only problem was
a surfeit of torque which he had to transmit to the road through narrow wets. Ninth after the
first run he too dropped back even though he was well over a second quicker! Steve Broughton was
flying on his first run and elevated the OMS from a qualifying seventh to a magnificent fourth.
He held off the challengers on his second run by taking exactly four tenths off his time and
getting his challenge for a Top Three place back on track. Steve Miles was next and as the Van
Diemen slithered round Hatchets and headed off to Honda he looked in determined mood. However it
all went wrong for Inspector Gadget as he spun out and dropped to eleventh. At the second time
of asking Miles was still in eleventh and putting his first run spin behind him he put in a
stunning run to record his best time of the day and rocket up to sixth. Fred Currell was just
pleased to be in the run-off. As he accelerated away the Reynard seem somewhat lively and at the
first corner, Spitfires, it swapped ends. Fred got it rolling again but was down in twelfth. His
luck was about to change. After an early season fraught with mechanical problems and a huge shunt
at Shelsley which necessitated a major repair on the tub, Fred was about to understand why he
had changed to single seaters. No problems off the line on his second run. Through Spitfires and
Hatchets without a hiccup then off to Honda. The black Reynard would stop the clocks at 55.34 not
his best time but impressive none the less as it meant that Fred on his first British Sprint
Championship run-off would finish eighth. The grin was visible even before he took off the helmet!
Martin Dowling's first run had secured fifth place and he now had Steve Broughton in his sights
however despite reducing his time by over three tenths he just failed to beat the OMS driver and
had to settle for fifth. Tony Wiltshire was really putting the pressure on himself. Having
qualified in third he had to beat not only Tony Eyles but also Roy Dawson. As he accelerated away
on his first run it all went wrong at the second corner Hatchets as he was too early on the power
and shoved the back-end out wide. The time spent correcting the slide was enough to keep him
third and gave him a lot to think about. Second run and with over seven tenths to make up to Tony
Eyles Wilt was under the cosh. His start was perfect then at Hatchets he did the same again. Head
down and charging towards Honda it was already a lost cause however a spin on the back straight
dropped the time off the scale and he ambled home in third. The championship was slipping from
his grasp. Tony Eyles on the other hand had had a perfect start to the run off. His conservative
approach to the two early corners were matched by the all out charge through Honda and Woodlands
and when the clocks stopped Tony had set the fastest time of the day. When it came to his second
run he was already aware of Wilts mistake and with the pressure off he drove imperiously to reset
FTD as he became the only driver into the 49s on the wet track. Final runner and fastest
qualifier was Roy the Boy Dawson. The hard charging Scot was a fraction slower than his Q-time on
his first run and was back in second spot. With Eyles time relayed to him he knew it was a big
ask but he was up for it. The Firehawk rocketed off the line and as he flew into Spitfires the
car swapped ends and his charge for glory was over. However second place was Roy's best result of
the year but it was slightly overshadowed by Tony Eyles second victory which had all but sealed
the 2004 British Sprint Championship crown for the West Countryman.
1 Eyles 49.80sec; 2 Dawson 50.65sec; 3 Wiltshire 50.98sec; 4 Broughton 53.07sec; 5 Dowling
53.30sec; 6 Miles 54.31sec; 7 Payne 54.59sec; 8 Fred Currell (2.0 Reynard-Opel 913) 55.34sec; 9
Lynch 55.36sec; 10 Sampson 55.56sec; 11 Dickson 56.74sec; 12 Mark Smith (2.0 Westfield
-Vauxhall/SBD SEiW) 57.20sec
Class Winners: West 64.55sec; Gareth Griffiths 61.55sec; Stokes 57.24sec; Stephen Fielding
(1.7 Caterham 7) 60.65sec; Hick 67.19sec; Mitchell 67.58sec; Allen 60.04sec; Nigel Hughes
(1.8 MG ZR160) 63.71sec; Heath 60.73sec; Dickson 56.74sec; Sampson 53.18sec; Ross Browne
(1.1 Force-Suzuki PT10) 55.07sec; Sollis 58.17sec; Dawson 50.36sec; Wiltshire 51.06sec; Eyles
50.56sec; Mike Griffiths 64.04sec.