As the troops gathered at the Colerne airfield venue the weather decided to play ball for once and there was no rain throughout the day. The burning question on most people’s lips was “could Stewart Robb Junior maintain his charge towards the 2008 Sprint Championship title or could Matt Oliver get back on level terms”?
After the convoy runs, practice and the lunch break the timed runs got underway with the Mod Prod classes. In the 1400 Saloon & Sports car division Gavin Neate recovered from a first run second place to overhaul Stephen Dummett for the class win. In the 1800 division Mark Roberts led throughout whilst co-driver Jonathan Milne fought back from a first run spin to take the runner-up spot. In the 2600cc division Derek Wheaton beat co-driver Graham Rudge in this two driver class. The Over 2600 class saw Marvyn Ansley lead throughout in his Impreza with Julian West in the gorgeous GT40 fighting through to second after Paul Clarke spun his Morgan. In the Mod Prod Kit Car classes the 1400s were dominated by Grahame Harden in the Caterham whilst the 1800 class went to the solo runner Mike Rudge, who never-the-less was close to record breaking pace.
In Sports Libre the Clemows, Simon & Martin, were in their new Radical and at the head of the Up to 1800 class. Despite upping the pace they were split by Ian Cameron who is now driving a Mk18BK Mallock complete with Suzuki engine. In the Over 1800 class Colin Early recovered from a huge first run spin to take the class from the drop-dead-gorgeous Osella Abarth of Peter Rigby. Into the racing car classes and the 1100s were dominated by Tom Potter who only managed one run when father Andy clouted a row of cones at Turn 4 and eliminated the Jedi on the spot. Tim Tudor took second ahead of Jonathan Toulmin (Marengo) and Ben Stephenson (OMS). In the 1600 class Sprint Championship sponsor Steve Broughton recovered from a first run stutter to take the class from Scott & David Pillinger whilst Chris Bennet finished a distant fourth in his FF1600 Van Diemen – pity there was no Formula Ford class! The remaining single seaters were lumped together into one class – again a disappointment for the two litres! Matt Oliver emerged on top whilst Mark Smith grabbed second in his two litre Reynard. Stewart Robb Junior took third just over two seconds in arrears whilst Terry Holmes was fourth. Roy & David Sims were eliminated when they broke a driveshaft. There were fun & games down the order as John Payne went cone bashing and Bill Gouldthorpe took on a straw bale and no less than FIVE cones!
We then reverted to the road going classes to complete the class runs. Bruce Graham took a solo win in the Up to 1400 split whilst in the 1800 split Pete Goodman led home Hugh Trotman in the battle of the Elises. Mark Tooth in the Honda Civic finished third ahead of three more Elise runners. In the 2600 split Toby Harris & co-driver Lisa Selby ran out convincing winners in their Puma with Toby only just slipping ahead of Lisa on the second runs. In the Over 2600 class Matthew Bennett grabbed a last minute class win in his M3 ahead of the Impreza of Andy Stoddart and Martin Mees in the EVO2. The final three classes for the Kit Cars followed and James Pickford took a solo win in the 1400s with the 1800s far better represented. Ian Parr took the class in his Riot with Neal Coles (Striker) second and Mike Parr third. In the Over 1800cc class John Wade ran out the winner despite being over three seconds slower than the Riot. Tony Streeting was second despite handling problems and John Mearns was third.
TOP TWELVE RUN-OFF
First to the line was Dave Pillinger and the local driver put in a solid first run in the 69 second bracket, some 4 tenths slower than his Q-time, to set the ball rolling. Phil Lynch was next and he was also below his Q-time as he posted a 71.16. Jonathan Toulmin was next and he hammered his Q-time to move into second place. Jonathan would step down from his second run due to overheating. Steve Miles was in the run-off and Super-Mole was a couple of tenths slower than his Q-time as he at least registered a time. Stewart Robb Snr then hammered his way to an impressive 63.93 to annex the lead for the time being. Steve Broughton then moved into second as he also broke his Q-time and as he finished Scott Pillinger made his way to the line. Scott was going well until the tight and twisty Turn 7 when he inadvertently switched off the ignition! He recovered and at least registered a time unlike Roy Sims who was sitting out the top 12 run-off. Terry Holmes was next and the Chichester Chippy was in great form as he hammered through to second spot. Mark Smith then took Orville to the line and the two litre maestro just failed to beat Holmes time and slotted into third. Stewart Robb Junior then pulled forward and when the green light came on the young Scot flew off the line and headed down to the first corner in a cloud of dust. He was noticeable quicker to the split (26.79) and through the latter part of the lap maintained his pace to break the Outright Record and take the lead from Stewart Senior. The final runner was Matt Oliver and as he left the line all eyes moved to the clock. He was slower over the first 64ft and was nearly a second down by the split. When he finally stopped the clocks he was over 1.8 seconds adrift!
After the first stanza we moved in second runs and waited to see if Matt Oliver could recover or if Scott Pillinger could improve. First though was Dave Pillinger and he put more pressure on Scott as he improved on his start, split and final time. Phlinch was next and despite an improved start he was still over 30 seconds to the split. He did eventually get below the 70 second mark which would move him up one place to 10th. Steve Miles then set his best time of the day as he dipped below 70 seconds for the first time. Steve Broughton then moved to the line and once again with warm tyres and engine he began to chip away at his times. Faster over 64ft and to the split the OMS flew towards Turn 4 and the sweeping turn 5; he would cross the line nearly a second to the good and reinforce his sixth spot. Scott Pillinger was a little late to the line due to overheating yet despite this he was quick to start (2.10 for the first 64ft). At the split he was also faster than on his previous run and when he cleared Turn 7 he looked set for a fast time. The time (67.90) would take him from 11th to 7th and would also move him up the Overall Standings ahead of Roy Dawson. Terry Holmes then made his second run and with shaving tenths off throughout the run he moved from fourth up to third – a great improvement given the Chichester Flyers transmission problems of late. Stewart Robb Senior had stood down to preserve the car so slipped to fourth so the next orange Pilbeam to the line was the MP88 but driven by Junior. He was fractionally slower off the line but by the split was over half a second up! He simply flew through Turns 4 & 5 and when he blasted over the line he recorded the first ever Sub 60 second run to reinforce his lead and also grab two precious extra points. This just left Matt Oliver. Could the reigning champion fight back? Could be also get below the old record? Off the line he was on the same pace as Robb but by the split had dropped back by nearly a second despite some monstrous moves through the chicane. By the finish he had improved overall but was still shy of the old record and would have to make do with second place.
Results:
1 Stewart Robb Jnr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd KV MP88) 59.40secs 2 Matt Oliver (4.0 Gould-Judd GR37) 62.07secs 3 Terry Holmes (3.5 Lola-Judd T90/50) 63.44secs 4 Stewart Robb Snr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd KV MP88) 63.93secs 5 Mark Smith (2.0 Reynard-Vauxhall 903) 64.88secs 6 Steve Broughton (1.4 OMS-Jade-Suzuki/SBD CF08) 65.65secs 7 Scott Pillinger (1.3 Royale-Suzuki RP27) 67.90secs 8 Dave Pillinger (1.3 Royale-Suzuki RP27) 68.68secs 9 Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Zetec/Dunnel RF96M) 69.71secs 10 Phil Lynch (3.2 Ralt-Judd RT37) 69.87secs 11 Jonathan Toulmin (1.1 Marengo-Suzuki 2) 70.22secs Roy Sims (2.0 Ralt-Duratec RT33/34) DNS – Driveshaft
Class Winners:
Bruce Graham (1.4 Suzuki Swift GTi) 89.70secs; Pete Goodman (1.8 Lotus Elise) 83.20secs; Toby Harris (1.7s Ford Puma) 82.61secs; Matthew Bennett (3.2 BMW M3) 83.41secs; James Pickford (1.3 Westfield SE) 82.95secs; Ian Parr (1.0 Sylva Riot) 77.42secs; John Wade (2.0 Westfield SEiW) 81.26secs; Gavin Neate (1.4 Peugeot 106) 90.32secs; Mark Roberts (1.6 Honda Civic) 87.78secs; Derek Wheaton (2.0 Ford Escort) 89.37secs; Marvyn Anstey (2.0t Subaru Impreza) 84.67secs; Grahame Harden (0.8 Westfield Megabusa) 78.32secs; Mike Rudge (2.3 Westfield SEiW) 73.95secs; Simon Clemow (1.3 Radical Prosport) 73.36secs; Kevin Frost (1.8 KMD Sports) 80.98secs; Colin Early (2.0 Darrian T9) 81.01secs; Tom Potter (1.0 Jedi Mk 4) 67.15secs; Steve Broughton 67.94secs; Matt Oliver 64.11secs.