Sunday afternoon at Croft was sunny, with a breeze, so when everyone woke up on Sunday morning to see dark cloud and rain there must have been a collective sigh of "On no, not again!" Fortunately by mid morning the rain had left us for the day, the sun came out, but it remained cold all day with a biting wind. First practice took place with a wet track and competitors were undecided about whether slicks or wets were the right choice. As it transpired, as there was next to no grip, it mattered little which choice was made as times were little different and irrelevant.
A good turnout of SBD Motorsport British Sprint Championship competitors (although sadly Jane Farthing, Pat Roche and Steve Wilkinson failed to make an appearance) was present. Not all, at this first event of the season, without their teething difficulties.
Back, after a six year absence, was Peter Kukainis in his trusty Westfield. Peter seemed to muster some uninspiring times during practice and failed to make an appearance for the timed runs. Doubtless this "rust removing" season before embarking on a close season racing car build can only get better! There were no other ModProd or Sports Libre contenders out so it was time for the massed ranks of the 1100cc Racing Car runners to take centre stage. Tony Ellis was out again in the 1100cc Megapin, the 2 litre carbon tubbed replacement still in build and will be out later in the season. Tony seemed to have a few problems early on but was truly up against it with some very talented "young guns" joining the ranks. Nonetheless Dennis Pickett and he had a close fought battle, heading some 2 litre runners. The battle for class honours was fought out between Chris Pritchard, from Lockerbie, in his Suzuki engined Force and Dan Pickett, the family (Dan plus Dad Dennis, his mum and girlfriend) having relocated from south east England for the weekend, replete with their Yamaha R1 motivated ex Roy Smith Jedi Mk IV. Both Dan & Chris had their hands full witn 1100cc single seater newcomer, Mark Hemingway (like Chris, Force mounted), in his 2nd outing of the weekend, having graduated from the ModProd ranks this year and that battle will be rejoined at Knockhill. Mark we haven't yet been able to persuade to join our ranks, BUT WE WILL DO! So Dan & Chris were battling to try to make the Run Off places, and did they ever! They both qualified under the Championship Category Record in 6th and 7th places. Sadly Chris was unable to participate in the Run Off as he discovered that the reason his front end was a lttle wayward and his front wing end plates hitting the deck was a front puncture, so he was done for the day. Frazer Graham had a weekend off from M Sport but only had one opponent in the FF1600s to play with.
In the 1600s Nick Algar was out in the ex-Roy Dawson DJ Firehawk running a fairly benign Suzuki Hyabusa engine, whilst he learns about life in a racing car, something he had already discovered a little about in a test at Donington Park when he got an enormous buzz from blatting down the Craner Curves! 2007 should see the car acquire Nick's all singing - all dancing engine, traction control etc from the Westfield. Nick was a few seconds outside a qualification place, in this his first competitive outing in the car. The Steve Broughton/Kim Kingham combo were back, this year with an uprated Hyabusa engine and all the electronics back on board. Kim was battling with Sue Griffiths for top lady honours however sadly during Kim's second timed run the clutch let go. This left Steve unable to take part in the Run Off, despite qualifying 5th with his singular timed run. Eynon Price, who showed much talent in his opening part-season in racing cars last year, was with us in his Honda Blackbird motivated OMS. Eynon qualified well up in 9th place, on his first visit to Croft. George Harris was back with the Hydrastumper, as the Dallara rebuild had not been completed but now his insurance and legal matters had been brought to a conclusion the car should be back soon.
In the two litres Sue Griffiths was sharing the precious Chevron with Stuart Webster, and Stuart was seen indulging in much coaching in between enjoying himself immensely in the Chevron and qualifying a creditable 8th (and having to borrow David Sims helmet!). Having been unsuccessful in finding a new home for the Reynard the "Chichester Flyers" were back, the car sporting some new barge boards as part of a new aero package and had been subjected to a winter diet (as had the new slimline Terry Holmes). Terry, on a track he always does well on, finished top 2 litre qualifier, but co-pilot Graham Porrett sadly just missed out on qualification by under a second and a half. Smiley was back, the car being presented extremely well, just shy of Terry's qualification times by a couple of tenths, to place himself 4th. Matt & dad Bill Oliver were back and this year with a '97 Dallara sporting an uprated SBD Vauxhall unit. All day both Matt & Bill sported puzzle looks on their faces, on their first trip to Croft, unable to figure out why their times were not better. Much pondering in Kent post-event was likely to ensue but Matt qualified in an uncharacteristically subdued tenth place. Another visiting Croft for the first time was Bristolian Kevin Lealan the Formula Vauxhall Lotus having been treated, over the winter, to a subtle engine upgrade, a new floor and new shockers. Kevin made it into the Run Off (just) in 12th place but it was to get better for him. With the most radically changed car from last season was Mike Musson. The Force had acquired 5" more in the front track (allowing the front wings to work unhindered by the presence of the front wheels), new barge boards, a rear floor with diffusers and sidepods (the carbon fibre work having been carried out by a firm which supplies similar work to the Manor Motorsport F3 Euroseries team, the centre diffuser looking very "Dallara-esque"). Mike had a trying pair of timed runs, apparently full of mistakes and he qualified in a disappointing 11th spot. The Sheffield Mafia were also back, still with the Rover K series engined Ralt....for the time being! Peter Howgate was 3 seconds or so away from qualification, co-pilot Brian Woffenden being another 3 seconds or so back. The Sims pere et fils were up from Newton Abbott but were suffering earlier on with a misfire which placed them on the back foot, from which they never seemed able to recover, David missed out on qualification by just over a second, with dad Roy between Tony Ellis & Dennis Pickett from the 1100cc ranks.
Phil Lynch was back, again Ralt mounted but it was a different colour, the wheels were bigger and .....there were more than 4 cylinders present and correct in the back. Phil has joined Richard Williams for 2006 in the BV Judd engined RT36. Phil discovered (having only enjoyed one pre-event test at Loton Park) that the transition to eight cylinder motivation is not as easy as it seems and is not the simple solution to more performance that many judge it to be. Phil missed out on qualification by 6/100ths and was understandably gutted! Richard too, after much of last season and all winter recovering from his Pembrey injuries was working himself back into the groove too. Nonetheless it was pleasing for Richard to come back strongly after a dreadful time in '05. Down from north of the border in Stirling was Stewart Robb. The Pilbeam MP58 was sporting a new rear floor with diffusers. Stewart seemed like a dog with two tails as the extra grip this aerodynamic modification was providing was helping him no end and enabling him to make mincemeat of his previous PBs at the venue, qualifying on the same second as fellow Scot, Roy Dawson, but was disappointed! Roy had acquired the ex-Fleetwood 2003/4 British Hillclimb Championship winning car. Subjecting the car to the high speed sweeps of a top quality Sprint venue was not an easy transition, not made any easier by being unable to run his new slicks as on his one run on them he discovered before Clervaux that they weren't balanced! He returned later for his eye balls which had departed their sockets! The other fateful realisation during the day was the brakes were not adequate the discs finishing the day blue! There was also a rear facing camera on the roll hope keeping an eye on the rear wing to see whether it, like that on his GR37, wanted to make a bid for freedom.
TOP 12 RUN OFF
In most instances it was the 2nd runs which would count as it was the only time, during the day, that the tyres had acquired any semblance of temperature. Some seemed to be affected by the biting wind that was blowing, others less so.
With no shared drivers and only 10 participants Kevin Lealan lead off and, with his "sensible" head on, put in a banker half a second under his qualifying time. Then, on his 2nd attempt found two more seconds, so after his modest qualifying effort the Lealan clan headed off back to South Gloucestershire very pleased with Kevin's first attempt at Croft to finish 8th. Then it was Mike Musson's turn, again sensibly starting with a banker 8-9/10ths quicker than his best qualifier and then on his second run he found OVER 4 SECONDS! This left Mike top 2 litre runner by almost half a second and in 3rd place overall. The modifications I think work Mike? Matt Oliver was next and was a second slower than his best qualifier but found another second on his 2nd to finish a throughly disappointed and very puzzled 12th. Eynon Price had been given no guidance in how to approach a Run Off so matters went from bad to worse when his 1st run was half a second off his qualifier and then overdrove on his 2nd to accomplish a time another half second slower than his 1st, a lesson learned the hard way in finishing 9th. We hadn't been treated to Stuart Webster's happy smiling face in a little while but the smile just seemed to get wider and wider as the day progressed. He equalled his qualifier with his 1st run and then turned it on with his 2nd to locate another 2 second improvement to finish 5th and was he chuffed ? You bet he was, ecstatic might be closer. Then it was Dan Pickett's first BSC Run Off and on his first run lost a tenth to his best qualifier however found a second and half on his 2nd to take the Category Championship Record into new territory some 2.6 seconds quicker than the old mark, Dan finished a highly chuffed 7th. Now it was Smiley's turn and he found 1/10th for his 1st run then another second or so on his second to finish just 1/10th from Stuart. Terry Holmes found 2/3rds of a second for his banker and on his 2nd run another couple of tenths were discovered to pip Stuart by 1/10th. Stewart Robb KNEW there was more time to come, having spun on his 2nd qualifier which he felt was a second or two quicker than his 1st. However disaster was to strike on his 1st run when a locating bolt, under the nose, holding the left front aerofoil in place failed and the wing suddenly changed attitude and did the end plate a power of no good, so he pulled off after Tower and back into the pit straight. Frantic work ensued to repair the damage and his 2nd run was an understandably subdued second off his qualifier but left him in a safe, but disappointed 2nd place. In a telephone conversation, in the following week with BMTR, Roy Dawson discovered that the rubber he was running was 3 years old! However he realised he had to try to make the most of what he had, so his 1st run was a rather better second and a half better than his best qualifier then he found over another second on his 2nd. Having pondered for a while on why he was 2 seconds off the record, he felt it was the best that could be achieved.
RESULTS
1. Roy Dawson (3.5 Gould-NME GR55-01) 70.75;2. Stewart Robb (3.5 Pilbeam - DFR MP58-05)74.78; 3. Mike Musson (2.0 Force M8-Suzuki/Powertec GSXR) 75.70; 4. Terry Holmes (2.0 Reynard Tegra SF84-222) 76.15; 5. Stuart Webster (2.0 Chevron -Millington B47-79-08) 76.27; 6. Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Ford Zetec/Dunnell RF96mmO5) 76.38; 7. Daniel Pickett (1.0 Jedi-Yamaha R1 Mk 4/045) 76.67; 8. Kevin Lealan (2.0 Formula Vauxhall Lotus OVL-092 70.75) 78.37; 9. Eynon Price (1.1 OMS- Honda Blackbird 2000M-96) 78.95;10. Matt Oliver (2.0 Dallara- Vauxhall/SBD F397/8-012) 80.16 DNS Steve Broughton 1.3 OMS-Suzuki Hyabusa/SBD CF 04-120 Chris Pritchard 1.0 Force-Suzuki GSXR 15