Under blue skies Roy Dawson took an emphatic victory in the Basil Davenport sprint. His victory in the latest round of the SBD Motorsport British Sprint Championship was just achieved before the 6 o'clock curfew.
The day started well with plenty of spins in practice, in fact there were too many and this combined with some timing glitches would have a major impact on proceedings. The timed runs started with the Road Modified classes and David West notched yet another class win in his Austin Cooper S, Steve English was less than a second in arrears with Martin Addison (106 Rallye) a further second back in third. In the Two Litre class Dyrr Ardash had the tyres squealing in protest as he flung the tiny 106 GTi round to a class win with the only sub 100 second runs in the class. David Marshall just held onto second as James Kerr launched a second run charge. John Palmer was a convincing winner in the Up to 1700 Kit Car class with John Loudon over three seconds adrift. In the Over 1700 class Keith Anderson kept Peter Kukanis at arms length throughout the day. There were just three TVRs on track and Simon Cole's white wedge rumbled to victory over the drop dead gorgeous Griffith 400 of Simon Bridge.
Into Mod Prod and with Dave Depper sidelined after a shoulder operation it was left to son Martin to sweep up the 1300 class. Tara Collinson slotted into second on his final run bumping Peter Hills down to third. Keith Webster was a solo runner in the Two Litre split as was David Gray in the monstrous TVR 420 SEAC in the Over Two Litre class. The Up to 1700 Sports Libre class featured just three runners and it was Rob Stevens who outshone the opposition. The Force driver shattered the class record and only just failed to get into the run-off. Dennis Doyle went sub 100 seconds in the Mallock whilst Steve Wilkinson recovered from a monumental spin to finish third. There was just one runner in the Over 1700 Sports Libres and it was Paul Bond in the pretty Crossle 9S taking the laurels.
The racing cars were next and in the Up to 1100 class the top of the times saw that man again, Dan Pickett. The Jedi driver was on top of his game and shattered the class record in the process. Tom Potter was a superb second on his Sprint Championship debut whilst Henryk Kozlowski made it a Jedi clean sweep. The Lindsays had suffered engine problems with their Krauser powered Jedi so 'popped home' for an engine transplant returning late in the evening for the Sunday meeting! In the Formula Ford class Stephen Crawley used his experience and knowledge of the Anglesey track to good effect as he swiftly took charge. Martin Webb was a creditable second whilst Derek Martlew, Frazer Graham and Mark Smith all had big spins on their first runs and had to be content with just posting a time. The 1600 class saw Chris Green dominant from the start. The young OMS pilote was on fine form keeping Steve Broughton at bay. Eynon Price was third with Nick Algar heading the rest. In the Two litre class Terry Holmes kept the oil-burning Team Tegra Reynard in the lead throughout. Dave Sims held onto second, just, as Kevin Lealan launched a third run charge. Stuart Webster was fourth and just failed to get into the run-off by just over a tenth! In the final Racing Car class Roy Dawson won it at a canter as he took his one and only run. Tony Eyles spun out on his first effort but fought back to second place just ahead of Anglesey new boy Stewart Robb.
The lovely Lotus cars of the Paul Matty brigade then entertained us. John Crook winning the racing car class on scratch from the 'Governor'. Tony Wallen was third in the first of a brace of Lotus 61 Formula Fords. In the Road Car division Nick Glazzard was the best of the bunch in his Plus 2 Elan; Jon Dobson's similar car was second with Grayham Parker third in his Lotus Sunbeam. There were just two Historic Cars present and Graham Thomas in the Fairthorpe Electron Minor and Terry Corns in the Escort had a great day chasing each other round the circuit and both picking up class awards in the process.
TOP TWELVE RUN-OFF
With time tight we could just get two runs in if everything went well. First to the line should have been Steve Miles but he was still working on his car (he had switched to a newly charged battery but unfortunately it had no charge what-so-ever and he had to revert to the one he used earlier!). This meant Nick Algar led off proceedings and as he dived into Douglas for the first time the Firehawk snapped sideways and he was onto the grass and spinning in the blink of an eye. Unfortunately the car beached itself and Tom Potter was Red Flagged. They needed the Recovery Vehicle to extricate Algar and the delay meant there would now be just one run only in the run-off! As things were just about to start again Steve Miles arrived in the Pit Lane only to find out he had missed his turn and was out! Tom Potter then restarted proceedings however he failed to match his Q-time and had to sit in the pit lane waiting to see if he was going to be punished. Eynon Price then clipped over half a second of his best time so far to underline what a talent this ex-Rally driver is. Kevin Lealan then clipped a couple of tenths off his Q-time to slot in between Price and Potter. Dave Sims was next and was way off his earlier pace on the by now slippery track. His time meant he had dropped behind Tom Potter but at least he had a time unlike Algar and Miles. Steve Broughton had managed to get the OMS cooled down and he was next to the line. The Championship sponsor clipped over a second off his Q-time and slotted into the leading place. Next was the Fastest Chippy in Britain, Terry Holmes, and the new look slim-line Holmes was really on it unfortunately as he exited the Hairpin he raised his arm and trundled back to the pits. He requested a re-run as he thought he had been flagged - meanwhile the run-off continued as the officials considered Holmes request. Stewart Robb carved over half a second off his Q-time to slip into a temporary lead but he knew it wasn't enough! Dan Pickett in the remarkable ONE LITRE Jedi then went quicker than Robb! The youngster was flying through the corners and his commitment into the notorious School Bend left on-lookers bewildered. Next on track was Tony Eyles and he slipped effortlessly into the lead ahead of Pickett but unhappy that he was well off his previous best time. Roy Dawson then put the whole run-off into perspective with a sub 80 second run. He was over two seconds slower than in qualifying but leaped to the head of the leader board. At this point Terry Holmes was given the benefit of the doubt and allowed his re-run. He was on a quick one as he kicked up the dust at Radar but at the Hairpin it all went wrong as he slide wide and bounced across the dry outfield. He aborted the run driving back into the pits - a decision that cost his at least three championship points! Having only one championship run was a disappointment but Chester Motor Club had pulled out all the stops to give us that at least. Hopefully Sunday would prove less traumatic!
Results:
1 Roy Dawson (3.5 Gould-NME GR55) 79.01s; 2 Tony Eyles (2.5 Force-Opel/Pride PC024) 81.13s; 3 Daniel Pickett (1.0 Jedi-Yamaha R1 Mk4) 82.11s; 4 Stewart Robb (3.5 Pilbeam-Cosworth/Connaught DFR MP58) 82.39s; 5 Steve Broughton (1.3 OMS-Suzuki/SBD CF04) 82.51s; 6 Eynon Price (1.3 OMS-Suzuki 2000M) 83.46s; 7 Kevin Lealan (2.0 Formula Vauxhall Lotus) 83.79s; 8 Tom Potter (1.0 Jedi-Suzuki Mk4) 85.15s; 9 David Sims (2.0 Ralt-Duratec/SRD RT33/4) 85.73s; Nick Algar (1.3 DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) DNF; Terry Holmes (2.0 Reynard-Ford/Tegra SF84) DNF; Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Ford Zetec RF96) DNS
Class Winners: David West (1.4 Austin Cooper S) 105.70s; Dyrr Ardash (1.6 Peugeot 106 GTi) 99.64s; John Palmer (1.7 Westfield-Puma SE) 96.11s; Keith Anderson (2.0 Westfield SEiW) 96.42s; Simon Cole (4.5 TVR 350i) 97.11s; Martin Depper (1.4 Rover Mini Cooper) 97.14s; Keith Webster (2.0 Peugeot 205 GTi) 99.69s; David Gray (5.0 TVR 420 SEAC) 97.95s; Rob Steven (1.4 Force-Suzuki SR4) 85.63s; Paul Bond (2.0 Crossle-Ford 9S) 92.04s; Daniel Pickett 82.51s; Stephen Crawley (1.6 Swift-Ford FB89) 97.72s; Chris Green (1.4 OMS-Suzuki 2000M) 83.42s; Holmes 83.32s; Dawson 76.85s; John Crook (1.6 Lotus-Ford TC 69) 92.92s; Nick Glazzard (1.6 Lotus Elan +2) 98.37s Graham Thomas (1.1 Fairthorpe Electron Minor) 116.35s; Terry Corns (1.6 Ford Escort Mk 1 RS) 107.48s.