by Steve Wilkinson
With Chester Motor Club organising their prestigious Basil Davenport Memorial Trophy Sprint on the Saturday a lot of the championship contenders got over onto the island a day early so as to get in some much needed practice! Tony Wiltshire netted Fastest Time of the Day with Terry Holmes and Roy Dawson chasing him home. Another feature of the Saturday meeting is the now traditional Paul Matty Lotus Challenge round; Jon Dobson won the handicap competition in his Gold Leaf colour schemed Plus 2 Elan whilst Jon Crook was the winner on scratch in his ex-Rikky Von Opel Lotus 69.
Sunday dawned bight and crisp with just a few wispy clouds. It looked set fair. Once practice was out of the way the battle to qualify commenced. Disappointingly there were mechanical breakdowns coupled with several no shows. Tony Ellis blew up his Megapin's engine on Saturday so sat out the rest of the week-end. Mike Musson is still waiting to make his 2004 debut and has his fingers crossed for MIRA. Fred Currell has traced his abysmal season's mechanical record to a broken scavenge pump and should be out soon whilst Richard Williams has CWP problems coupled with a preparation shortfall - prep-man Dave Whitehead and gearbox ace Ron Hand are both on holiday!
In the super Mod Prods Mark Smith emerged victorious qualifying for the run-off whilst Garry Dickson was over the moon at having beaten John Sampson. Paul Bond cruised to the Sports Libre victory whilst Roy Dawson took the 1600 class despite Steve Broughton's switch to the 1500cc Powertec Suzuki engine. Tony Wiltshire repeated his two-litre victory of the previous day whilst in the big class Tony Eyles was the only driver to go sub 80 seconds.
Top Twelve Run-off
First to the line in the run-off was John Payne who had a cunning plan! His first run was scheduled to be a banker but in fact turned out to be his fastest run so far? Peter Howgate, whose Ralt had been suffering from leaking clutch fluid and was now overheating, was slower than his qualifying time. Simon Ashby was back on the pace having been some 3 seconds slower than on Saturday and you just felt there was more to come. Mark Smith clipped an impressive one and a half seconds off his qualifying time but felt that was it. Steve Miles was another to improve and moved into the provisional lead only to see Phil Lynch, who was making his championship debut, relegate him to second. Terry Holmes, who was somewhat subdued without team mate Graham Porrett, then swept into the lead in the Tegra Reynard. The Chichester Chippy looked to be down on pace but at least the car was still running unlike last year when the cylinder head gave up the ghost! Martin Dowling then rumbled into the provisional lead as he was getting more confident over the braking point for the Hairpin. Steve Broughton's OMS was next and the engine guru was into the 83 second bracket to sweep past Dowling into the lead.Next was Roy Dawson. The Scotsman had had a dire week-end so far. On Saturday he was towed in with suspected gearbox failure. It turned out he tried to change into seventh in the six-speed box and it gave him neutral! He had been cautious in practice but was now on form. He ripped into the lead despite the Firehawk looking decidedly skittish. The sound of the ex-BTCC Peugeot engine meant it was Wilt. The genial Devonian duly took the lead with second best time of the week-end. Was he sandbagging? Only time itself would tell. As Tony Eyles fired up the Connaught Judd engine he knew a good time would seal victory on this his first run. As he dropped the clutch the Lola screamed out of the pit lane laying long sweeping black lines for 50 feet or more. Out over the sweeps the engine sounded glorious as Tony pressed on. Through Douglas and onto the main straight the engine note rose as Tony pressed home his advantage. Through School and Abbots he was cautious not wishing to repeat his practice spin! Then after the left right left of Radar it was the blast to the Hairpin before stopping the clocks at 80.12. Slower than in qualifying but establishing a lead of four tenths.
The second runs got off to an awful start. John Payne went as the green light came on. Unfortunately the red flickered back on as he accelerated away and the clocks stopped! He was red flagged at the Hairpin and trundled back into the pit lane. Was this his cunning plan? Any way with the car and tyres nicely warm surely he would be quicker. Unfortunately the water temperature was climbing and despite a slight misfire John did squeeze half a second improvement. Next it was Peter Howgate and as the Sheffield pilote crossed the finish line on his first lap the clocks stopped! Unable to flag him before the pit lane he completed his run only to be told he would have to run again. At this point championship co-ordinator Paul Parker stepped in as the Ralt's temperature was almost off the gauge. He permitted Peter to run later as this was considered 'force majeur' and out of his control. So as the Ralt sat in the pit lane waiting for the temperature to fall Simon Ashby set off. Earlier in the day he had been making the point that his ability to keep the Reynard on track was greatly improved this season. Guess what? As he rocketed past the pits on his second lap he looked to be on a late charge. Unfortunately it all fell apart at Abbots where the Reynard spun off. Slight damage meant a suspended tow for the now contrite Simon who was not looking forward to facing the wrath of Tracey!In the pit lane doing a sterling job of passing the times to the drivers was Jenny Liptrott, whilst husband Steve acted as Tony Eyles gofer! The information was invaluable and Mark Smith weighed up his position and duly stood down from his second run with over one and a half seconds to make up on Stephen Miles. Peter Howgate finally had the Ralt ready and duly took his second run but, not surprisingly in the circumstances, was slower than earlier and remained twelfth. Both Stephen Miles and Phil Lynch were slower on their second runs which left them in eighth and seventh respectively. Terry Holmes was quicker but remained sixth whilst Martin Dowling was another to register a slower time holding onto fifth spot. Both Steve Broughton and Roy Dawson failed to improve and held their respective places. So it was now down to the top two. Could Wilt pop in a sub 80 second run? As the car howled off the line it was looking on. Rounding Abbots and climbing to Radar the car was flying. Through Radar a slightly wider line meant he carried more speed onto the Top Straight. However this extra speed bit hard at the Hairpin where the Ralt ran wide onto the dusty verge. Accelerating past the pits the dust on the rear tyres had gone but had his challenge also been scrubbed? Fast forward to the Top Straight and again he was carrying more speed into the Hairpin and ran wide again! When the clocks stopped he was nearly a second slower and had to settle for second spot. Meanwhile fed with the latest times Tony Eyles was aware that he had the run-off in his pocket and duly stood down from his second run to conserve the car for next week-end.
Summary
As the competitors started to pack away their chargers it was time to reflect. With top spot Tony Eyles had doubled his points haul but the points table was still dominated by the 'small fry'. Atop the table is Steve Broughton who has a seven point lead over Terry Holmes. Tony Wiltshire is a further three points adrift whilst Steve Miles is snapping at Tony's heels just two points down. Fifth spot in the championship is currently held by Simon Ashby, just one point adrift of Steve Miles but I suspect this will change next week at Llandow. So don't miss out on all the action - be there or be rectangular!
RESULTS
1. Tony Eyles(3.5 Lola T90/50-Connaught Judd CV) 80.12; 2. Tony Wiltshire (2.0 Ralt RT34-Longman Peugeot) 80.52; 3. Roy Dawson (1.3 DJ Race Cars Firehawk-Suzuki Hyabusa) 82.10; 4. Steve Broughton (1.5 OMS 2000M- Powertec Suzuki) 82.55; 5. Martin Dowling (3.5 Reynard 88D-Judd CV) 83.85; 6. Terry Holmes (2.0 Reynard SF84-Cosworth YB) 84.40; 7. Phil Lynch (2.0 Ralt RT30-Alfa Romeo) 84.90; 8. Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen- RF96M-Dunnell Zetec) 94.98; 9. Mark Smith (2.0 Westfield SeiW-SBD) 86.61; 10. Simon Ashby (2.0 Reynard 883-Millington) 86.62; 11. John Payne (3.5 Reynard 88d-Judd CV) 87.46; 12. Peter Howgate (1.8 Ralt RT30-QED Rover) 91.62.