Well Lydden put on the best of weather it was SCORCHIO! Temperatures hit 33 degrees in the Paddock - and that was on the shady side of a trailer! With practice underway the Picketts hit trouble after Dan's run and they had to pull the Jedi out of the line with what they thought was a jammed starter motor. After a lot of work they discovered a loose bolt on the end of the clutch which was fixed in time for Dan to take his first timed run just before the lunch break. Dennis then put in a practice run after lunch leaving him with just one timed run to come.
A somewhat lightweight 'local' entry was bolstered by the two Caterham Academy Groups, but first it was the Road Modifieds. In the 1400s Ken Welch was the class act in his Mini Cooper whilst in the 2000s it was Andrew Webber in his heavily modified Plus 2. The over 2000s saw John Start just keep his EVO 6 ahead of Brian Winstone's GT3 Porsche. Into the Kit Cars and the 1700 division went to Richard Evans in a Westfield as Jan Boyes in the Locost closed in. In the over 1700 division, Ray Turner just squeaked in on the third run just pipping Ian Crocker in his SEight to victory. In Group A of the Caterhams Morgan Parry just scrapped home the winner from Andrew Thomas and Duncan Winner.
Next were the two racing car classes and in the Up to 1600 split it was Steve Broughton whose local knowledge paid dividends with a win. Tom Potter was second smashing the 1100 record en route whilst Eynon Price was third and Dan Pickett who spun on his second timed run taking fourth. In the over 1600 class Roy Dawson, who was very much under the weather through lack of sleep and a heavy cold, took the class with a single timed run. Terry Holmes was second and an on-form Steve Miles third.
We then had a batch of TVRs that eventually saw David Morris in the ex-circuit Tuscan take the laurels. In the first Mod Prod class Roger Burgess was the class act in his Escort whilst Peter Hayter took the Mod Prod Kit Car class in the ex-SBD Westfield. This left just two classes before the run-off. First were the MGs and it was the Midget of Steve Luscombe that cruised to victory. The final class was the second batch of Caterhams and Andrew Bell proved too quick for the rest.
Top Twelve Run-Off
We had two shared cars in the run-off and the second drivers led off. Graham Porrett was initially slower than in qualifying but picked up the pace on his second run to move up to 11th. Roy Sims carved off a couple of tenths on each run but fell back to 12th. Kevin Lealan, on his first visit to Lydden, had qualified in 10th but was picking up speed on every run. His first elevated him to 9th and then he took a further second off and leapt up to 6th in a very workmanlike performance. Matt Oliver was next in the Dallara which both he and dad Bill are still coming to terms with. He still took over a second off his Q-time on his first run and then clipped over half a second off. This effort elevated him from 9th qualifier to 6th finisher. Dan Pickett was just thankful to be in the run-off and was an unaccustomed 8th fastest qualifier. He put in a relatively steady run first time out to move up to fourth place and then he put in a superb sub-70 second run to slip into third spot. David Sims was next in the running order and the youngster again improved his time. Amazingly on his second run he recorded an identical time which unfortunately meant he slipped back from 7th qualifier to 9th place. Steve Miles then brought the Mole Racing Van Diemen to the line. His first run looked quick until Devils Elbow second time when the Van Diemen snapped back. Miles got it under control and powered over the line just half a second faster than in qualifying. On his second run he again looked to be making inroads until on his second time through Devils Elbow. The car snapped really quickly and as he fought to regain control the rear right wheel parted company with the hub. It wiped out the rear wing and went bouncing back towards the Paddock. Miles spun to a halt in a cloud of dust. The Rescue Unit and marshals were at the scene in seconds. Steve was OK but the Van Diemen looked second hand! Miles would fall back to 8th as a result of the spin. Terry Holmes was next and the fastest fryer in the business was smokin' his way round Lydden. His first run slotted him into third and despite going sub-70 he would slip back to fourth as Pesky Pickett took third! Eynon Price was really hooked up with the OMS and the ex-rally driver had been flying in the qualifying. His first run was down on the raw pace we expect and dropped him to tenth! On his second he looked to be quicker until he fluffed a gear-change exiting Paddock and buzzed the engine. He pootled back to the paddock some four seconds slower and anchored in 10th. Tom Potter was next and the young Bristolian was fired up. On his first run he nearly fell foul of Devils Elbow when he outbraked himself and was half a second off his Q-time. On his second run he was far more assured but was still a couple of tenths off his earlier pace dropping down to 7th. Steve Broughton then put in a superb performance. On his first run he took nearly a second off his Q-time then on his second run he chopped a further four tenths off to annex second spot. Roy Dawson only took the one Top 12 Run as he still feeling far from well. The Scot was having to do manual gear changes as the flatshift system was still playing up but still carved over two seconds off his single qualifying run. A fully fit Dawson would surely have annihilated the course record!
Results:
1 Roy Dawson (3.5 Gould-NME GR55) 65.38s; 2 Steve Broughton (1.3 OMS-Suzuki/SBD CF04) 67.78s; 3 Daniel Pickett (1.0 Jedi-Yamaha R1 Mk4) 69.76s; 4 Terry Holmes (2.0 Reynard-Ford/Tegra SF84) 69.86s; 5 Kevin Lealan (2.0 Formula Vauxhall Lotus) 70.12s; 6 Matt Oliver (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall F397/8) 70.15s; 7 Tom Potter (1.1 Jedi-Suzuki Mk4) 70.33s; 8 Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Ford Zetec RF96) 70.68s; 9 David Sims (2.0 Ralt-Duratec/SRD RT33/4) 70.71s; 10 Eynon Price (1.3 OMS-Suzuki 2000M) 71.41s; 11 Graham Porrett (2.0 Reynard-Ford/Tegra SF84) 71.98s; 12 Roy Sims (2.0 Ralt-Duratec/SRD RT33/4) 71.98s.
Class Winners: Ken Welch (1.4 Rover Mini Cooper) 90.07s; Andrew Webber (1.8 Lotus Elan Plus 2) 90.48s; John Start (2.0t Mitsubishi Evo 6) 84.88s; Richard Evans (1.3 Westfield Megabusa) 83.09s; Ray Turner (4.6 Westfield SEight) 81.41s; Broughton 69.07s - Class Record; Dawson 68.00s; David Morris (6.0 TVR Tuscan V8) 82.66s; Roger Burgess (2.0 Ford Escort) 86.63s; Peter Hayter (1.7 Westfield-Vauxhall) 78.10s; Steve Luscombe (1.4 MG Midget) 87.26s.