There were a goodly number of Ingliston newbies today and with the second day starting off under blue skies it looked set fair. As it was by the time of the Run-off it was as cold as Saturday however the run-off was even more competitive. Overnight the Potters managed to get their driveshaft repaired and the Robbs also got their exhaust welded up. Meanwhile with help from the Usual Suspects Gary Thomas was able to resolve his clutch problems. Practice as usual accounted for several runners most notable were Peter Howgate & Brian Woffenden. The Ralt was involved in a freakish accident when just after the start it veered left and scalped a tree before coming to rest. The damage to the rear suspension eliminated the pair on the spot however Brian Woffenden who was driving at the time was perfectly OK.
After three practice runs we started with the first of the Class runs before the lunch break – such was the quality of the organisational team. Stuart Gilbert put in some pacey runs throughout the day and duly won the first class for Nat A A1 Saloons. Ian Wright took a solo win in the Nat A A2 before Archie Bain slam-dunked the winner of Saturday’s A3 class en route to victory. John Hamilton (Westfield Megabusa), John Lowe (Fisher Fury) and Alex Graham (Firenza) then took solo class wins before we had another class battle. In the Nat A A8 class Kevin Hamilton led initially but Alistair Matheson soon got the TVR pointing in the right direction and ran out the winner. Then Mike Hunter (Metro) and Malcolm Milne (Nova) repeated their previous day’s solo class wins before the B3 class got going. When Tom Wilson’s Talbot Sunbeam packed in during practice he switched to a shared drive with Jimmy Crow in the Escort; meanwhile up front John Stevenson bludgeoned his way to the class win leaving Manta Jock Ramsay in second with Crow & Wilson bringing up the rear. Next there were three more solo repeats with Richard Quinn (Striker), Graham Clark (Tiger Avon) and Mike Murchie (Fiesta) taking the honours.
The Up to 1400 Sports Libre class saw another win for the Radical of Simon Clemow whilst Richard Matossian again took second ahead of Martin Clemow. Angus Buchan discovered a broken rear suspension bolt and only managed one run for fourth spot. Simon Bainbridge then took the unlimited Sports Libre class unopposed but did manage to entertain everyone in the mighty Audi. With the clutch sorted Gary Thomas again took a comfortable 1100 class win from Alistair Fraser (OMS) with Russell MacFarlane in the Nemesis third. Andrew Grover had a scary ride when the Quest spun out as he entered the back straight and the Quest ended up minus a couple of wheels after careering across the grass. In the 1600 class Tom Potter was unfettered and powered his was to a fine class win. Jonathan Toulmin took second whilst Andy Potter was back behind the wheel and grabbed third ahead of Drew Dawson. In the Over 1600 class things were mighty close. The top four would end up covered by just 0.07 second as Ross Napier snatched the class win from Wallace Menzies and the Robbs. The Robbs were starting to have problems with the clutch which was a repeat of the troubles that plagued Stewart Snr at Silverstone but they carried on. Fifth went to Colin Birkbeck as he again finished top 2 litre in the class as Mark Smith managed not to spin but did break a pushrod in the front suspension.
The National B classes followed and we started with a solo win for John Roddick despite a lurid second run spin at the Hairpin that cost him 6 seconds! A3 had a better entry yet Donald Ross was again victorious with David Hunter Jnr second just 2 seconds off the pace with his Mitsubishi EVO. Third went to the Time Attack Nissan Skyline of Gordon Wright with David Hunter Snr in the Lancia Delta Integrale fourth. In A5 Gavin Marshall took the win from the Westfield of Stephen Mallett whilst in A6 the David Loomes/Stephen Alexander Westfield was the only runner with Loomes taking the win. The next two classes saw solo wins for Donald MacDonald (MG B Roadster) and Jamie McDonald (Lotus Elise) before the B1s were let loose. Jonathan Brown was the class act in B1 taking the win by over 4 seconds from Gary McDermaid (Pug 106) and Nick Barratt (Mini). In B5 Len Humphries again defeated David in the ‘Dutton Challenge’; Andrew Scott and Neil MacLean again took solo wins before the Racing Cars were let out. In C4a Stuart Brown again was the class act in the OMS Hornet whilst Alan Neill and Les Campbell in their Jedis battled hard for second with Neill just holding off Campbell. Paul Rhodes was fourth in his OMS Hornet suffering from n=missing the Saturday event. In C4b Eric Kiltie took a solo win which just left Rally Class 3 and the ‘Darrian Challenge’. Bruce Edwards again proved why he is the driver and John Welsh navigates as he took a comfortable if not sideways victory.
Before the cars lined up Terry Holmes had had to retire from the Top 12 with a suspected output flange failure. So once again Jonathan Toulmin was the first on track. His two runs were both improvements on his Q-time however he remained 11th throughout. Phil Lynch continued his 100% qualification and on his first run set a new PB with 41.21; his second run saw him go sub 41 for the first time and he would end up in 8th. Gary Thomas was next and he was slower than in qualifying – was he putting in a banker or was the clutch slipping again? On his second run he improved but still wasn’t on the pace of qualifying and 10th place would be the result. Next it was Stewart Robb Jnr and the young Scot was trying to be careful not to beat Senior. He was quickly into his stride and up through the Esses was very quick indeed when he came into view again heading for Clock he was on it and posted a 38.26 by far and away his best time of the week-end. He immediately opted out of his second run to help preserve the fragile clutch. Roy Napier was next and his first run was an anticlimax as he stalled just as the rears crossed the startline so it was a failed run. With it all to do Roy’s second run was great as he not only set a PB but also went sub 41 for the first time – this would elevate him from unclassified to 9th in one huge step. Mark Smith was next to the line and the Welsh Wizard was up against it. Out-qualified again he had to pull out all the stops and in an effort to break through he spun off out on the back of the course and failed to get a time! Once again it would be the vital second run and in a last ditch attempt he nearly went sub 40 as he flung the Reynard round the Showground to leap ahead of Colin Birkbeck into sixth – would it be enough? Colin Birkbeck was next and taking full advantage of all those laps of Ingliston in the FF1600 he put in a good time that was only a couple of tenths shy of his Q-time. By the time he was on the line for his second run he knew he had to do something special. Off the line he was electrifying and up through the Esses he was cutting corners at every opportunity. However as our attention switch to Clock so the digital timepiece continued to tick and Colin finally pottered through the finish after a brief but decisive spin - he would drop to 7th as a result.
Tom Potter was then called forward and on his first run he failed to get a time but was quickly fed through the traffic and back to the line. With everything nice and hot he now set off on an epic run. He flung the Jedi through the sweeping corners to great effect as he was hardly ever pointing in the same direction for more than a handful of seconds. As the clocks stopped he had clipped 0.16 off his best so far and moved into a superb 5th place. By the time of his second run he was safe in 5th and without the benefit of that warming up run he was a meagre tenth of a second slower. Next it was Stewart Robb Snr’s turn however the clutch was giving him problems. Off the line the car just about staggered away and despite his best efforts he posted a 38.41 to end up after the first runs in fourth place behind Stewart Jnr. With the clutch deteriorating his second run was not unsurprisingly slower than his first and despite extending his lead in the championship he was bitterly disappointed not to have been able to take back to back wins. This just left Wallace Menzies and Ross Napier; it also meant that the British Sprint Championship was about to see a maiden victory for one of the young Scots. Wallace was first and the Firestorm was awesome up through the Esses and despite giving away a big handful of horse power Wallace was giving it everything. As he reappeared into the Arena through Clock he was up on his best time of the week-end and as the clocks stopped it was yet another PB and he was in the lead. Ross Napier then set about his task with a vengeance. He was quickly into his stride but nowhere near as tidy through the esses. However once out on the back of the track he made up time hand over fist. As he finally rounded Clock and cut through the finish he stopped the clocks at 37.82 – he now led, had set a PB and was within touching distance of Stewart Robb Snr’s Outright Record. Back to Wallace Menzies for his second run. Knowing what had to be done Wallace was even more ‘on it’ from the start. The Esses were negotiated in the blink of an eye but he was loosing precious time on the straights. As he finished his final run of the day he too had gone sub 38 but he just failed to beat Ross by 0.02 second – a brave effort by a talented driver. Ross now chose to take his second run as he wanted a crack at the outright record. The first part of the run was a carbon copy of the first but he was a tad later on the brakes for the Hairpin and kept his foot planted as he swept through Clock and crossed the line. Once again the watching drivers and pit crews spontaneously applauded as the clock read 37.60 – a new outright record but more importantly Ross Napier had his first ever British Sprint Championship victory just seven months after being the Best Newcomer in the Championship.
1 Ross Napier (3.5 Gould-Cosworth DFR GR37) 37.60secs; 2 Wallace Menzies (2.7 DJ Firestorm-Cosworth) 37.84secs; 3 Stewart Robb Jnr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd KV MP88) 38.36secs; 4 Stewart Robb Snr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd KV MP88) 38.41secs; 5 Tom Potter (1.0T Jedi/Suzuki Mk4) 39.20secs; 6 Mark Smith (2.0 Reynard-Vauxhall/Swindon 903) 40.03secs; 7 Colin Birkbeck (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall 301) 40.50secs; 8 Phil Lynch (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall/JRE 301) 40.85secs; 9 Roy Napier (3.5 Gould-Cosworth DFR GR37) 40.99secs; 10 Gary Thomas (1.1 Force-Suzuki PT) 41.91secs; 11 Jonathan Toulmin (1.5 Force-Suzuki/TTS PT) 42.03secs; Terry Holmes (3.5 Lola-Judd/Swindon ERH) - DNS.
BTD: Ross Napier – 37.60secs – Outright Course Record
Nat A = Stuart Gilbert (1.4 Rover Metro) 55.78secs; Ian Wright (1.6 Honda Civic) 54.68secs; Archie Bain (2.5t Subaru Impreza) 48.70secs; John Hamilton (1.3 Westfield Megabusa) 48.04secs – Establishes Class Record; John Lowe (2.0 Fisher Fury Spyder) 52.26secs; Alex Graham (2.2 Vauxhall Firenza) 54.48secs – Record: Alistair Matheson (5.0 TVR Griffith 500) 52.47secs – Record; Mike Hunter (1.4 Rover Metro) 52.22secs; Malcolm Milne (1.6 Vauxhall Nova) 50.15secs – Record; John Stevenson (2.3t Subaru Impreza) 47.24secs – Record; Richard Quinn (0.9 Sylva Striker) 48.83secs – Record; Graham Clark (2.0 Tiger Avon) 49.37secs – Record; Mike Murchie (2.0 Ford Fiesta) 54.53secs; Simon Clemow (1.4 Radical Clubsport+) 44.82secs – Record; Simon Bainbridge (4.2t Audi TT Replica 4-w-d) 43.44secs – Record; Gary Thomas 41.38secs – Record; Tom Potter – 39.36secs – Record; Ross Napier 38.51secs – Record
Nat B = John Roddick (1.6 Citroen Saxo) 53.71secs; Donald Ross (2.0t Mitsubishi EVO 4) 48.47secs – Record; Gavin Marshall (1.6 Caterham Academy 7) 52.69secs; David Loomes (2.0 Westfield SEiW) 46.68secs – Record; Donald MacDonald (1.9 MG B Roadster) 61.86secs; Jamie McDonald (1.8 Lotus Elise) 53.92secs; Jonathan Brown (1.4 Morris Mini Cooper S) 52.16secs – Record; Len Humphries (1.6 Dutton Phaeton) 53.62secs – Record; Andrew Scott (2.0 Ford Escort RS2000) 52.21secs – Record; Neil MacLean (2.0 Ford Escort Spaceframe) 52.68secs; Stuart Brown (1.0 OMS Hornet) 42.51secs; Eric Kiltie (1.4 OMS-Suzuki 2000M) 47.03secs; Bruce Edwards (2.0 Darrian T90) 46.38secs – Record