by Steve Wilkinson
With no less than 16 championship contenders taking to the track on Friday at Kirkistown and with only one, John Leinster, being based in the province the health of the British Sprint Championship is continuing to improve. On a fine warm day the drivers were delighted to see that the infamous temporary chicane on the back straight had been abandoned due in no small amount to the time lost last year rebuilding it! Practice got underway, eventually, and 2004 debutante Mike Musson hit problems. On his two runs he had a throttle cable break and one of the two primary chains. Tony Ellis had the rear suspension collapse but thanks to the efforts of Megapin designer and, for this week-end Team Ellis mechanic, Ian Scott the car was fixed in time for the class runs after lunch. John Leinster, who was running without silencer boxes, suddenly made smoke on his second run. The right rear deflector had started to foul the rear tyre and Mick Howlett had to do some impromptu redesigning with the tin-snips! Pete Howgate then had the Fuel Pump fuse blow which stranded him down at Colonial. Then John Sampson had a biggy! Blasting down to the Hairpin at over 150mph he hit the brakes and locked up. On and off the brakes and still with the wheels locking he hauled on the hand brake in attempt to get the back-end round. The car slewed right but charged the bank on the exit ending up pointing skywards.Thankfully John was uninjured and when the Quantum was returned to the paddock it was found to have terminal damage. The car had suffered a broken chassis, steering arm, shock absorber and wishbones. The amiable Sampson took this in his stride. Team Quantum then set about helping others over the rest of the week-end as well as offering a few choice words of criticism at Craigantlet on Saturday!
The class runs were somewhat less dramatic but equally enthralling. Tony Eyles spun at the Chicane on his first effort but kept going whilst Tracey Ashby had her rotational moment on the second run but lost the engine and had to be towed in. Hillclimbers Tim and William Mason were utilising the Friday Kirkistown sprint as a shake down for Craigantlet but the grin on young Will's face indicated that this wouldn't be the last time the duo joined in with the Sprint Championship. Local driver Robert Morgan was second fastest overall but not having registered this year he would have to sit-out the run-off. Garry Dickson was back at Kirkistown with a Westfield after his horrendous crash two years ago. His class win was well earned and he just failed to make the cut for the run-off. Sue Griffiths was another who had to build up to take Debtors flat, this she finally managed on her second class run and the five second improvement she found was just not enough to muscle into the run-off.
Top Twelve Run-off
First of the dual entry runners was Tracey Ashby. The leading lady in the championship was slower on her first run as the Millington engine continually hit the rev limiter and seemed to go backwards each time. Pete Howgate on the other hand clipped over two seconds off his best so far whilst Graham Porrett almost repeated the feat to move into the lead. Mike Musson then had yet another throttle cable break bring the comment from one observer that 'if it wasn't for his bad luck he'd have no luck at all!' This problem effectively removed him from the second run as it was his last spare! There was a short break as Brian Woffenden was inserted into the Ralt and came to the line. The Yorkshire metallurgist more or less repeated his qualifying pace as he improved by a mere tenth. Next was the Tramway Forge Reynard with Simon Ashby aboard. Again the Millington engine continually hit the rev limiter and Simon's time suffered being over half a second slower than in qualifying. Steve Broughton then brought the first of the bike engined cars to the line and slipped inside his Q-time by over two tenths. Terry Holmes then reduced his best time of the day by seven tenths and at this point led the field. Roy Dawson then moved into the lead in the twitchy DJ Firehawk as he posted his first sub 1 minute 41 second run. Next it was the BTCC Peugeot engine Ralt of Tony 'Wilt' Wiltshire and the Devonian was in determined mood. His first sub 1min 41sec run saw the clocks stop just one hundredth sooner than on Dawson's run so the two-litre led. Then it was Tony Eyles who had a big task to attack the times of John Leinster. The Somerset driver was less comfortable in the hillclimb Lola of elder brother Rodney and despite this he carved a massive five seconds off his Q-time but he was still a couple of seconds off Leinster's best to date. The Ulsterman was next and as the unsilenced Opel V6 wailed round the sweeping bottom end of the circuit there was a tingling sensation in the air. He was on full chat into Debtors on the second lap never lifting and as he thundered back from the Chicane to the finish line he was clearly ahead. The clocks showed 1 minute 34.46 seconds and Leinster had the lead by a comfortable two second margin.
The heat in the pit lane and paddock was intense not just in the battles down the field but in the thermometer! Tracey Ashby took her second run but again hit the rev limiter and was slower. Pete Howgate opted out of his second run as the engine temperature was too high. Graham Porrett took seven tenths of his first run time and moved into seventh. Mike Musson was out and Brian Woffenden, like co-driver Howgate, opted out as the temperature was still too high. Simon Ashby had to take his run and by short shifting he managed to find nearly two seconds improvement to snatch back seventh from Porrett. Steve Broughton was on maximum attack as he set off to best Terry Holmes time. It all went wrong at the Hairpin where a spin put him out of contention. Holmes likewise spun as he tried to mount an attack on Roy Dawson's time. Dawson meanwhile was unable to run as the temperature was 'off the scale'. Tony Wiltshire knew he couldn't improve on third so wisely stood down. Tony Eyles likewise took the decision that second place to Leinster was as good as a win so also opted out. Finally John Leinster also refused his second run as a win is a win so why risk damaging the car.
Despite the lack of action late in the day the run-off had featured some close battles and with a day to recover for some of the drivers and cars Nutts Corner would hopefully see another close run encounter.
Results:
1 John Leinster (2.5 Pilbeam-Opel MP88) 1m 34.46s; 2 Tony Eyles (3.5 Lola-Judd/Connaught ERH) 1m 36.41s; 3 Tony Wiltshire (2.0 Ralt-Peugeot/Longman RT34) 1m 40.43s; 4 Roy Dawson (1.3 DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 1m 40.44s; 5 Terry Holmes (2.0 Reynard-Ford/Tegra SF84) 1m 41.80s; 6 Steve Broughton (1.5 OMS-Suzuki/SBD 2000M) 1m 42.12s; 7 Simon Ashby (2.0 Reynard-Millington 883) 1m 44.46s; 8 Graham Porrett (2.0 Reynard-Ford/Tegra SF84) 1m 45.50s; 9 Brian Woffenden (1.8 Ralt- Rover/QED RT30) 1m 49.45s; 10 Peter Howgate (1.8 Ralt-Rover/QED RT30) 1m 50.66s; 11 Tracey Ashby (2.0 Reynard-Millington 883) 1m 57.07s; Mike Musson (2.0 Dual-Force-Suzuki/Powertek) Rtd
FTD Leinster 1m 34.17s - Establishes New Course Record.
Class Winners: Graham Stirling (2.0 Caterham Super 7) 1m 54.65s; Alan Gillis (1.4 Talbot Samba) 2m 21.84s; Andrew Ritchie (1.7 Vauxhall Nova) 2m 14.37s; Kenny Allen (1.6 Lotus Elan Sprint) 2m 11.55s; Garry Dickson (1.6 Westfield-Vauxhall/SBD SEiW) 1m 55.22s; Michael Beattie (2.0 Alfa Romeo GT) 2m 18.46s; Dawson 1m 41.62s; Leinster 1m 34.17s