As the large entry gathered at Lydden the weather looked set fair. With the low level of championship entries there was little chance of any upsets however you really can’t make too many assumptions! There was an 11th hour withdrawal by Peter Howgate, who had been planning to travel without the other half of the Sheffield Mafia, but succumbed to an old neck injury. Practice at Lydden is always a strange affair with just one three lap run a-piece which the first timers were finding a distinct disadvantage. Also there were a lot of interruptions as several drivers explored the gravel traps!
The timed runs kicked off with a class for Standard cars. Chris Avis won easily with his S2000 Honda whilst Ray Horan (Clio) and Steve Thompson (Civic R) rounded out the top 3. Then it was the turn of the Road Modifieds. In the 1400 class Bruce Aitken just held off the challenge of Mike Edwards (Mini) with Graham Eldridge in the Metro well off the pace. In the two litre class Andrew Webber led initially in his indecently quick Elan +2 but he was pipped by a last run charge by Tony Beesley with a 205 GTi. The Over two litre class featured 11 starters and a varied selection of machinery. Initial leader Logan Black in the EVO 6 was deposited into second by the hyper-competitive Kim Adams in the EVO 9. Third went to the lovely Porsche GT3 RS of Brian Winstone who held Ian Stevenson in the M3 CSL at bay.
We then had a 13 car class of TVRs who were one of the more adventurous groups as they went playing in the kitty litter. David Morris in the sparse and brutal Tuscan just pipped Jez Firth in the Cerbera whilst Steve Cox cruised home third in his V8 S. The battle of the Vixens went to Steve Dennis despite a massive first run spin at Paddock Bend. Next there was a two car class for road modified kit cars which saw Matt Bowman in the Fury Spider lead throughout. Then it was a rather eclectic class featuring three Loti and one Westfield. The Westfield was the SEight of Simon Besant and the car & driver were dominant. He slithered and rumbled his way to a comfortable win over Paul Bateman in one of the new Lotus 211s, Colin Crang in an Exige and Anton Rothwell in an Elise 111R.
It was then the turn of the SBD Motorsport Championship class which featured all the contenders in one 15 car class. Local hot-shot Matt Oliver led throughout and ended up fastest qualifier. Terry Holmes came through to second less than 2 seconds adrift whilst in third it was the man to beat in the 1600s Nick Algar. Bill Oliver was fourth just two tenths faster than Mark Smith in fifth whilst Graham Porrett cruised home in sixth.
There were some stellar performances down the order as Jonathan Toulmin qualified 9th and Simon Bainbridge despite only being 14th was only just outside the Sports Libre record on his first ever visit to the Kentish circuit.
Next to the line were one of the Caterham Academy groups and despite there relative lack of experience there were few offs. Kai Lo took the win by over a second from Donald Lamb with Rowan Chaplin one hundredth adrift in third. The next eight competitors were covered by less than a second in a very closely fought class.The Caterhams were followed onto track by their big brothers – the Lotus Elise. A class just for the Elise drivers proved equally competitive although only attracting 7 runners. Steve Wentzell and Matt Collins diced for the lead which eventually went to Wentzell. David Hay and John La Master came home third & fourth with all four covered by two and a half seconds. Next it was the turn of the Mod Prods and in the 1400 class Chris & Richard Watkinson took the 1-2 in their shared Mini with Ken Banks in the Davrian third. The two litre class went to the Escort of Roger Burgess as Roger Grimes did his best to carry the fight to the Ford with his neat little three-wheeling Corsa. In the Over 2 litre class Andrew Embling just kept his RX-7 ahead of Mike Blackmore in the Impreza whilst Steve Heath managed third despite spins in practice and his first timed run!
The Sports Libre class featured a wonderful array of odd-ball machinery. Darren Tyre’s 2 litres Austin Healey frog-eye took the win having led throughout. Second went to Jimmy Pope who only just finished getting his Escort back together at 23:00 the previous evening. Into the Nat B Single Seaters and the Up to 1600 class went to Ian Catt who again demonstrated his pace with the OMS 1100; Phil Johnson was second with his OMS as the pair left Chris Judge in the Jedi well in arrears. In the two litre class there were four drivers and three cars in an all FVL turn-out; the little Reynards proving very popular and also on the pace. Tony Staines took the win finishing a second and a half clear of Malcolm Boorman with the shared FVL of Jonathan and David Gibbs next up.
TOP TWELVE Run-Off
Roy Sims led the field off as slowest qualifier. The West Country driver was initially four hundredths off his Q-time but on his second run broke the 72 second barrier for the first time to move up to 10th. Steve Miles was next and Inspector Gadget has been going through a lean spell since winning the run-off at Castle Combe. His first run was ahead of his Q-time and when he clipped a further 1.3 seconds off on his second attempt he moved from 11th Qualifier to 8th placed finisher. This week it was Scott’s turn to qualify from Team Pillinger. However he was unable to match his Q-time on either run and would fall back to 11th. Jonathan Toulmin had been at Lydden before but it was decades ago! To qualify an 1100 was first rate and when he matched his Q-time on his first run it placed him ninth. On his second run he matched the time set by Steve Miles on his first but despite the improvement he would remain anchored in 9th place.
Next runner was David Sims and the youngster was in good form. He had already set a PB in qualifying and on his first run carved just over three tenths off to hold seventh. David knew he needed to improve his time to have a chance of holding onto seventh and this he duly did in a storming run that took him below the 69 second barrier for the first time and in fact moved him up to sixth. Seventh fastest qualifier had been Steve Broughton who had been making changes to the OMS suspension between each run. On his first Top 12 run he was seven tenths slower than his Q-time despite looking to be quicker! On his second effort Mr SBD got it right and slipped into the 67 second mark moving ahead of David Sims who fell back to 7th as Broughton moved up to 5th. Graham Porrett’s first run was only fractionally slower than his Q-time and “Eight Spanners” wasn’t going to let it stay like that. However when he got back in the car third gear was broken and his chances were slim of improving. Despite his best efforts Graham was over seven tenths slower and would fall back from fifth to 6th. Mark Smith had been despondent at the start of the day; after all he hadn’t had the best of seasons so far however things had started to turn around at Pembrey. Here at Lydden he had qualified fifth and was looking to pick up even more points. The Welshman really got into the groove on his first run as he hammered the Reynard through the flowing corners and clipped over two seconds off his Q-time finishing up in second place after all the first runs. Could he hold onto the place? His second run was again faster than in qualifying although 0.15 slower than his first, however both were inside the old two litre record so there would be two extra points no matter what; would Smith hold onto 2nd?
Bill Oliver set his fastest time of the day so far on his first run as he started to get the Gould lifting an inside wheel at Devil’s Elbow. Then as has become almost customary he declined his second run to preserve the car for Matt. Would this see the elder Oliver drop from 4th? Another driver to be really on the pace was Nick Algar. Despite only having run at Lydden once before he was inside the 1600 Class Record in qualifying, so extra points could be on offer! Nick was really fired up and on his first run set a PB at Lydden to move ahead of Bill Oliver into third. Then just like Mark Smith Algar’s second run was slower but also inside the old record thus the Firehawk driver remained 3rd and picked up those two valuable bonus points. Having qualified second fastest could Terry Holmes take the battle to Matt Oliver? The answer regrettably would be no! Terry was well into his first lap when he lost third gear; he slowed dramatically but had the presence of mind to complete his run and record a time – this assured him of at least a point. With a broken third gear he would be unable to challenge for the win but how much ground could he make up? Off the line he was soon into his stride and despite not having third he was going well. As he plummeted down the hill into Paddock he maybe left his braking a tad late for he swept through the corner then ran wide. The back snapped round and Terry became a passenger as the Lola spun into the infield. The car finally came to a halt and Terry called it a day settling for 12th place and a definite nomination for the Fli-mow trophy!
Matt Oliver had been quietly going about the business of racking up points in the absence of the Robbs. His first run in the Top Twelve had been sensational as he three wheeled his way round Devil’s Elbow, left the braking very late for the North Bend hairpin and swept imperiously through Paddock; not only did it look fast it was fast and he bagged a new outright course record. His second run was delayed as he awaited the recovery of the Team Tegra Lola which may well have seen the tyres and engine drop in temperature enough to affect the time. His run was almost as good falling less than a tenth shy of his time which was another Bonus Point and 1st place in the bag.
As the third class runs continued and the BSC runners in the main packed up for the journey home Matt Oliver was content that he had maximised his points haul and had closed the gap to the Championship leader. It all now depended on the outcome of the two rounds at Anglesey next week-end, can Matt hang on in there and retain his championship?
Results:
BTD: Matt Oliver 63.48 – New Course Record
1 Matt Oliver (4.0 Gould-Judd GR37) 63.48secs; 2 Mark Smith (2.0 Reynard-Vauxhall 903) 65.69secs; 3 Nick Algar (1.6 DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 66.46secs, 4 Bill Oliver (4.0 Gould-Judd GR37) 66.99secs; 5 Steve Broughton (1.4 OMS/Jade-Suzuki CF08) 67.93secs; 6 Graham Porrett (3.5 Lola-Judd T90/50 ERH) 68.23secs; 7 David Sims (2.0 Ralt-Duratec RT33/34) 68.41secs; 8 Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Zetec RF96MR) 70.30secs; 9 Jonathan Toulmin (1.0 Marengo-Suzuki 2) 71.63secs; 10 Roy Sims (2.0 Ralt-Duratec RT33/34) 71.96secs; 11 Scott Pillinger (1.3 Royale-Suzuki RP27) 72.16secs; 12 Terry Holmes (3.5 Lola-Judd T90/50 ERH) 73.09secs
Class Winners: Chris Avis (2.0 Honda S2000) 89.71secs; Bruce Aitken (1.4 Citroen AX GT) 91.28secs; Tony Beesley (1.9 Peugeot 205 GTi) 89.71secs; Kim Adams (2.0t Mitsubishi EVO 9) 83.22secs; David Morris (5.0 TVR Tuscan) 81.91secs; Matt Bowman (1.7 Fisher Fury Spider) 85.80secs; Simon Besant (5.0 Westfield SEight) 79.45secs; Matt Oliver 63.79secs; Kai Lo (1.6 Caterham Academy) 88.15secs; Steve Wentzell (1.8 Lotus Elise S1) 85.76secs; Chris Watkinson (1.4 Rover Mini) 84.59secs; Roger Burgess (2.0 Ford Escort Mk2) 83.74secs; Andrew Embling (1.3t Mazda RX7) 81.02secs; Darren Tyre (1.8 Austin Healey) 90.20secs; Ian Catt (1.0 OMS-Kawasaki SF2) 72.81secs; Tony Staines (2.0 Reynard FVL) 72.01secs.