by Steve Wilkinson
On a blustery but sunny Bank Holiday Monday the capacity field gathered at Colerne RAF base for the latest round of the British Sprint Championship. There were several absentees but the main talking point was Tony Eyles switch to te Road Going classes. Tony had been on holiday in Spain where he had suffered severe leg injuries in a motorcycle accident. The Somerset driver was hobbling round the paddock and had been unable to get into the Lola so switched to his Mercedes 500CL to ensure he at least garnered the Loyalty Points.The class runs saw Tony Eyles rumble round on just one run before he took to the open road. Steve Broughton also had a late switch to a Caterham Mod Prod when his OMS suffered terminal damage to the output shaft when yet another chain parted. John Sampson's Quantum was amalgamated with the over 1800 Sports Libres and he came home second behind the Darrian of Ian Hall who should really have registered for the championship! Ross Browne was the star of the 1100 Racing car class where Tony Ellis on his first trip to Colerne could finish only fifth. Jane Farthing had 'borrowed' a Force from Bill Chaplin and with hillclimb gearing still managed sixth. In the 1600 class Roy Dawson again prevailed whilst Scott Pillinger was a closing second. Another to be considering registration in 2005 was David Mosley who took third in his OMS. It was nice to see Dave Pillinger finishing fourth now that he is fully recovered from his heart problems of last year. In the two-litre class Dave Cutcliffe, who is restricting his season to South West Championship events due to the cracked block in his BDG, put in two superb runs the second of which earned him FTD. He is promising to be back with us for 2005, which is not good news for the 2 litre runners! Tony Wiltshire was second whilst Simon Ashby was a brilliant third and closing on the 69 second barrier. Local tyro Kevin Lealan had registered for the Sprint Championship and his fifth in class qualified him for the run-off in his underpowered Formula Vauxhall Lotus. In the final Racing Car class Martin Dowling and John Payne ran out 1-2 in the shared 88D whilst John Forsyth on his British Sprint debut took third but just failed to qualify for the run off due to having a hillclimb diff still fitted from Gurston the previous day.
Top Twelve Run Off
As he was fastest in the class runs Dave Cutcliffe joined the 12 Championship runners to defend his FTD time. Neither of his runs were faster than his best class run and as no one else challenged he retained FTD. Graham Porrett had looked capable of improving but a dodgy water pump meant the temperature hadn't dropped after his first run so he stood down to give the car time to cool before Terry Holmes took his second run. John Payne, the last of the dual drives, made inroads in his Q-time but still seemed off the pace. Mike Musson was recovering from a heart stopper in qualifying when he overshot Turn 7 and bypassed the nadgery right-left-right complex. His second run time was an improvement but left him anchored in tenth. Phil Lynch was another first time visitor to Colerne and a close encounter with a cone on his first run damaged the steering and spelt retirement. John Sampson, who has a pathological dislike for cones, was going well and with both his runs quicker than his Q-time he should have moved up. However he remained fixed in eleventh. Stephen Miles hadn't run at Colerne in a single seater, in fact his last event there had been in a Road Going Kit Car! His qualification was excellent then in the run-off he went even faster to end up in sixth. Kevin Lealan used his extensive local knowledge to finally drop in the 70s bracket and take seventh on his championship debut. Terry Holmes took fourth although on his second run he spent a lot of time monitoring the temperature gauge. Roy Dawson only took his first run as he was inside his new class record and felt that there was little likelihood of improvement. However fifth place in a 1400cc single seater was an heroic effort. Simon Ashby had looked quick all day and was even three wheeling through the Turn 7 complex. His run-off times saw him first break into the 69 second band and then a 68.04sec second run was a top drawer performance. Martin Dowling's Top Twelve run-off got off to a bad start as he spun out on his first run. Second time round and he nailed a good start then overcaution meant he could only manage third. Meanwhile Tony Wiltshire had taken the lead on his first run then extended the margin second time round. Although over a second adrift on 'Lofty' Cutcliffe it was mission accomplished as he left with 12 points in the bag.
With Aintree just five days away could Wilt keep up the pressure or would Tony Eyles bounce back? Only time would tell!
RESULTS:
1 Tony Wiltshire (2.0 Ralt-Peugeot/Longman RT34) 66.08sec; 2 Simon Ashby (2.0 Reynard -Millington 883) 68.04sec; 3 Martin Dowling (3.5 Reynrad-Judd 88D) 68.50sec; 4 Terry Holmes (2.0 Reynard-Ford/Tegra SF84) 69.46s; 5 Roy Dawson (1.3 DJ-Suzuki Firehawk) 70.45sec; 6 Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Ford /Durrell RF96M) 70.67s; 7 Kevin Lealan (2.0 Formula Vauxhall Lotus) 70.75sec; 8 John Payne (3.5 Reynard-Judd 88D) 70.81sec; 9 Graham Porrett (2.0 Reynard-Ford/Tegra SF84) 71.90sec; 10 Mike Musson (2.0 Dual-Force-Suzuki/Powertek) 73.56sec; 11 John Sampson (5.0 Quantum-Rover Xtreme) 73.85sec; Phil Lynch (2.0 Ralt-Alfa Romeo/Connaught RT30) Failed.
FTD Dave Cutcliffe (2.0 Van Diemen-Ford DC93M) 64.95sec
Class Winners: Bruce Graham (1.3 Suzuki Swift GTi) 91.80sec; Rob Clarke (1.8 Lotus Elise Sport 160) 85.85sec; Toby Harris (1.6t Ford Puma) 88.11s; Kevin Jones (3.0t Noble M12 GTO 3) 81.72s; David Jackson (1.6 Caterham Superlight) 77.98sec; Martin Perry (2.0 Westfield SEi) 78.04sec; Andrew Till (1.1 Clan Crusader) 82.83sec; Pete Devall (1.7 Davrian Mk8) 85.33sec; Graham Ford (2.0 Caterham 7) 78.42sec; Barry Rogers (1.7 Nike Mk12) 77.00sec; Ian Hall (5.2 Darrian T89R) 70.93sec; Ross Browne (1.1 Force 10) 72.64sec; Dawson 70.55sec; Cutcliffe 65.42sec; Dowling 68.70sec.