The weather looked set fair and with a maximum already in the bag Nick Algar was looking relaxed. As the day wore on he was looking even more chilled and the old confidence was returning – maybe the championship was still there to be won? With today’s meeting using the National Circuit over nearly two laps and with fewer entries the day took on a holiday feel. Practice saw Simon Bainbridge suffered yet another suspension failure – this time at the front as he braked for the Hairpin and he was an instant retirement.
The timed runs started with a couple of solo wins. Rich Stephens in the Standard Saloon class and James Kerr in the 2 litre Road-going class (in fact at one time James was 9th fastest overall!) The Spencers reversed the finishing order of the previous day with David well over a second clear of big brother Jim. Martin Depper just took one run to win the Up to 1400 Mod Prod class whilst in the 1401 to 2000cc class things hotted up. Bruce McKie took the win thanks to two sub 140 second runs. John Moxham was second whilst Deniol Jones, who had been in fourth crashed out on the wet second run and had an early start for home. In the Over 2 litre class Gez Bayliss again took the win over John Phoenix whilst in the Elise class David Ormerod Jnr again won but this time with his dad (Snr) breathing down his neck. Sarah Bosworth only managed to record a time on his second run as the Elise failed to finish the two drier runs! John Graham took another solo win in the 2 Eleven before the battle of the Caterhams was rejoined. Tony Allinson spun out on his first run leaving David Warburton to lead from father Allan. Allinson recovered to take the lead on his second run only for Allan Warburton to nail it on the third run and slip through into the lead whilst a bemused David Warburton finished third!
Into Sports Libre an in the up to 1700 class the Clemows were joined by a very tidy Hillman Imp Super complete with motorbike engine under the engine cover. Once again Simon took the class with Martin second and David Hughes’ Imp third. Just three 1100s remained as Gary Thomas headed for Curborough – one has to doubt his sanity! This left Paul Masters to take the win from the delta of Glyn & Mick Thomas. In the FF1600 class Martin ‘in a’ Pickle again took the class win from Dennis Pickett in the Quest. Jonathan Toulmin was the solo winner of the 1600 Racing car class before we moved into the cut & thrust of the 2 litres. Andy Platt took the win with a third run charge and Steve miles was an incredible second when he popped in a truly stunning third run. Mark Smith was third and despite this had been the fastest 2 litre during the two qualifying runs for the Top 12. Into the Over 2 litres and after the first runs Stewart Robb Snr led but it was to be his last run of the day as there was a deathly rattle from the gearbox and a suspected stripped fifth gear. Ross Napier only managed one run as the Cosworth DFR finally gave up the ghost and refused to start. On his second run Nick Algar cruised into the class lead. With no ‘buffer class’ there was a long wait for the second Top 12 of the week-end.
With Stewart Robb Snr away with the suspected broken gearbox this meant just 11 runners. Simon and Martin Clemow had qualified for their first run-offs and Martin led the way. In his delight he managed to spin on both runs! Never-the-less he recorded a time on each one and finished 11th. Simon put in two great runs both quicker than his Q-time finishing in 10th. Tony Jarvis was initially 8th but failed to improve on his second run and he would slip down to 9th. Jarvis’ co-driver, Martin Webb, did the reverse! Having been 9th his improved time on run 2 was just enough to shade out Jarvis for 8th. John Payne was again setting PBs and on his first run he improved on his best ever time on the National course. However as he set off on his second run another driveshaft let go and he was left in 7th. Steve Miles was secure in 6th after the first runs and with 2 seconds to make up it was a big ask to improve however he gave it his best until a momentary indiscretion saw the Van Diemen driver spin out and Inspector Gadget had to settle for 6th. Phil Lynch had set another PB to be 5th after the first runs but that broken driveshaft would also sideline him and leave him just 0.22 away from his best finish of the season. Jonathan Toulmin was on fine form and put in two rapid runs to annex 4th on his favoured layout of the week-end. No startline problem today for Colin Birkbeck and the Cumbrian was very impressive as he took the ex-Paul Webster Dallara to a fine third place finish. Mark Smith was definitely a man on a mission after only managing third in class. He was the only two litre to break 100 seconds and with two runs inside the 2 Litre Championship Record maximised his points haul when added to the 11 points for second place. Nick Algar was imperious in his driving with two more runs inside the Championship Record for Over 2 litres he again netted 14 points and looked to be back in the form that saw him take the 2009 Championship – roll on Ireland.
1 Nick Algar (3.5 Gould-NME GR55) 91.82secs; 2 Mark Smith (2.0 Reynard-Vauxhall/Swindon 903) 97.46secs; 3 Colin Birkbeck (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall 301) 100.27secs; 4 Jonathan Toulmin (1.5 Force-Suzuki PT) 103.49secs; 5 Phil Lynch (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall/JRE F301) 105.79secs; 6 Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Zetec/Dunnell RF96MM) 105.79secs; 7 John Payne (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall/JRE F301) 106.08secs; 8 Martin Webb (2.0 Reynard FVL/SBD) 106.29secs; 9 Tony Jarvis (2.0 Reynard FVL/SBD) 106.60secs; 10 Simon Clemow (1.6 Radical Clubsport) 109.34secs; 11 Martin Clemow (1.6 Radical Clubsport) 122.41secs; Stewart Robb Snr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd KV4 MP88) DNS