Boy did it rain! Starting early morning the heavens opened on the sometimes idyllic island of Anglesey. By 10 o’clock when practice started there were rivulets crossing the track in several places and a torrent just at the braking point for the hairpin. When 4 of the first 20 cars crashed the club called a halt for an early lunch. At 1 o’clock after a course inspection the event was abandoned.
Of the crashes the one involving Paul Waters in his Fiesta gave the most cause for concern. Paul lost control at School on the International circuit. The car rotated onto the grass where it ended up travelling backwards at unabated speed. It eventually struck the Recticel & tyre barrier at Rocket where it stopped abruptly – impact speed estimated somewhere between 70 & 75 mph. Paul was knocked out in the crash and was expertly extracted from the vehicle by the Phoenix Rescue Unit and taken to the medical centre by the Paramedic. The local Air Ambulance was called and Paul was then airlifted to Bangor Hospital. He suffered two broken vertebrae in his neck as well as concussion. He will be kept in hospital at Bangor until later this week when he will be transferred to a hospital close to his Nottinghamshire home.
With competitors still baling out and mopping the decks the cars were slowly readied for what should have been the second day of competition. The wind had picked up overnight and blown the rain Northwards towards Doune leaving a damp & cold circuit. Paul Bond had missed the Saturday meeting and completed the double when he failed to sign-on for Sunday whilst the Calders had withdrawn mid-week due to a family illness.
The event is run over nearly two laps of the 1.2 mile National circuit and is mighty challenging. There were spins galore in practice so after a short lunch break the timed runs began.In the 1400 Roadgoing class Craig Lawton took just his first run sealing victory over Martin Addison and Glyn Thomas in a Peugeot clean sweep. The 2 litre class went to Dave Marshall in yet another masterful display. Fred Currell was second with James Kerr and David West third & fourth. Andrew Meek had a solo run to the over 2 litre class before we moved onto the Kit cars.
In the Up to 1700 Roadgoing Kit Car class John Louden, who had had a scary encounter with the Recticel the day before, emerged victorious in the Puma powered Westie. Snapping at his tyre tracks were the Brothers Spencer in their Striker. Jim Spencer seems to have the edge over younger brother David at the moment and so it was at Anglesey. In the Over 1700 class Mark Wallwork should have had it easy as he was the only runner but he failed to record a time! The final Roadgoing class was for Lotus Elise & Elise Derived cars and not unsurprisingly Gary Thomas took the win in his dark blue version whilst sometime co-driver Sarah Bosworth was second.Into Mod Prods and in the 1400 class Alan Cox just kept his Mini ahead of Martin Depper’s example whilst Mike Gallery was third and Juliet Cox fourth. Tara Collinson missed out as he had to load up & head home with a broken Mini. Steve King took the 2 litre class in his 206 Peugeot just ahead of Jonathan Hartley’s circuit racing MX5. John Phoenix took a solo win in the Over 2 litre class in the Sierra Cosworth which just left the Modified Kit Cars. John Tomlinson was guesting in his old car with new owner Kurt Ramsden. Tomlinson did the unthinkable and won the class from the car’s new owner. The three remaining runners all took just one run then headed for home.
There were just two Sports Libres left to contest the classes. Angus Buchan had been going well in practice however the Radical’s Kawasaki motor cut out on his first class run and he couldn’t fix it. Meanwhile Simon Bainbridge had spun the Audi TT Replica on his first attempt so had to be more circumspect on his second just so he had a time.Into the racing car classes with the 1100s and up front it was the highly talented Chris Aspinall taking the class in his Mk4 Jedi with Paul Masters not far behind in his Mk 6 version. Jonathan Toulmin had to settle for third in Marengo 2 with Alan Wood’s Mk 1 Jedi off the pace in fourth. The Formula Fords saw five drivers in four cars contesting the lead. Initially Martin Pickles led but Southport’s Derek Martlew slipped by on the second run to grab the class from Andrew Henson and Pickles. Tony Jarvis held onto fourth despite a massive spin on his second effort whilst Martin Webb closed in for fifth. In the 1600 racing car class Nick Algar led home the Pillingers with a couple of seconds to spare. This week it was Dave’s turn to be top dog in the Pillinger Team with Scott (who is now known as Beemer Boy – he sells BMWs) a second adrift. Chris Green took fourth whilst Jonathan Varley brought his trusty March 772P home in fifth ahead of Keith Green. In the two litres Mark Smith was in a league of his own as he pulverised the class record and left Steve Miles over six seconds in arrears. Emma Williams finished third whilst Brian Woffenden was fourth after Peter Howgate went agricultural on his second run – photos available from……………
The Over 2 litre class was a three way battle. First Stewart Robb led – hang on though it was Senior not Junior! Matt held station in second whilst Junior struggled to learn the course. During the second runs Matt slipped into the lead and Junior spun at Peel whilst Senior didn’t bother with a second run being happy as second fastest qualifier. Terry Holmes brought the Lola home in fourth despite a wonky third gear. The up-changes were perfect but it just wouldn’t down-change smoothly. Bill Oliver took fifth with just the one run and Phil Lynch & John Payne were sixth & seventh respectively.
Three Historic classes finished of the classes; unfortunately they only attracted four entries! Chris Elmore and Malcolm Evans took solo wins whilst Graham Oxley won the battle of the Elans relegating Dave Shiers to second.
TOP TWELVE Run-Off
There were several tight battles in a wonderful run-off conducted in still gale force conditions. Steve Miles was initially dumped to 12th after John Payne got into his stride early however Sparky fought back and found over a second improvement to take 11th while John dropped off the pace and into 12th. The Pillingers had a battle royal for 9th and 10th. Scott took the lead on the first runs but failed to improve second time round whilst Dave did just that and slipped through. Nick Algar had put his Top 12 tyres on but suddenly lost grip on his first run and executed a very pretty spin at Rocket to trail the field. On his second run he was inside the old 1600 record but seven tenths off his class record set earlier in the day as he cruised up to 8th. Phil Lynch was seventh after the first runs but then had to pick up the pace on his second as Nick Algar slipped ahead. Lynch managed to find nearly two seconds improvement and just edged ahead of Algar for 7th. Bill Oliver took his almost customary one run and this was good enough for 6th as he sought to preserve the car for Matt’s onslaught. Terry Holmes brought the Lola home in 5th as he still struggled with the gear change which meant he couldn’t give it 100%. Mark Smith looked so smooth, especially after that earlier spin, and was comfortable in 4th jus behind the frenetic battle for the lead.
Initially Matt Oliver led through shear determination and car control as he wrested every bit of pace from the Gould. Stewart Robb Junior was in second place whilst Stewart Senior was back into third. With Junior being the slower qualifier he would go first on the second runs. Into Rocket and he was slightly earlier on the brakes and less erratic than on his first run; he was super smooth through Peel and the tricky down hill left hander. Lap two and he was really late on the brakes but scrabbled through Rocket and was soon heading for the line with a new outright course record to his credit. Would he maintain his lead? Stewart Robb Senior did make inroads into his previous time but had to settle for 3rd. Final runner was Matt Oliver and he was now back in second place; could he recover lost ground in the championship by beating Junior? He drove the Gould as hard as he could with the tyres squealing in protest and the car looking like it was about to spin on numerous occasions. Despite his best efforts his improvement was not enough and he was over a second in arrears in 2nd place. So Stewart Robb Junior had won and this on only his first visit to the venue and in far from ideal conditions. “Just imagine what he would have been like if he knew the course!” one stunned competitor was heard to say!
With news just filtering through that the Irish double header at Kirkistown has been cancelled the championship positions will need to be reassessed as now only 8 rounds rather than 10 will count.
RESULTS
1 Stewart Robb Jnr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP88) 93.18secs; 2 Matt Oliver (4.0 Gould-Judd GR37) 94.59secs; 3 Stewart Robb Snr (4.0 Pilbeam-Judd MP88) 95.12secs; 4 Mark Smith (2.0 Reynard-Vauxhall 903) 98.41secs; 5 Terry Holmes (3.5 Lola-Judd ERH) 99.44secs; 6 Bill Oliver (4.0 Gould-Judd GR37) 100.58secs; 7 Phil Lynch (3.2 Ralt-Judd RT37) 101.27secs; 8 Nick Algar (1.6 DJ Firehawk-Suzuki) 102.95secs; 9 Dave Pillinger (1.3 Royale-Suzuki RP37) 105.84secs; 10 Scott Pillinger (1.3 Royale-Suzuki RP37) 106.41secs;11 Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Zetec RF96SM) 106.96secs; 12 John Payne (3.2 Ralt-Judd RT37) 107.52secs.
BTD: Stewart Robb Junior – 93.18secs
Class Winners:
Craig Lawton (1.4 Peugeot 205) 132.29secs; David Marshall (1.9 Peugeot 205 GTi) 129.96secs; Andrew Meek (2.0t Subaru Impreza) 128.39secs; John Louden (1.7 Westfield-Ford Puma SE) 122.57secs; Gary Thomas (1.8 Lotus Elise) 123.69secs; Alan Cox (1.4 Rover Mini) 124.58secs; Steve King (2.0 Peugeot 306) 139.40secs; John Phoenix (2.0t Ford Sierra Cosworth RS) 136.23secs; John Tomlinson (5.0 Westfield SEight) 112.80secs; Simon Bainbridge (4.2t Audi TT Replica) 111.17secs; Chris Aspinall (1.0 Jedi-Honda Mk 4) 104.59secs; Derek Martlew (1.6 Van Diemen RF87) 119.81secs - Record; Nick Algar 102.25secs - Record; Mark Smith 101.60secs - Record; Matt Oliver 96.52secs - Record; Chris Elmore (1.3 MG Midget) 152.05secs; Graham Oxley (1.6 Lotus Elan) 137.97secs; Malcolm Evans (1.3 Ford Anglia) 140.80secs.