StartlineOnLine

Startline OnLine

SPA 11/12 JULY 2008 (Part 2)

RACE

Sometimes the officials at Spa can be, let's say, challenging. We'd started by having an ongoing argument over who could have paddock passes – none for the drivers but 3 for Russ Giles! They then gave out a grid sheet showing a start time an hour late, which everybody ignored, and after the race it was just as eccentric. However, who can be upset at Spa?

Race day dawned damp, but the track was bone dry by race time.

The grid formed in the assembly area and followed the course car. It pulled into the F1 pits and as Daniel crossed the line, the race was on – for everybody. None of this having to wait until the line was crossed. Daniel held the lead for a lap, but lost it to Nigel Reuben on lap 2. This was the order until lap 8 when Daniel suffered a problem (sorry, don't know what) and Jeremy Timms took second which he held to the end of the race. Sarah Harvey-Fern reports that only the lapping broke up the loneliness for Jeremy. Nigel gained by about 2 seconds a lap to finish the race with a 20 second margin. Daniel generally held station about 5 seconds behind Jeremy until the last corner before the finish – the horrible Tilke-style chicane where the stylish Bus Stop should be. Sarah tells the story: ”Daniel ran out of petrol on the last lap, he coasted through the bus stop and ended up 10metres from the line, he could not have been more unlucky. He threw his steering wheel on the floor and then stood there for a bit. TFR were in the grand stand opposite the pit straight, we were almost as close to him as he was to the line. He needed to push, so TFR started shouting at him and the Belgians joined in. I'm not sure if he heard but he started pushing. He had the biggest cheer of all from the locals as he finished fifth. I spoke to him after. He was gutted, as the race was only meant to be 25min plus one lap but the final time was longer than that.” Shades of Jack Brabham... (the Editor and Chairman will know what I mean.)

4th to 6th during most of the race was the province of Russell Melrose, Chris Vinall and Allan Dallas. Chris was promoted to third and Allan to 4th when Daniel had his problem and Russell stopped at Blanchimont on lap 11. He was credited with 18th; apparently crossing the finish line is not a pre-requisite of scoring in Belgium. 18th or non-finish, Russell must have been another very disappointed driver. Similarly Ben Anderson ran 7th until he dropped out on lap 10, all of which promoted Dax Ward and Mike Reed. After 8 laps Dax had finally got the better of Julian Cutler's Reynard, probably because the Jedis work so much better in the dry than the wet. Julian was the last unlapped finisher and was a bit disappointed that he couldn't find his way to the podium until after Jeremy Goodman had been awarded his second in the combined 2000/Classic class. Fortunately, Jeremy took it all in a sportsmanlike manner and passed the cup to Julian afterwards.
Allan Dallas had some excitement when Geoff Fern had a slight touch with him at the Bus Stop Chicane*. Geoff went to pass him at La Source and his left hand front wishbone snapped under braking as a result of the touch. Geoff, having risen to 7th, was out.

Belgian Mono driver Philippe Bourgois was an impressive 9th , demoted mainly by Jedis in their element as the weather cleared, and reports indicate that all of the team enjoyed racing with us – I'm sure from a brief chat with John that they would love to race with us again in the UK if technicalities and calendars can be sorted.

Jeremy Goodman gradually caught Kevin Mason as the race proceeded until something happened to Kevin on lap 11 and Jeremy took 10th. Dan Levy's Jedi also slipped through. Next up Peter Whitmore and Graham Read ran closely and consistently together, as did Peter Bragg and Jim Timms in the 1800 class until Jim had an off on lap9 which dropped him down.

Final Mono finisher was Tony Cotton, sandwiched by the Belgian Monos of Pierre Grivegnee and Jean-Marc Bourdouch. Tony was quite pleased to have outbraked the former into Pouhon on lap one, but not so happy to have accidentally waved him by when being lapped by Jeremy. As Jean-Marc proceeded to go much faster than Tony, justice was done.

Finally, despite the sterling efforts in the paddock, both Leastones retired, Ken with a smoking engine.

The organisers treated us to a full F1 podium ceremony with an announcer giving class wins, champagne (or the nearest Lidl do for 4 Euros) and a big trophy.

Then everybody went home with a big smile on their faces.