Monoposto Championship, Snetterton, 2000, Classic, 1800. 19 October 2008

Qualifying

There are only so many ways to say that Jeremy Timms was on pole by 3 seconds. Please can somebody get a bit closer? Nick Anstruther took Classic pole and second place, with Richard Purcell in the familiar lo-line FVL third, just behind Nick. Tristan Cliffe was fourth, another 3 seconds down, due mainly to only doing 4 laps when the undertray, damaged in Saturday's incident, came loose. An easy repair but not during qualifying. I expected Graham Read to be delighted with fifth, but not so. “I can't understand it. I can go faster in my Radical Clubsport, which is less powerful and has less good aero. There must be more to come.”

In 1800, Douglas McLay had pole, and looked at ease around Snetterton's sweeping curves and tricky slower bits.

Race

There was, just as in the 1200/600 race, drama on the grid as Jim Timms was left stranded. That was the end of his race. Jeremy started his 3 seconds a lap sprint, and behind him Nick Anstruther looked his usual relaxed self in second. For 2 laps Tristan was very close to Richard, although Richard's different approach to the esses gave him some advantage. But it was to no avail, because on lap 3 Tristan got past on the approach to the esses, and thereafter drew out around 1.5 seconds a lap from Richard. Tristan obviously likes doing things differently to everybody else, because while some drivers get tired as the race goes on and go slower, he speeded up at the end. He got fastest Classic lap once he had Nick in his sights, to finish second by just under 5 seconds. Could he have caught Nick? Well, if it hadn't been for a delay on lap 6 when he came across spins from Alexander Messenger and Mark Schofield then, probably, yes.But it's unlikely he would have passed a very determined Nick because he had victory in his sights. It has to be said that Nick was delighted with first, and could barely stop waving and punching the air as he performed his tour d'honeure, or slowing down lap. It was a joy to see him waving.

But what had happened to Jeremy? From lap 8 onwards he slowed and pulled off on lap 11. A bad day for the Timms equipe. Jeremy wasn't the only one to slow and pull off. Barry Smith got past Graham Read to fifth and looked to be going well in his Formula Ireland when it got stuck in second. He toured round for a few laps, but pulled off on lap 9. This left the way clear for the always hard-trying Paul Calladine toi rise to fourth, behind Richard Purcell's eventually fairly lonely but rock solid third. With the first 4 places occupied by Classics, Graham Read took a win in the 2000 class.

Behind Graham, Lenny Coleman, Graham Probyn and Nick Catanzaro seemed to have some activity for most of the time, mixing it with the 1800's. In the 1800's, Doug McLay had a fairly dominant lead and fastest lap - the only one in the 20's - which took him just past Bill Janson (second) in the championship. Never write off a canny scot (as Gordon Brown would have us believe). Fourth in class was patrick Huston, still suffering from a wheel vibration because he thought that having had the front wheels balanced once, they didn't need balancing again. Wrong, don't trust anybody, his supplier had let him down.

I haven't yet mentioned thrd in the 1800's because it's good to finish this season's reports on a happy note. Doug's fellow Scot Jock Sergison achieved (Patrick tells me) his first podium in 27 years. I opened with the comment that it was difficult to find new words to describe another dominant Jeremy pole. It's equally difficult to find words to describe the first podium in 27 years. Good luck for next year Jock - there's still that first win to aim for!

Tony Cotton