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Cars Magazine Mono Championship Neil Harrison - Zero to Hero Qualifying It's no secret that the numbers for 2 litre this year have so far been disappointing despite persistent rumours of new cars. 8 “true” 2 litres were entered at Anglesey together with 3 1800's getting an extra race. Strange, and pleasing, to say that the result was a cracking race. The first surprise of qualifying was that there was no Neil Harrison. A failed gearbox bearing was the cause, eventually remedied by a trip to the van nextdoor where Douglas Maclay characteristically sportingly offered a spare. The cafe oven enabled fitment. It really goes without saying that pole fell to Jeremy Timms who looked to be completely relaxed and in control of the session. Second was Russ Giles, oil pump back in action after the Snetterton problem. Jeremy Goodman did a couple of slow laps to bed in new tyres, but in a small field this gave him clear space to set third in the iconic RT3, which many would regard as so much more than just a classic. The seesion had to be stopped when Lou Watts's fuel filler came loose and petrol splashed onto a hot exhaust. Unlike many drivers Lou knew just where his on board extinguisher was pointing, and it wasn't at the fire so he stopped by some marshalls at Peel. After some debate they extinguished the flames, but not before the intrepid pilot's 3 layer Sparcos had suffered some scorching. I think this is the first time in 25 years of competing that I've seen an overall scorched by fire. Mark Smith’s unusual (in Mono) Tatuus FR RC97 was slowed by an annoying misfire. Scouring the scrapyards of Anglesey for a mid-90’s Laguna with perfect electrics was a piece of optimism and enthusiasm which deserved reward but did not get it. Race A straight description might sound dull because there wasn’t much place swapping, but everybody seemed to pair up and have a good race, apart from poor Mark with his electrical problem. The end result was enthralling. Neil Harrison pulled himself from the back to second within a lap, and eventually caught Jeremy Timms. Jeremy made an uncharacteristic error on lap 9 when he ran wide at Church, possibly due to car problems. Neil didn’t need inviting twice, and took the lead through to the flag. Russ Giles won the Classic F3 battle with Jeremy Goodman for third, Mick Kinghorn the Mygale battle with Pete Bragg for fifth. Lou Watts triumphed over Terry Clark in the FVL Mark 1 v Mark2 challenge, and Douglas Maclay won the 1800 fight with Bill Janson. Poor Mark Smith was left to ruefully circulate, knowing he can soon rejoin battle when the engine recovers. The pictures are video grabs, so quality is poor, but they illustrate
the closeness of the racing through the field.
Tony Cotton |
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