Track and Race Cars Magazine Monoposto Championship Croft 27 September 2009 2litres and 1600s and Monoposto Challenge

A lot of hard work cleaning off extinguishant resulted in Jeremy Goodman taking his place in practice. Mick Kinghorn's Novis was damaged beyond immediate repair in Saturday's off, so in a bizarre 3 way arrangement, Ewan Sergison gave up his drive in Pete Bragg's Novis to Mick. The grid was similar to race 1 with Neil on pole and Jeremy and Tristan swapping places, Mick falling a little due to, one assumes, a car not his own, and Geoff Fern put the RF89 firmly in the 2000's with a startlingly good 1.29. Tristan thought he could have had pole - "my dash was telling me I was half a second up on my previous best lap, and I threw it away in the final hairpin in a long and (from the cockpit) quite dramatic power slide. I think the team will be looking to renegotiate my contract for next year!" (One hears Raikonnen K is looking for a drive.)

Race

Once agaon, despite starting third, Jeremy took the lead and ran straight through, finishing 12 seconds ahead of Neil and Tristan. Their race was far closer, ending half a second apart, with Tristan passing Neil when he missed a gear and spending 3 laps in the lead. that came to an end when the pair lapped Geoff Fern. There was some minor confusion, resulting in Neil's wing going under Tristan's back wheel. Ever wondered why Dallara wings are so expensive? It's because they're so well made. See the picture for the result. (Nick Harrison will probably now email toexplain that genuine Dallara wings are very weak and his are made by a bloke in a garden shed in Dudley. Maybe not.). Nick Anstruther ran his customary fourth.

Russ Giles began well in fifth, but gradually fell back to eighth, allowing Richard Purcell and Graham Read through.

Whilst Geoff Fern dominated the 1600's, with a challenge from Nigel Smith, there was a well integrated cross-class group of Graham Probyn, David Parkinson, Tony Cotton and Mark Smith having their own scuffles, with a few place changes, finsihing in the order mentioned.

Unluckiest man of the day had to be Mick Kinghorn. Having overcome a clutch problem in practice, he had a troubled 3 laps, and left the circuit with a bump around the chicane when a rear stub axle broke, fortunately with no damage to third parties when the wheel detached.

Final Championship Race Thoughts

Tristan Cliffe commented on the circuit: "Croft is the hardest circuit to learn and be quick/consistent on that I've encountered. Only Oulton Park comes close."

And so at this point, many packed up to go home, thankful for glorious weather, efficient but unobtrusive organisation (thanks, DDMC), and whilst there were more than a fair share of incidents, there were no major ones. And to find something positive in the incidents, think of JKS starting a night shift to produce new wings for Geoff Fern.

Super Clutch Driver of the Day Awards
Saturday: Tony Cotton
Sunday: Mick Kinghorn (actually no-one eligible managed to improve on their practice position, so this was really a hard-tryer award)

Tony Cotton

Non-Championship Monoposto Challenge Race

All the classes were together for the final thrash, which ended sadly. Simon Davey takes up the tale.

The non-championship race at the end of the day had 16 takers from the 30 entries – it had been a very long weekend for some. This was a fascinating duel between Neil Harrison’s Dallara and Kat Impey’s screaming little Jedi. It was fag-paper stuff which was great to watch, but ended unfortunately when the leaders were lapping Len Turner at the flat-out Esses. They went either side but in the fracas Neil clipped Len, doing enough damage so that Len’s car blocked the track, bringing out the red flags. Meanwhile Neil had retreated to the pits with front-end awry leaving Kat to lead across the line…but with the reds out, Neil won it on count-back. Len was understandably upset: he’d seen them coming but without a teleport-out-of-the-way switch it’s hard to see what he could have done to avoid being clobbered.

It is interesting to consider whether this race was a good or bad advert for the school of thought which says we should be running the 1000s against the 2000s. Richard Purcell beat Russ Giles in the Classics in this one and Ewen Sergison came out in Jock’s Swift to take a win in the 1800s – presumably Jock needed more time on AVIT’s sofa…(which will be pictured in the next "Parkinson Line"). Avit commented on the 1800 "Jock's 1800 felt like home, it is obviously very similar to last year's 1600 Swift championship car. But the power delivery was so smooth that the 1800 felt like it was short of power. The 1600 was very harsh, in comparison the 1800 seemed to be easy to drive! I reckon I could have been 2 seconds faster if it was my car, but I had to be careful as it was dad's car." Nigel Smith was the only 1600 which took part.

Tony Cotton

Tristan gets ready for a dance routine, Jeremy applies for a job in Burton's window, Neil gets ready for the photographer to take a penalty. Alternative captions to the forum, please.

The Start

Despite a lockup by Mark Smith, the second half of the field pass with no problems. Note Mick Kinghorn stuck on the line.

Geoff Fern races Chris Spencer.

Mark Smith, Graham Probyn