Pointed Interest

It’s now the mid-season in the 2010 Mono Championship, with 7 rounds still to go. In the 6 rounds to date a massive 78 competitors have scored points, with Mono Classic 2000 being the most popular class (22 points scorers).

In Mono 2000 following his double win at Snetterton Jeremy Timms has built up a handy lead over Tristan Cliffe, and it will be fascinating to see if Tristan can get the reliability to match his car’s undoubted speed in the second half. In third Malcolm Scott has steadily developed his car and is now clearly and impressively the leading non-Dallara. Behind the top three Graham Read, Adrian Holey and Richard Purcell all look capable of muscling in on the podium places. It’s very tight at the top of Mono Classic 2000, with only 4 points separating the first three: Jeremy Goodman, Francis Phillips, and Geoff Fern. Behind them Terry Clark is going really well and Russ Giles is recovering from a bout of bad luck. This class looks set to be a really exciting competition over the next seven rounds.

Michael Dale’s FF2000 leads the Mono 1800s after a quick and very consistent first half to the year, from a resurgent and determined Jim Timms. Just behind them Phil Nicholson and Peter Bragg are on the same points total, in turn just clear of Rupert Reader who is fresh from his first win. Danger man here must be Peter Bragg if he can get the consistent performance which seems to have eluded him in the first six races. In a very impressive first season Nigel Davers is leading Mono 1600 and is clearly the man to beat on track, although David Parkinson is certainly not giving up – they shared a win apiece at Snetterton. Richard Evans holds third after some very consistent runs and behind him is Henry Fryer, who had his first podiums at Snetterton and may well build on these in the second half.

Mono 1400 is seeing increased interest this year and all three of the competitors have had strong wins. Geoff Fern leads in his smart TFR09, but Peter Whitmore is revelling in the power of the Hayabusa in the Van Diemen, and Gary Hill is clearly quick in the gorgeous OMS – this one could go to any of them. Arty Cameron is the man to beat in Mono 1000, with 2009 Class Champion Chris Woodhouse finding the move to a Dallara very frustrating. In second Len Turner has had a series of excellent results, but came a cropper at Snetterton. Darren Freeman has rejoined after his start of the season testing shunt at Brands, and will certainly be looking to challenge Arty in the second half.

So it’s a gap now in the championship until the double header at Mallory in August. Time to rebuild, refettle and look for the extra few tenths to make all the difference. Unless of course you’re one of the 40+ Mono drivers off to Spa this week for a bonanza 100 minutes of track time on the classic Belgian circuit. And don’t forget the MSCC non-championship round at Mallory on 25th July – an ideal testing platform before the serious stuff starts again?

Click here for points to date

Simon Davey