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Raceday David Parkinson reports from Mallory Park's first car meeting of the year. Thanks to Tony Cotton who delegated the task of race reporting to me. It’s quite time consuming and a concern that the facts are correct having watched the races from only one viewpoint. Thanks to Simon Davey for giving snippets of information. As for Tony Cotton, I’ll get him. The Motors TV meeting suffered from quite a lot of entry withdrawals, due to an assortment of reasons, which meant that only nineteen drivers contested the qualifying session. The fifteen minute period took the fastest lap of each driver for the first race grid whilst the second fastest time formulated the second race grid. The weather on Sunday, when most of us arrived, was horrible and it was a surprise on Monday to find although cloudy and sunny in turn it was dry for qualifying and both races. Qualifying. Best. Richard Purcell took pole with a 43.3 in front of Steve Patania on a 43.8. Kevan McLurg was third from Jim Blockley, the leading MC2 car, with Dave Connor, MM, and Anton Spires in sixth in the last M2 car. Seventh was Christian Parker in the MM Seward. Third to seventh all recorded 44s. Dax Ward was on his own in eighth in his Jedi on a 45 with Mick Kinghorn in his MC2 car the only driver on a 46 second lap. Wil Arif, Jeremy Goodman and Amnon Needham, the leading 1800 car, were all on 47s followed by Mike Hatton and Simon Lonnergan in MC2s in the 48 second range. Michael Dale in his 1800 and Len Turner MM were next up recording 49s. Jock Sergison and the two 1600s of Ian Wood and Joe Venor completed the field. Qualifying. Second Best. Slightly slower times with no one beating 44 seconds but Steve Patania got pole from Richard Purcell with Dave Connor moving up to third. Jim Blockley again took the fourth spot followed by Anton Spires, Dax Ward, Kevan McLurg, Christian Parker, Mick Kinghorn, Wil Arif, Jeremy Goodman and Amnon Needham. The final seven drivers were as the best qualifying with the exception of Michael Dale and Len Turner who swapped round. General The field of nineteen was made up of four 2 litre mono cars, six 2 litre mono classics, four moto mono, three 1800s and two 1600s. The Van Diemen FIreland driven by Wil Arif is actually the car of Lou Watts. Lou had loaned out the car after breaking bones in his foot and being forced to wear a cast after being run over by the said car at Silverstone... Ian Wood, from Long Eaton was one of the two 1600s. He normally races his Royale RP33 with BRSCC but decided to have a run out on what is his local circuit. Joe Venor had throttle cable problems over the weekend but the problem was resolved with a spare supplied by Ewen Sergison and fitment by Simon Davey who combines the roles of coordinator, mechanic, advisor and father confessor so well. Joe tells me that his 1984 Lola was first purchased by Mark Blundell who won the 84 Snetterton championships in it. Having a few words with him, I had to comment that his car was the scruffiest on the grid which is something from me as I don’t know what polish is. But he was telling me that in recent weeks he’s spent time in both Sweden and Spain, in connection with his work, and misses Snetterton as he will be in Chicago. I was handed a Mallory Park card over the weekend which apart from telephone numbers etc has a main graphic of Kevan Schwantz on his old Moto GP bike. There are also two small box pictures of racing minis and a Mono car. The esteemed Geoff Fern JKS. The race starts at Mallory were both rolling starts. A first for many
Mono drivers unless they’ve been to Spa (or this meeting a couple
of years ago). Between Races Wil Arif had stripped first gear during the green flag lap in the first race. He was fortunate that a spectating Malcolm Scott had a replacement which he fitted very quickly. Lou also wanted to thank Barry Smith, Kevin Root and Neil Gregory for their assistance. I was only at Mallory to assist my little friend Michael Dale as my engine has not yet been rebuilt. So prior to the second race I tried all I knew to put some fire in his belly. It didn’t work though as all he passed was the safety car and the ice cream truck in the paddock. Ewen Sergison was determined to get on the television and dressed up in a sort of Baywatch costume and stood holding a brolly over Jock in the assembly area. See photograph. It worked as the TV camera guy came down and got him, totally ignoring all the other cars. Race 2 At the end of the first lap it was Dave Connor, who’d come up from third on the grid, in the lead. Steve Patania and Richard Purcell were in hot pursuit followed by Dax Ward, Kevan McLurg and Jim Blockley. The next lap and the first six were the same with Anton Spires, Christian Parker, Mick Kinghorn, Mike Hatton and Simon Lonnergan following. At the end of lap three Steve Patania had displaced Dave Connor with what my outfield spotter tells me was a brilliant overtake at Devil's Elbow to take the lead and by lap four Dave was moved down third as Richard Purcell went past. Ian Wood retired on lap 7 due to a punctured radiator. Kevan Mclurg had started from fourth and had a solo accident at the hairpin which my spotter reports started as he braked heavily to avoid contact into the hairpin, and after a couple of valiant corrections spun into the infield barriers on the exit. This brought out the safety car immediately in front of Len Turner and Michael Dale who had had no warning and were required to take prompt action to avoid an incident. At the restart it was Richard Purcell who took the lead which he held to the finish from Steve Patania. Dax Ward grabbed third from Dave Connor who was followed home by Anton Spires who crossed the line during the middle of an enormous tank slapper. Jim Blockley led the Mono classic cars in and was followed by Mick Kinghorn, Wil Arif, Simon Lonnergan and Mike Hatton. Amnon Needham was the first 1800 and led in Len Turner, Michael Dale, Jock Sergison and Joe Venor. The latter two having a bit of an incident as the safety car went in but both survived to finish and shook hands after the race. Christian Parker vanished on lap eight for reasons unknown. Dave Connor won the special award for Best Value TV Performance. He’d seen a bit of grass when I was speaking to him but I didn’t see anything from my vantage point. It must have been the racing. Finally, I have to thank Simon Davey, on behalf of all Mono members as
once again he cajoled, organised and helped all and sundry. Great job
Simon. Pics - Simon Davey
Disclaimer: The above represents only the unofficial view of the writer and not of the Monoposto Racing Club in any way whatsover. Subheadlines and captions are not originated from the named author. We are unable to reproduce results due to copyright reasons. If any pictures are copyright and the owner wishes them removed please email us.
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Ms Ewena Sergison I feel very slightly queasy
Richard Purcell leads the grid... ..closeup Dave Connor Christian Parker Dax Ward Mick Kinghorn
Kevan McLurg's rather lovely and immaculate Dallara 397. Seen that colour somewhere before on a Dallara, just can't think where......(asst ed) |
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