MG Owners Club Racing Championship 2000

It was an early start for 'Class A' competitors, with scrutineering at 8am and the first practice session of the day scheduled for around 9 o'clock. No major problems for any of the drivers as race officials checked the cars, thoroughly, as they do always! The purpose of these checks are mainly for safety reasons and to ensure that all cars are prepared to regulation! Once out on the circuit most drivers managed to record between 6 & 8 laps in the allotted time. One driver, Dave Brown, who suffered I believe a broken half shaft did not manage to record a time, and had to make hasty repairs in a hope to qualify in a later session, perhaps with the 'Class B' cars.

The 'Class B' cars came onto the grid for their practice at 11.30, again most drivers getting in between 6 & 8 laps in the allotted time. Nick Arden was flying, & while Darryl Davis thought he had done enough to get on pole put in just 5 laps. (but he was wrong!). Nick Arden earned himself a well deserved place at the front of the grid, with a best lap time of 1:54.06, with Davis recording 1:54.98. There was little to split between the next six cars all getting around the circuit in the 1:55's. Dave Brown (from Class A) did in fact make good the repairs to his MG Midget and was able to record a time. Although no fault of his own, & despite getting a time, he would still have to start from the back of the grid and suffer a 10 second penalty.
A heavy price to pay for failure during your own session.

The 'Class A' race got off to a terrific start! Peter St Barbe left the grid like a bullet out of a rifle, taking Julie Clark completely by surprise. A few laps into the race and Clark fought back to retake the lead from St. Barbe at the 'Mansfield' curve. Once past she was able to pull away. By the end of the race she had an eleven second advantage over St Barbe. A pretty convincing win! The next four places were well fought over, St Barbe came under pressure from Gary Smith, while Jim Baynam and Darrly Davis fought like cat and dog over fourth place. Davis second in the championship really needed to be up nearer the front, but Baynam was having none of it, and held the MGF off for a good proportion of the race. Gary Smith was on target for at the very least third place behind St Barbe when he suffered brake problems and ended up spinning backwards into a barrier. With Smith out of the picture Davis was able to close up onto Peter St Barbe, and as they crossed the line there was just half a second between them.

1..Julie Clark    10 Laps  19:24.480   67.18mph
2..Peter St Barbe 10 Laps    +11.19    66.54mph
3..Darryl Davis   10 Laps    +11.79    66.51mph
4..Jim Baynam     10 Laps    +14.93    66.33mph
5..Lorrine Clark  10 Laps    +26.57    65.68mph
6..Dave Rees      10 Laps    +28.43    65.58mph

Fastest lap: Julie Clark 1:56.33 66.06 (new lap record)

In Class B Nick Arden who has impressed everyone this season got away well and held off Darryl Davis into the first corner 'Coppice' After Coppice its uphill 'Charlie's' before swinging right along 'Park Straight' it was somewhere at this point that Robin Walker suffered electrical problems with car coming to a halt in a dangerous position. As a result as the cars around the circuit to complete their first lap the drivers were greeted by a yellow and black flag, which instructs the lead car, in this case Nick Arden, to slow down and assume the role of 'safety car'! Under these conditions overtaking is not permitted. The cars did one more lap under the black and yellow flag as the offending car was moved out of harms way. As the cars crossed the start finish line to begin lap three now under race conditions, there was a large cloud of smoke/steam as something let go on Nick Arden's Maestro, forcing him to retire. One consolation for Arden was that on his final lap he set a new class record for the Cadwell Circuit. With the superfast Arden out of the running Darryl Davis assumed the position of race leader, behind Davis Andy Campbell and Nick Evans scrapped over second place, with Andy Campbell just managing to keep Nick Evans of County Radiators at bay. James Perry was on a charge also, he had on the sixth row of the grid in 12th position. He made up an incredible six places, which put him behind Nick Golhar. Nick Golhar but the brake on Perry moving up anymore places. Another man on a charge was Doug Cole who also made up six places. It should have been Nick Ardens race, if you look at his times he was so much faster,so I wonder can he repeat his turn of speed and maintain it at the next round of the championship which is at Oulton Park in a few weeks time!

1..Darrl Davis   10 Laps  20:12.380   64.52mph
2..Andy Campbell 10 Laps     +2.46    64.39mph
3..Nick Evans    10 Laps     +2.76    64.38mph
4..Kevin Bull    10 Laps     +8.73    64.06mph
5..Nick Golhar   10 Laps     +15.66   63.70mph
6..James Perry   10 Laps     +16.80   63.64mph

Fastest lap: Nick Arden 1:54.37 68.40 (new lap record)