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Intro
The Eight race programme promised to provide a fine days racing at the Mallory Park Circuit, a selection of race car types, which of course included MGs. You could have been forgiven for thinking that winter was over after the fine spring like weather we had enjoyed a couple of weeks back at Silverstone, but it was none to warm, and to the start the day it was raining heavily!! (Hopefully it would stop for the afternoons racing)
Qualifying/Practice - Class A
Wet weather tyres were to be a must for qualifying, many race cars had arrived fitted with drys, so one of the first tasks of the day for everyone was to change all four wheels and tyres. This included newcomer and novice Kelly Mercer, unafraid of getting her hands dirty, insisted she did the tyre change herself while dad looked on!
Conditions out on the circuit were attrocious, understandably lap times were well down.
Top novice of 1999, Gary Smith, earned himself the honour of pole position. He had kept his nerve in the wet during practice, would it hold out for the race later in the day? The only surprise in qualifying was Peter St Barbe, who could only manage 14th, perhaps he had electrical gremlins or some other problem?
Class A Top Ten Qualifiers
Gary Smith 1:07.52 - Julie Clark 1:08.01 - Steve Lewis 1:08.50 - Chris Pollard 1:08.69 - Dave Rees 1:09.23 - Jim Gotobed 1:09.69 - Jonathan Kimber 1:09.70 - Lorraine Clark 1:09.88 - Gerry Thorn 1:10.35 - Dave Brown 1:10.72 The lap record for this class is 0.59.37s, so you can see how much the rain slowed everyone up!
Qualifying/Practice - Class B
It had stopped raining when it was the turn of the Class B cars, but I think the track was still quite damp in places, so some caution was still required! Most, if not all the drivers certainly drove a sensible practice session. (There are no prizes for putting yourself in the gravel trap or barriers) But!, unfortunately that's what Martin Gilcrest did with his MG Maestro towards the end of the session on the 'Stebbe Straight', slamming his car (MG Maestro) sideways into the Armco. Severely damaged, this is the second MG Maestro in as many races that looks to be destined for the breakers yard.
Class B Top Ten Qualifiers
Andy Campbell 1:00.59 @ 80.21mph - Nick Evans 1:00.96 - David Mellor 1:01.10 - James Perry 1:01.32 - Doug Cole 1:01.44 - Nick Golhar 1:01.48 - Ian Evans 1:01.50 - Jim Edwards Snr 1:01.93 - Paul Roberts 1: 01.93 - David Hill 1:02.19. The lap record for Class B is held by Darryl Davis at 0.58.56s @ 82.99mph set in 1998
Race Class A
Most drivers seemed reasonably happy with their starts, none more so than Peter St Barbe,
who leap frogged from 14th to 2nd by the end of 'Gerrards', the first, and the very long sweeping corner.
Lorraine Clark held off Jonathan Kimber, who started along side her on the grid, until they got around to the hairpin on the first lap whereupon, Kimber went around the outside. Lorraine never lost sight of Kimber and was to steal back position, (again at the hairpin) on the inside. Kimber was unable to reply as Lorraine Clark set about chasing the cars in front. Those cars were the Austin Healey Sprite of Ian McCormack, the MGB of Steve Lewis, and the Midgets of Gary Smith, Peter St Barbe and Julie Clark who was defending her leading position vigorously!
Dave Rees who was racing his new MGB, also had made a good start, but soon lost valuble ground and position as he fought with the handling of the car. Nevertheless the car's performance looked promising, as was demonstrated when Rees forcefully marched past Chris Pollard at the hairpin. Dave Rees and his team were aware of some suspension problems beforehand, and a fix for the problem is due to arrive in the post any day now.
All should be fine for the next race! ( Snetterton Circuit, Norfolk - 24th April)
Gary Smith, (No.30 Yellow/Black Midget) must have been praying for more rain, after taking pole position, and being half a second quicker than Julie Clark. He will have been dissapointed to have dropped down to third place but at the same time encouraged with both his and the cars performance.
The luckless Chris Pollard was forced to retire at the end of five laps, the car had been loosing water, even an emergency transfusion of 'radweld' just moments before the race did not stem the flow, and then on top of that the gearbox gave up, with Pollard unable to select 4th. You can imagine the extra strain put on the engine by running in third gear. The extra revs and strain speeding up the process of an already dying engine! So a blown engine and a poorly gearbox for Mr. Pollard!
Dave Brown also in an MG Midget, suffered severe engine problems during the race. As the car traveled around the circuit there was a cloud of smoke, wrongly Brown thought it was smoke from body work rubbing on a tyre after a minor bump. Soon an oil slick appeared on the bonnet of Browns Midget and I believe he was just about to be black flagged when the engine finally let go when he pulled into the pits. The problem was later diagnosed as a suspected 'holed piston'
The pretty yellow and blue MGB of Steve Lewis, only lost one place after starting third on the grid and for the second race in a row came home in fourth place, they are already calling him 'Mr. Consistent'
Lets not forget the newcomers to the championship, which include Jim Gotobed and Kelly Mercer. Jim is now the proud owner of last years championship winning car, and has made great start to the season.
Today not only was he introduced to wet weather racing, but he also had an introduction to a crash barrier. (minimal damage to all concerned)
Kelly Mercer who comes to the championship with a wealth of experience in the for of her father, Mick Mercer, who has been a front runner in the championship in years gone by. Kelly now looks set to follow in dad's tyre tracks!
At the end of the 10 laps it was Julie Clark, who had led from the start, who it was took the chequered flag, with a margin of 2.69s, ahead of Peter St Barbe. That's two straight wins, with fastest laps in both races, which gives Julie maximum points!
Race Class B
When I picked up the motoring press midweek I half expected a headline that read
'Good Evans, Nick's A Winner' but alas no, I think they missed out on a good pun! It was Nick Evans who had crashed out at Silverstone on the first lap, who now bounced back in this race to take his first ever race win. Evans had got a great slingshot start into the first corner over Andy Campbell, who then for ten laps had to follow in the wake of MG Maestro No 87.
Though Campbell applied a lot of pressure Evans did not crack, as they crossed the finish line just 0.35s seperated the two drivers.
Dave Mellor displaying a new windscreen sticker proclaiming "I've Got The Power" proved that he really did have the power, when he snatched third position to relegate Nick Golhar into fourth place.
It was a good drive from newcomer to the championship Paul Roberts in the "Netcom Maestro" a good
finish with 7th place. Roberts had qualified 9th, then after 3 laps had caught up Doug Cole who was in 6th place. The battle between these two drivers was so intense it drew the attention of the commentator, with comments on the PA "again the Netcom Maestro is trying to dive on the inside of the Hairpin" The both of them had the best race thier lives, often only inches apart at over 100mph !!
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