Mallory Park 29th August 2004

Qualification:

Results:

Race Reports - it was so good they did 'em twice:

Race Report Mallory Park Sunday 29^th August 2004 - No.1 by Sara Draycott

Krissy Duffy Memorial Race for Group B

Conditions: Mainly dry, occasional showers.

Qualifying:  Blanchett came into the pits with an overheating engine, but further inspection found engine trouble.  Sapcote came in and out, sounding like he wasn’t firing on all cylinders.  Turner also came into the pits with similar problems to Blanchett.  Visor limped in with damage to his bonnet after meeting the barrier at Gerrards.  The session was red flagged following Peter May’s collision with the barrier at Shaw’s Hairpin when he hurt his wrist, possible fracture.   He also took the television feed cables for the commentary box out of commission at the same time!

Race: 15 minutes

From Pole, Perry makes a great start, while Duffy and Reeve are slow to get away.  Smallridge gets ahead of Nettleton in the Bs and in Cs Bramley makes good progress compared to Actman. 

Perry is first into Gerrards, which is possibly still slightly damp on the outside, but down Stebbe Straight David Weston is clearly catching him.  Reeve has found the power of his blue A car, and steams past Storrar.

Penn overtakes Nettleton, and Smallridge is just ahead of them both.

At the end of Lap 1 Perry is in the lead by miles from Weston, Reeve and Storrar, with Tipper and Duffy neck and neck across the line.  Smallridge follows, then Penn, Nettleton, Visor, Self in Bs, then Mooney leading the Cs with Dignan almost beside him, followed by Langford, Smeeton (A), Sapcote, Actman, Baxter(A) and Bramley.

In the Dunlop Esses, Mooney is under pressure from Dignan.

Completing Lap 2, Perry is under serious threat from Weston.  Weston dives down the outside of the Kirby Straight and gets ahead at Gerrards.  Meanwhile, Duffy is swapping places with Storrar to take 4^th.  Mooney has extended his lead in the Cs, with Dignan and Langford all over each other fighting for 2^nd in class.

The order at the end of Lap 2 is Perry, Weston, Reeve, Storrar, Duffy, Smallridge, Tipper, Penn, Nettleton, Visor, Self, Mooney, Dignan, Langford, Smeeton, Actman, Sapcote, Baxter, Bramley.

After 2 and a half laps Perry retires and pulls into the Paddock at the Esses.

Coming round at the end of Lap 3, Weston has a clear lead now from Reeve, Duffy, Storrar, and Smallridge, who is leading the Bs.  Tipper and Penn are side by side, separated by 0.052 seconds over the line, followed by Nettleton, and Mooney is still leading Group C.

Into the Esses Penn outbrakes Tipper’s blue Frogeye A, and takes the position from him.

End of Lap 4 and Weston is still in first place.  But behind him the order is Reeve, Storrar, Duffy, with Storrar and Duffy having changed places once more.  

Eleven minutes remain on the clock.

Towards the back of the field, Sapcote and Bramley are enjoying an on track battle.  Down Kirby Straight the two are side by side, and Bramley sneaks ahead to be first into Gerrards.

As Weston and Reeve complete Lap 5, the order has once again changed behind them, with Duffy retaking Storrar for third.  Racing for fourth place in Group B are Visor and Self, and in the Cs Dignan has taken Mooney to lead the class.  Bramley and Sapcote are still neck and neck at the back, but Sapcote has done well to be in the race in the first place as his car is not 100% well.

Weston leads by a country mile, followed by Reeve, Duffy and Storrar.  Once again, Storrar looks ready to challenge Duffy for third as they enter Gerrards, but holds back. Smallridge is hanging onto the back of the leading group, well in the lead of his class.

9 minutes to go. 

In C Dignan leads from Mooney, Langford, Smeeton, Actman, Baxter, Bramley, Self and Sapcote, who is now clearly suffering.  Group A cars are now starting to lap the Cs, plus the As and B among them.  Malcolm Self in his B is near the back of the field, and must have had a problem somewhere - a spin in Gerrards.

David Weston has fastest lap so far, 52.812, about a second slower than the qualifying time.

Weston has completed 8 laps, and is ahead of Reeve by 3.2 seconds in second place, with Duffy third and Storrar fourth.

After 9 laps Duffy is 0.75 seconds behind Reeve, and Storrar is 0.6 seconds behind Duffy, ever threatening another move.  In Bs Smallridge is way ahead of Penn and Nettleton, but the gap to Visor is a huge 21 seconds. 

Smeeton struggles to allow clear passage to the leading A battle as they try to lap him down the Kirby straight.  This aids Duffy into Gerrards, closer to Reeve, and looking poised to attack.  As they come round Devils Elbow at the end of lap 11 Duffy loses momentum slightly by running the kerbs.  Storrar grabs the initiative and closes right up on Duffy, running bumper to bumper up Stebbe Straight.  As they re-emerge after the hairpin on Lap 12, Storrar has regained third position from Duffy. 

Meanwhile, Penn is chasing Tipper down Kirby Straight.  He peers down the inside as they approach Gerrards, and looks as though he is going to collect the Group A frogeye, but he backs off and Tipper takes his line.

Robert Nettleton’s car is stuck in the middle of the exit of Gerrards.  With 3 minutes 42 seconds left on the clock, the red flags and lights are shown and the race is brought to an end. 

Midget Gems:

David Weston: Best chance I’ve ever had, but didn’t expect that.  It was great.  I heard Perry’s engine go sour, and he flagged me by, but I was up on his pace beforehand.  My first ever win, in anything.  Nice to do it at my home circuit.

Richard Perry: I was walking in, it was under control(!).  But on lap 2 the car just wasn’t pulling.  It got worse, so I pulled in. 

Graham Smeeton:  Good, enjoyed it.  Gradually getting up there.  Still a long way to go, but getting there.

Gil Duffy:  Fantastic.  Remembered why I came midget racing!!  Car was going well, I was driving well, lots of overtaking.  Really nice.  I passed Ted twice, and he passed me twice.  Tim twice, and him me twice.  Pity I ended up at the back at the end of the race, but never mind.  Don’t really mind where you come in a race like that. 

Andrew Actman: Not happy.  Not quick enough, simple as that.  I just got blown away.  I need to spend some more money now - more brake horse power required.  I was pleased with my driving, and I can’t make the car go any quicker.

Howard Visor:  Good race, good start.  My car was twitchy around Gerrards and Malcolm was getting closer and closer.  Then the last I saw of him was him going sideways at Gerrards in my mirror. 

Ed Reeve:  Very good.  Just the sort of racing I like.  Tim nudged me at the hairpin and we both nearly lost it!!  Gil was determined to get round me, and I was determined he wasn’t.  Then Tim came and had a go, and my understeer got worse.  So in a way I was glad it was red-flagged.  I didn’t know how much damage Tim had done to my back end, so I was keeping a look out for the black and orange flag.  Good race, good race.  Shame David won but he did well.  We had more fun!!

Peter Dignan:  Mooney went round Gerrards slower so I managed to get in front of him.  Quite happy with that.  I thought he might pull away.  Changing the diff was the best thing I did. 

Tim Storrar:  Fantastic. I got Gil, I think - I usually miss out with the countback!  I saw Ted’s rear end at the hairpin, first lap. I had a lock up, and he was going too slow, basically!!  Other than that, fantastic.  Good, clean battle - that’s what I come for.  So possibly will do Brands.

William Smallridge:  Start was interesting.  I managed to get the inside line, which was handy.  After that it was quite a good race.  I was trying to keep up with the A cars, but they got the better of me.  Lovely to finish. 

Dominic Mooney:  It was a challenge!  Had a good start, got into first and let Mr Dignan past!  Thought I’d get him again at the hairpin, but I made a mistake and he got away.  I was happy with second.

Gareth Penn: I had a good battle with Peter Tipper - enjoyed that.  I had a bad start because I edged forward, then hit the brakes to stop me going further forward and by the time I’d done that the lights had gone.  I wish I could have kept up with William, but once he had gone and I was stuck behind Peter I was stuck.  Had a few misses with the back markers because the marshals weren’t using blue flags.  But it was a good race. 

Ian Langford:  Good race.  Mooney span at the hairpin, but I dropped back.  There was no one near me, so I stayed where I was.

Richard Sapcote:  I finished the race.  Last, though.  Still got the same misfire I had at Snetterton.  I can pass people in the bends but they get me on the straights.   It was fine in the first two laps.  I know I can go as fast as Peter (Dignan).

Peter Tipper:  Frustrating.  The chassis is much improved but the engine is lacking in power.  Unfortunately Gareth and William are just too quick in a straight line for me and they kept me out of touch with the A class boys at the front.  Gareth drove very well, which made it worse for me.  I’ll have to take him off next time!!  He was a bit naughty at the entrance to Gerrards.  I saw him coming down the inside - I gave him room and he obviously thought better of it and gave me a bit of room back.  Fun, but frustrating.

Malcolm Self:  Had a ding dong with Howard.  He’s slower than me through Gerrards and a bit quicker down the straights.  In Gerrards he was twitching all over the place.  I went to go down the outside of him and had to swerve to miss him as he twitched, and span myself.   Enjoyed it though. I last raced here about 11 years ago.  Gerrards hasn’t changed!!

Race Report no. 2 by Larry Quinn:

Group B drivers were racing for the Krissy Duffy Trophy and this will be awarded at the annual trophy presentation in January.

David Weston (with a new dog-box) came home first on scratch, Will Smallridge chased the Gp A’s all the way to win his class and Peter Dignan once again emphasised his dominance of the Road Going cars to take another win in that class.

From the start Richard Perry led a Gp A six pack off the grid with another five Gp B’s in close attendance. At the end of lap one Richard lost power just as David Weston started a charge which lasted the whole race, he was literally untouchable, and brought back memories of Chris Ashby’s style just a couple of years back.  Ed Reeve moved into second to lead home a duelling Gil Duffy & Tim Storrar, the extra points going to Gil when the red flag appeared.

Meanwhile Will Smallridge shadowed the leaders to finish first ahead of Gareth Penn while Robert Nettleton holding a secure 3^rd on his home circuit suddenly threw it all away at Gerrards on lap 12, causing the red flag and handing the place to Howard Vizor.

Peter Dignan circulated just fast enough to stay ahead of the GP C pack, so he, Dominic Mooney and Ian Langford finished in close succession.