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2008 SMRC Championship - Round 1
Definitely Carols Day
But with three different race winners - not including her
And so the day of the first meeting finally arrived. The weather didn’t look too promising with drizzle on arrival followed by low cloud/mist sweeping in so delaying practice. ‘Wet’ tyres were the order for the first race but it began to brighten with a very dry line evident by the end of the second race and a completely dry circuit for the final. 26 cars filled the Assembly Area for the first race. A great sight. In addition to all the returning regulars, we welcomed the three 2008 scholars being Richard Crozier, Oliver Mortimer and Kenny Thomson, and five rookies being Stewart Black, Chris Hynds, Scott Hynds, Ross Marshall and Mervyn Wilson. We also welcomed back, after some five years absence, John Marshall who was one of the original Scottish Legends competitors. |
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| Heat 1 |
On a very damp track Tony Caig led off from pole. He was immediately under pressure from Gerard McCosh starting beside him and ran wide at the exit of the chicane so handing Gerard the lead. He was chased down quite quickly by Carol Brown who wrested the lead away; but Gerard fought back and was in front again a couple of laps later. However in an inspired drive from 14th on the grid, David Thorburn caught this pair and took the lead at the start of the last lap which he held onto for a well deserved victory. Behind him Carol seized an opportunity going into Clarke’s, squeezed Gerard onto the exit kerb and held on for 2nd place. Behind these three came Oly Mortimer in an outstanding drive through the field from 24th on the grid. The ‘Scholars of 07’ car piloted on the day by Rory Bryant was next home with Frank Hynds a second or two behind him. A bit adrift of Frank and following his "off" on the first lap and a spin later on came Tony Caig with Andrew Donald and John Marshall in close attendance. Mark Lees completed the top ten. All the way down the field were mini ‘battles’ were taking place with 11th - 14th under half a second apart and 15th - 19th a mere second apart at the line. Chris Hynds and Alistair Gauld were non-finishers, the latter following a moment with John Marshall. Heat 1 - 8 laps 1st David Thorburn 9m 40.06 secs (63.51 mph), 2nd Carol Brown, 3rd Gerard McCosh, 4th Oliver Mortimer, 5th Rory Bryant, 6th Frank Hynds, 7th Tony Caig, 8th Andrew Donald, 9th John Marshall, 10th Mark Lees, 11th Alex Knight, 12th Ross Marshall, 13th Jason Ogg, 14th Pat Hynds, 15th Colin Atkinson, 16th Frank Ogg, 17th Ali Thom, 18th Scott Hynds, 19th Richard Crozier, 20th Kenny Thomson, 21st Stevie Coull, 22nd Murray Ford, 23rd Stewart Black, 24th Mervyn Wilson. DNF Alistair Gauld, Chris Hynds. Fastest lap: David Thorburn 70.28 secs (65.55 mph) |
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| Heat 2 |
Most drivers elected to stay on wets which was probably the correct decision for the first half of the race. A coming together between Ali Thom and David Thorburn at Clarke’s on the first lap saw John Marshall inherit the lead which he was to hold all the way to the flag for a comfortable 3.5 second victory. Next up and rather on her own was Carol. Some 8 seconds behind her saw Alistair make a last minute move on Pat Hynds to deprive Pat of his first podium. The next four cars of Ross Marshall (from 22nd on the grid), Tony, Frank and Jason Ogg were less than a second apart at the line. Completing the top ten were Gerard and Alex Knight after a terrific tussle involving the pair plus Andrew Donald who finished just behind them. Non finishers were Kenny Thomson and Oliver Mortimer, Oly having been unable to avoid two sideways cars in front of him. Heat 2 - 8 laps 1st John Marshall 8m 55.74 secs (68.80 mph), 2nd Carol Brown, 3rd Alistair Gauld, 4th Pat Hynds, 5th Ross Marshall, 6th Tony Caig, 7th Frank Hynds, 8th Jason Ogg, 9th Gerard McCosh, 10th Alex Knight, 11th Andrew Donald, 12th Rory Bryant, 13th Frank Ogg, 14th Richard Crozier, 15th Stewart Black, 16th Colin Atkinson, 17th Ali Thom, 18th Mark Lees, 19th David Thorburn, 20th Chris Hynds, 21st Scott Hynds, 22nd Murray Ford, 23rd Stevie Coull, 24th Mervyn Wilson. DNF Kenny Thomson, Oliver Mortimer. Fastest lap: Gerard McCosh 63.83 secs (72.18 mph) |
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| Final |
From the front row Stevie Coull, who’d not had a particularly good day up this point, took the lead. He was tracked for half the race by Ali Thom who was eventually demoted by a dramatically improved Alex with a charging Gerard (from 16th on the grid) on his heels. This pair then gradually closed in on Stevie. This trio then closed in on Frank Ogg who had been off and was trailing the rest of the field. Going through the chicane Frank suddenly slowed resulting in Stevie braking, Alex hitting Stevie and then Gerard hitting Alex pushing his car up the back of Stevie’s and causing it to ride up into the air and then off into the gravel. Gerard went on to wrest the lead from Stevie but a brave overtake by Stevie into Duffus on the last lap saw Gerard make a mistake and spin out. Stevie went on to take his first very well deserved podium and race win. Also on the podium for the first time and a very popular 2nd place was Ali who had inherited third when Alex went off and thence second when Gerard disappeared and who bravely defended from Carol who had it made it through to take 3rd place. Just behind them was Alex who’d recovered well from his gravel excursion. 5th - 10th place saw a six car train led home by Tony from Jason, John, Alistair, David and Ross, just 1½ seconds separating these six at the line. Non finishers were Frank (not sure why), Oliver Mortimer and Rory Bryant, the latter having got hooked onto Oly’s car sending them both straight on at Duffus. Final - 10 laps 1st Stevie Coull 10m 43.40 secs (71.61 mph), 2nd Ali Thom, 3rd Carol Brown, 4th Alex Knight, 5th Tony Caig, 6th Jason Ogg, 7th John Marshall, 8thAlistair Gauld, 9th David Thorburn, 10th Ross Marshall, 11th Colin Atkinson, 12th Gerard McCosh, 13th Richard Crozier, 14th Pat Hynds, 15th Mark Lees, 16th Murray Ford, 17th Andrew Donald, 18th Stewart Black, 19th Chris Hynds, 20th Kenny Thomson, 21st Scott Hynds, 22nd Frank Ogg. DNF Oliver Mortimer, Rory Bryant, Frank Hynds Fastest lap: Ross Marshall 61.24 secs (75.24 mph) |
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With her consistent results and to huge acclaim Honours for the Day went to Carol Brown (540 points), from returnee John Marshall in 2nd place (440 points) and Tony Caig in 3rd place (420 points). Indeed all three earned their trophies by dint of consistent race finishes. The Driver of the Day Award had a thoroughly deserving winner in Ali Thom for his excellent drive in the final. In the Individual Championship, Carol leads from John and Tony. In the Team Championship, Car 31 (Alex) leads Car 44 (Andrew) and Car 07 (Rory). And in the Rookies, it is Ross leading from Oly and Richard Crozier. Whilst not entirely an incident free day, the general driving standards were excellent particularly given that the grid was nearly 20% larger than the norm of last year. And so we look forward to the next round in less than 2 weeks time as one of the support races at the British GT Meeting at Knockhill on Saturday & Sunday, 12th & 13th April. Keep an eye on the website for timings at this meeting which will be posted as soon as they are available. |
Championship Positions
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