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2008 SMRC Championship - Round 2
Carol finally gets a race win
and Ross Marshall also takes his first podium and win
We were much looking forward to the second round as one of the support races at the British GT’s annual visit to Knockhill which was likely to be run in front of a largish crowd. And so it proved - but the crowd was not as large as might have been the case had the weather been more spring-like. In the event the two days were largely dry but cold apart from when the sun came out. We were missing John Marshall, who was on holiday, and Mark Lees but were joined by last year’s Champion Ben Mason for a field of 25 cars. Different drivers were out in the team cars with Alastair Dow at the helm of Car 37, Aly Hunter in Car 31 and Mike Hogg in Car 07. |
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| Heat 1 |
This proved a particularly exciting race in more ways than one! Towards the end there was a terrific dice for the top slot between Frank Hynds, Alasdair Gauld and Oly Mortimer which went all the way to the line with Frank getting the verdict from Alasdair and Oly, just 7/10th of a second separating them. Next up was Carol who had earlier in the race been battling down the order with Gerard McCosh until he clipped the tyre wall at Clarke’s and spun out. A gap saw Pat Hynds fending off Colin Atkinson for the next two places. And then a strung out 7th to 10th led by Alastair Dow from David Thorburn, Aly Hunter and Richard Crozier. Stewart Black and Ali Thom had clearly been enjoying a good tussle as had Jason Ogg and Scott Hynds. However the end had come not after the usual 8 laps but, due to a serious blunder by officials, after 15 laps. This was very unfortunate as the race winner after 8 laps would have been Tony Caig but he took himself out on lap 12. Two other drivers completed 8 laps but not the 15, one also taking himself out and the other running out of fuel. In spite of the overwhelming majority of the drivers in agreement that the race should be declared at 8 laps, the race official would not budge and so for the first time in the history of Legends racing in the UK a 15 minute 15 lap race result was declared. Heat 1 - 15 laps 1st Frank Hynds 15m 48.58 secs (72.37 mph), 2nd Alasdair Gauld, 3rd Oly Mortimer, 4th Carol Brown, 5th Pat Hynds, 6th Colin Atkinson, 7th Alistair Dow, 8th David Thorburn, 9th Aly Hunter, 10th Richard Crozier, 11th Stewart Black, 12th Ali Thom, 13th Frank Ogg, 14th Chris Hynds, 15th Jason Ogg, 16th Scott Hynds, 17th Murray Ford, 18th Kenny Thomson, 19th Mervyn Wilson, 20th Michael Hogg. DNF Andrew Donald, Tony Caig, Gerard McCosh, Ben Mason, Ross Marshall. Fastest lap: Carol Brown 61.22 secs (74.75 mph) |
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| Heat 2 |
With the draw putting Carol on the second row of the grid, there was a strong probability that she would finally get a race win. And so it proved. She took the lead on the first lap and drove faultlessly to take a comfortable victory and also best lap time on the way. David tucked in behind her but was demoted by Ben Mason at the halfway point. Ben tried to catch Carol but to no avail. Gerard had been battling with Alastair D for 3 laps until Alastair was tagged at the hairpin by Tony Caig and spun out of the race. A charging Oly caught and passed Gerard who then raised his game and stayed very much in touch. With Tony being delayed at the hairpin, this allowed Frank onto his tail and then in front of him, this pair battling it out to the line. Next up was Aly just managing to hold off a charging Ross Marshall with Alistair G completing the top ten. Heat 2 - 8 laps 1st Carol Brown 8m 18.46 secs (73.45 mph), 2nd Ben Mason, 3rd David Thorburn, 4th Oly Mortimer, 5th Gerard McCosh, 6th Frank Hynds, 7th Tony Caig, 8th Aly Hunter, 9th Ross Marshall, 10th Alasdair Gauld, 11th Frank Ogg, 12th Stewart Black, 13th Chris Hynds, 14th Ali Thom, 15th Richard Crozier, 16th Pat Hynds, 17th Kenny Thomson, 18th Jason Ogg, 19th Murray Ford, 20th Michael Hogg, 21st Mervyn Wilson. DNF Scott Hynds, Alistair Dow, Colin Atkinson, Andrew Donald. Fastest lap: Oly Mortimer 61.05 secs (74.96 mph) |
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| Final |
This was run just before lunch on the Sunday under perfect conditions. From the start Ross was on the case and into the lead by the end of the first lap. He put in some storming laps to give himself a comfortable cushion from Tony who had demoted Andrew on the second lap. However towards the end, the gap started to close as Ross’s car began to slow. However he held on to take his first podium and race win - and just in time as his engine expired on the slowing down lap! Andrew maintained third right until the last lap when the ever increasing shape of Carol’s car nipped past. Behind him was Oly in a remarkable drive from position 25 on the grid. Getting his best ever result was Scott Hynds in 6th place just keeping Uncle Frank , Jason Ogg, Dad Pat and Alastair G behind. Final - 10 laps 1st Ross Marshall 10m 16.99 secs (74.07 mph), 2nd Tony Caig, 3rd Carol Brown, 4th Andrew Donald, 5th Oly Mortimer, 6th Scott Hynds, 7th Frank Hynds, 8th Jason Ogg, 9th Pat Hynds, 10th Alasdair Gauld, 11th Ben Mason, 12th Chris Hynds, 13th Stewart Black, 14th David Thorburn, 15th Richard Crozier, 16th Ali Thom, 17th Frank Ogg, 18th Gerard McCosh, 19th Alistair Dow, 20th Aly Hunter, 21st Kenny Thomson, 22nd Michael Hogg, 23rd Murray Ford, 24th Mervyn Wilson. DNF Colin Atkinson Fastest lap: Tony Caig 60.72 secs (75.37 mph) |
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With a race win and consistently high finishes, for the second time on a row Honours for the Day went to Carol Brown (530 points), from rookie & scholar Oly Mortimer in 2nd place (480 points) and Frank Hynds in 3rd place (470 points). The Driver of the Day Award with consistent mid-field finishes went to Stewart Black. In the Individual Championship, Carol has a comfortable lead now from Frank with Tony just 5 points behind him In the Team Championship, Car 31 (Alex/Aly) still leads Car 44 (Andrew) with Car 37 (Stevie/Alistair) in 3rd place. And in the Rookies, it is very close with Oly now in front by just 5 points from Ross with Richard still in 3rd. Just 10 days or so to go until the busy double-header round at Knockhill on Sunday, 27th April. Let’s hope it is dry again and, this time, a little warmer. |
Championship Positions
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