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2009 SMRC Championship - Round 10
Tony Caig takes the overall victory
while Rookie, Martyn Lyell, finishes an impressive 2nd.
The SMRC opted to try out a Saturday meeting rather than holding it on the more usual Sunday. Personally I preferred it but it may not suit everyone. Presumably they would like feedback to decide whether or not to try for more Saturdays next season so if you have any views…. The weather had been improving all week and Saturday turned out to be mainly sunny, dry, quite warm with a stiff but not unpleasant breeze. We were joined again by Martyn Lyell and Pat Hynds, who had both missed the double header round at the beginning of the month, and Elliot Mason was out in Team Car 22. And so 21 cars formed up for the first race. |
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| Heat 1 |
From the front row, Scott Hynds took up the running only to be demoted by Dad, Pat Hynds. He in turn was usurped by Martyn who’d slipped back from his pole position start but worked his way back to the front. He held the lead until Frank Hynds closed in and took the lead on lap 4. Frank went on to take the win but Martyn did not make it easy crossing the line just 1/10th of second adrift. It took him a bit longer but Nick Brace eventually made it up to take 3rd. He was clear of Tony Caig who had his hands full warding off the attentions of Alasdair Gauld, Colin Atkinson and Elliot Mason, these four separated by just 8/10th of a second at the line. Some way back was David Hunter with Aly Hunter not far behind having managed to get past and stay in front of Billy Wait ‘rocketship’. Earlier in the race Ross Mickel had spun exiting McIntyres, collected Alex Knight and left Ross Marshall nowhere to go. Marshall and Alex both retired while Mickel limped home in last place. Heat 1: 8 laps 1st Frank Hynds 2nd Martyn Lyell 3rd Nick Brace (R) 4th Tony Caig 5th Alisdair Gauld 6th Colin Atkinson 7th Elliot Mason (T) 8th David Hunter (R) 9th Aly Hunter (TG) 10th Billy Wait 11th Chris Hynds 12th Gerard McCosh 13th Andrew Donald (TG) 14th Stevie Coull (TG) 15th Errico Palazzo 16th Scott Hynds 17th Ali Thom (T) 18th Ross Mickel dnf Pat Hynds dnf Alex Knight dnf Ross Marshall Winner's time: 8m 28.47 secs Winner's speed: 72.49 mph Fastest lap: Nick Brace 61.07 secs (75.45 mph) |
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| Heat 2 |
The red flags came out before half distance when Scott spun at McIntryes and ended up beached in a dangerous position on the outside of the circuit. David Hunter was pulled off the fresh grid with a very loose bumper and was unfortunately not allowed to go to the pits to have it replaced. A muddle-up by the timekeepers saw Chris Hynds put on pole and the rest of the grid jumbled around. Tony Caig was a beneficiary of the red flag as he had taken himself off the track and dropped right down the order by the time the red flag was thrown but was able to take his grid position from the previous lap. The re-start, over 5 laps, saw clouds of smoke envelope Frank’s car resulting in a trail of oil on the approach to Duffus (it later transpired that an oil union had come loose). This oil was to catch out Elliot at the start of the second lap as he tried to go round the outside of Alex but ended up going straight off and stuck in the gravel trap. From the front row Ross Mickel took up the running. He soon had Ross Marshall on his tail and these two fought it out to the line with Marshall just managing to best Mickel. 3rd over the line and right on the two Ross’ bootlids was Tony but he was handed a 5 second penalty for a flag infringement which dropped him down to 7th (this was subsequently rescinded but no fresh result was issued in spite of repeated requests; but see also below). Next up came a trio led by Alex from Alasdair and Colin, just half a second separating them. From 14th on the grid, Martyn was next home having got breathing space from Nick closely followed home by Billy, just 1/100th of a second apart. Pat completed the top ten with Ericco Palazzo on his bootlid. Heat 2: 5 laps 1st Ross Marshall 2nd Ross Mickel 3rd Tony Caig 4th Alex Knight 5th Alisdair Gauld 6th Colin Atkinson 7th Martyn Lyell 8th Nick Brace (R) 9th Billy Wait 10th Pat Hynds 11th Errico Palazzo 12th Gerard McCosh 13th Andrew Donald (TG) 14th Stevie Coull (TG) 15th Ali Thom (T) 16th Aly Hunter (TG) dnf Frank Hynds dnf Elliot Mason (T) dnf Chris Hynds dns David Hunter (R) dns Scott Hynds Winner's time: 5m 18.56 secs Winner's speed: 72.32 mph Fastest lap: Tony Caig 61.77 secs (74.58 mph) |
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| Final |
Red flags were out again in this race following contact on the first lap between Frank and David approaching the hairpin which saw Frank in the air and ending up parked on the apex of the hairpin with collapsed rear suspension. The red flag was, in a perverse way, fortunate as further back Ericco had made contact with Martyn exiting the chicane which punctured his oil cooler resulting in him spinning on his own oil at Clarke’s and then continuing to the pits leaving a trail of oil from the hairpin to the pit entrance. The red flag gave time for this oil to be dressed - this time with, thank goodness, the traditional and much more effective cement dust. From the re-start, over just 7 rather than 10 laps, Alex was in the lead at the end of the first lap. He was demoted by Ross Mickel who was followed through by Ross Marshall on the next one. These two again did battle to the flag. Marshall got in front on lap 3 and managed to make his car wide enough to fend off Mickel, the pair finishing in that order just a tenth of a second apart. Tony came home a comfortable 3rd with Alex easily holding 4th. Martyn, who had started the final from the back of the main grid, worked his way through in another fine drive. There then came a veritable train of 8 cars with Chris leading home Pat, Scott, Colin, Nick, Alasdair, Aly and Billy, these 8 less than 1.5 seconds apart at the line. David Hunter had started the race from the pit lane and was initially shown as finishing last, one lap behind. This has been amended and now correctly shows him as finishing in 16th place. Final: 7 laps 1st Ross Marshall 2nd Ross Mickel 3rd Tony Caig 4th Alex Knight 5th Martyn Lyell 6th Chris Hynds 7th Pat Hynds 8th Scott Hynds 9th Colin Atkinson 10th Nick Brace (R) 11th Alisdair Gauld 12th Aly Hunter (TG) 13th Billy Wait 14th Gerard McCosh 15th Elliot Mason (T) 16th David Hunter (R) 17th Stevie Coull (TG) 18th Andrew Donald (TG) 19th Ali Thom (T) dns Errico Palazzo dns Frank Hynds Winner's time: 7m 26.31 secs Winner's speed: 72.30 mph Fastest lap: Ross Mickel 61.34 secs (75.11 mph) |
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Subsequent to the meeting Tony contacted the SMRC and asked that, in view of his exoneration of any driving offence and the promise of his re-instatement to 3rd position in Heat 2, the result for Heat 2 be amended accordingly. This has now been done and alters the overall result for the day. It was unfortunate that Tony’s exoneration was handed down too late for starting grid positions to be amended for the final (which should have seen Tony 2 rows further back on the grid). And so Honours for the Day went to Tony Caig (500 points) from a thoroughly deserved 2nd place for Martyn Lyell (465 points) and Ross Marshall (405 points) in 3rd. The Driver of the Day Award, chosen by Scott Hynds, went to Billy Wait for his consistent drives through the day. The Gentleman of the Day Award went Gerard McCosh. Whilst Ross Marshall has sown up the Individual Title, it could still be close for 2nd with Alasdair just some 230 points clear of Frank. And indeed 3rd place is certainly not a foregone conclusion with Alex and Ross Mickel respectively 40 & 60 points behind Frank. As mentioned last time the Mason Brothers’ Team Car has already secured the Team Award. But second place is still close with Team Hunter now 70 points in front of Team Coull. In the Rookies, whilst Nick Brace has lifted the Title, 2nd place is still to play for with Martyn Lyell now in front of David Hunter by just 90 points. Red flags do disrupt the proceedings. Let us hope that the SMRC decide do go down the "Safety Car" route for next season, possibly in conjunction with the Raceiver system, as both the incidents causing the red flags could probably have been cleared under a safety car. The final round of the Championship reverts to a Sunday, being on 18th October at Knockhill. |
Championship Positions
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