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2009 SMRC Championship - Round 11
Frank Hynds win final round to secure 3rd place
and there were first time podiums for Colin Atkinson & David Hunter
The best that can be expected at this time of year is for it to be dry - and the final round proved to be largely so apart from light drizzle before Heat 2. But the strongish breeze ensured that it was bitterly cold all day. We were missing Ali Thom and Nick Brace, Nick racing with the Nationals at Pembrey, but were joined again by Mark Lees. Gordon Mann, who helps Legends Racing throughout the year, was out in Team Car 37, Ben was piloting Team Car 22. In his first outing in a Legend was Allan Wood in Team Car 44 and in Team Car 30 was 16 year old Craig Mitchell who, until a fortnight before, had never driven a car with a clutch. A further newcomer was Kevan Fearley at the helm of Car 07. Whilst the Individual title had already been secured by Ross Marshall, it was faintly possible that Frank Hynds could overhaul Alasdair Gauld for 2nd place. However the real interest was for 3rd place with Frank, Ross Mickel and Alex Knight all in the frame. It was a great surprise and pleasure to have Allan McNish, President of the SMRC, attend and help at the ball draw. He is clearly genuinely interested in and keen on all aspects of Scottish Motorsport. And so 21 cars took to the grid. |
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| Heat 1 |
This lasted just two laps when contact between Martyn Lyell and Pat Hynds left Pat sitting in the middle of the track at Clarke’s and in the ensuing avoiding action Ben, with nowhere to go, became locked together with Martyn. Various others had to go grass tracking but with these two stuck on track, the red flags were thrown. The re-start, over disappointing 5 laps (why only 5 laps??), saw Frank Hynds and Ross Mickel tangle at the start of the second lap on the approach to Duffus throwing Ross into the air and thence burying himself in the tyre wall. Tony Caig had to take avoiding action and skirted the tyre wall at Duffus to rejoin in last place. Frank continued on to take the win. Alex Knight came in a comfortable 2nd in front of a quintet of cars headed home by Colin Atkinson (for his first podium finish), Alasdair Gauld, Ross Marshall, Scott Hynds and Chris Hynds, these five just a second apart at the line. A small gap then saw a trio of Billy Wait fending off Gerard McCosh and David Hunter, these three just half a second apart. Heat 1: 5 laps 1st Frank Hynds 2nd Alex Knight 3rd Colin Atkinson 4th Alisdair Gauld 5th Ross Marshall 6th Scott Hynds 7th Chris Hynds 8th Billy Wait 9th Gerard McCosh 10th David Hunter (R) 11th Errico Palazzo 12th Martyn Lyell 13th Mark Lees 14th Pat Hynds 15th Gordon Mann (T) 16th Craig Mitchell (T) 17th Allan Wood (T) 18th Tony Caig 19th Kevan Fearnley dnf Ross Mickel dns Ben Mason (T) Winner's time: 5m 12.39 secs Winner's speed: 73.75 mph Fastest lap: Ross Marshall 60.89 secs (75.67 mph) |
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| Heat 2 |
As we sat in the assembly area it started to smir with rain. A sharp turn of the wheel at Duffus on the warm-up lap confirmed the track was greasy and so it proved but only over half the circuit as Butcher’s, the chicane and Clarke’s were dry (apart from the kerbs). On the first lap, Alex was caught out at McIntyre’s and dropped down the order as was Frank at Clarke’s. And during the race various people had "gravel" excursions. David, off pole, took up the running with Ross Marshall riding shotgun. They had a scary moment starting the last lap when they hooked bumpers but managed to get free just before Duffus. Ross visited the gravel while David was demoted by Tony, in a fine drive from row 7 on the grid, and Ben but David held on to take his first podium finish. Following his spin which saw him in 16th place at the end of the first lap, Frank put in a storming drive to take the next slot. Then came Scott fighting hard with Alasdair, who had finished high enough to secure second place in the Individual Championship. Colin was a couple of seconds back and similar margin behind him saw Alex leading home Gerard, Chris and Martyn, under a second separating these four. Pat was the only non-finisher wisely pulling in with the car shaking badly, which turned out to be a loose reverse gearbox. Heat 2: 8 laps 1st Tony Caig 2nd Ben Mason (T) 3rd David Hunter (R) 4th Frank Hynds 5th Scott Hynds 6th Alisdair Gauld 7th Colin Atkinson 8th Alex Knight 9th Gerard McCosh 10th Chris Hynds 11th Martyn Lyell 12th Ross Marshall 13th Ross Mickel 14th Mark Lees 15th Errico Palazzo 16th Gordon Mann (T) 17th Allan Wood (T) 18th Billy Wait 19th Craig Mitchell (T) 20th Kevan Fearnley dnf Pat Hynds Winner's time: 9m 19.57 secs Winner's speed: 65.87 mph Fastest lap: Frank Hynds 66.89 secs (68.88 mph) |
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| Final |
This one also just lasted a couple of laps when a late move by Chris at Clarke’s saw him collect Alex leaving the pair stranded on either side of the track and bring out the red flags. The re-start, over just 7 laps, saw Pat take up the running. He was overhauled by Ben and Tony, Ben pulling a couple of seconds clear to take the win. Tony just held on from Ross Marshall with Pat holding station from Frank, Martyn, Gerard and Ross Mickel (who was struggling with an out-of-shape car following his shunt earlier in the day). A few seconds back came Billy with Scott completing the top ten. Alasdair was a non-finisher, his axle having broken and leaving a trail of oil at the entrance to the chicane which caught out Colin who had been lying 8th at that point. Kevan Fearley was also a non-finisher, the crankshaft on his car having broken. Final: 7 laps 1st Ben Mason (T) 2nd Tony Caig 3rd Ross Marshall 4th Pat Hynds 5th Frank Hynds 6th Martyn Lyell 7th Gerard McCosh 8th Ross Mickel 9th Billy Wait 10th Scott Hynds 11th Colin Atkinson 12th Errico Palazzo 13th David Hunter (R) 14th Mark Lees 15th Gordon Mann (T) 16th Craig Mitchell (T) 17th Allan Wood (T) dnf Kevan Fearnley dnf Alisdair Gauld dns Chris Hynds dns Alex Knight Winner's time: 7m 18.42 secs Winner's speed: 73.57 mph Fastest lap: Ross Marshall 61.10 secs (75.41 mph) |
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And so Honours for the Day went to Frank Hynds (510 points) from Tony Caig (405 points) in 2nd and Ross Marshall (400 points) in 3rd. The well deserved Driver of the Day Award, chosen by Billy Wait, went to Colin Atkinson for his excellent performance through the day. The Gentleman of the Day Award went to a delighted Ericco Palazzo. And so the season has ended. With the grids averaging 23 cars per round, the welcome sponsorship from the Hynds family and the stand-alone Scottish legends TV programme boasting excellent viewing figures, we can all congratulate ourselves on putting on a good show for spectators (and there do seem to be many more at the Club meetings), for the armchair viewers and, equally importantly, having enjoyed each others company both competitively on the track and socially off the track. Every driver should by now have received the SMRC letter regarding having one of the Club’s meetings at Cadwell Park in early June next year. Whilst the logistics in getting cars and drivers down there will mean additional expense for each competitor, it will be well worth the trip as Cadwell is possibly the finest circuit for Legends in the country. The timescale for responding is unduly short but do send an email (and follow it up with the ‘form’) if you are interested. If there is an insufficient positive response then the meeting will not go ahead. |
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