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2009 SMRC Championship - Round 4
The Ross & Frank Show
with Frank Hynds and Ross Marshall filling the top two places all day
And so after just a fortnight’s break we were out again for Round 4 of the Championship. The day was not looking promising with low cloud/mist hanging over Knockhill leading to the start of practice being delayed for an hour while visibility improved. There was a dry line for practice but as the mist really started to clear along came light drizzle; this turned more persistent as we sat in the assembly area and whilst most had elected for wet tyres (= correct choice) one or two of the optimists were still shod in ‘drys’. After that the day brightened, dried and became pleasantly warm. Neither of the Oggs (Jason/Frank) were able to be at the wheel of car 10 and we were also missing Martyn Lyell (on holiday) and Ciaran Peden. Back in the saddle were Lance Gauld, Ali Thom, Mark Lees and, in his first outing of the season, we were joined by Murray Ford. In the teams cars, Elliot Mason was at the helm of car 22. 24 cars formed up on the grid. |
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| Heat 1 |
The first attempt was red-flagged after a lap when there was a coming together between Elliot and Ali Thom with Ross Mickel and Scott Hynds also getting caught up. The re-start saw Frank rocket off from pole and go on to take the win by a considerable margin from Ross Marshall ( in his swiftly repaired car following a severe shunt at Oulton Park the weekend before). From mid-grid and his first time in the Scottish pack, Nick Brace (also in his rapidly repaired car having suffered a scary shunt also at Oulton Park) had a flying start and by lap 2 was into 3rd place which he comfortably held to the line. Next up and having started behind Nick was Alisdair Gauld who took a little longer to work his way through. He was followed home by Alex Knight who successfully fended off the attentions of Pat Hynds (who’d had an exciting 360 spin exiting the chicane) with Gerard McCosh just behind them. Then came a trio comprising Lance, struggling with ‘slicks’, Colin Atkinson and Ross Mickel who had recovered from a self-induced spin at the hairpin earlier in the race. DNF was Scott Hynds with Ali Tom not making the re-start. Heat 1 - 7 laps 1st Frank Hynds 8m 27.75 secs (63.52 mph), 2nd Ross Marshall, 3rd Nick Brace, 4th Alisdair Gauld, 5th Alex Knight, 6th Pat Hynds, 7th Gerard McCosh, 8th Lance Gauld, 9th Colin Atkinson, 10th Ross Mickel, 11th Andrew Donald, 12th Chris Hynds, 13th Tony Caig, 14th Stevie Coull, 15th Elliot Mason, 16th Ericco Palazzo, 17th David Hunter, 18th Aly Hunter, 19th Mark Lees, 20th Murray Ford, 21st Michael Hogg, 22nd Billy Wait. DNF Scott Hynds. DNS Ali Thom. Fastest lap: Frank Hynds 71.20 secs (64.73 mph) |
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| Heat 2 |
The first attempt of this race lasted less than half distance before being red-flagged when Pat succeeded in ‘mounting’ Colin at McIntyre’s. The re-start, over just 5 laps, saw Ross Mickel take up the running. But the determined duo of Frank and Ross Marshall demoted him on the second lap, these two fighting hard to the line with Ross just getting the verdict by a mere 3/100th of a second. Ross Mickel was a comfortable 3rd. Next up was a veritable gaggle of cars with Chris Hynds leading home Alex, Ali G, Lance, Pat (who, due to an oversight by officials, was fortunate to be allowed to re-start in his ‘grid’ position), Elliot and David Hunter, under 2 seconds separating these seven at the line. The only non-finisher was Murray Ford. Colin did not make the re-start and neither did Tony Caig who had a mechanical problem after a spin at the hairpin. Heat 2 - 5 laps 1st Ross Marshall 5m 16.76 secs (72.73 mph), 2nd Frank Hynds, 3rd Ross Mickel, 4th Chris Hynds, 5th Alex Knight, 6th Alisdair Gauld, 7th Lance Gauld, 8th Pat Hynds, 9th Elliot Mason, 10th David Hunter, 11th Nick Brace, 12th Gerard McCosh, 13th Andrew Donald, 14th Stevie Coull, 15th Ericco Palazzo, 16th Aly Hunter, 17th Billy Wait, 18th Ali Thom, 19th Scott Hynds, 20th Mark Lees, 21st Michael Hogg. DNF Murray Ford. DNS Colin Atkinson and Tony Caig. Fastest lap: Frank Hynds 61.25 secs (75.22 mph) |
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| Final |
From the back of the main grid, Ross Marshall had made up 10 places by the end of the first lap and hit the front on lap 6 with Frank, also from the back of the main grid, just behind. But Frank could not get past and Ross went on to take his second win of the day by just under a second. Lance, driving with gusto, passed Tony Caig and held on for four laps just managing to keep Tony at bay to the line. A few seconds back was Chris with, a second behind him, Elliot who had both Ali G and Colin on his bootlid. A fine top ten finish saw Ali Thom next home by a whisker from Alex. DNFs were David (blown engine?), Andrew Donald and Ericco Palazzo (following a coming together), Ross Mickel (fuel shortage) and Scott (with the same leaking oil problem as the previous meeting). Final - 10 laps 1st Ross Marshall 10m 27.94 secs (73.38 mph), 2nd Frank Hynds, 3rd Lance Gauld, 4th Tony Caig, 5th Chris Hynds, 6th Elliot Mason, 7th Alisdair Gauld, 8th Colin Atkinson, 9th Ali Thom, 10th Alex Knight, 11th Gerard McCosh, 12th Billy Wait, 13th Aly Hunter, 14th Pat Hynds, 15th Nick Brace, 16th Mark Lees, 17th Stevie Coull, 18th Michael Hogg. DNF David Hunter, Andrew Donald, Ericco Palazzo, Ross Mickel and Scott Hynds. DNS Murray Ford. Fastest lap: Ross Marshall 60.77 secs (75.81 mph) |
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An even smaller margin than last time but once again Honours for the Day went to Ross Marshall (585 points) from Frank Hynds (570 points) in 2nd place and, with consistent finishes, Alisdair Gauld (430 points) in 3rd place. There were two Driver of the Day Awards. The first went to Chris Hynds for his much improved and consistent form this year. And the second to his brother, Scott Hynds, for managing to remain cheerful in spite of his spate of mechanical black flags. And by just 5 points the Gentleman of the Day Trophy went to Andrew Donald, Andrew being the third different driver to win the award so far this season. In the Individual Championship, Ross Marshall now has a commanding lead over the new 2nd place holder, being Alisdair Gauld, who is just 40 points in front of Alex Knight, back into 3rd place, with Frank Hynds now a similar margin behind him. The Team Car of the Mason brothers again increased its lead over team Hunter with team Coull closing to just 50 points behind. In the Rookies with Martyn Lyell not competing Nick Brace is now some 245 points in the lead over Martyn with David Hunter some 200 points adrift of Martyn. The two red flag incidents were unfortunate but did not take away from some excellent racing. A three week break this time and then we join the Speedfair Meeting for our next round on Sunday, 19th July. |
Championship Positions
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