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2010 SMRC Championship - Round 1
Ben Mason back to winning form
while Colin Atkinson gets first race win and 2nd place overall
Finally the day of the opening meeting arrived. Almost inevitably after a glorious previous weekend and dry weather since, the rain arrived at 6 a.m. It was thus wet and very cold. But as is often the case at Knockhill the rain stopped after lunch, the sun emerged and by the time of the final we went out onto an (almost) dry track. We welcomed a number of newcomers being Craig Mitchell, having bought car 30, Keirnan Murray, in Burnett car 5, Austin Pirie in car 51 and Jeff Pritchard, a former oval circuit racer, in his own car now numbered 88. We also extended a warm welcome to Glenn Burtenshaw and Robin Webb from ‘south of the border’ who have been talking about coming to race up here and who have finally taken the plunge. One notable absence was John Marshall who was "ash-bound" in Dubai and one of the stalwarts of Scottish Legends, Ali Thom, who had decided to venture to Brands Hatch with the Nationals. Alisdair Gauld was out in the ‘new’ family car, number 21, which was looking very smart. There are a number of Team entries this season with Ben Mason, to be partnered by brother Elliot, out in car 22; Stevie Coull, to be partnered by Aly Hunter, in car 68; Tim Mason, to be partnered by Andrew Donald, in car 44; and Scott Hynds, to be partnered by brother Chris, in car 26 (though this partnering may not now be happening?). The SMRC decided to run a Safety Car this season and, for the Legends only, to combine this with the uses of Raceivers. The Safety Car was not needed and the Raceiver was hardly used, both of which point to the generally excellent driving standards through the day. And so 19 cars formed up on the grid. |
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| Heat 1 |
In pouring rain we formed up for the start. From the third row Ross Mickel charged through to lead at the end of the first lap; he held onto this lead until lap 6 when Ben Mason demoted him and went on to take the win. Frank Hynds was home in third having been in this position at the end of the first lap, then dropping back and recovering. Colin Atkinson had steadily worked his way through to secure the next place. Behind him David Hunter fended off Alisdair Gauld and Stevie Coull. Somewhat further adrift came Gerard McCosh keeping Tony Caig at bay and then Glenn Butenshaw completing the top ten. Whilst various drivers had explored non-tarmac areas during the race the only non finisher was Billy Wait who beached himself in the gravel at the exit of Clarke’s. Heat 1: 8 laps 1st Ben Mason (T) 2nd Ross Mickel 3rd Frank Hynds 4th Colin Atkinson 5th David Hunter 6th Alisdair Gauld 7th Steve Coull (T) 8th Gerard McCosh 9th Tony Caig 10th Glenn Burtenshaw 11th Scott Hynds (T) 12th Robin Webb 13th Craig Mitchell (R) 14th Keirnan Murray (R) 15th Errico Palazzo 16th Austin Pirie (R) 17th Tim Mason (T) 18th Jeff Pritchard (R) dnf Billy Wait Winner's time: 9m 30.53 secs Winner's speed: 64.61 mph Fastest lap: Ben Mason 69.28 secs (66.50 mph) |
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| Heat 2 |
The rain had eased leaving the track slippery rather than wet and with little spray. From pole spot Alisdair took up the running from a rapidly starting Ross on the fourth row of the grid with Colin very much in contention. These three fought hard for most of the race with Colin finally managing to best both Alisdair and Ross to go on and take his first race win. Behind these three came Tony followed in turn by Ben who’d been playing catch-up following a clash with Frank at the hairpin earlier in the race. Stevie was next up with Scott a smidgin behind. A few seconds back came Billy Wait managing to just hold off David who simply could not find a way past. Gerard completed the top ten. The only non-finisher was Frank who buried himself in the tyre wall at the hairpin on the lap after his clash with Ben. Heat 2: 8 laps 1st Colin Atkinson 2nd Alisdair Gauld 3rd Ross Mickel 4th Tony Caig 5th Ben Mason (T) 6th Steve Coull (T) 7th Scott Hynds (T) 8th Billy Wait 9th David Hunter 10th Gerard McCosh 11th Errico Palazzo 12th Robin Webb 13th Craig Mitchell (R) 14th Glenn Burtenshaw 15th Keirnan Murray (R) 16th Tim Mason (T) 17th Jeff Pritchard (R) 18th Austin Pirie (R) dnf Frank Hynds Winner's time: 9m 24.32 secs Winner's speed: 65.32 mph Fastest lap: Ben Mason 68.88 secs (66.89 mph) |
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| Final |
With the sun out we ventured onto a virtually dry track (apart from a bit of water at the hairpin). From pole position Billy was in the lead at the end of the first lap from Glenn with Ben, after a very fast start from the sixth row, just behind him. Glenn demoted Billy and was in turn demoted by Ben who eased away for a very comfortable win. The first couple of laps saw a number of ‘moments’ with Frank’s engine going ‘sick’ on the start line, Tony spinning out and down the order, Alisdair doing the same and Ross retiring after a spectacular spark display following one of the front uprights breaking. Colin, David and Gerard were all on the move and joined Glenn in a four way battle for second place. Gerard outbraked himself at the hairpin on lap 8 leaving Colin to take second from David and Glenn. Meantime Tony had recovered and worked his way back up from 17th at the end of the first lap. Behind him was a three way tussle with Billy managing to hold off Errico Palazzo and Stevie. A little way back was Scott and completing the top ten was Robin Webb. Apart from Ross, the other non-finisher was Frank who nursed the car for a couple of laps before retiring. Final 10 laps 1st Ben Mason (T) 2nd Colin Atkinson 3rd David Hunter 4th Glenn Burtenshaw 5th Tony Caig 6th Billy Wait 7th Errico Palazzo 8th Steve Coull (T) 9th Scott Hynds (T) 10th Robin Webb 11th Alisdair Gauld 12th Keirnan Murray (R) 13th Craig Mitchell (R) 14th Austin Pirie (R) 15th Jeff Pritchard (R) 16th Tim Mason (T) 17th Gerard McCosh dnf Ross Mickel dnf Frank Hynds Winner's time: 10m 33.16 secs Winner's speed: 72.77 mph Fastest lap: Ben Mason 61.39 secs (75.05 mph) |
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And so Honours for the Day narrowly went to Ben Mason (550 points) from Colin Atkinson (545 points), achieving his first ever overall podium finish, in 2nd and David Hunter (430 points), also achieving his first ever overall podium finish, in 3rd. The well deserved Driver of the Day Award, chosen by Aly Hunter, went to Colin Atkinson on achieving his first race win and consistent drives through the day. The Gentleman of the Day Award went to a delighted Robin Webb. Although a slightly lower grid number this year the quality of the racing, especially in the final, matched last year’s and it was excellent to see "newish" faces on the podiums (Colin and David). Whilst the Safety Car and Raceiver were not really needed during the meeting, I am certain they will come into their own as the season progresses. The next two rounds are a double header over the weekend of 8th & 9th May at the British GT meeting. Entries are due in by this coming Monday (26th April). |
Championship Positions
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