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2011 SMRC Championship - Round 1
Irishman Niki Meredith sets out his stall
with an inaugural overall win
After a long and at times very snowy winter, the first Knockhill gathering took place. And it could not have been a more perfect day for racing. The sun was up from early in the morning and shone almost all of the day. Early afternoon temperature must have neared 20C but was not sweltering thanks to a very pleasant breeze. Many of the ‘culprits’ from last year were back although it felt very strange not having a Mason car on the grid for the first time in many years and we were missing last years runner-up, Ross Mickel, who’d allowed his godchild to be christened on the same day! We welcomed a number of new drivers and one ‘returnee’. From Ireland came Niki Meredith and Paul O’Brien both of whom have raced with the Nationals but have opted to try their hand in Scotland this year. Completely new to the grid were Robbie Burgoyne (ex stock car racer), Kevin Kettlewell (ex Oval Legends racer), Paul McKay and Gareth Davies (neither of whom had raced before). And it was a very warm and welcome return to Caroline McMurdo after an absence of many years. Also returning in an individual capacity was former champion Carol Brown. I don’t plan to write a resume of each race but rather make overall comments with the race results shown at the end. In spite of much hard work by Stevie McCall, he was unable to persuade SpecSavers to sponsor Legends again this year. But we were delighted to be informed by Aly Hunter that Beatsons Building Supplies had stepped in and offered financial support. A big thank you to John Marshall. As Aly commented at the prize giving at the end of the day, 23 cars started all the races and, had it not been for mechanical derangements, all 23 would have finished each race - which is a testament to the excellent driving standards during some keenly fought races. In every race the top ten cars (at least) were all lapping within one second of each other so making forward progress not easy, especially in the final. Ross Marshall would almost certainly have been in the top 3 for the day had his engine not let go in the second heat. Both Carol and David Hunter finished well up the order in each race, David recording the fastest lap in two of the races. But the outstanding drive of the day was Niki with a 3rd, 1st and 2nd place finishes. Defending champion Colin Atkinson was down on power in the first heat (turned out to be a broken spark plug) but made up for this in the next two races. Glenn Burtenshaw put in a terrific qualifying time (2nd fastest) and secured top ten finishes in all the races - as did Billy Wait. Of the newcomers Robbie Burgoyne, apart from outbraking himself and unfortunately running into Robin Webb in the second heat, was instantly "on the pace" and achieved an excellent 11th place in the final from the very back of the grid. Our new sponsor John Marshall driving the Burnett Team car had two good finishes in the heats but couldn’t find a way through in the final. Alan Fearnley had very consistent day and was the well deserved winner of the Gentleman’s Trophy. Ali Thom had two quietish heats but had an excellent run in the final for a creditable 7th place finish. Kevin professed to having thoroughly enjoyed his first race meeting as did Paul and Gareth, all three gradually improving their lap times during the day. Father and son Errico and Pino Palazzo plus large entourage of family members also enjoyed their day, though I’m not sure what happened to Pino in the final. The Hynds brothers, Scott and Chris, were both in evidence although their cars were not performing quite as they should with Chris in particular having to work very hard. The features of the day worth noting were: · the excellent starts with everyone ‘obeying’ the rules, i.e. keeping formation until over the start line, · sensible driving at the first three corners especially given the height and acuteness of the new kerbs which seemed to catch out other racing classes and · respect shown throughout the races - which equates to minimal repair bills from unnecessary damage. Each of us can and should be very pleased with ourselves. Let’s hope the standards continue through the season. |
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| Heat 1 |
Heat 1 8 laps 1 Ross Marshall 2 Carol Brown 3 Niki Meredith 4 John Marshall (T) 5 David Hunter 6 Scott Hynds 7 Glenn Burtenshaw 8 Gerard McCosh 9 Colin Atkinson 10 Billy Wait 11 Errico Palazzo 12 Robbie Burgoyne (R) 13 Chris Hynds 14 Paul O'Brien 15 Alasdair Thom 16 Allan Fearnley (T) 17 Pino Palazzo 18 Jeff Pritchard 19 Caroline McMurdo 20 Kevin Kettlewell (R) 21 Robin Webb 22 Paul McKay (R) 23 Gareth Davies (R) Winner's time: 8m 19.00secs Winner's speed: 73.87 mph Fastest lap: Ross Marshall 61.46 secs (74.97 mph) |
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| Heat 2 |
Heat 2 8 laps 1 Niki Meredith 2 John Marshall (T) 3 David Hunter 4 Colin Atkinson 5 Billy Wait 6 Carol Brown 7 Scott Hynds 8 Glenn Burtenshaw 9 Gerard McCosh 10 Chris Hynds 11 Paul O'Brien 12 Errico Palazzo 13 Robin Webb 14 Allan Fearnley (T) 15 Alasdair Thom 16 Jeff Pritchard 17 Pino Palazzo 18 Robbie Burgoyne (R) 19 Kevin Kettlewell (R) 20 Caroline McMurdo 21 Paul McKay (R) 22 Gareth Davies (R) dnf Ross Marshall Winner's time: 8m 27.14 secs Winner's speed: 72.69 mph Fastest lap: David Hunter 61.75 secs (74.62 mph) |
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| Final |
Final 10 laps 1 Ross Marshall 2 Niki Meredith 3 Gerard McCosh 4 Carol Brown 5 David Hunter 6 Colin Atkinson 7 Alasdair Thom 8 Billy Wait 9 Glenn Burtenshaw 10 Errico Palazzo 11 Robbie Burgoyne (R) 12 Scott Hynds 13 John Marshall (T) 14 Robin Webb 15 Allan Fearnley (T) 16 Paul O'Brien 17 Jeff Pritchard 18 Caroline McMurdo 19 Kevin Kettlewell (R) 20 Paul McKay (R) 21 Gareth Davies (R) dnf Chris Hynds dnf Pino Palazzo Winner's time: 10m 28.12 secs Winner's speed: 73.36 mph Fastest lap: David Hunter 61.65 secs (74.74 mph) |
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And so Honours for the Day narrowly went to Niki Meredith (555 points) from Carol Brown (485 points) in 2nd place and David Hunter (470 points), achieving his second overall podium finish, in 3rd. The well deserved Driver of the Day Award, chosen by the officials in Race Control, went to Niki Meredith The Gentleman of the Day Award went to a delighted Alan Fearnley. The next two rounds are a double header over the weekend of 30th April & 1st May at Knockhill. Entries are due in by this coming Monday (18th April). |
Championship Positions
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