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2011 SMRC Championship - Round 9
A near clean sweep for Ross Marshall
while Robbie Burgoyne takes his second overall podium
It was off to Croft (near Darlington) for the second of our away rounds. Although just a single round, due to noise restrictions the meeting is run over two days; and so it was qualifying and the first race on Saturday with the second race and the final on Sunday afternoon. Given the time of year and the general weather throughout September we were fairly fortunate in that it was a largely dry two days although a brief shower at lunchtime on Sunday saw the second race run with "wets" on a distinctly slippery and challenging track; but the sun came out and the final was in near perfect conditions. Neither Ali Thom, Gareth Davies or Fiona Ireland could make it and the newcomers at the previous round chose to keep their powder dry for the final round at Knockhill. But we were joined by newcomer David Allen, who has bought Frank Ogg’s car 10 (re-numbered 82), by Robert King, who has bought Simon Belcher’s car, by National front runner Peter Morton who could not forgo a trip to his "local" track, by Irishman Paul O’Brien, by Pat Hynds (for his third outing) and, for the first time this season, by former Champion Ben Mason. The former three were running off the back of the grid, with neither Robert or Peter scoring points, whilst Paul, Pat and Ben were in the main grid. John Marshall was out in Team car 03 whilst this time Kevin was out in the Fearnley Team car 80. And so 25 cars took to the grid for the first heat. The Racing Apart from a leaking rocker cover gasket in qualifying, Ross Marshall had a trouble free weekend with two wins and a third giving him the overall victory for the day and putting him into the lead in the Championship. Two phenomenal and contact-free drives from the very back of the grid to second place in both of the ‘dry’ races with a 9th in the ‘wet’ race saw Peter take third overall on the day. A favourable grid draw saw Ross Mickel take the win in the first race though only by a smidgin from Peter; a fine 3rd place in the "wet" race followed by a 7th in the final was enough for 2nd overall on the day. Robbie Burgoyne had an excellent day, so nearly getting his first win in the "wet" race; like Ross he was struggling for grip towards the end of the final but defended a 6th place to take 4th overall for the day (which would have been 3rd if Peter had not been there). Gerard McCosh had a ‘solid’ day perhaps a bit tentative at the start of the "wet" race but thoroughly enjoying harassing Robbie and Ross in the final. Ben Mason had a mixed day. An on-track clash with John Marshall led to an unpleasant scene in parc ferme instigated by John, who has since apologised for his behaviour. Fastest lap in the "wet" race after his new tyres had done three laps was followed by a serious and out-of-character misjudgement in the final which resulted in himself and three other cars beached at Clervaux (and ultimately saw Ben disqualified); the safety car was scrambled but then the red flags were thrown when an incident at Tower saw Billy Wait and David Allen ‘wedded’ together leading to a full re-start from original grid positions. As alluded to above, John Marshall triggered an unseemly parc ferme incident after the first heat in which he’d finished a perfectly respectable 7th place; he went on to take a solid 5th place in the "wet" race but found it more difficult to make progress in the final. Scott Hynds was running well with an excellent 4th place in the "wet" race, conditions which he really enjoys, but a clash with John at the Jim Clarke Esses in the final saw him forced to retire and park up midway was between Sunny Out and the Complex. RobinWebb’s day started very well with a 9th place in the first heat but went horribly wrong in the final when a coming together with Kevin Kettlewell whilst overtaking Pat Hynds on the run to Tower saw them both sidelined. Glenn Burtenshaw was battling at the sharp end of the first heat when he misjudged an overtake in the Complex on the last lap and was mortified at hitting David Hunter (ending David’s race) and which saw him finish down in 10th place. Jeff Pritchard put in three good drives having an excellent dice with Pino Palazzo in the final, just besting Pino and so ensuring that he lifted the Gents trophy for the day. Paul McKay enjoyed his day as ever but was very embarrassed on spinning while exiting Sunny Out and career into the only immovable object in the form of Scott’s parked up car. Errico Palazzo was not entirely happy after the first race with both rear chassis legs bent badly to one side having been thumped hard by one of the Marshall cars but went on to enjoy the Sunday, almost making the top ten in the final. Pino professed to enjoying the weekend just missing out on the Gents trophy after a great dice with Jeff in the final. Nwecomer David Allen was getting to grips with the car after an early morning mis-fire in qualifying was finally tracked down and sorted; but an unfortunate coming together with Billy Wait at the Tower led to a race stop as they were stuck together; they both made the re-start but presumably damage from that incident saw David retire halfway through. Billy has really not had much good fortune recently. A 16th place and two dnfs was the outcome of the weekend but he always manages to remain cheerful. Robert King and Kevin Fearnley sensibly took their time and both achieved finishes in all three races. As mentioned above, David Hunter was the unfortunate casualty of a clash with Glenn when on for a good finish in the first heat; he drove a careful race in the damp conditions of the second heat and was involved in an excellent three car battle to take 4th in the final. Championship leader Carol Brown’s day did not start well when contact between her and Colin Atkinson on the pit straight saw then both hit the pit wall; not realising the extent of damage to her car, she carried on but speared off at Tower bringing out the Safety Car. However she went on to take a 6th in the second heat and a 3rd in the final. Colin Atkinson’s car had taken a fair bit of damage after the clash with Carol but was all repaired for the Sunday which saw him take two top ten finishes. Paul O’Brien had been running well up the order in the first race until an engine fault saw him retire; he took a 7th in the "wet" race but was disqualified from the final after ignoring the black & orange flag being shown as his bumper was trailing along behind the car. |
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| Heat 1 |
8 laps 1 Ross Mickel 2 Ross Marshall 3 Robbie Burgoyne (R) 4 Gerard McCosh 5 Ben Mason 6 John Marshall (T) 7 Scott Hynds 8 Robin Webb 9 Glenn Burtenshaw 10 Jeff Pritchard 11 Paul McKay (R) 12 Errico Palazzo 13 Pino Palazzo 14 David Allan 15 Billy Wait 16 Pat Hynds 17 Kevin Fearnley (T) dnf Carol Brown dnf Chris Hynds dnf Colin Atkinson dnf David Hunter dnf Kevin Kettlewell dnf Paul O'Brien Winner's time: 16m 01.84 secs Winner's speed: 63.62 mph Fastest lap: Ross Marshall 98.96 secs (77.30 mph) |
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| Heat 2 |
6 laps 1 Ross Marshall 2 Robbie Burgoyne (R) 3 Ross Mickel 4 Scott Hynds 5 John Marshall (T) 6 Carol Brown 7 Paul O'Brien 8 Colin Atkinson 9 Ben Mason 10 David Hunter 11 Gerard McCosh 12 Glenn Burtenshaw 13 Pino Palazzo 14 Errico Palazzo 15 Kevin Kettlewell 16 Jeff Pritchard 17 David Allan 18 Paul McKay (R) 19 Robin Webb 20 Pat Hynds 21 Kevin Fearnley (T) dnf Billy Wait dnf Chris Hynds Winner's time: 11m 43.36 secs Winner's speed: 65.25 mph Fastest lap: Ben Mason 111.87 secs (68.38 mph) |
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| Final |
8 laps 1 Ross Marshall 2 Carol Brown 3 David Hunter 4 Robbie Burgoyne (R) 5 Ross Mickel 6 Gerard McCosh 7 Colin Atkinson 8 John Marshall (T) 9 Errico Palazzo 10 Glenn Burtenshaw 11 Jeff Pritchard 12 Pino Palazzo 13 Kevin Fearnley (T) 14 Pat Hynds dnf Billy Wait dnf David Allan dnf Kevin Kettlewell dnf Paul McKay (R) dnf Robin Webb dnf Scott Hynds dns Chris Hynds DQ Ben Mason DQ Paul O'Brien Winner's time: 13m 31.10 secs Winner's speed: 75.45 mph Fastest lap: Ross Marshall 99.64 secs (76.70mph) |
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With three consistent drives, Championship Honours for the Day went to Ross Marshall (585 points) from Ross Mickel (520 points) only narrowly from Robbie Burgoyne (515 points). The Gentleman of the Day Award went this time to Jeff Pritchard. As the SMRC failed to make trophies available on the day, along with the award for Driver of the Day (who is still to be chosen) all the trophies will be presented at the ball draw for the final round. The Individual Championship is still tight. After his points haul at this meeting, Ross Marshall has jumped into the lead by 95 points from Carol Brown who is some 45 points in front of Gerard McCosh. David Hunter is now nearly 200 points adrift but can not be ruled out of contention; and in theory Ross Mickel and Glenn Burtenshaw could also feature. Team Car 03 (John Marshall/Kieran Murray) has wrapped up the Team Challenge - and is now lieing 4th overall - from Car 80 (Alan/Kevin Fearnley). In the Rookies, Robbie Burgoyne further stretched his winning margin over Paul McKay who looks secure in 2nd place; with Gareth Davies not making this round, Kevin Kettlewell has now taken over 3rd place from Gareth though by a mere 15 points. Another short break until we return for the final round at Knockhill on Sunday, 9th October. |
Championship Positions
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