SMRC Championship

With a great race weekend ahead for the start of the SMRC Legends Cars Championship 2002 season, there was a superb turnout of 16 cars. Our strongest grid so far.

Gary Crawford (75) turned out his '37 Chevy Coupe with a fantastic new paint job. He was quietly proud of the hundreds of hours spent on preparation - and quite rightly so. Jim Clarke (97) and Jamie Clarke (79), father and son, debuted their new '37 Dodge Sedans and Ian McMurdo (37) his '34 Ford Coupe. Ray Davison (88) was also christening his new '34 Chevy Coupe. Jamie Verdon-Anderson (68) tackled his second Legends event but this time in his own '37 Dodge Coupe bought from Ian McMurdo.

The draw for grid places put John Marshall (61) - N.B. his new number - and Colin Noble (45) 2nd and 4th respectively on the grid. Lance Gauld, driving the Turnkey Computers car (23), drew pole and Ian McMurdo was 10th, bringing up the rear of the regulars. Of the novices Ray Davison drew pole with Jim Clarke brought up the rear. At the draw the drivers also took a vote to retain the same start format as last year. That is, no overtaking until you cross the start finish line on the rolling start.

Heat 1

Heat 1 was fast and furious! Ian McMurdo and Aly Hunter had a coming together at the hairpin but all toys remained firmly in the pram and Ian's new car was, fairly gently, christened for real. Colin Noble took a good victory from the hard charging John Marshall. Eric McFarlane (27) was 3rd and Jamie Clarke made good use of his 7th starting position to come home in 4th. The fastest lap of the race was clocked by the much improved Steve Reynolds (26).

Heat 2

Ian McMurdo's car was repaired in record time and was back out to start from pole with Steve Reynolds alongside. Colin Noble and John Marshall were off the back. Colin made his usual light work of the traffic and Eric Macfarlane and John Marshall followed. John had a slight off at Clark's letting the majority of the field pass before rejoining. Eric managed to keep up and finished only 0.26 secs behind Colin! John Marshall made a good recovery back to 3rd, with the early leader Steve Reynolds in 4th. Steve recorded the fastest lap, so if his mirrors weren't adjusted as he reports then who knows what the first 3 placings might have looked like!

Final

The Final was a tremendous race! For once, Colin Noble had to work very hard to get through the drivers in front of him but again finished in 1st, then John Marshall in 2nd, 3rd for Ian McMurdo and for Jamie Clark another good 4th finish. You could have thrown a blanket over the first five cars for most of the race! Well done to Ally McKever, finishing from dead last on the grid. Overall results for the day were 1st Colin Noble, 2nd John Marshall, 3rd Eric Macfarlane and 4th Jamie Clarke. Well done to Gary Crawford who had his fastest lap, to Ray Davison who recorded a 64.04 secs lap in the Final and Stevie Coull (36) -the Team Caledonia Mechanic - who had a great first outing. It was a great day's racing - the weather was fine - and above all the driving standards and starts were impeccable. Thanks to all who took part.