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SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
The annual Le Mans Auto Italia visit to Silverstone turned out to be
a race of attrition with the results going to the fittest. For some things started to go wrong during qualifying, others had problems back in the paddock whilst more were unable to survive the race.
Drummond Bone took a popular win and qualifying saw him take class A
pole whilst Graham Scott suffered problems that sent him into the pits but ended up second with Tony Soper third class A man in the amazing sideways Alfa 164. 'You just have to keep your foot down when it does that'
said Tony. Class B was the domain of Andy Thompson who now has a regular booking for this spot whilst Giovanni di Gennaro with his evergreen Fiat 128 was second 'bedding in brakes', which caused some lurid handling
characteristics. Keith Fawdington annexed class C feeling lonesome on his own in the class - where's some opposition for him? Marc Connell commented that he wouldn't be able to do much about John Griffiths in the
race as the Monzasport man had taken class D by over two seconds, whilst in Class E Neil Smith had his season ticket for class pole ahead of Roger Donnan.
Furrowed brows appeared in the paddock when John Griffiths' 156
'just stopped' with an apparent lack of electricity. This eventually made him a non-starter so when the field rolled out onto the grid Marc Connell took his place. From flag fall Graham Scott was taking no prisoners
and ensured first place over the line at the end of the first lap with Andy Thompson coming up fast behind. Drummond was picking his way through traffic carefully as usual whilst Tony Soper soon had his mirrors full
of a Fiat 128 as Giovanni got going to tremendous effect. Ian Stapleton continued his new found form slotting in behind these two, as Marc Connell was happy consolidating his class D lead.
First to go was the ultra reliable Russ Yates whose clutch cried
'enough' at turn two, followed by Graham Scott who pitted with a puncture, got going again and then pitted again putting him out of contention. Next to go was Emma Karwacki whose Alfasud had a wobbly wheel.
Meanwhile Andy Thompson retired in a cloud of smoke so Drummond was in the lead from the daring duo of Tony and Giovanni, the latter slipstreaming the big Alfa down the straights and almost in its boot. In class E
Neil Smith had enough of a gap over Ian Brookfield to take the class win once again, with the challenge from Roger Donnan ending on lap eleven. Poor Keith Fawdington suffered more problems to cause him another
retirement having fixed the distributor after Donington. Six cars were battling for 11th through 16th places and the train kept going for the length of the race providing good spectator entertainment; Stephen Ousley
eventually got the better of this lot. Returnee Rob West ran a cracking race in the Gary Lucas Alfa 156 (as used in this years Willhire and Nurburgring 24hr races), having missed qualifying he started from the back
and worked his way to a creditable 6th overall.
So, the Maserati ran out the race winner with Tony and Giovanni
completing the podium and the 128 won class B. Fourth place went to Ian Stapleton's green machine whilst Marc Connell edged Rob West out of fifth by just 3/10ths. Last rounds at Snetterton next month - where has the
year gone? (By Peter Collins)
You can also read Trevor Nicosia's driver's eye view of the race by clicking HERE.
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