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End Of Term
Six weeks since the last outing at Mallory Park, long enough to enable some competitors to rebuild their cars, not long enough for one or two others.
Coming into this end of season double header, both championships looked secure for the leaders. Tony Soper held a 16 point lead in the Le Mans Euro Saloons championship and still had his joker in hand. The Le Mans
Road Saloons looked a little closer, but Simon Taylor's 13 point lead over Ian Kirk, and 20 point lead over Simon Jackson was expected to be enough.
Qualifying:
A late qualifying session for us, just before lunch on the Saturday morning. The track was dry on line, still a little damp off line and the
previous session had kindly dumped oil over the exit to Russell. The session proved quite problematic for many, and most importantly in championship terms to Tony Soper who completed 2 timed laps and retired with no
oil pressure. The Primeras were hardly having things all their own way either, Peter Challis having ignition problems and Derek Hale breaking his gearbox after setting pole time. Phil Libby spent the session in and
out of the pits checking everything was OK and finished a lot further down the grid than expected.
Amongst the Road Saloons, a stunning lap by Ian Kirk left him well clear of Simon Taylor, but Simon Jackson's
slim title hopes ended when a snapped fan belt also broke the crankshaft sender unit and a replacement could not be found.
Race 1:
Qualifying may have been in the dry, but by late afternoon Snetterton was a different place entirely. The rain had been falling heavily since
lunchtime and the track was now completely awash. After an extra sighting lap, the race commenced and surprisingly everyone made the first corner without incident despite poor visibility. Ian Kirk got off to a flyer
and the first lap ended with him in second some 8 seconds behind Peter Challis, and 6/1000ths ahead of Richard Hawkens with Pete Simpson just a second behind, but within a couple of laps he had started to fall back
as Richard, then Phil Libby storming through the pack, passed and left him behind. Pete Simpson had a spin at Riches on lap 3 that took him down to 12th from 4th, but from then on he put in a string of fast laps,
the 4wd integrale finding traction where others couldn't and made his way back up to 5th.
The first couple of laps had seen all the cars close together in a long chain, but gradually they started to string out
as happens at Snetterton and by the end of the race there were big gaps everywhere. The race ended with a win for Peter Challis which took him into the championship lead. Richard Hawkens was second from Phil Libby
who had come from near the back of the grid and set fastest lap along the way.
Simon Taylor headed Ian Kirk for the Road Saloons win and to consolidate his championship lead, with class wins for Chris Broad and
Alan Duly. Lee Scott was at his entertaining best with a couple of off-track excursions round the back of the circuit.
Race 2:
Sunday morning saw much improved weather, however the track appeared very slippery. Wets appeared to be the tyre of choice, although Phil Libby
ran on intermediates and Matt Hale went for broke running slicks. Out on the rolling lap it became apparent that while the track was still very slippery, there was no standing water and slicks looked to be a better
choice.
Tyre indecision meant that Richard Hawkens failed to take his place on the grid which formed up in the positions of the last race. Up front Peter Challis was looking comfortable, extending his lead at a
rate of 5-6 seconds a lap over Phil Libby. Pete Simpson was struggling on road tyres and soon fell behind Matt Hale who got progressively faster with each lap as his slicks found more and more grip. Lee Scott had
got between the Honda Civics of Taylor and Kirk and held that position to the end of the race. Further back Trevor Nicosia and Chris Broad spent the early laps trading places before Chris was finally able to break
away.
It all changed on lap 11, alternator failure bringing Peter Challis into the pits for a battery change turning a 44 second lead into a 23 second deficit. Matt Hale had been gaining on Phil rapidly
throughout the race and got within a couple of seconds before Phil piled on the pressure and started to pull slowly away again. Another late pit stop for the Primera saw a first race win of the season for Phil
Libby, just 6 seconds clear of Matt Hale. Simon Taylor brought his Road Saloons Honda Civic home in third place for a class win. Pete Simpson had fallen back in the latter stages of the race as smoke started to fill
his car. Once again, the other classes were won by Chris Broad and Alan Duly.
And so the season ends. There are congratulations for new 2004 Le Mans Euro Saloons champion Peter Challis, and 2004 Le Mans Road
Saloons champion Simon Taylor, with commiserations to Tony Soper, the champion elect prior to the last round who was unable to race due to engine problems.
Tony Soper and Pete Simpson finished level on points,
but Tony takes second by virtue of two race wins up at Cadwell Park. In the Road Saloons, Ian Kirk finished second in a clean sweep for the Honda Civics, Lee Scott taking advantage of Simon Jackson's breakdown to
finish third.
Next year will soon be on us. Once again we have the support of Le Mans Motorsport and we expect the class structure with the series to be simplified, further details are available elsewhere on this
site.
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