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Hot Stuff
The drivers who made the trip up to Lincolnshire were rewarded with probably the hottest weekend of the year, a stark contrast to last season where torrential rain had been the order of the day. A late morning
qualifying slot meant a leisurely start for most people, although the paddock was fairly full of overnighter's and those who tested on the Saturday. One casualty of Saturday testing was Stuart Jefcoate, whose
Porsche engine let go and ended his participation for the weekend.
 Qualifying:
A surprise at the top of the qualifying times was that Peter Challis was down in 4th, the Primera only running on 3 cylinders. This was later traced to
a loose wire, but allowed Tony Soper (Harrier LR9, the Alfa Romeo not repaired after Brands Hatch) comfortably ahead of Dave Nixon (Rover 2200 Turbo) and Richard Buckley (Honda Integra). Ian Kirk's
(Honda Civic) return to the series was not enough to trouble championship leader Simon Taylor (Honda Civic), but newcomer and Britcar driver John Hammersley
put the cat amongst the pigeons in Class D by qualifying the MG ZR180 up in 9th place, 7 seconds clear of the competition. Local driver Colin Stubbs made his series debut in the Rover 216 GTi up in 12th.
Race:
The extra cylinder made all the difference for Challis as he launched from the second row of the grid to lead by the end of the first corner with Soper chasing
hard. Slowly but surely Challis would pull away from Soper to win by 13 seconds. Just behind, championship contender Buckley had a poor start and fell to fifth
before overhauling Steve McIntyre (VW Golf GTi) on the third lap, and Nixon on the 5th lap, the three cars finishing spread 12 seconds apart - by its nature, cars tend to get spread out very quickly at Cadwell Park.
 Jason Holmes (Rover 220
Turbo) had started down in 9th place, took a couple of laps to get the better of Kirk, before a bout of trading places with Hammersley and Taylor saw Holmes get the better of the group to break free and finish 7th,
with Hammersley, Taylor and Kirk crossing the line a couple of seconds apart in 8th, 9th and 10th.
Further back, Simon Jackson (Vauxhall Nova)
and Colin Stubbs had a good early battle before Stubbs managed to break away. Trevor Nicosia managed to hold off Chris Brogden's Fiat Uno with the ailing Lancia
kappa for 4 laps, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake before slowing and limping round to the finish.
Overall :Winner: Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), 2nd Tony Soper (Harrier LR9), 3rd
Richard Buckley (Honda Integra), 4th Dave Nixon (Rover 220 Turbo), 5th Steve McIntyre (VW Golf GTi), 6th Richard Perks (Honda Civic)
Class Winners:
Class A Challis, Class B Nixon, Class C Buckley, Class D John Hammersley (MG ZR180), Class E Simon Taylor (Honda Civic), Class F Simon Jackson (Vauxhall Nova)
Fastest lap: Challis 1:37.68s (80.09mph)
Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10
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