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Simon Taylor wins the 2007 LMA Euro Saloon and Sports Car Championship.
Other classes all decided as Mal Davison, Steven Taylor, Stephen Pearcy and Simon Jackson win classes A, B, C and E
Just like at Cadwell Park earlier this season, there were too many entrants to fit on one grid. This time the decision was to run Class A, B and C as one race and combine Classes D and E with Class E from the ARCA
series. Intriguingly, the combined race would have a staggered start of the two series and drivers would make a standing start rather than the usual rolling start.
Qualifying
However, due to time
table limitations all LMA competitors qualified together, 34 cars and the small Brands Hatch Indy circuit made for a crowded session. Mal Davison (Noble M400) set the early pace from Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera).
Steven Taylor (Lotus Exige) seemed remarkably subdued on a track many expected to suit the little Lotus. Halfway through the session though the red flags came out as Paul Overton (Vauxhall Vectra) went straight on
at Paddock and needed retrieving from the gravel trap. He was able to start the race after a bit of panel bashing.
Mal decided against coming back out when the session restarted, this proved costly as a last
lap flourish saw Peter Challis (Nissan Primera) take pole from Davison and Hawken, with Derek Hale (Honda Accord), Steve Scott and Nick Williamson (Escort Cosworths) giving a Class A shut-out of the top 6 places.
Taylor's Exige headed up Class B but down in 7th overall, while classes C, D and E were headed by Simon Green (Ford Focus RS), Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R) and Mark Hammersley (Ford Fiesta). John Hammersley
(Honda Accord ST) also retired at the Red Flag break, due to a clutch problem.
Race – Class D & E (and Alfas)
Eleven LMA cars lined up on the grid ahead of seven ARCA drivers in their
class E Alfa Romeos – these would be starting 15 seconds later. Simon Taylor stormed into the lead from Nigel Ainge (Honda Integra) and Lee David (Honda CRX), further back Simon Jackson (Vauxhall Nova) gained
places into Paddock to lead class E pole man Mark Hammersley. Jim Mepham (Renault Megane) recovered from a poor start to regain second place by the end of lap 2 and went on to open a good gap to 3rd place Ainge but
after Lee David fell by the wayside with head gasket problems, the Integras of Ainge and Mark Nicholson latched back onto the rear of Mepham's Megane to contest second through fourth to the flag.
Up front,
Taylor was pulling away and soon found himself amongst the Alfa racers lapping the entire ARCA contingent at least once on his way to his 10th win from 11 races this season. This win was sufficient to guarantee that
Taylor cannot be eclipsed as champion, thus regaining the title he held in 2005 – our congratulations go out to him. Less than two seconds covered the battle for second at the end with Mepham holding on from
Ainge and Nicholson. In class E, Mark Hammersley finally got past Simon Jackson on lap 8 and managed to stay just far enough in front to take the class win, albeit with a puncture that would have made holding on for
any more laps difficult.
Race – Class A, B & C
Turbo power counted at the front of the faster race, Mal Davison's Noble getting the better of Peter Challis' Nissan Primera into the first
corner. Davison held onto the lead for 3 laps but an audacious move coming out of Druids on lap 4 saw Challis take the lead, and to compound Davison's misery, Derek Hale followed him through into second. The two
Tourers looked to have the race to fight over themselves as slowly Davison dropped a couple of seconds back, but on lap 21 Challis ran wide at Paddock and by the time he returned to the track driving through the
gravel minus his front bumper/splitter assembly, Hale was long gone and Davison had gone through to take back second place. The race finished with a first win of the season for Hale from Davison and Challis.
Behind these three, the two Escort Cosworths (Steve Scott and Nick Williamson) were locked in their own private race, Williamson struggling to stay in front but doing so until finally Scott pulled out with
mechanical problems on lap 11. Steven Taylor's Lotus Exige appeared off its usual pace but was still quick enough for 5th overall and the Class B win fully 12 seconds clear of Douglas Ellwood (Marcos Mantis) with
Will Goff's Lotus Exige a lap further behind in 3rd.
The Class C win went to Simon Green (Ford Focus RS) from Stephen Pearcy (Rover 220) and Antony Harrison (Rover Tomcat).
By the end of the day, all
class championship winners had been decided upon. Mal Davison has won Class A and could equal the number of points scored by Simon Taylor (who wins Class D) but Taylor would be champion anyway by virtue of more race
wins. Steven Taylor has won Class B, Stephen Pearcy has won Class C and Simon Jackson wins Class E. LMA would like to extend their congratulations to all the class champions.
Results:
Race A/B/C:
Winner: Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 2nd Mal Davison (Noble M400), 3rd Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), 4th Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 5th Steven Taylor (Lotus Exige), 6th Tony Soper (Harrier LR9)
Class Winners: Class A Hale, Class B Taylor, Class C Simon Green (Ford Focus RS)
Fastest lap: Derek Hale 50.990 (84.652 mph)
Race D/E: Winner: Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R), 2nd Jim Mepham
(Renault Megane), 3rd Nigel Ainge (Honda Integra), 4th Mark Nicholson (Honda Integra), 5th Alan Wilshire (Honda Integra), 6th Mark Hammersley (Ford Fiesta)
Class Winners: Class D Taylor, Class E Hammersley
Fastest lap: Taylor 55.534 (77.725 mph)
Next race: A Double Header at Snetterton 13th October, this year's final 2 rounds.
With support from Mark Fish Motorsport and Alpha Composites
Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 ( www.nyssaracing.com )
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