Nick Williamson triumphs after race cut short

Class wins for Joss Ronchetti, Lee Reynolds and Simon Taylor

2007 Champion Simon Taylor is back in front

Another full grid of 32 cars after the entry was closed 6 weeks before the race due to over-subscription !

Qualifying
32 cars on the short Brands Hatch Indy circuit makes for a crowded qualifying session and sets a premium on getting out on track early. The queue in the pitlane to join the track was so long that 4 cars had still to join the circuit when Rex Stamp had completed his first lap! The chase for pole was a straight battle between Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige) and Stewart Whyte (Honda Accord) as they traded lower and lower laps culminating in Stamp beating the LMA lap record by ¼ second with 50.358 to Whyte's 50.608. Eight further cars lapped in the 51s with Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Lotus Sunbeam) taking Class B pole and 4th overall from Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon Cupra R) back in 8th. Championship leader Nick Williamson had to be content with 6th fastest in his Ford Escort Cosworth.

The Class C entry was halved when Ian Craig (BMW M3) spun after Graham Hill and Mark Crook (Renault Clio Cup) was unable to avoid the collision. Craig was unable to continue further in the day, but an unbelievable effort by Crook's team using a Range Rover to pull the chassis back into shape, and making a borrowed Peugeot radiator fit, meant that Crook was able to take his place in the race. Class C pole went to Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo) while Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R) put in his best performance of the season to take Class D pole from Andrew Neal (Honda Integra) and Jim Mepham (Renault Megane). 

Race
Stamp got a storming start and led Whyte by 0.9 seconds after one lap, Williamson had launched the Escort Cosworth from 6th to 3rd but was already 2.2 seconds off the lead and closely followed by the Nobles of Mal Davison and Richard Gould. A second lap collision at Paddock left Jason Tarling (Renault Clio) and Jason Newman (Peugeot 306) parked in the gravel and the race continued under yellow flags for the next 3 laps. By the end of lap 2, Stamp had extended his lead and Gould had swapped places with Davison, but coming round Clearways on lap 3 Whyte and Stamp touched leaving Stamp's Lotus spinning off to resume in 9th place. Davison had fallen back to hard charging Ronchetti who was now up to 4th and climbing all over Gould's Noble which he would pass for 3rd the following lap.

Whyte looked on for the win as he opened up a 5 second gap back to Williamson, with Ronchetti right his tail, but on lap 8 Whyte went off at Druids and was unable to rejoin, leaving Williamson narrowly leading from Ronchetti and Davison. Gould was falling backwards in the second Noble while Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera) was making good progress to 5th on lap 8, and 4th on lap 9 as both he and Derek Hale (Honda Accord) passed Ronchetti's nearest Class B competitor Rhys Lloyd. But on lap 12 Antony Harrison (Rover Tomcat) went off at Paddock narrowly missing the 2 cars parked there since lap 1. Harrison kept his foot in, but just failed to get out of the gravel. This caused the safety car to be deployed and the pack closed up behind Williamson who was relieved to get some respite, his power steering having failed on lap 4.

Two laps under the safety car, and a very abrupt decision to come in, and the race was back on. Williamson led from Davison and Ronchetti, with Hawken closing fast. On lap 16, Davison passed Williamson, Hawken passed Ronchetti and Williamson as the Escort lost power, but at the same time Clive Anderson (BMW E30) went off at Paddock and stopped just short of the 2 cars still parked there – only Harrison's Rover had been moved under the safety car period. With 4 cars off the circuit and only minutes to go, the race was red flagged. Under the rule of counting back one lap, Williamson was declared the winner from Davison and Ronchetti.

With Ian Craig unable to race, Class C's sole representative Lee Reynolds took the win but spent the whole race mixing with the Class D trio of Taylor, Mepham and Neal. Taylor was struggling to pass Bernard Hogarth (Class A Ford Mondeo) and this allowed Mepham and Neal to stick close by, but Taylor held on to take the Class D win from Mepham and Neal, with just 1.7 seconds separating the three.

In the Mark Fish Motorsport Clio Challenge, honours fell to David Pierce, with the patched up Clio of Mark Crook taking a well earned second..

Taylor played his joker and his 44 points haul puts him at the front of the championship with 112 points from Williamson (100) and Neal (92). The class leaders are Williamson, Lloyd (86), Angus Dawe (80) and Taylor. In the newly announced MSE_Performance.com cup for manufacturers, Honda (354) lead from Renault (284) and BMW (214).

Race Result:
Winner: Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 2nd Mal Davison (Noble M400), 3rd Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus), 4th Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera), 5th Derek Hale (Honda Accord), 6th Tony Soper (Harrier LR9), 7th Rex Stamp (Lotus Exige), 8th Richard Gould (Noble M12), 9th Rhys Lloyd (Seat Leon Cupra R), 10th John Hammersley (Honda Accord)

Class Winners: Class A Williamson, Class B Ronchetti, Class C Lee Reynolds (Citroen Saxo), Class D Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R).

Fastest lap: Rex Stamp 50.859 (84.84mph)

Next race: Rockingham 12/13th July
 

With support from :
Mark Fish Motorsport, AMG TV, Whizz Stitch
& MSE-Performance.com

Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 ( www.nyssaracing.com )