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Quaife Radical Clubman's Cup: Brands Hatch, 14 August 2010
14th August 2010
Darren Luke celebrated another double victory in the Quaife Radical Club Cup, but it nearly didn’t happen when he was caught napping in the first race, and was almost caught by Steve Burgess.
Chris Hillaby’s SR3 just secured pole from Luke’s PR6, but he was caught out by the conditions on the green flag lap and failed to make the start. “I was on new wets and we had two warm up laps to scrub them in. On the second I lit up the tyres into Druids and it just snapped away and I was off,” he explained.
Luke made the most of his rival’s absence and headed the SR3s of Burgess, Colin Millar, Darron Anley, Craig Currie and Rachel Davies for the plunge through Paddock.
Currie went wide out of Graham Hill Bend, which allowed the PR6s of Nigel Place and Mark Abbott to go by. Millar was also on the move and ousted Burgess for second as they arrived at Druids for the second time, and soon consolidated his new position.
The safety car was called into action after Paul Marsham’s SR3 spun at Druids, not only eroding Luke’s four-second lead, but causing confusion behind. Anley attacked Burgess and Davies attacked Anley, until they all backed off at the sight of the yellow flags.
After three laps it was green again, and Luke sprinted clear as the fight for second became a wheel-to-wheel, five-car affair. Further down the order Currie had also lost eighth under braking for Paddock to Mark Boot’s PR6, while Place ousted Davies for fifth in an identical move a lap later, almost followed by Mark Abbott’s PR6.
Both Boot and Currie started to close on the battling group ahead, from which Millar, Burgess and Anley then managed to escape on lap eight, with Luke long gone at the front.
Millar had started to struggle and a lap later Burgess went by into Paddock, Anley following at Druids. Davies was also mounting a comeback on Place for fifth, while Boot headed a three-way fight for seventh, from Abbott and Currie.
Apart from Luke it was battles galore all the way down the field. Millar’s pace continued to lessen and after reclaiming fifth from Place at Paddock, Davies demoted the reigning champion a couple of laps later.
Luke had been able to set his own pace such had been his advantage. But that all changed in the closing laps. “I didn’t think anyone was anywhere near me, then I saw some smoke and Steve’s car, but didn’t know if he was a lap down. Then I saw his pit crew jumping up and down and realised he was challenging me for the lead, my lead,” he explained.
“I thought Darron had a problem, as I caught him quickly, then he woke up. There just wasn’t the opportunity to challenge,” Burgess replied after missing out on a maiden victory by 0.411secs.
Anley was left clear in third, “a good tough race, very tricky at the start as it was like glass,” he said. Davies held onto fourth, with Boot claiming fifth as Millar slid down the order.
Steven Lindsay’s PR6 finished strongly and clinched sixth with three laps to go. “Everyone was going well in front, but when they caught traffic I seemed to get through it better and picked them off,” he said.
Place faded towards the end but still held onto seventh, “need to do better. I need to string more quick laps together,” he reckoned. Richard Stables, Currie, Ray Woolhead and James Abbott all demoted Millar in the final laps. “I wasn’t getting full throttle and it just got worse. I was 6mph down on the straights,” said Millar.
RESULT
1 Darren Luke (PR6) 23 laps in 20m28.487s (80.78mph); 2 Steve Burgess (SR3) +0.411s; 3 Darren Anley (SR3; 4 Rachel Davies (SR3); 5 Mark Boot (PR6); 6 Steven Lindsay (PR6); 7 Nigel Place (PR6); 8 Richard Stables (PR6); 9 Craig Currie (SR3); 10 Ray Woolhead (SR3 RS). Prosports: 1 Luke; 2 Boot; 3 Place; 4 Stables; 5 Mark Abbott. Supersports: 1 Burgess; 2 Anley; 3 Davies; 4 Currie; 5 Woolhead; 6 James Abbott; 7 Colin Millar; 8 Gary Baxter; 9 Richard Carver. Clubsports: 1 Andy Harwood; 2 Simon Garmston; 3 Ian Charles; no other finishers. Invitation: 1 Lindsay; 2 Tim Porter (Clubsport); 3 David Frankland (PR6); no other starters. Fastest lap: Anley 46.020s (93.76mph).
RACE TWO
The safety car was soon in action for the second race of the day. It was wet and besides David Frankland stalling on the grid, Jon Morris had spun at Graham Hill Bend and was collected by Ian Charles. Millar also coasted to a halt at Surtees, so the recovery crews were called into action.
Burgess had led initially after a blinding start, but spun at Druids, “I looked in my mirror and saw Darron Anley, but not Luke and then he tapped me,” said Burgess. “Steve was a bit tentative and I caught him yes, but he nailed it at the start,” Luke replied.
Luke led the train of cars from Anley, Boot, Burgess, Davies and Place, all of who were keen to improve as the green flag was waved. Burgess snatched third into Paddock and immediately began to push Anley for second. But Boot’s challenge ended with a spin at Graham Hill Bend.
But Burgess’s push was a little too hard and he spun at Druids on lap seven. “Red mist I think.” Currie was also on the move, taking Davies into McLaren for what had become third.
There was no shortage of action further down the leaderboard, with Hillaby storming through from the back, to pick off Lindsay and Place into Paddock on lap eighth for fifth place.
Luke’s lead continued to grow and with Anley and Currie starting to consolidate second and third, the fight for fourth intensified. On lap nine Hillaby darted ahead of Davies into Paddock and left Place to challenge her too. But it all turned sour for Hillaby when he spun at Druids. “Blinding, I was making amends for the first race, so I had a point to prove,” he said.
Luke made sure he kept his wits about him to record another double win. Anley and Currie both retained second and third, “I tried to get the balance between push and not push and settled for keeping the car on the track,” said Anley. “I didn’t have a plan, got ahead of a couple of PR6s and saw some spinners, then just held my place,” Currie replied.
Despite his spin Hillaby carried on relentlessly and recovered his lost ground with some determined challenges, finally reclaiming fourth from Place on the last lap. Woolhead finished strongly to complete the top six after Lindsay retired and Burgess’ recovery gave him seventh with a lap to go.
Davies had steering problems after a tap with Boot, but managed to hold onto eighth from Stables and Baxter.
RESULT
1 Luke 20 laps in 20m49.525s (69.06mph); 2 Anley +3.632s; 3 Currie; 4 Chris Hillaby (SR3); 5 Place; 6 Woolhead; 7 Burgess; 8 Davies; 9 Stables; 10 Baxter. Prosport: 1 Luke; 2 Place; 3 Stables; no other finishers. Supersports: 1 Anley; 2 Currie; 3 Hillaby; 4 Woolhead; 5 Burgess; 6 Davies; 7 Baxter; 8 Paul Marsham; 9 Carver; 10 J.Abbott. Clubsports: 1 Harwood; 2 Garmston; 3 Morris; no other finishers. Invitation: 1 Porter: 2 Frankland; no other finishers: Fastest lap: Burgess 52.001s (82.98mph).
Published by Peter Scherer for Radical Sportscars, 16 August 2010
