Rowbottom’s double

Biduro’s once again provided some close entertainment with Daniel Rowbottom proving his quality with a double victory at Croft.

It was novice Rob Wheldon who grabbed the attention by qualifying just 5 hundredths of a second from Rowbottom and just ahead of the on form Jeremy Ferguson and Toby Newton. Practice pace setter Ross Allen was sidelined with a broken chain leaving him to start both races from the back end of the grid.  There were only 12 cars to qualify but by the end of the session only 0.797 secs covered the top seven drivers.

“We are chasing a set-up dilemma,” reckoned Nick AdCock.  Toby Newton expressed similar thoughts to team mate Adcock.  “I am still finding the set up for good quick laps, but we’ve got a race set up, I think”, he said.

Race 1

It was very much a tale of the youngsters at the start with Wheldon getting the jump on Rowbottom to lead into Clervaux. Terrence Woodward took a spin at Hawthorn and was lucky not to get collected by the pack and the luckless Nick Adcock retired before the race began with a broken chain.

Wheldon found a comfortable rhythm in the lead and looked more like a seasoned campaigner rather than a driver in only his 5th ever car race. He was closely shadowed by Rowbottom who was never more than a second away and the pair of them slowly eked out a gap to Ferguson. Toby Newton slotted into 4th ahead of Robbie Watts and Championship Leader John Hewitt and Ross Allen made a good start from 12th up to 7th by the end of the first lap.

The order remained static until lap 5 when Allen made a move on Watts at Tower and the pair ran side by side with Watts regaining the upper hand at the Jim Clark Esses. Hewitt looked to get by Newton along the start finish straight but Toby defended well & was never challenged thereafter despite Hewitt’s best efforts.

By lap 7, Rowbottom had closed the gap to just 2 tenths of a second & when Wheldon made a slight mistake at Tower and ran wide, Rowbottom seized the opportunity to take the lead. At the same time at Clervaux, Allen finally made it stick on Watts for 6th place, although it was all to come to nothing as a snapped chain on lap 11 put him out of the race.

Rowbottom slowly pulled away from Wheldon at the front and the most entertainment was provided by Watts becoming increasingly ragged through the complex - his best drifting efforts leading to 2 spins in succession at the hairpin! This allowed Chris Enderby into 6th and this was how the order stayed with Rowbottom taking his first Biduro win ahead of Wheldon, Ferguson, Newton and Hewitt.

Race 2

The start of the first race was initially all in favour of Jeremy Ferguson. The man from Gibraltar making the best of his front row position to rocket off the line into a good lead ahead of Rob Wheldon. However, it was to be short lived as the pack reached Barcroft the red flags came out due to a stricken Nick Adcock stranded on the starting grid, and a clash between Andrew Ferguson and Mitch Millet at Hawthorn.

At the restart, it was Wheldon who made best getaway ahead of Rowbottom, Ferguson, Newton, Woodward and Hewitt with Ross Allen making an amazing jump from the very back of the grid to demote Hewitt for 6th by the end of the lap! On lap 2 Rowbottom and Wheldon were in close battle and coming out of Hawthorn, Wheldon slowed due to an electronic gremlin  and he limped round to the pits.

This gave Woodward a clear lead over Ferguson but the man on the move was Allen who first demoted Woodward for 4th at the hairpin and then Newton at the same spot the following lap. He closed on RPM team mate Ferguson and a good run out of Hawthorn gave him the best opportunity and he dived past into Tower to take 2nd.

Meanwhile with an ECU borrowed from Keith Bisp, Rob Wheldon rejoined the race, just ahead of the leading pack and although a lap down immediately set the fastest lap of the race – half a second clear of anyone & showed what could have been.

The gap from Rowbottom to Allen was just over 4 seconds and once past Newton, Allen set about the task of catching the leader. Little by little the gap came down, however Rowbottom kept a cool head and did what was required to bring the car home for victory just 2 seconds ahead of Allen.

Behind them, Newton had made a move on Ferguson at Tower to take third which he kept to the flag “I tried that move a couple of times before and it hadn’t worked, “ Newton admitted afterwards.  Championship leader Hewitt spun at the hairpin whilst battling with Woodward and Enderby and as the red mist came down dropped it again at The Complex on the last lap allowing Mitch Millett past for 8th place.

With Rowbottom and Wheldon not counting for championship points, the battle for the title is very much alive with Hewitt still at the top, 20 points ahead of Toby Newton with Terrence Woodward & Nick Adcock in a close 3rd & 4th.

Word supplied by Anthony Dunn and Peter Scherer.

Only 0.7 secs separated the top three drivers after qualifying, with the Derek Johnston/Stuart Moseley car taking pole from Jacob Greaves and Richard Ince/Austin Kinsella.  “Derek did a good job again,” said Moseley.  “The car was fine after changing back from Spa set up,” Johnston replied.

“Austin is licking his wounds I think, “ said Ince, after co-driver Kinsella had a couple of offs.  “We have shared a car for seven years and it’s the first time he’s damaged one,” he added.

Race 1

Greaves from lights to flag

Jacob Greaves showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals taking the lead from start to finish in Saturday’s race. With Father Tim Greaves away at Spa racing a Radical SR5, Jacob ran the race solo in his SR8 and from his front row grid slot he made a clean start to slot into the lead at Clervaux.

Behind, Austin Reynolds got caught out on the bumps through Hawthorn, slowly spinning in front of the entire pack and was lucky not to get collected. This allowed the pole position No. 34 car of Derek Johnston to slot in behind Greaves, with the fast starting SR3 of Anthony Dunn in 3rd, Richard Ince in 4th and Nick Dove in 5th.

Ince found his way past Dunn & Johnston into 2nd and a terrific 3 way fight ensued between Johnston, Dunn and Dove, with the Dunn’s SR3 able to harry the SR8’s around the tighter sections of the track and the SR8’s blasting away down the straights. Dove made a move on both Dunn and Johnston down the back straight into Tower, the manoeuvre carrying him side by side with Johnston out of Tower & into the Jim Clark Esses…only for Dunn to get momentum on the pair of them and pass them both with 2 wheels on the outside at 120 mph on the approach to Barcroft! 3rd place converted to 2nd overall for Dunn when Ince faltered with gear selection problems out of the hairpin also allowing Dove also past shortly after.

At the pitstop window it was Jacob Greaves in the clear lead in SR8’s and Dunn well clear in the SR3’s with a 15 second lead over Paul Thomas who in turn held a constant gap from Colin Noble.

After the stops, Greaves resumed in the lead with a large gap, briefly over Austin Kinsella until Kinsella tangled with a backmarker at The Complex causing a suspension breakage & retirement. This left Phil Abbott with the chase. The unfortunate Nick Padmore become another victim of backmarkers - the second Transpower SR8 to retire after colliding with Karl Morris at Sunny. Stuart Moseley began picking his way back through the field setting the pace along the way a clear second faster than the next nearest SR8. He finally deposed Abbott for 2nd place shortly before the flag.

In the SR3’s, having taken over car 99 from Dunn, Barry Gates briefly held a 9 second lead over Paul Thomas although was unsighted whilst lapping a backmarker & spun into 3rd place at Sunny, leaving Thomas with a good lead he held to the flag over the ever improving Colin Noble. 3rd shortly became 4th for Gates as a mistakenly taken stop-go penalty and half spin at the complex allowed Sinfield to round out the top three.

Race 2

Ince & Kinsella fight back

At the start of the second race, once again Jacob Greaves took the helm at the lights and this time the rest of the field made it cleanly through the Clervaux & Hawthorns with Johnston tucking in behind Greaves, followed closely by Dove & Austin Reynolds. Dove soon passed Johnston and slotted in behind Greaves. A repeat of the first race looked on, but at the end of the 3rd lap Greaves dramatically pulled out of the lead & into the pits due to a gear selection problem

This gave Dove a good lead over Johnston which he rapidly extended. Johnston soon became under pressure from Ince - who was recovering from a bad start – and Ince passed Johnston for 2nd place on lap 6 and held this to the stops. After a half spin, Johnston dropped down the order and did a few slow laps after he suspected a puncture, only to find the real problem was due to picking up rubber off the racing line which caused heavy vibration – a common issue with many competitors due to the hot conditions.

The SR3’s was a well fought affair. From the start Gates took the lead followed closely by Paul Thomas. Hot on their heels was reigning Biduro Champion James Saggers who was making a return to the Radical fold. Saggers made a fantastic start to jump to 3rd place from his 6th row grid slot! Gates soon began mixing it with the SR8 of Austin Reynolds allowing Thomas & Saggers to close in. Gates passed Reynolds on the inside of Hawthorn and was himself passed at Tower by Thomas a few laps later. Thomas managed a way past Derek Johnson’s SR8 allowing him to open a small lead & Gates enjoyed a good battled with Johnston’s SR8 ahead & Saggers SR3 behind with Gates holding him off until Saggers developed engine problems & retired.

The picture after the pitstops in SR8’s was the number 70 car of Dove / Abbotts in the lead, but this was short lived as an extra pit stop was made “The wheel nuts came loose and I could smell fibreglass. We sorted it and after a couple of laps the vibration was so bad I could hardly see,” Abbott explained.

Austin Kinsella took the lead having been handed the car from Richard Ince. By lap 18 he held a 12 second lead over team mate Nick Padmore who had now swapped with Austin Reynolds.

Padmore closed the gap down to 7 seconds until a jamming throttle at The Complex put pay to his advances. This left Kinsella with a 15 second lead over Moseley who was charging back through the field after taking over from Derek Johnston. Moseley closed the gap to 8 seconds but with only 2 laps remaining and the gap impossible to close, Moseley wisely eased off & nursed the car home & take valuable championship points leaving Kinsella to take the win. “I was never going to catch Austin so I decided to have a rest!” said Moseley.

In SR3, Anthony Dunn took over from Barry Gates & quickly closed in on the late stopping Paul Thomas. Dunn made a late move on Thomas at Clervaux for the lead, and the pair went for a trip through the gravel and were lucky to resume…in the same order! Dunn continued to run close down Thomas until the hairpin where Thomas locked the rears and half spun. He managed to resume in class 2nd place, albeit more closely chased by Colin Noble and Nick Sinfield but the order remained the same until the flag with Dunn & Gates taking their first win since Oulton Park.

Biduro front runner Ross Allen made a good SR3 debut sharing with Phil Bailey as Bailey’s regular partner Bradley Ellis was away on GT duty at Thruxton. The pair came from the back of the grid after a fire in free practice prevented any running on Saturday. Despite no instruments, they finished in 5th and ran right on the SR3 pace.

Kinsella & Ince’s keep their lead at the head of SR8 championship, albeit at a reduced margin of 37 points over Johnston and Moseley leapfrog’s Reynolds & Padmore into 3rd. In SR3, Bailey’s non start in race 1 has reignited the championship with Dunn & Gates now just 8 points behind.

A mention must be made of the four guys who made up the Invitation class – Paul Steele, David Frankland, Bill Henderson and Richard “Hamlet” Stables. Good clean driving that didn’t impose on the main SR8/SR3 championship.

After several quips about jumping out of the car for a “quick fag” during the pit-stops by Paul and Richard all four of the guys managed to complete both 45 minute races and were smiling from ear to ear after each race.  We’ll look forward to seeing you in the Enduro’s again soon I hope.

Word supplied by Anthony Dunn and Peter Scherer.