This weekend saw the conclusion of the Monoposto Championship for 2017. Most of the classes went into the weekend with the champion yet to be decided. The meeting saw a triple header format being used for the second time, which meant that the best qualifying times on Saturday set the grid for Race 1, the second best qualifying time set the grid for race 2 and the finishing positions of race 2 set the grid for race 3.
F3, 2000, FR2000 and Classic Grid
Qualifying saw Ben Cater take pole for both races. Simon Tate sat in second with Chris Hodgen in third for race 1, but these two were reversed for race 3. Neil Harrison took fourth for the first race, with James Densley in his Formula Renault in fourth for the second race but first overall in class – he was also on pole in class for the first race. Alex Fores did well on his debut in the F3 class, qualifying fifth for both races. Kevin Otway was front of the field for the 2000 class for both races and Ian Hughes took both poles for Classic. Ashley Dibden, who was still in the running for the championship, had issues in qualifying so only managed seventeenth and fourteenth for the two races respectively. A nasty crash for Paul Britten saw him out of race 1, but the paddock pulled together to get him the bits he needed to rebuild the car overnight and get back on the grid for the two races on Sunday.
The start of the first race for the two litre grid saw drama from the off when Simon Tate had a drive shaft let go on the start. Luckily all cars managed to avoid him, but he did cause an immediate safety car for one lap whilst he was pushed off the track. Taking it all in good spirits, Simon was seen waving at his fellow competitors as they came past him behind the safety car. Neil Harrison had a good start before the safety car, getting past Chris Hodgen for second place. Alex Fores however had a poor start and dropped back from 5th to 13th. Richard Crisp had a great start, which he later described as his best racing ever. He took 5 cars on the start to put him in 7th place behind James Densley and Hayden Edmonds and well in the fight for the FR2000 class win. Ashley Dibden also had a great start, gaining seven places before the safety car.
On the restart, Ben Cater pulled a big lead straight away. Chris Hodgen stuck close behind Neil Harrison for two laps before getting past him on lap 4 for second place. Neil had a spin on the following lap which demoted him to fourth place behind Ashley Dibden who had steadily climbed the grid and was challenging for second place before the race was red flagged due to James Gordon-Colebrooke being buried in the gravel on the edge of the track. In the Formula Renault class, James Densley and Hayden Edmonds were tussling all race, with Richard Crisp close behind them. After swapping places a few times, Hayden eventually took the win ahead of James, but Richard Crisp took fastest lap. The 2000 class race saw Kevin Otway take the win, with Bryn Tootell second and Terry Clark third. In the Classic class, Ian Hughes took the win ahead of Peter Whitmore and Will McAteer who achieved second and third respectively. Matthew Bromage did well gaining 9 places from his qualifying position to finish fourth in class and earning him the Driver of the Day award.
The first race for this grid on Sunday saw Ben Cater get a bit over excited with tyre warming on the green flag lap and he ended up in the gravel and out of the race. The drivers were then given a second green flag lap whilst Ben was cleared out of the way. With Ben out, Chris Hodgen inherited the lead of the race and went on to lead from start to finish, Simon Tate stuck behind him for the full race to take second and Ashley Dibden came third after starting fourteenth. Alex Fores came fourth overall, but took fastest lap of the race. This race secured Chris Hodgen the win of the Mono F3 Championship and Ashley came in second at this point. James Densley won the FR2000 race, with Hayden Edmonds second and Richard Crisp third, this result meant that James just had to finish the final race of the day to secure the championship victory.
Kevin Otway took another win in the 2000 class and Bryn Tootell took second. He’d been fighting hard with Kevin for the lead of the race, but a brief trip to the gravel saw him settling for second place in class, just ahead of Terry Clark. Second in this race was just enough for Bryn to secure the championship win though, with Kevin Otway taking second and Terry Clark third. The Classic class saw Peter Whitmore chasing Ian Hughes down for the entire race, he even had a spin at one point trying to get him, but eventually he did take the win just ahead of Ian Hughes. Will McAteer came in third and Nick Catanzaro was fourth. This result left Ian Hughes one point ahead of Nick Catanzaro in the championship going into the final race.
The final race for the two litre grid saw late tyre decisions being made as the weather was trying to decide whether to rain or not. In the end most of the grid went for wets except for Matthew Bromage, Bryn Tootell and Robert Smith. Wets were definitely the right choice as Bryn and Robert finished last in the race and Matthew retired after 1 lap. The start of the race saw an element of Déjà-Vu as Simon Tate had a drive shaft (opposite side this time) let go. This saw a safety car come out for one lap as he was pushed off the track. Ashley Dibden took the lead from Chris Hodgen off the start and Hayden Edmonds had a great start getting up from eighth place and second in class to fourth place and the lead of the class. Ben Cater flew up from the back of the grid to seventh place before the safety car. Paul Britten also had a great start, getting himself from fifteenth overall and fourth in class to ninth overall and first in class. On the restart, James Drew-Williams had a spin which resulted in him being at the back of the grid. He steadily climbed back up the grid during the remainder of the race to end up twelfth overall and eighth in class. Chris Hodgen made short work of getting back past Ashley Dibden for the lead of the race and maintained that position to the end. Ashley ended up second and Alex Fores was third in the F3 class.
The 2000 class saw some exciting action after Paul Britten’s brilliant start putting him at the front of the class, Kevin Otway held on to the back of him for most of the race but was unable to get past and on the last lap had a spin and took out a marker board in his efforts to catch him. Paul went on to take his first win of the season with Kevin finishing second and Terry Clark in third. In the FR2000 class, James Densley only needed to finish the race to take the championship, but this didn’t stop him from fighting for the win. Hayden Edmonds spent a few laps of the race ahead of James, but James managed to take the win ahead of him in the end, to seal his championship victory. The Classic class was the closest championship on this grid going into the last race with Ian Hughes and Nick Catanzaro separated by just one point. Although Nick got his best finishing position of the weekend, in third place, it wasn’t enough to beat Ian who took the class win and earned himself the championship honours.
1800, 1600, M1400 and M1000 Grid
Qualifying for the 1800, 1600, Moto 1400 and Moto 1000 grid saw an unusual turn of events as Jeremy Timms was beaten to pole… Twice. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke took pole for both races, with Adrian Wright in his homebuild GEM AW3 from the Moto 1000 class taking second place. Matthew Walters took pole for the 1800 class and Eddie Guest for the 1600 class, well ahead of Geoff Fern who was using James Gordon-Colebrooke’s 1600 car after Geoff’s engine let go at Snetterton. Going into the weekend, Matthew Walters had already won the 1800 championship and Jeremy Timms had already won the Moto 1400 championship. Geoff Fern only need a few points to sew up the 1600 championship, but the Moto 1000 championship was still up for grabs with only a handful of points between Mark Reade and Mick Kinghorn for the lead.
The first race for this grid got underway cleanly, but it didn’t stay that way for long. Mick Kinghorn had a spin at Coppice and tried to rejoin the track when it looked like there was a gap. Unfortunately for both parties, Martin Wright was just making his way up the rise into the corner and was presented with Mick rejoining as he crested the hill. Martin tried to avoid him but made contact and both cars were put out of the race. This incident saw the safety car put out for two laps. On the first lap, before the safety car was called, Jeremy Timms and Jason Timms both managed to get past Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke. They went on to finish first, second and third in class respectively. Adrian Wright had dropped a few places and eventually had to retire from the race. With Adrian retiring and Jon Reed unable to make the race, Mark Reade was in the lead of the class. Mark led the class to the end of the race, taking maximum class points and making the championship that bit closer for him. Mark’s teammate and sponsor, Brendan O’Brien came second in class, in his first race with Monoposto this season. Matt Walters kept Chris Lord behind him for the full race to take the win in the 1800 class ahead of Chris in second. Marcus Sheard came third, partly due to Phil Davis getting caught up with the earlier incident which put him well down the field. Eddie Guest took the 1600 win and fastest lap, but Geoff Fern scored enough points to take the win of the championship.
After the crash in the first race, Mick Kinghorn thought his championship was over, but his team and Team Avit pulled together to get his car back together in time for the races the next day. Jon Reed had also changed his engine overnight to get out for the second race of the weekend. Unfortunately, after an impressive race on Saturday, Brendan O’Brien didn’t make it out to race on Sunday. The second race was much cleaner, with no crashes to report. There were, however, a number of retirements. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke pulled off and retired on the second lap. Mark Reade was running second in the Moto 1000 class when his engine seized and caused him to retire on the third lap. Jon Reed had another engine let go on him which saw him retire from third place overall and first in class on the fourth lap. The final retirement was Steven Griffin who pulled into the pits with boiled brakes on lap nine. This left a few cars littered around the circuit, but thanks to some good training, they had all pulled off the track in safe positions so that the race could continue unhindered by safety cars.
Jeremy Timms did his usual trick of disappearing in the race, to finish first and 46 seconds ahead of Jason Timms in second. In the Moto 1000 class, Mick Kinghorn started off fourth but must’ve been spurred on after seeing Mark Reade, his championship rival, retire as he got passed Dean Warren for second place on the next lap. With Jon Reed also retiring, Mick was in the lead of the Moto 1000 race and he kept Dean behind him for the remainder of the race to take his first win of the season. This put him firmly back in the fight for the championship, with him going into the final race level on points with Mark Reade. The 1800 class race saw Matt Walters take the win again ahead of Chris Lord, whilst Phil Davis fended Marcus Sheard off to take third. In the 1600 race, Eddie Guest saw another win, but Geoff Fern took fastest lap.
The final race of the day saw the grid go out in the rain. With all the other championships already decided, it was only the Moto 1000 championship left to tie up. Mick Kinghorn started from third on the grid, whilst Mark Reade was down in nineteenth after retiring from the previous race. On the first lap Mick lost a couple of positions as Chris Lord and Matt Walters came past him, but he was still in the lead of the class. Mark Reade came flying up the grid, getting to tenth overall and fourth in class. He got up to eighth a couple of laps later and stayed there for a few laps through a safety cars period of two laps before climbing up to third in class and sixth overall with a lap and a half to go. Mick had been doing a good job of maintaining the lead of the Moto 1000 class, but on the penultimate lap he had a spin. That spin unfortunately lost him the championship as he ended up right down in eleventh place overall and fifth in class. He tried his best to gain positions back but didn’t have enough time and in the end had to settle for third in class and fastest lap. Mark in the mean time got past Dominic Shepherd to take the win in class and was very lucky to even finish the race as his engine gave out on the cool down lap!
Alongside the excitement of the Moto 1000 class race there were also battles going on with the other three classes. Jeremy Timms lead the race from start to finish taking his final win of the season in Moto 1400; this win meant that he had taken all fourteen of the wins up for grabs over the season, as well as 13 out of 14 fastest laps. Jason Timms came second in class, however a battle in the 1800 class split the cousins on the grid overall. In the 1800 class, Chris Lord had got past Matt Walters on the start of the race and managed to get up to second overall on the grid. Matt had a spin on the second lap whilst trying to catch Chris and he was unable to rejoin the grid until all the cars had passed which left him dead last. Luckily for him though, Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke became beached in the gravel, causing a safety car and bunching the pack back up. Matt was able to gain some places on the restart but couldn’t get near Chris and had to settle for second in class ahead of Steven Griffin who came third. Chris Lord had a fantastic race, having taken Matt at the start and got up into second place overall, he was challenging Jeremy Timms for the lead on the restart after the safety car and was in the lead of the race for a few metres before Jeremy pulled ahead of him again. In the 1600 race, Geoff Fern got past Eddie Guest on the start and sailed through the race to take the win and fastest lap, with Eddie finishing second for the first time of the weekend.
Ray Dackombe Memorial Trophy
This weekend also saw the Ray Dackombe Memorial Trophy being contested for. Scores are accumulated from qualifying and the races. This year, there was a three way tie on points for the trophy between Eddie Guest in the 1600 class, Matthew Walters in the 1800 class and Kevin Otway in the 2000 class. Each of them had taken two pole positions, two wins, two fastest laps and a second place. In the end it came down to the person who was in the biggest class which meant that Matthew Walters was the winner of the trophy for 2017.
F3, 2000, FR2000 and Classic Grid
Saturday’s qualifying came just after the only bad weather spell of the weekend. The early rain saw the grid split between going out on wet and slick tyres. Slicks were tricky at the start of the session, but seemed to be the better option in the end. Chris Hodgen, in the F3 class, took overall pole ahead of Richard Crisp in the FR2000 Class, who was four places ahead of his fellow FR2000 class contender, James Densley. Neil Harrison qualified third ahead of Ben Cater and the first of the 2000 class, Bryn Tootell, sat in fifth. Will McAteer took pole for the classic class, sitting 14th overall on the grid. Terry Clark and Ian Hughes qualified seventh and sixteenth respectively but both had clutch issues and started from the pit lane for the race.
On the start of the first race for the two litre grid, Neil Harrison and Ben Cater got past Chris Hodgen and Richard 
Crisp for first and second place respectively, which put Chris and Richard down to 3rd and 4th. James Drew-Williams did a great job getting up to 5th after starting 10th and Mike Hatton got up to 7th place from 12th on the grid. Mark Smith in the 2000 class also jumped from 16th place, at the back of the grid, to 9th overall and 3rd in class. Then on the second corner a spin from David Gambling, who managed to get going again with only a few place lost, as well as an incident that saw James Densley drive over the top of Russ Giles meant the safety car was put out. James and Russ were both out of the race at that point and the rest of the first lap and the second lap were held under the safety car.
The restart saw Ben Cater get past Neil Harrison for the lead of the race and Bryn Tootell in the 2000 class got past James Drew-Williams for 5th place, leaving Bryn with a buffer of two cars to Kevin Otway running second in class. Kevin got past one of these cars on lap 5 but was unable to get past James Drew-Williams to challenge Bryn for the win in the 2000 class. Terry Clark started in the pit lane even though he’d qualified 7th (ahead of Kevin); he managed to climb up to 11th overall and took 3rd in class.
On the fourth lap of the race Neil Harrison had a spin whilst defending second place from Chris Hodgen and ended up in fourth overall. This left Ben Cater and Chris Hodgen to come first and second respectively and Richard Crisp claimed third overall in the race as well as the win in the FR2000 class. In the Classic class, Peter Whitmore took the lead from Will McAteer on the first corner of the race and he continued to climb the grid past other F3 and 2000 drivers to take 9th overall in the end. Ian Hughes got past Nick Catanzaro to take 3rd in class, after starting from the pit lane.
Qualifying for the second race in the sunshine saw the grid form up in a more expected pattern. Chris Hodgen took pole, with Neil Harrison second and Russ Giles third. Ben Cater wasn’t competing on Sunday as he’d rushed off to his son’s birthday party. On the start of the race, Neil Harrison got past Chris Hodgen to take the lead and James Drew-Williams climbed a couple of places to take 4th overall. A close battle between Neil and Chris saw them touch wheels on the third lap and they both had a spin, this dropped them down to 7th and 9th respectively. This promoted Russ Giles to the lead of the race with James Drew-Williams second and James Densley third overall. A safety car was also called out on the same lap as David Gambling had a spin and was stranded in the middle of the track. He was quickly cleared out of the way and the race could restart after just one lap behind the safety car.
The safety car being called out was very lucky for Neil and Chris as it bunched the pack up and gave them the opportunity to climb up the grid again on the restart; eventually they took first and second overall after a very close battle for the duration of the race. Russ Giles had a spin on the last lap which dropped him from third place down to 10th and left James Drew-Williams to claim third in the race, with James Densley in fourth overall and winning the FR2000 class. Richard Crisp didn’t have as good a race the second time around, starting further down the grid in 8th place, he was running 4th at one point but a puncture saw him go off and then pull into the pits and retire.
In the Classic class, Peter Whitmore qualified first in class and led the class start to finish, Ian Hughes came 2nd in class after starting from the pit lane again and Will McAteer came third. Kevin Otway headed up the 2000 class in qualifying, 2 places ahead of Bryn Tootell who had Terry Clark and Mat Jordan right behind him. On the start of the race Bryn managed to get past Kevin, but Kevin stayed close behind with Mat Jordan following. Terry Clark had a poor start to the race and fell down to dead last. He managed to gain lots of places back though, eventually finishing 9th overall and 4th in class. Bryn held on to the lead of the class for the whole race and took the win ahead of Kevin Otway, with Mat Jordan finishing third in class.
1800, 1600, M1400 and M1000 Grid
Qualifying for the 1800, 1600, Moto 1400 and Moto 1000 grid saw Jeremy Timms put his Dallara on pole as usual, with Richard Gittings in his Jedi second (first in class) and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke third. Peter Lague had car troubles in qualifying but limped round to get his laps in and was set to start from the back of the grid, where he was joined by Terry Trust and Eddie Guest who had both missed qualifying. The start of the race saw Richard Gittings and Jon Reed have a good getaway, with Jon getting past Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke for third place and them both challenging Jeremy Timms for the lead. Jeremy fended them off though and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke regained his third place quickly. The leaders quickly disappeared into the distance, with too big a gap between them for the order at the front of the grid to change.
Chris Lord, in the 1800 class, had a great first lap of the race, climbing from 13th on the grid to 7th overall, which was just behind his championship rival, Matt Walters and just ahead of Chris Levy who was joining the class for the day. Chris Levy stuck close behind Chris Lord as they chased down Matt Walters but the order didn’t change, however, Levy took fastest lap in class. Further down the 1800 grid, Phil Davis and Marcus Sheard had a close battle for fourth in class with Marcus being victorious in the end.
In the Moto 1000 class Richard Gittings dominated, taking the class win and second place overall. Jon Reed was running second in class before a problem on lap 3 saw him retire from the race. This left Mark Reade clear to take second in class. Peter Lague put in a brilliant performance, after so much bad luck this year his new Jedi looked after him well. He’d started at the back of the grid but was up to 10th by the end of lap 1, he continued climbing the grid and ended up taking 3rd place in class and 5th overall. Mick Kinghorn had a poor start to the race with a spin on lap 1 losing him 7 places, he managed to gain 5 places back but in the end had to settle for 4th in class.
Qualifying for race two on Sunday saw much the same formation at the front of the grid for the race. On the start of the race, Jon Reed had another great start but unfortunately couldn’t make a move for second stick. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke, who had qualified third, stalled on the start and ended up last, chasing the pack into the first corner. By the end of the first lap he was back up to 8th and was 5th by the end of lap 2. In the end he managed to climb all the way back up the grid to 3rd place and on the last lap took second place overall away from Richard Gittings right at the end of the race. In his typical style, Jeremy Timms disappeared into the distance to make it 11 out of 11 wins for him so far this season and secure him the championship win.
The 1800 class was closely fought with Chris Lord coming through from 3 places behind Matt Walters to challenge him for the lead of the class. Matt fended him off for most of the race, with Chris making a few moves to take the place but not being able to make them stick. Then a do-or-die lunge from Chris on the last lap saw him take the place from Matt and secure the class win and fastest lap. In championship terms though, Matt secured enough points with his second place to win the 1800 class championship, ahead of the final rounds at Donington in mid-September. In the 1600 class, Eddie Guest managed to get past Geoff Fern for the lead of the class on the first lap, but lost the place to the reining class champion on lap 2. He stayed close behind but their fight was drawn to a premature close when Geoff retired on lap 4. This left Eddie free to take the class victory, with James Gordon-Colebrooke coming second in class.
Richard Gittings had another solid class victory for the Moto 1000 class, but second to fifth place was where the battle was. Jon Reed and Mark Reade fought all race for 2nd in class, Mark managed to take the place on lap 3 of the race and held Jon off until the penultimate lap of the race where Jon managed to take the place away from him and hold on to it until the end of the race. There was a large gap behind them to the next two cars on the grid, Peter Lague and Mick Kinghorn, who were battling for 4th and 5th in the class. Mick qualified ahead of Peter but lost the place to him off the start, with Peter also managing to squeeze past a car in another class to have a buffer between them. Mick chased him down though, overtaking the buffer car the next lap and eventually getting past Peter on lap 3. Peter stayed close behind Mick and the battled continued all race, with Mick holding on to 4th place ahead of Peter in the end. Unfortunately, post-race scrutineering saw Mark Reade and Dominic Shepherd disqualified from the class due to not having reverse gears. This promoted Mick Kinghorn to 3rd in class and Peter Lague to 4th.
The final three rounds of the Monoposto Championship will be held at Donington on the GP circuit. This weekend will be the second time we try the single qualifying, three race format.
Qualifying and Race 1 will take place on Saturday as usual, with Race 2 and Race 3 on Sunday. The grid for race 2 is decided by the second fastest lap in qualifying and the grid for race 3 will be set according to the finishing order of race 2.
Donington will also host the Ray Dackombe Memorial Trophy. This trophy runs across all eight classes and can be won by anybody, for more information about the Ray Dackombe Memorial Trophy and the criteria for the award please click here.
Documents will appear here as they are released or updated:
The Donington GP meeting on 16th – 17th September has been nominated as the 2017 Ray Dackombe Memorial Trophy Meeting.
Ray Dackombe very sadly died in 2008. He was a longstanding and key Member of the Club. His abilities as Paddock Coordinator on Race Days contributed in many ways to the Club’s success, and to everyone’s enjoyment of the racing. After his death a trophy was donated in his memory and a race is nominated each year to be the Memorial race where the trophy is contested.
The Ray Dackombe Memorial Trophy is awarded for performance on track. The criteria is standard “class” points which are awarded for both qualifying and race positions, plus a point for fastest lap in class. Points will be added up for each Monoposto class and the driver with the most points will be awarded the Trophy. Ties will be decided in favour of class wins/poles and if still tied, awarded to the leading point scorer of the largest class.
This is one of the most prestigious Trophies awarded by the Club and with such a large entry for Donington competition is going to be intense.
Previous Winners:
2016: Not Awarded
2015: Not Awarded
2014: Richard Gittings
2013: Daniel Hands
2012: Lee Cunningham
2011: Olly Thorpe
2010: Ian Hughes
2009: Chris Woodhouse
2008: Tristan Cliffe
1800, 1600, M1400 and M1000 Grid
This meeting saw one qualifying determine the grids for both races on this one day twin header meeting. Jeremy Timms had an off after one lap of qualifying, he still qualified third on the grid for the first race with the time posted on his one full lap, but had to start from the back of the grid for the second race. This left Jason Timms to claim pole, with Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke in second for both races. Mark Reade took fourth overall and pole for the Moto 1000 class, before retiring to the pits before the end of qualifying.
Jeremy Timms managed to repair the crash damage to his car between qualifying and the first race and so was able to take up third place on the grid for race 1. As the cars lined up on the grid, confusion at the start meant some cars set off like they would on a green flag lap and some started racing. The race was red flagged almost immediately and the cars were brought back round to line up again, as this was by far the safest and fairest option for all involved. Unfortunately, Matthew Walters and Mick Kinghorn were caught out by this false start as they had a coming together which damaged Matt’s wing and Mick’s nose. Matt came in to the pits for his rear wing to be fixed, but this meant he then wasn’t allowed to take his position on the grid and would start from the pit lane instead.
The race eventually got underway properly and it didn’t take long for Jeremy Timms to get to the front of the grid. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke bogged down on the start and lost a few places, but quickly gained his second place position back and was chasing Jeremy Timms down. Andrew managed to clinch fastest lap in the race on the last lap, but didn’t manage to get past Jeremy Timms for the win. Mark Reade led the Moto 1000 race from Jon Reed, but after a few laps Jon was pressuring him and eventually got past and took the win in class, with Mark in second and the other Leastone Racing driver, Morgan McCourt, coming in third place.
In the 1800 class, Chris Lord sailed through to take his first victory of the season whilst the 1800 championship leader, Matt Walters, battled his way through from the back of the grid. Matt ended up second in class but was far too far back to challenge Chris. Doug McLay got the better of David Jones to come in third in class. Geoff Fern took his seventh win and fastest lap of the season in the 1600 class, with Eddie Guest coming in second and James Gordon-Colebrooke third.
The second race saw Jeremy Timms starting from the back of the grid, but he made very quick work of getting up to the front. Jason Timms and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke both had bad starts, losing a number of places. Jon Reed took full advantage, getting past them both on the start and getting past Mark Reade on the first corner for the lead of the race. By the end of the first lap Jon was still leading the race, with Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke close behind him and Jeremy Timms closing in on them both. They soon both got past with Jeremy taking the lead of the race on lap 2 and cruising through to win the race, with Andrew again coming second. Jeremy has now secured 9 out of 9 wins so far this season.
Jon Reed lead the Moto 1000 race right through and ended up winning the class and coming third in the race overall with a big gap to Mark Reade who came second in class and fourth in the race. Kyle Cutts came third in class, which was his first podium finish of the season. Further down the grid, Mick Kinghorn had a spin on the first lap which put him in last place of the race, but he managed to climb back up to take fourth in class. Mick has retained the lead of the championship, but Mark Reade is closing in after a successful weekend.
In the 1800 class, Matt Walters was unable to challenge Chris Lord for the lead and Chris drove through to class victory for the second time that weekend, with Matt coming in second. Third place in the 1800 class saw a tense battle between David Jones and Doug McLay, with Doug eventually coming out on top during the last lap. After the weekend’s racing, Chris Lord climbed up to second in the 1800 championship behind Matt Walters. In the 1600 class, Geoff Fern won again, with Eddie Guest second and James Gordon-Colebrooke third. The points gained at Oulton promoted James from sixth in the championship to third.
F3, 2000, FR2000 and Classic Grid
Chris Hodgen was seen out in a different car to usual this weekend. After his engine let go in testing, Simon Tate kindly lent him his car so that Chris could continue the fight for the F3 championship. Ashley Dibden lead the way for the first lap of the race after qualifying second and getting past Ben Cater on the start, but Ben stuck with him and got past at the beginning of lap 2, he then lead the race to the end. Ashley’s race didn’t go to plan, he missed a chicane on lap 5 which put him down in third behind Chris Hodgen and then he lost a place to Neil Harrison as well which put left him fourth in the race overall.
Kevin Otway had a poorly engine the whole day and although he could be seen fettling between sessions, it didn’t improve. Luckily he managed to keep it going, although well off pace, for both races and got two fourth places in class getting him the all important points for the championship. Bryn Tootell disappeared off into the distance to win the class, with Terry Clark coming in second. Mat Jordan had been running third in the 2000 class but had a problem on the last lap and stopped at Hill Top, this left Mark Smith free to claim third place. James Densley led the FR2000 race start to finish ahead of Hayden Edmonds, Richard Crisp had to start at the back of the grid for both races due to being underweight in qualifying, but he climbed a couple of places in the race to finish 14th overall and third in class. In the Classic class, Robin Dawe dominated the class, winning by quite a margin. Ian Hughes unfortunately came into the pits during the first race which put an end to his weekend, this left Nick Catanzaro to get second place for both races and put him up to the lead of the championship ahead of Ian.
The second race saw a rush in the Dibden camp to get Ashley out for the race. He almost missed the start, but got into the assembly area and out to take his position on the grid just in the nick of time. Ben Cater kept the lead of the race off the start, with Ashley in second and Chris Hodgen in third. They stayed very close for the first few laps before Chris got ahead of Ashley. Chris pushed hard to catch Ben and on the last lap Ben got caught up in some traffic and Chris managed to dive past him to win the race. Ashley Dibden came in third and Neil Harrison in fourth. Ashley Dibden is still leading the F3 championship, but his lead is down to only one point ahead of Chris Hodgen. Ben Cater is now up to third place after missing the first two rounds at Cadwell and suffering a DNF in one of the races at Brands Hatch.
In the FR2000 class James Densley again led start to finish ahead of Hayden Edmonds. Richard Crisp came third but had a very impressive drive from the back of the grid. He was up from 18th to 14th by the end of lap 1 and then continued to gain places to finish 9th overall and earn him driver of the day. In the 2000 class, Bryn Tootell retired from the lead of the class on lap 2 which left it open for Terry Clark to take the class win. Mark Smith and Mat Jordan fought hard for second in class, but Mark kept the position and pulled a gap to Mat by the end of the race. Kevin Otway’s problems over the weekend meant that Terry Clark was able to gain second place in the championship from him, but by managing to complete both races and take some points away with him, Kevin has managed to stay close behind in the standings.
The penultimate rounds of the Monoposto Championship will be held at Snetterton on the 300 circuit. The weekend will consist of a qualifying and race for each grid on each day.
We will be holding a drivers meeting/discussion forum at Snetterton on Saturday 26th August at 6.30pm. If you have any topics you would like to put forward for discussion please submit details to admin@monoposto.co.uk by Friday 18th August. All Monoposto members, whether competing at Snetterton or not, are entitled to attend.
Documents will appear here as they are released or updated:
The 6th and 7th rounds of the Monoposto Championship took place over the weekend of 1st and 2nd July at Silverstone on the GP circuit. The weather was fantastic for the weekend, with the sun shining and lots of competitors could be found sunbathing next to their cars in between sessions.
Qualifying on S
aturday saw Chris Hodgen take overall pole for both races ahead of Ashley Dibden, who pulled in early with engine issues. Ashley said his car wasn’t on top form all weekend, but luckily he did manage to complete both races and retain the lead of the championship. Ben Cater qualified in third for the first race and second for the second race – which was determined by the second fastest qualifying time. Fourth overall and first in class was Jeremy Timms in his Hyabusa engine Dallara. Further down the field Phil Davis went off at Copse on the first lap of qualifying which unfortunately significantly damaged his car and put him out for the weekend. Hopefully Phil will be back up and running for Oulton Park at the end of July though. Damon Bland, in the 2000 class, also had issues during qualifying and had to retire after two laps and so was on the back of the grid for both races.
Race 1 on Sunday saw a number of incidents cause two safety cars and a myriad of yellow flags. With such a large grid at Silverstone it is always nerve-racking waiting for the race to start and this is the only event of the year that uses a rolling start. The start was a clean one with all drivers making it safely and cleanly around the first corner, without anyone even breaking a track limit. But unfortunately this sigh of relief was swiftly followed by troubles with lots of cars. Jon Reed pulled off on lap 1 after his engine let go, as did Richard Gittings, Dan Levy was also out on lap 1 after contact with Kevin Otway and Mark Harrison pulled into the pitswith an oil leak. The problems didn’t stop there as David Gambling spun at copse on the start of lap 2, ending up in the gravel and setting off the first safety car. The safety car picked up Chris Hodgen who was still in the lead and led the pack round for 1 lap before restarting again.
Jeremy Timms had gained a couple of places in the opening lap and was up to second place overall with Ben Cater in third, Ashley Dibden in fourth and Jason Timms rounding off the top 5. Jeremy Timms got up to first place on the restart and Jason Timms got ahead of Ben Cater for 
fourth place, demonstrating how competitive the 1400cc bike engine cars can be against the 2 litre Mono F3 cars. Unfortunately, Nick Catanzaro and Richard Snuggs had a coming together at Copse on the restart which put them both out of the race and caused another safety car. The safety car was out for two laps whilst the cars were recovered and the race began again with 3 minutes remaining on the clock.
Richard Moorcroft had an impressive race in the Moto 1000 class, after qualifying fourth in class and 21st overall, he climbed up to first in class quickly and continued gaining track positions, eventually finishing 7th overall. He pulled a big gap over Dax Ward who was second in class and had 5 cars buffer from him. In the 2000 class Bryn Tootell got up to first in class, after qualifying third, and was being chased down by Paul Britten, who took the fastest lap in class and the lap record for the 2000 class. In the Classic class, Peter Whitmore won, with Ian Hughes coming in second. Matthew Walters took the victory in the 1800 class, with David Jones in second and Steven Griffin coming in third on his return to Monoposto after moving back to the UK from Dubai a couple of months ago. Geoff Fern won the 1600 class race, with Eddie Guest second and James Gordon-Colebrooke in third.
Race 2 on Sund
ay evening again had many challenges, with a red flag coming out on the first lap after a collision at Copse between Taylor Macvean and Richard Moorcroft. Both drivers were ok, but the delay in removing the cars meant that the race was abandoned and scheduled to restart at the end of the day. The drivers were pulled into the pits and regridded, whilst Formula Fords raced on track. Then the drivers were lead out for the race, which was allowed to run until 10 minutes after curfew thanks to the cooperation of MSVR and the circuit organisers.
Jeremy Timms didn’t manage to get the jump on the Mono F3 drivers in the race and had to settle for third overall, but still won his class with Jason Timms close behind in second in class and fourth overall. An
drew Gordon-Colebrooke gave a solid performance, finishing third in class again and 6th overall, he remains second in the Moto 1400 championship, behind Jeremy Timms and ahead of Jason. James Densley dominated the FR2000 class this weekend, with two wins and two fastest laps, this means that so far this season the FR2000 class has had a different driver set the lap record at each of the three tracks we’ve visited. Bryn Tootell got into the lead of the 2000 class race, after qualifying 5th in class, with a buffer of a couple of cars behind him and ahead of Mat Jordan, Terry Clark and Kevin Otway who were all close together and fighting for second, third and fourth in class.
Dax Ward lead the Moto 1000 class by a big margin, with Mark Reade in second. Mick Kinghorn, Craig Hurran and David Heavey were all close together and fighting for third in class. Unfortunately for Mark Reade he got caught up in an incident between Mat Jordan and Terry Clark on lap 4 which saw Jordan and Clark off at Luffield and Mark Reade pull off into the pits. The race was red flagged after this incident as, together with Russ Giles who had gone off at Luffield earlier on in the race, there were three cars in the gravel there. As the leaders of the race had just crossed the line to begin the sixt
h lap of the race when the red flags came out, the race results went back to lap 5, not lap 4, which meant Mark Reade could only come fifth in the race – a position he gained by crossing the start/finish line when pulling into the pits – instead of being second which is where he was on lap 4 before the incident occurred. This left Mick Kinghorn to come in second place in the race and take the lead of the Moto 1000 championship and by scoring the all important 8 points from finishing fifth, Mark Reade still managed to gain second place in the championship standings.
In the Mono F3 class, Ben Cater and Chris Hodgen had a close battle for the lead of the race, with Ben Cater taking the lead on the second lap and then pulling a gap to Hodgen. After a report from the marshals’ post at Brooklands saying that Cater had overtaken a backmarker under yellow flags, he was given a three second time penalty meaning that, although he was on the top step of the podium, he ended up second in the race behind Chris Hodgen after the results were amended. Ashley Dibden came third in class and fifth overall in the race. This means that Ashley still retains the lead of the championship, but Chris has gained some ground after two wins 
and a fastest lap. In the 1800 class, Matt Walters took his 7th consecutive race win and fastest lap, Douglas McLay came second after a close battle with David Jones, Marcus Sheard and Steven Griffin who finished third, fourth and fifth in class respectively. Geoff Fern won the 1600 class race again and broke his own lap record which had stood since 2012. Ian Hughes has risen to take the lead of the Classic 2000 championship from fifth in the standings after a successful weekend where he got a second place, a win and a fastest lap.
We will be visiting Oulton Park on 29th July, using their international circuit for rounds 8 and 9 of the Monoposto Championship. This meeting is always a busy one, with both grids having qualifying and two races on the one day.
The fastest qualifying times will determine the grid positions for race 1, with second fastest times determining the grid for race 2.
Documents will appear here as they are released or updated:-
Dear Monoposto members (and non-members)
I did say last year that I would do a regular news letter to keep you informed of what
the Board are doing on your behalf. So far it has been relatively quiet although we will soon
be planning next year’s calendar which takes the bulk of the work as well as reviewing the
championship regulations.
There are, however, a few items that are worth mentioning, entries started off a little
lower than we hoped or anticipated. As many of you are probably aware we calculate our
entry fees based on anticipated entry numbers to cover the cost of the circuit hire. If we are 1
or 2 entries down this has a significant effect on the finances of the club. The good news is
that we had good entries at Brands GP and Silverstone is also looking positive, although this
might not quite cover the earlier shortfall there is a positive trend on entries.
A hot topic that is regularly brought to the Boards attention is paddock parking, we
have spent a lot of time discussing how best to approach this and haven’t really found a
good solution, but I would appeal to entrants that to some extent we can help ourselves by
trying to minimise the amount of space we all take in the paddock. I know we all like to have
our trailers, awnings and cars / vans / motorhomes close by but please think if it is possible
to maybe arrange your rig in such a way to make best use of the space available. I did notice
at Brands that several trailers could have been parked behind the awnings rather than
beside them and it would have made better use of the limited space we have.
As last year we have decided to arrange a members meeting to have an open
discussion in preparation for next year and obtain feedback from you, This is at present
planned for the Snetteron event on the Saturday evening so as before if you have burning
questions or items you want to raise it would be helpful if you sent them in beforehand.
Next year sees the 60th Anniversary of the club which I believe is a huge milestone
and we are at present looking at ways of celebrating this. As our plans progress we will keep
you informed!!
Finally I would like to say a big thank you to our Championship Coordinator, Rachel
who has taken hold of the job and shown both excellent communication and organisational
skills!!
Thanks to all
Eddie
Kevin Couling (Empowered Racing) recorded the live timing feed from TSL and the circuit commentary, so you can watch and listen to the races unfold. Thanks Kevin.
F3 / 2000 / Classic / FR2000 Qualifying
F3 / 2000 / Classic / FR2000 Race 1
F3 / 2000 / Classic / FR2000 Race 3
1600 / 1800 / Moto 1000 / Moto 1400 Race 1