The final two rounds of the Reprise IT Tiedeman Trophy took place at Anglesey on the Coastal circuit. The club last visited Anglesey in 2010 and lots of competitors were excited to return after such a long time. We also had four drivers join us from Ireland as it’s only a short hop away on the ferry. Noel Roddy joined us for his only meeting of the season with Monoposto in his F3 Dallara, Robbie Allen entered the invitation class with his 1800cc Formula Sheane and Leastone racing brought their two Leastone 1000s over. Joe Power drove Mark Reade’s championship winning car and Luke O Faolain drove the other Leastone car as his prize for winning the ‘Star of Tomorrow’ in Ireland.

Qualifying got underway early in the morning, just as the sun was rising over the sea. It was a chilly day, but it was lovely and sunny. The cold weather caught a few drivers out early on as many drivers spun in the first lap of qualifying. Chris Lord and Nigel Davers made contact, which saw Nigel pull into the pits with a broken front wing. He later joined qualifying again to get his three laps in. In the end Neil Harrison qualified on pole ahead of Noel Roddy and Joe Power qualified third.

We were given two green flag laps for the races, due to the difficulty getting tyres warm that some drivers had suffered in qualifying. This still didn’t stop a couple of drivers spinning on the green flag laps and start of the race! Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke pulled into the pits and retired at the end of the green flag laps with an electrical misfire. Neil Harrison pulled a lead straight away off the start, Joe Power had a good start and took second place away from Noel Roddy. Luke O Faolain had a great start getting past Ewen Sergison and Robbie Allen to take fifth place and Ewen followed him through to take sixth. At the end of the first lap, Adrian Heath got a bit too excited in his new ‘97 Swift and had a spin on the last corner, coming to a halt on the grid. He couldn’t get the car going again so the safety car was deployed. The safety car was out for one lap whilst Adrian was pushed off the circuit and then the race was underway again. Noel Roddy got past Joe Power on the restart and despite some close racing the top three kept position for the rest of the race.

Myles Castaldini who joined us for the first time in the Moto 1000 class in his Kawasaki engine Van Diemen RF94 came fourth overall and second in class. He was followed by Luke O Faolain. Sixth overall was Ewen Sergison who came first in class, he raced hard all race to keep Robbie Allen behind him. Chris Lord came eighth overall and second in the 1800 class ahead of Phil Davis.  Matt Walters came fourth in the 1800 class, but finished last in the race. He was complaining in Parc Ferme that the car had been terrible and he couldn’t get the power down, it didn’t take long to notice though that he’d managed to put a rear tyre on the front of the car whilst changing his tyres before the race. Strangely enough, the car was much better behaved for him in the second race. The 1600 class saw Geoff dominating again after troubles in the first two meetings of the championship, he finished the race first in class and seventh overall.  Eddie Guest came second in class, with Will Cox close behind him in third. They were fifteenth and sixteenth overall on the grid respectively.

Championship wise it was all to play for at Anglesey between the top four. Ewen Sergison went into the weekend in fourth place, 5 points behind Terry Clark, but with the biggest class. James Gordon-Colebrooke had one point over Terry Clark and had two in class, whereas Terry was the only one in the Classic class. Therefore, it mixed all the positions up when Mark Smith beat James in class. Terry did a good job of keeping James behind him in the race but the three of them were all very close together at the end of the race. From the results at the end of the first race, Neil Harrison had almost secured his championship win, just needing to finish the second race. Terry moved up into second place with James and Ewen equal on points for third.

Race two got underway after lunch, again starting with two green flag laps. Joe Power pulled into the pits and retired on the green flag lap and Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke put his hands up on the grid, still suffering electrical problems. He was pushed off the track whilst the rest of the grid was sent round for a third green flag lap. Unfortunately, due to the delayed start, Myles Castaldini started overheating on the grid; these problems followed him into the race with him having to retire on lap ten from second place. Neil Harrison had another good start from pole and Noel Roddy got away well but spun on the first corner, dropping him down to twelfth. Luke O Faolain and Chris Lord both had a fantastic start, climbing up from eighth and tenth on the grid to third and fourth respectively. Ewen Sergison had a poor start, suffering a lot of wheel spin and dropped in behind Chris Lord. By the end of lap one, Ewen had gained the position back from Chris, over taking him on the long back straight as they started to climb the hill.

After the spin on the first lap, Noel Roddy gradually climbed his way up the grid. Eventually getting back up to third place on lap nine and taking second place away from Luke O Faolain on the penultimate lap of the race. He had a thirteen second deficit to Neil Harrison though who took the overall win for the second time that day. Nigel Davers had a good second race of the day, managing to get up to sixth place overall and second in class from the back of the grid, which earned him the driver of the day award. The 1600 class saw Geoff Fern take the win again, but this time Will Cox managed to best Eddie Guest for second in class, beating him by just 0.3 seconds across the line. Mark Smith again beat James Gordon-Colebrooke for honours in the 2000 class, which sealed James’ fate in championship terms.

At the end of the day all of the drivers and teams were invited to the Monoposto Hub for a glass of prosecco and the prizegiving. There was a toast to the end of the season and a festive atmosphere as over fifty people crowded into the garage. The trophies for first, second and third in each race were awarded along with the driver of the day caps, followed by the champions of the day. Ewen Sergison won Champion of Anglesey, having won his class in both races and taken both fastest laps, in the biggest class of the day. Geoff Fern came second overall having done the same in the second biggest class and Neil Harrison came third overall. The Championship was also celebrated, with Neil Harrison winning the championship ahead of Ewen Sergison in second and Terry Clark in third. Each of them received a bottle of prosecco and Nick Harrison was also given a bottle of prosecco and round of applause for his work as Team Boss/Mechanic, taking Neil to victory in the championship.

The first trip to Castle Combe for Monoposto since the Tiedeman Trophy in 2015 saw some good racing, hard fought battles and a couple of novice drivers taking class wins. The meeting also had more than its fair share of drama and mishaps over the one day, twin header meeting.

Qualifying started well with at least two corners completed by most before the first yellow flag came out. This was for Jonathan Baggott who had a spin and pulled off the track with his nose cone falling off. He put his nose back on and got back in his car just in time for the first red flag of the session as contact between Terry Trust and Geoff Fern left them stranded in the middle of the track.

Qualifying restarted after a quick clear-up and a few good laps were put in before a spontaneous engine blow saw Martin Wright pull off at Quarry. The marshals ran over to ask him to exit the car as he was unaware that he was on fire! The marshals were able to put the fire out quickly and the session continued for a few more minutes before Robin Dawe had an issue which unfortunately ended his weekend with a trip into the barrier and saw qualifying red flagged for the second time. Thankfully, although there were a few broken cars in the paddock, all drivers were unharmed from these incidents and in true Monoposto style, three of the five broken cars were repaired in time for the first race and the drivers who were unable to race stayed to support the rest of the grid.

Race one saw Neil Harrison have a great start, catapulting from fourth to first place off the line. It didn’t take long for the Timms’s to find their way back past him though and do their normal trick of disappearing into the distance to take first and second in the race. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke had a poor start, resulting in him sitting in sixth place at the end of lap one.  He stayed right up with Mat Jordan and Dean Warren in fourth and fifth places and eventually got past them on laps four and five. Unfortunately though whilst chasing Neil Harrison down for third place he lost drive and had to retire from the race, leaving Neil able to comfortably take third place overall and first in his class.

Dean Warren in the Moto 1000 class and Mat Jordan in 2000 had a good battle going between them for most of the race, but an engine blow saw Mat retire. This left Dean free to claim fourth overall and first in class. Terry Clark came in fifth overall and first in the Classic class, having made his way up from twelfth place. Nigel Davers had a great start to the race, climbing from thirteenth to seventh on the first lap but he had to retire on lap two. Before you feel sorry for him, he admitted it was his own fault for not securing his battery terminal.

The 1800 class saw a good battle all weekend. Ewen Sergison had qualified on pole in class and eighth overall, with Phil Davis, Matt Walters and Chris Lord covering the next three slots. The start of the first race saw Ewen get boxed in and drop down behind all three of his class rivals, Chris Lord got up from fourth to first in class and Phil Davis and Matt Walters were second and third respectively. At the end of the first lap, Ewen and Matt were lining Phil up for overtaking and the three of them crossed the line side-by-side. The three continued swapping places on the second lap with Matt eventually getting ahead and closing in on Chris Lord. Matt went a bit hot into the chicane on lap three and made contact with the rear of Chris. Luckily, with both cars being quite sturdy, they came out of it ok, but had lost ground to Ewen and Phil who went through to take first and second. The contact left Matt’s wing a bit bent and flapping so, although he was still racing well, he was given a black and orange flag and had to retire from the race. The class then settled down for the remainder of the race, with Ewen pulling a gap to Chris Lord who’d taken second from Phil Davis.

In the 2000 class, James Gordon-Colebrooke had a poor start which dropped him right to the back of the grid. He then gradually made his way back up during the race to take the class win and tenth place overall. Mark Smith had an oil leak in qualifying which had meant that he started at the back of the grid, he ended up fifteenth in the race overall and second in class. Will Cox had a great race at his home circuit, taking the class win and fastest lap in class, finishing twenty eight seconds ahead of Geoff Fern who was second in class. Geoff earned himself the first Driver of the Day award though for getting up to thirteenth in the race after starting twenty second. Terry Trust finished third in class after fixing his damage from qualifying and John Hare finished fourth.

Race two saw the cars line up with a few gaps on track after some of the retirements from the first race were unable to be repaired in time. John Hare started from the pit lane after suffering starter motor issues just before heading out. Jason Timms was on pole for the second race of the day and got away well to hold on to the lead, Neil Harrison had another good start to take second and Jeremy Timms dropped down to third. Jeremy took the lead away from Jason at the end of the first lap on the last corner. Nigel Davers started down in thirteenth place, but made his way up to seventh by the end of the first lap to mix himself up in the 1800 class battle. He got past them and up to fifth by the end of the second lap, with a big gap to make up to Dean Warren who was running first in class and fourth overall. Nigel chased him down for four laps until he was on Dean’s tail and the two were battling hard, spending a lot of lap time side-by-side. Unfortunately, with two laps to go, Dean suffered a break down, which left Nigel first in class and fourth overall behind the two Timms’s and Neil Harrison. Nigel wasn’t able to enjoy this position for long though as he was given a black and orange flag for breaking the noise limit. Jason Timms was also flagged for noise and the two retired from the race on consecutive laps. This left Jeremy Timms to take the win of the race and Neil Harrison came second.

Third place in the race ended up going to Ewen Sergison after he led the 1800 class from start to finish and ended up with a three car buffer to second place man, Matt Walters. However, in the prize giving after race two, Ewen gave his third place trophy to Nigel Davers, who he thought was the rightful winner of the award. Second to fourth places in the 1800 class was hard fought again in this race, with Chris Lord initially ahead of Phil Davis and Matt Walters behind them in fourth. The positions held like this for a few laps before Phil had a spin and ended up losing a few places. Matt then spent the next few laps chasing Chris Lord down, before getting past him on lap six. Chris stuck with him but was unable to get back past and settled for third in class. Dave Wheal inherited the win of the Moto 1000 class after Dean Warren and Nigel Davers retired. He raced well all day at Castle Combe, which was only his second ever race meeting, finishing the day with a first and second in class. Will Cox was another novice driver who performed well at Castle Combe, taking his second consecutive class win and fastest lap in the second race.

Chris Kite earned the second Driver of the Day accolade after his performance in the second race saw him climb from fourteenth place to take fourth overall. The Champion of Castle Combe award went to Ewen Sergison who took two wins and two fastest laps in the biggest class of the meeting. Second overall for the meeting was tied between Will Cox and Jeremy Timms who had both taken two wins and fastest laps in classes of four people. Jeremy valiantly said that Will could take second though and he would settle for third place due to Will putting in such a good performance as a novice driver. The points haul from this meeting has put Neil Harrison up in the lead of the championship, with James Gordon-Colebrooke in second place and Terry Clark third.

Monoposto have been given a club stand at the Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham on 9-11 November 2018.

Visit it us on Stand 8-350 in Hall 8.

• Whole Show Site Map
• Hall 8 Floor Map

The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, with Discovery, already the UK’s biggest indoor classic vehicle exhibition, is now even bigger for 2018! Adding an extra hall, the show is inviting even more clubs to display at the event to create the World’s biggest gathering of classic motoring clubs.

Held at Birmingham’s NEC from Friday 9 to Sunday 11 November, around 300 classic car and classic motorbike clubs will showcase vehicles owned by members, interpreting this year’s show theme of ‘Built to Last.’

We will have a display of cars on the stand and information about the club. Hopefully we will see some existing members there and hopefully get some more people interested in racing with us next year and beyond!

For more information about the show, please visit the show website: www.necclassicmotorshow.com

Monoposto members can get discounted tickets for the event, if you would like the link to buy discounted tickets, please email rachel@monoposto.co.uk

Ticket prices are: Adult £24.50 (£30 on-the-door) and Family, 2 adults and up to 3 children, £68 (£80 on-the-door)

The first two rounds of the Reprise IT Tiedeman Trophy Championship took place on 1^st October with qualifying and two races held over the one day with all eight cars on one grid. All drivers score points in class, with an extra point for each car that qualifies in class. This points structure means that the champion of each meeting and the overall champion can come from any class.

Qualifying would set both grids, with the second fastest time setting the grid for the second race. The weather conditions were changing all day and for qualifying there was a debate about tyre choice, with everybody eventually choosing wets as the rain came in just before we were called to the assembly area. Matthew Walters retired after one lap due to an electrical issue; this meant that he would start from the back of the grid for both races. Andrew Barron retired after four laps with a fuel problem and caused a red flag which meant the session finished four minutes early. For the first race Neil Harrison set pole in his F3 Dallara with Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke second in his Moto 1400 Dallara and their places were reversed for the second race. Ewen Sergison qualified third for both races in his 1800 class Swift. Further down the grid, Eddie Guest out qualified Geoff Fern in the 1600 class and started ninth and eighth overall in the two races. Will Cox qualified well on his first race weekend, sitting eighteenth out of twenty six for the first race and twenty second for the second race.

The circuit dried up for the first race of the day, with most drivers choosing to use slicks. Only four were still on wets in the assembly area. James Drew-Williams broke a drive shaft on the green flag lap which saw him retire from the race. Chris Vosper pulled into the pits on the green flag lap with a vibration, fearing he had a loose front wing. After a quick check from his mechanic he felt more at ease and started the race from the pit lane. The start of the race was clean with everybody getting away well. Frazer Corbyn had a good start in his Moto 1000 Jedi, getting from sixth on the grid up to third.

Robin Dawe found his way up to fourth and Dean Warren in the Moto 1000 class made his way up from eleventh on the grid to take fifth overall and second in class on the first lap. Ewen Sergison, although now in sixth overall after losing places to Frazer, Robin and Frazer, was still leading the 1800 class. His teammate, Matthew Walters, traveled from the back of the grid up to seventeenth and third in class behind Phil Davis on the first lap. Matt got past Phil Davis on the subsequent lap and continued to climb places on the grid but couldn’t get up far enough to challenge Ewen so settled for second in class and twelfth overall in the end.

On the second lap of the race, Neil Harrison dropped from first down to fourth, having been overtaken by Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke, Frazer Corbyn and Robin Dawe. Andrew then disappeared into the distance to win the race by 21.5 seconds. A battle ensued between Neil, Frazer and Robin with the trio swapping places a number of times during the race. Frazer unfortunately retired from third place a couple of laps from the end. Neil came in second and Robin finished third. Dean Warren finished fourth overall and inherited the win of the Moto 1000 class after Frazer retired, however Frazer got the fastest lap in class. A close fight at the back of the grid between Dave Wheal, Ben McGhee and Len Turner saw Len take second in class and Ben third, with Dave unfortunately retiring on the fifth lap of the race.

Matthew Bromage won the Classic class and came sixth in the race overall. His car was running well all weekend, having sorted the problems that he experienced on his first outing with Monoposto two weeks earlier. For the Tiedeman Trophy Terry Clark swapped his trusty 2000 class Van Diemen for his Classic Formula Vauxhall Lotus and after qualifying third in class and twentieth overall, he managed second in class and tenth overall in the first race, earning him one of the AViT Motorsport Driver of the Day awards. He gained positions quickly at the start of the race, got past classmate Andrew Barron by lap 5 and maintained a comfortable gap from him for the remainder of the race.

Eddie Guest took the win of the 1600 class as well as the fastest lap, with Will Cox coming in second in class. Geoff Fern had a good start to the race, getting past Eddie on the first lap, but car troubles during the race saw him drop to the very back of the grid, being lapped by the leaders three times and travelling very slowly. He did, however, manage to finish the race to take the all important championship points for third place in class. In the 2000 class, Mark Smith took the win and fastest lap, with James Gordon-Colebrooke struggling further down the grid after opting to use wet tyres for the race.

The second race saw damp conditions on track with all the drivers on slicks, this caught some out as a few spun on the green flag lap and Chris Vosper went off and couldn’t get going again. The rest of the grid was given a second green flag lap as he was cleared off the circuit. On the first lap of the race, Neil Harrison got past Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke for the lead and Robin Dawe got past Ewen Sergison for third. Neil stayed in the lead for the whole of the race, whilst Robin and Andrew battled for second. Unfortunately, Andrew had a trip into the gravel at Old Hairpin on lap 5 which saw him retire from the race and left Robin free to claim second overall. Martin Wright took the win of the Moto 1400 class after Andrew’s retirement.

After starting in third, Ewen Sergison crossed the line in sixth at the end of the first lap, but a throttle cable break saw him pull onto the grass and retire before the first corner of the second lap. Matthew Bromage got up from tenth place to fourth on the first lap and was again running well until he went off at Craner Curves on lap three and became beached on the gravel. Terry Clark stormed through the pack, having started twenty first on the grid, to take a win in the Classic class and fourth place overall, with Andrew Barron behind him fifth overall and second in class.Chris Kite enjoyed a good race in the invitation class; having started eighteenth on the grid, he came sixth overall in the second race.

James Gordon-Colebrooke enjoyed his racing much more the second time around, taking the win of the 2000 class, fastest lap and finishing seventh overall. He was the recipient of the Driver of the Day cap for the second race. In the 1800 class, Matt Walters drove from the back of the grid to eighth overall and took the win in class ahead of Phil Davis in second. Further down the grid, Steven Griffin took third in class and Jonathan Baggott came fourth in class, having solved his car troubles that saw him retire in the first race. Dean Warren won the Moto 1000 race and was third overall after climbing up from twelfth on the grid. Dave Wheal, who was competing for the first time that weekend, was running well but a trip to the gravel on lap six saw him retire from second in class. Ben McGhee ended up taking second in class, ahead of Len Turner in third.

Geoff Fern had another bad race in the 1600 class; he couldn’t get past Eddie Guest for the lead of the class, although he wasn’t far behind. But then on the fifth lap he lost a wheel and was out of the race. Will Cox also had bad fortune in this race, when the live feed to the high pressure fuel pump came off on lap five and he also had to retire. Eddie took another class win and fastest lap, which saw him take second place overall for the day. He was tied on points with Matt Walters, but Matt had to settle for third overall having a first place and a second place versus Eddie’s two wins. Dean Warren was awarded Champion of Donington and sits at the top of the points table as we head to Castle Combe for rounds 3 and 4 of the championship on 14^th October.

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 5^th to 13^th. 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 7^th 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 14^th 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 3^rd and 4^th. James Drew-Williams did a great job getting up to 5^th after starting 10^th and Mike Hatton got up to 7^th place from 12^th on the grid. Mark Smith in the 2000 class also jumped from 16^th place, at the back of the grid, to 9^th overall and 3^rd 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 5^th 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 7^th (ahead of Kevin); he managed to climb up to 11^th overall and took 3^rd 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 9^th overall in the end. Ian Hughes got past Nick Catanzaro to take 3^rd 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 4^th 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 7^th and 9^th 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 10^th 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 8^th place, he was running 4^th 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 2^nd 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 9^th overall and 4^th 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 13^th on the grid to 7^th 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 10^th by the end of lap 1, he continued climbing the grid and ended up taking 3^rd place in class and 5^th 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 4^th 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 8^th and was 5^th by the end of lap 2. In the end he managed to climb all the way back up the grid to 3^rd 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 2^nd 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 4^th and 5^th 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 4^th 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 3^rd in class and Peter Lague to 4^th.