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 14^th 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 18^th to 14^th by the end of lap 1 and then continued to gain places to finish 9^th 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 6^th and 7^th rounds of the Monoposto Championship took place over the weekend of 1^st and 2^nd 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 Saturday 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 21^st overall, he climbed up to first in class quickly and continued gaining track positions, eventually finishing 7^th 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 Sunday 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. Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke gave a solid performance, finishing third in class again and 6^th 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 5^th 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 sixth 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 7^th 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.

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

1800, 1600, Moto 1400 and Moto 1000 Grid

Saturday started off with glorious sunshine and the weather held out nicely for qualifying for the 1800, 1600, Moto 1000 and Moto 1400 grid. This didn’t stop a number of incidents causing some stoppages though. A spin by Matt Walters on the second lap of qualifying brought out a red flag due to him being beached on the edge of Paddock Hill Bend, but that didn’t stop him getting pole for the first race in the 1800 class on the lap before his off. Qualifying got underway again but only for a few laps before the safety car came out. Overall pole in qualifying was taken by Bradley Hobday in the Moto 1000 class on the last lap, almost 2 seconds quicker than Jeremy Timms’ P2 time.

The first race got off to a good start with Bradley Hobday making a good getaway before Jeremy Timms took the lead of the race on lap 2. Bradley held 2^nd for the entire race and also set a new lap record for the Moto 1000 class, taking almost a second out of the previous record. Mark Reade pulled into the pits on lap 2 of the race, but later rejoined and managed  to catch the pack and climb up the grid to get 14^th place overall. Jason Timms unfortunately had his engine let go on lap 3 which put him out for the weekend and promoted Richard Gittings up to third overall and 2^nd in the Moto 1000 class. He was being pressured for most of the race by Andre Gordon-Colebrook, but managed to keep him behind. Meanwhile in the 1800 class, Matthew Walters led the class start to finish and had some close battles with cars from other classes whilst climbing the order, Julian Hoskins and Chris Lord were fighting for 2^nd in class for the whole race, with Julian eventually coming out on top. In the 1600 class, Geoff Fern ran away in the lead as usual, with Nigel Davers in 2^nd and Eddie Guest and Kevin Bottomley fighting for 3^rd, Kevin eventually came out on top to round off the 1600 class podium.

Sunday saw two races for each grid with the start positions for the first determined by the second fastest qualifying times from the day before. Race two of the weekend for grid 1 saw Jeremy Timms have a poor start and drop back a few places. He soon gained the places back and then took the lead after Bradley Hobday unfortunately had his engine give up which put him out for the rest of the day. Jeremy then promptly disappeared into the distance to win the race. Early in the race there was a good battle between 3^rd and 5^th place on the grid which saw Mark Reade, Richard Gittings and Richard Moorcroft swapping and changing positions at the top of the Moto 1000 class. Mark retired from the race on lap 5 and Richard Gittings went on to win the class and finish 2^nd overall after starting 13^th on the grid, with Richard Moorcroft 2^nd in class and Mick Kinghorn having an impressive drive from 16^th to 5^th on the grid to take 3^rd in class. A close fought battle in the 1800 class saw Matt Walters win again with Chris Lord bettering Julian Hoskins this time out to take 2^nd in class.

The final race for this grid started off well with a clean start, but didn’t stay that way for long. Kevin Bottomley and Nigel Davers had a coming together on lap 1 which put Nigel out, however Kevin managed to recover from the gravel and carry on to eventually get 2^nd in class. Mark Reade concluded a disastrous weekend by pulling off on lap 2, his team mate Morgan McCourt also had issues and finished last in the race. On lap 4 George Fowler and Geoff Fern had a coming together at turn 1 which put them both out of the race and brought the safety car out. Jeremy Timms led the race start to finish, Andrew Gordon-Colebrooke gained a place to finish 2^nd overall and Richard Gittings came 3^rd overall and won his class. Dan Levy had a change in fortune, after failing to finish race 1 and 2, by coming 4^th overall and 2^nd in class. Matt Walters again won the 1800 class for a clean sweep of poles, wins and fastest laps. Chris Lord came 2^nd and Julian Hoskins was 3^rd with Phil Davis and David Jones competing for 4^th further down the grid; Phil eventually came out on top. With the retirement of Geoff Fern and Nigel Davers from the 1600 class, Eddie Guest was promoted to leading the class and managed to hold position against Kevin Bottomley who ended up with 2^nd in class and Simon Pruce came in 3^rd. Jeremy Timms, as well as taking 3 wins over the weekend, broke the Moto 1400 lap record – three times! He took 0.3 seconds out of the record in each race.

F3, 2000, Classic and FR2000 Grid

After a lovely start to Saturday morning, there was a downpour just before the start of the F3, 2000, Classic and FR2000 qualifying which led to a frenzied panic of wheel changes just before the drivers left for the assembly area. Most opted for wet tyres with only Lee Cunningham, Bryn Tootell and Terry Clark staying on slicks, this proved to be the wrong choice for them. Robert Smith spun on lap 3 and retired from qualifying and Chris Hodgen stopped on track on lap 3 which meant that he was much further down the order for Races 1 and 2 than would usually be expected. A coming together of James Drew-Williams and Nick Catanzaro put the safety car out and meant that James was unable to take part in races 1 or 2 of the weekend. Chris Davison got pole in the end, with Kevan McLurg P2 and Ben Cater P3.

Peter Venn and Andrew Barron pulled into the pits on the green flag lap and unfortunately did not get out at all in Race 1. Kevan McLurg, after starting from 2^nd, stopped on track during the first lap but luckily didn’t cause a safety car. Ben Cater took the lead of the race on the first lap and Ashley Dibden stayed close behind in 2^nd, putting pressure on all race but not managing to get past Ben. Simon Tate and Neil Harrison had a great fight for 3^rd place which lasted for most of the race before Simon spun on the last lap and dropped back to 7^th. Lee Cunningham and Chris Hodgen finished 4^th and 5^th respectively after starting from 9^th and 8^th. Bryn Tootell managed to defend well from Kevin Otway to win the 2000 class, with Kevin 2^nd and Terry Clark in 3^rd. Hayden Edmonds and James Densley enjoyed an intense battle for the duration of the race, with James just pipping Hayden over the line and taking the win by 0.007 seconds. The classic class saw Jared Wood take the win ahead of Ian Hughes in 2^nd and Nick Catanzaro in 3^rd, with Marcus Sheard close behind in 4^th place.
Race 2 started with the cars in their second fastest positions from qualifying the day before, which again put Chris Hodgen well down the order, this time in 10^th. Ashley Dibden took the lead of the race during lap 1 after starting in 4^th place, he and Ben Cater then pulled away from the rest of the pack, before Ben had a spin on lap 3 which demoted him from 2^nd to 6^th. He then caught up to a very close battle between 2^nd to  5^th places which consisted of Simon Tate, Lee Cunningham, Neil Harrison and Chris Hodgen who all swapped and changed for most of the race. In the end Chris Hodgen came 2^nd with Neil Harrison 3^rd after starting 10^th and 8^th respectively. Peter Venn ran away with the lead of the Classic class but was in his own battle against the clock to break the lap record for the class, which he succeeded in doing. Further down the field, Ian Hughes took 2^nd in the class and Jared Wood came 3^rd, with Marcus Sheard beating Nick Catanzaro this time for 4^th place. In the 2000 class, Bryn Tootell for most of the race but lost the lead to Kevin Otway on the last lap. However a red flag on the last lap, when Mat Jordan spun and stopped on track, meant that the results went back a lap and Bryn ended up winning the class. A similar scenario occurred in the FR2000 class as Hayden Edmonds and James Densley battled hard again but James lost the win to Hayden after the results went back a lap to when Hayden was still leading. Richard Crisp came in 3^rd in the FR2000 class and set a new lap record for the class, bettering the one set by James the day before.
Race 3 had a clean start, but a poor getaway from Chris Hodgen meant that Neil Harrison got ahead of him for 2^nd place. Ben Cater, who had started 4^th, had a spin during the first lap which put him out for the rest of the race. Ashley Dibden again pulled a good gap to lead the race from start to finish. Chris Hodgen got past Neil Harrison on the inside of Paddock Hill Bend on lap 5 to take back 2^nd place and Neil again finished 3^rd. Lee Cunningham and Simon Tate had a good battle to eventually finish 4^th and 5^th respectively. In the 2000 class, Bryn Tootell and Kevin Otway fought for class honours, and again Bryn took them. Further down the field Paul Britten and Terry Clark had a close battle to end up 3^rd and 4^th respectively. Ian Hughes and Jared Wood both retired from the classic class during lap 5 of the race and Peter Venn disappeared into the distance again to take the win, with Nick Catanzaro 2^nd and Marcus Sheard 3^rd. In the FR2000 class, Hayden Edmonds and James Densley again swapped and changed positions during the race with Hayden eventually winning the class, James came 2^nd and Richard Crisp 3^rd. Chris Vosper came 4^th in the class after a very well driven first race weekend. He, Richard and James were all also fighting for points in the SUNBAC Nova award, along with Robert Smith in the 2000 class, as they are all in their first season of car racing. James Densley is leading the Nova award going into round 6 of the Championship at Silverstone.

Click Here for the current Championship Standings after Brands Hatch GP.