Intermarque and TinTops Castle Combe - April 13th 2009 |
The day began with the circuit shrouded in mist but this cleared fairly quickly and everyone set about qualifying. Unfortunately an incident between Paul Dudley and Mick Robertson meant that the previously immaculate Tiger was out on the spot. Opinions vary as to exactly what happened but the officials declared it a “racing incident”. Also in the wars was Gary Chappell who tried his best to re-arrange the tyre walls. A real surprise was to see Nick Starkey on pole position with his new Caterham Superlight. From the rolling start the silhouette cars soon mugged Mr.Starkey, with Steve Hall and Keith White battling over the lead just in front of Mark Jones. Malcolm Harding also usurped the Caterham, whilst Chris Brockhurst came home sixth a couple of seconds in front of Mike Thurley. Nick Foster was best Tiger, after Mark Steward rolled his version. Daryl Radford rounded out the top ten with his VW Vento (and gained the driver of the race award), which was the best tin top, although Anthony Harrison was not far behind in his Rover Tomcat. Danny Cassar took T2 honours from a patched up Gary Chappell. Ken Angell and Dave Charlton took their respective classes. The second race was shortened to 7 laps after delays in other races. Nick Starkey and Mark Steward were both missing, but the silhouettes continued their battles. Steve Hall sadly picked up a puncture, so White took a fairly comfortable victory from Mark Jones. Brockhurst had the measure of Harding this time and Foster remained as top Tiger. Radford took an impressive sixth overall whilst Kenny Coleman chased him home in seventh and took the driver of the race award. Cassar again beat Chappell with Smitherham (Caterham 7), Angell, Carlton, and Andy Slaney (Tiger R6) repeating their class victories. Nik Barton won the best turned out car prize although his day was fraught with engine problems.
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