FUELFORCE CLASSIC CLUBMANS CHAMPIONSHIP 2005
Peter Harper became the third different winner in as many rounds, when he took his Mallock Mk20B to victory in front of a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd, at the annual CSMA Festival at Brands Hatch.
19 care were entered but only 16 appeared for qualifying, with Mallory Park winner Malcolm Jackson among the non starters. The battle for pole position was fierce, with three drivers topping the times during the session. But at the end it was Antony Denham who had secured the place and his first ever pole with his Doris. It had been far from plain sailing for Denham, after his engine had blown on the rolling road on Thursday. Hurried preparation just to get to Brands, was to have its comebacks later on however.
Former biker Steve Campbell paid his first visit to Brands for “about ten years” and his first on four wheels, to fill the other front row spot in his immaculate Raffo 77C.
Army colonel Mike Hickson was fresh back from duty in Afghanistan, with a newly liveried Mallock Mk20B. Now dark blue, the car bears allegiance to the specialist military suppliers Vados Systems and Fastrax 4. “It was very slippery out there and the car was sliding a lot,” said the early pacesetter.
Harper who completed row two, was never quite on the pace in a car that had been repaired again after shunts at Mallory Park and Silverstone. Silverstone winner David Childs was fifth best with his Gryphon C73 and Geoff Cogan rounded off the top six in his similar car.
Jared Wood was the best of the class D runners in seventh, his Batten MkI sporting a new clutch and rebuilt gearbox since Mallory Park. But he had a lot more to do before the race, as a bolt sheared in the front suspension. Others with mechanical woes were Alan White-Aldworth, whose engine broke a rocker arm, Reg Powell who’s Gryphon had a mysterious cut out, while a wheel bearing failure sidelined Peter Carter for the rest of the day.
The race was pretty much won from the start, with Harper lighting up his rear tyres and rocketing past the front row pair, into a lead he would never surrender. Hickson slotted into second with Campbell third, ahead of the slow starting Denham.
The order remained the same for the first six laps with Harper seemingly able to control the gap to Hickson as he pleased. Denham exited fifth spot when his cooling system swirl pot worked loose, allowing water to spray out. Alan Davenport joined him in retirement, while Powell was already sidelined with a repeat of his qualifying woes.
Harper came home some three seconds clear of Hickson. Reflecting on his monster start he said, “that’s hillclimbing for you. I actually got too much wheelspin and so dumped it into second early and it just flew. Mike could close on me but I could see I was quicker away each time.”
Campbell retained third, a fine effort after withstanding tremendous pressure on the later laps from Childs. Cogan was a well-detached fifth, only 1.5s clear of class D winner Wood. “It was a fantastic race, particularly scrapping with some of the class A cars,” said a clearly delighted Wood. Next up was Mark Charteris (Mallock Mk20B) who matched his qualifying form by being the best if Class B runners. “It was great and Dave Facer kept me honest for a quite a while,” he said.
The other runners were a lap down with Ian Mitchell’s IM MkI fending off the Mallock of Steven Chaplin for ninth. A lonely Tony Harman and a further detached White-Aldworth completed the finishers.
Issued by Peter Scherer for the Clubmans Register May 16th 2005. Contact 01332 362577/07802 853244 or peter@scher.freeserve.co.uk