FUELFORCE CLASSIC CLUBMANS CHAMPIONSHIP 2005
It was a case of brotherly dominance in rounds six and seven of the Fuelforce Classic Clubmans at Croft, with Peter and Ray Harper sharing the victory spoils.
As the 15 car field lined up in the assembly area for first qualifying, the heavens opened and everyone headed for their wet tyres. Eight cars made it out before the session was red flagged and restarted after the lunchbreak, on a drying track.
A delighted Steve Campbell (Raffo) grabbed his first ever pole by 0.12s over Ray Harper’s Phantom. “The car is just better set-up and I don’t care if it’s wet or dry. But how can I not be pleased with that,” said Campbell. “I had one spin at Tower avoiding Mike Hickson, said Ray. “I had a half spin at Sunny, but otherwise it’s Ok,” said brother Peter on his way to third. Hickson completed the second row, and declared “it was slippery out there.”
One of only two class B Cars Mark Charteris was fifth best, “I had two big spins at Clervaux,” he admitted. Although Antony Denham was sixth best, his weekend was over as the Doris had a crack in the block that was getting bigger. Robin Booth’s Mallock survived intact for seventh, ahead of the solo group D runner Jared Wood (Batten). Finley Bason (Myers Special) and Stephen Clamp (Drat F1300) completed the top ten, over Alan Davenport (Mallock). Tony Harman struggled for pace in his Haggispeed and Darren Green was sidelined when his Mallock’s diff locked up. After a 20 year absence Sam Lancaster made his racing return in a Mallock, while “Giancarlo Gofastio” suffered a blown engine on his Phantom.
The 15 car grid had been reduced to ten for the start of race one, following a second qualifying session, only for Green to break his throttle cable on the green flag lap. Ray Harper’s Phantom grabbed the early advantage over Peter’s Mallock, as Campbell and Hickson latched on behind. Clamp was the first spinner at the Complex on the opening lap, rejoining at the tail of the field.
Hickson snatched third into Tower after Peter had “just driven past” Ray into Tower to lead. As Peter had the edge over Ray, the former pacesetter had both Hickson and Campbell in his wheeltracks. Campbell retook third into Clervaux, before Hickson retaliated at the Complex. As Peter started to increase his lead, Ray started to struggle for gears. Hickson powered into second from the chicane on lap five, only for Ray to reclaim the place into Tower.
A lap later Hickson was second again at Tower and this time made it stick. Campbell’s attempts to follow resulted in a full 360 at Tower, allowing Ray to keep the pressure on Hickson.”The clutch and gears started acting up from about lap five,” Ray confirmed. “I was a bit wild in a few places as tyres went off,” reckoned Hickson.
At the flag Peter had built a 4.713s cushion over Hickson, with Ray a comfortable third over Campbell. Charteris held a solitary fifth after demoting Booth at the Complex on lap five. Wood also picked off Booth for sixth on the penultimate lap, leaving Davenport to follow the ex FF1600 racer home in eighth. Clamp was the only retirement after five laps.
The second qualifying session had also taken place on Saturday’s afternoon and provided more than it’s share of incident. Peter and Ray Harper shared the front row, “it was incident free and I was pleased because I did my fastest lap on the last one,” said Peter.
Campbell and Hickson shared the second row, “a bit of understeer but fast enough,” reckoned Campbell. “What a fantastic circuit, great powerslides,” Hickson enthused. Although Charteris was fifth best he bent a couple of valves. “I over revved when I got first instead of third”, he explained.
Sixth best Ewan Bason was also a casualty when the Myers Special broke its front suspension. “Braking into Sunny the lower trailing link broke, “he explained. Booth, Wood and Davenport did survive, but Harman holed his engine, “8000rpm in third gear and it let go,” he said. Lancaster and Clamp completed the 12 qualifiers.
It was Ray Harper’s Phantom quickest off the line again at the start of the race, with Peter and Campbell paying him close attention. Peter then spun at the Hairpin and fell to fourth behind Hickson, while a lap later Green spun at the Complex to surrender fifth to Charteris.
Having looked as if they would start to spread out, the top four suddenly closed up on the fourth lap. Peter had already picked off Hickson and Campbell, before charging into the lead at Clervaux with Campbell following through into second.
Campbell piled the pressure on the former champion and almost forced another mistake at the Hairpin. However Peter was being black flagged as his nose was scraping the track. “It wasn’t loose and I could smell the rubbing,” he said after his rather harsh treatment. Campbell became the new leader and had three laps to hold out. Ray continued to pile the pressure on and made the decisive move into the Complex with a lap to go. “I had stiffened a few bits up on the car and I knew I could outbrake Steve,” said Ray.
Hickson and Charteris completed the top four with Davenport, Lancaster and the multi-spinning Clamp completing the finishers.
Next round Donington Park, August 29th
Issued by Peter Scherer for the Clubmans Register May 16th 2005. Contact 01332 362577/07802 853244 or peter@scher.freeserve.co.uk