FUELFORCE CLASSIC CLUBMANS CHAMPIONSHIP 2005
David Childs brought the curtain down on a career that stretches back some 37 years when he won the final round of the Fuelforce Classic Clubmans Championship at Silverstone last Saturday. Not content with that, the veteran had started from pole and bagged the fastest lap en route to a memorable victory.
20 cars graced the paddock, but only 19 made it to the track for qualifying after possible race winner and A class champion Peter Harper started his engine and promptly switched it off. Some nasty noises prompted him to head straight back to Sheffield.
Childs’ Gryphon topped the time sheets ahead of Anthony Denham’s Doris and the Mallock’s of Ray Mallock, Malcolm Jackson and Mike Hickson. Only 0.64s embraced the quintet. A couple or rows back sat category returnee Keith Whyman, the Historic Sports racer in a Clubmans car for the first time in a dozen years.
Jared Wood’s Batten was the only Class D car (10th quickest) while it was no surprise that Mark Charteris’s Mallock was quickest in class B in 14th. Season long pursuer Dave Facer was next up, but 1.4secs off the new champions pace.
All 19 cars made it to the grid, but Hickson was out before the race had even started, as a driveshaft broke at the start of the warm-up lap. When the race did get underway, Simon Andrew’s Mallock failed to move and he too was pushed away.
Childs leaped into an early lead followed by Mallock, Denham, the charging Whyman and a slow starting Jackson. Class D leader Wood lay ninth, one place up on Charteris who controlled the pace in class B.
In what soon became a race of attrition, Denham went missing on lap two, while Morgan Burgess (Mallock) and Steve Campbell (Raffo) both retired to the pits. Mallock was already in trouble, wisps of smoke appearing from the rear of his car. Not that his pace slowed, and despite the ever increasing smoke trail appearing on right hand corners, he slipped past Childs into Brooklands, to lead on lap six.
Childs redressed the situation at Luffield two laps later, while the shadowing Jackson was keen to make his mark and ousted Childs on lap 10. At this point Mallock had slowed and peeled off into the pits. “It got worse and the engine was tightening up,” affirmed the RML boss.
Jackson’s tenure of the number spot lasted just one lap, Childs easing himself back ahead at Luffield on lap 11. “Both Malcolm and Ray were so much quicker than me through the left hander (Brooklands),” he commented after the race.
As the 15 minute race draw to a close, the top three order remained static, although Jackson was only 0.43s adrift at the flag. A delighted Whyman was 18s back in third, earning himself the Driver of the Day award. Darren Green’s Mallock was fourth, ahead of Gavin Childs, while Wood completed the top six. Finlay Bason was the final unlapped runner with seventh in the Myers Special.
Charteris in eight overall, had about seven seconds in hand over Facer for class B honours, while Robert Beazer, the multi-spinning Alan Davenport and Tony Harman (Haggispeed) completed the finishers. Peter Carter had also retired, pitting from eighth on lap nine.
“That was a hard race, what a way to end my career,” said the jubilant Childs, who was quick to credit his wife Ann and son Gavin for being so supportive in his lengthy motorsport career. “The car is up for sale now if you know anyone who wants it,” he concluded.
Issued by Peter Scherer for the Clubmans Register April 17th 2005. Contact 01332 362577/07802 853244 or peter@scher.freeserve.co.uk