CLASSIC CLUBMANS CHAMPIONSHIP 2007
Mark Charteris notched up his first win since the opening round of the year, at a warm and sunny Castle Combe, narrowing the gap on runaway leader Peter Harper, who failed to score.
Peter Harper’s Mallock staked an early claim for pole position, before returning to the pits for adjustments. Steve Chaplin’s Phantom was closing in on Harper’s time, when Malcolm Jackson suddenly went almost two seconds faster than anyone else, and almost three seconds under the lap record.
Then with only minutes remaining Harper returned and bagged a time of 1m8.243s which proved untouchable, although Charteris got within 0.04secs of it on the very last lap of the session. Jackson had to settle for third alongside Antony Denham’s Doris, while Chaplin and Mike Hickson completed the top six.
After missing the last couple of rounds Ray Harper was back to head row four, with Keith Whyman alongside. Bob Crozier’s pace once again belied the age of the Mallock MKII, with Gavin Childs’ Gryphon alongside him on row five. Graham Onion was next up in his Mallock, with Jared Wood, the best of the F1300’s in his Batten.
Clive Wood topped class C in 14th, behind Ian Mitchell’s class A CTG, but in front of Sam Lancaster’s class A Mallock. John Deane-Bowers’ Mallock and Mike Sales’ Phantom were next in class B, after Dave Facer’s session was cut short and he headed back to the paddock. Further down the order Alan Davenport was out for the first time in his rebuilt Mallock, David Childs came out of retirement to race his Sacre Bleu class B car and Ashley Seymour was making his race debut in the Tasman 3, after losing out at the rainy Mallory round.
RACE
Having had four wins on the bounce, Harper lined up on pole doing his best to eradicate memories of the equivalent race three years earlier. His driveshaft had failed when the red lights went out and bizarrely yet another failure afflicted him at that the same point. So his car was pushed to the sidelines where he was left to watch the proceedings.
The following 24 cars all managed to avoid him, with Charteris leading into Quarry for the first tome. From Jackson, Denham and Chaplin.
Charteris managed to put in enough daylight between himself and Jackson to be comfortable, but not so much that Jackson found his chase futile. The eventual winning margin was 2.3secs, but Charteris was capable of running at least 0.5secs a lap quicker. “I wouldn’t wish it on anybody, but we have been having some bad luck so now it’s Peter’s turn,” said Charteris.
The lead pair had pulled away from Denham and Chaplin who ran in close company again towards the end, especially when Ray Harper closed in. Harper made ground on the third lap with Hickson going out and Whyman slipping down the order. For a while it looked like the Harper may have been on the podium, but it was not to be.
Gavin Childs completed the top six, with Mitchell and Jared Wood the only other unlapped runners. Clive Wood was ninth and won class B after an almighty battle with Facer. Despite starting four places behind on the grid, Facer was ahead of Wood on the opening lap. The places reverted a lap later as they became involved in a six car fight for seventh. 22 of the 25 starters made the finish.
RESULT
1 Mark Charteris (Mallock Mk20B) 10 laps in 11m40.825s (95.031mph); 2 Malcolm Jackson (Mallock Mk20B) 11m43.158s; 3 Antony Denham (Doris CKM); 4 Steve Chaplin (Phantom P79); 5 Ray Harper (Mallock Mk20B); 6 Gavin Childs (Gryphon C73/76); 7 Jared Wood (Batten MKI); 8 Ian Mitchell (CTG Mk8); 9 Clive Wood (Mallock Mk20B); 10 Dave Facer (Mallock Mk18BW). Class winners: J.Wood; C.Wood. Fastest lap: Charteris 1m08.504s (97.221mph).
NEXT ROUND: OULTON PARK, AUGUST 25TH/27TH.
Issued by Peter Scherer for the Clubmans Register, August 6th, 2007. Contact 01332 362577/07802 853244 peter@scher.freeserve.co.uk