CLASSIC CLUBMANS CHAMPIONSHIP 2008
Silverstone National victor Mark Charteris was undoubtedly the quickest of the BARC Classic Clubmans drivers in race conditions on Saturday afternoon – but the St. Albans racer also had to rely on a little luck in order to emerge with the spoils.
In qualifying, Peter Harper put his Mallock on pole position, with a best lap of 1m 08.825 seconds (85.72mph), with Ray Mallock alongside on the front-row and Charteris and Steven Chaplin comprising row two.
At the start of the race, Harper led away from pole and managed to fend off Mallock through Copse for the first time, but the latter found a way through at Becketts. Things went from bad to worse for Harper soon after though, when a spin at Luffield relegated him to fourth position.
Into lap two, Mallock held the lead from Charteris with Chaplin third, Harper fourth and Mike Hickson in fifth place. A couple of laps later though, Charteris was in a position to challenge Mallock and he duly went through into the lead at Brooklands.
Well clear of their pursuers, the top two soon started to lap back-markers which looked, at one point, set to cost Charteris his lead. At the end of lap six as the duo ran through Luffield, Charteris gesticulated furiously as three battling tail-enders baulked him and allowed Mallock to close.
Into lap 10, Charteris was again blocked by back-markers which gave Mallock the chance to dive inside at Copse. Running side-by-side all the way through Becketts, Charteris managed to hold his lead – that is until lap 12 when more drama occurred.
Having broken away from Mallock, Charteris pitched his MK20B car into a spin on entry to Brooklands so his rival gratefully inherited first place. With the gap to third substantial, Charteris was able to rejoin in second position and after a couple of searing laps he got back on terms with Mallock.
On the 14th and final lap, the pair served up a grandstand finish and as they ran through Luffield and out of Woodcote, Charteris managed to get slightly better drive to grab the win by a fraction – 0.079 seconds to be precise. Mallock was very respectful of his rival, just giving him enough room to avoid contact – great action.
“It was a good race, I’m really pleased to win and especially so after the spin”, said Charteris at the conclusion. Mallock concurred “That was a really enjoyable race, great to finish second – it was very close over the line!”
In Class B, Robert Beazer achieved his maiden class pole position with the sixth fastest time overall but come the race, David Facer won out by 1.5 seconds. Richard Fry won Class C.
Results
1 Mark Charteris (Mallock MK20B) 14 laps in 15m31.411s (88.68mph); 2 Ray Mallock (Mallock U2 MK18B) 15m31.490s; 3 Steven Chaplin (Phantom P79); 4 Peter Harper (Mallock MK20B); 5 Malcolm Jackson (Mallock MK20B); 6 Mike Hickson (Mallock MK20B); 7 Bob Crozier (Mallock MK11); 8 Graham Onion (Mallock MK14E); 9 Robin Booth (Mallock MK20B); 10 Paul Bason (Myers Special). Class winners: David Facer (Mallock MK18BW); Richard Fry (Mallock MK8B). Fastest lap: Charteris 1m03.438s (93.00mph).
NEXT ROUNDS CROFT, JULY 19/20
Issued by Peter Scherer for the Clubmans Register on June 9th, 2008. Contact 01332 362577/07802 853244 or peter@scher.freeserve.co.uk