CLASSIC CLUBMANS CHAMPIONSHIP 2008
A chilling wintry blast greeted a small but select grid for the opening rounds of the year, celebrating Thruxton’s 40th anniversary. Former Champion Mark Charteris claimed a double win in his Mallock, while Ray Mallock had to surrender pole position with engine problems, and defending champion Peter Harper had a troublesome weekend too.
Mallock set a cracking pace during wet qualifying and took pole in his Mk18B by just over 1.5secs. “It was going just great and then in the closing minutes I pulled off with a cracked cylinder head. We had to send back to base for a spare and worked overnight, just hoping it would be OK,” he explained.
Charteris shared the front row, “I just wasn’t fast enough and got messed up on my last lap,” he said. Steve Chaplin’s Phantom head the second row, “it ran beautifully after we had done some work on the engine over the winter. The only problem was the crutch strap was a bit tight, so I was reluctant to brake,” he reckoned.
Down in fourth Harper also had problems. “I struggled a bit, sliding all over the place. Then it just died on me when the rotor arm broke going through Noble,” he said. Antony Denham’s Doris was next up, “she wintered well on the front lawn and we put the engine in during the week, everything seemed OK,” he confirmed.
Gavin Childs’ Gryphon was sixth best, “well I survived with no real problems and it was getting better,” he said. Clive Wood headed class B in seventh, “all good” he reckoned as not only was he contesting the two Clubmans races, but the Formula 2 double header and the Classic FF2000.
Down in a disappointing eighth though was Mike Hickson, “terrible on 10 year old wets. No confidence, just awful but kept the car is in one piece,” he concluded. Dave Facer struggled on with a misfire too in his class B Mallock.” It was a top end misfire, otherwise I wasn’t too far off Clive,” he said.
The final class A cars were Ian Mitchell’s CTG and Bob Crozier’s Mallock. Tony Harman secured the penultimate place with his Haggispeed, “well that’s the new engine run in and I have remembered which pedal is which,” he said. The grid was completed by Alan Davenport’s Mallock, “I had a tankslapper into the infield at Segrave on the last lap, it was very wet there,” he explained.
RACE
Only 12 cars made it out onto the grid for the 9.10 start, as the hard work by the Mallock team was in vain as the polesitting car still had water pouring from it when they fired it up.
From the start it was Charteris leading Harper, Chaplin and Childs through Allard. The lead duo soon broke clear and Harper made a challenge for the lead exiting Church. It was soon all over for the defending champion though, when he pulled off at Cobb on the second lap with another broken rotor arm.
Charteris was left in the clear from Chaplin, but Childs, Hickson and Denham were as one for third. Denham made it past Hickson into Noble on lap five and was right on Childs tail as they arrived at the chicane. A lap later Denham had third at Noble, but as Hickson mounted a challenge on Childs, he caught a kerb, wrecked his nose and was forced pitwards with a broken radiator.
Charteris eventually took the flag over five seconds up on Chaplin, with Denham retaining a comfortable third. Childs held onto fourth and Mitchell was fifth, despite being caught by Crozier in the closing laps. Wood kept Facer at a safe distance to top class B in seventh, while Davenport and Harman completed the finishers, after Harman had a mid race spin.
RESULT
1 Mark Charteris (Mallock Mk20B) 10 laps in 13m13.294s (106.91mph); 2 Steve Chaplin (Phantom P79); 3 Antony Denham (Doris CKN); 4 Gavin Childs (Gryphon C73/75); 5 Ian Mitchell (CTG Mk8); 6 Bob Crozier (Mallock Mk11); 7 Clive Wood (Mallock Mk20B); 8 Dave Facer (Mallock Mk18BW); 9 Alan Davenport (Mallock Mk18); 10 Tony Harman (Haggispeed Mk10). Class A: 1 Charteris; 2 Chaplin; 3 Denham; 4 Childs. Class B: 1 Wood; 2 Facer; 3 Davenport; 4 Harman. Class C: no starters. Class D: no starters. Fastest lap: Charteris 1m17.712s (109.14mph)).
RACE TWO
Harper and Hickson made it onto the back of the grid for the second race, so it was 12 cars again lining up for the start.
Charteris, Chaplin, Childs and Denham arrived at the Complex line astern on the opening lap, with Harper already up to fifth. Although the lead quintet made an immediate break, Charteris still managed to stretch out an early lead. Harper picked off Denham on the second lap and got alongside Childs at the chicane. They touched and both continued with Harper finally going through at Cobb.
Hickson was also on the move, taking Mitchell for sixth into the chicane on the second lap, but was already some distance adrift of the lead group.
While Harper attempted to close the gap on Chaplin, Denham and Childs had a couple of swaps and changes for fourth. But there was no catching the lead pair who repeated their results from the morning race. But Harper not only had rear wing damage from his touch with Childs, he had picked up a misfire too. Denham had managed to shake off Childs and reeled in Harper. Into the chicane for the final time they were side by side, but Harper won the drag to the flag by 0.6secs.
Hickson settled in a solitary sixth and Crozier snatched seventh from Mitchell on the last lap. Wood again had the legs of Facer for ninth and class B, while Davenport and Harman enjoyed a racelong duel at the tail end.
RESULT
1 Mark Charteris (Mallock Mk20B) 10 laps in 13m00.021s (108.73mph); 2 Steve Chaplin (Phantom P79); 3 Peter Harper (Mallock Mk20B); 4 Antony Denham (Doris CKM); 5 Gavin Childs (Gryphon C73/75); 6 Mike Hickson (Mallock Mk20B); 7 Bob Crozier (Mallock MK11); 8 Ian Mitchell (CTG Mk8); 9 Clive Wood (Mallock Mk20B); 10 Dave Facer (Mallock Mk18BW); 11 Alan Davenport (Mallock Mk18); 12 Tony Harman (Haggispeed Mk10). Class A: 1 Charteris; 2 Chaplin; 3 Harper; 4 Denham. Class B: Wood; 3 Davenport; 4 Harman. Class C: no starters. Class D: no starters. Fastest lap: Charteris 1m16.636s (110.67mph).
Issued by Peter Scherer for the Clubmans Register, March 25th, 2008. Contact 01332 362577/07802 853244 peter@scher.freeserve.co.uk