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Brands full report should be out in glorious technicolour on the HSCC website, here's the black and white version.
Jackson wins in a short and sweet Brands encounter
Cam Jackson was back into his winning ways as the victor
in the first round but he had a worthy challenger in Linton
Stutely.
Stutely, driving a Royale RP3, started from pole and was only
0.039s away from the tail of Jackson’s March 709 at the end. Both
drivers were supremely committed, attempting to snatch any
advantage they could from one another, whether on the inside or
the outside of the track. Stutely set the early pace and the two
traded the lead, but Jackson managed to get marginally in front.
The race was ended early by a red flag for David Squire’s stricken
Hawke DL2 and things could have been very different with another
lap’s worth of action.
Just as fierce was the battle for third between Matt Wrigley’s
Merlyn Mk11A/20 and Danny Stanzl’s familiar red Elden Mk8. With
Stutely leading, Matt Wrigley’s first tussle was with Jackson, who
qualified one place behind him in third. When Jackson got away,
Wrigley had Stanzl to contend with. The Elden driver employed his
trademark sideways style to shoot past Wrigley and did hold third.
Wrigley got ahead again, but Stanzl had passed him when the red
flag fell. Great driving by all four with one second separating them
for half the race. Danny (no 70) was disappointed to be dropped to
fourth on countback but it was a strong season opener for both
him and Wrigley (no15).
Matt, Danny, Ross, Tim and Michael G-P.
Pierre Livingston should have been among the leaders but he had
to settle for fifth. The Classic Team Merlyn driver’s finish was more
impressive than it looked however, as he had started from the
back of the grid. Livingston’s transponder failed during qualifying
and his mechanics pulled out an ignition cable in an attempt to fix
it, meaning that he did not set a time. He was allocated third, but
then sent to the back for a flag infringement. His rapid progress up
the grid was neat and efficient, making up twelve places on the
first lap alone.
The last of the drivers overhauled by Livingston was Radio
Caroline Over 50s winner, Ross Drybrough. The Worthing dentist
has only just joined the ranks of the veterans and began strongly
with a sixth place. On their way to the line his battling chief rivals
were Kevin Stanzl (Crossle 16F) fighting off a close Tim Brise (in
his now “transformed” Merlyn Mk20), who were eighth and ninth
behind Michael Grant Peterkin’s Brabham fractions behind Ross.
We witnessed some great racing amongst this group and Stanzl
Senior got ahead late on and kept his place by a margin of just
0.2sec. In 10th place Ted Pearson’s Merlyn Mk11/17 and Simon
Jackson’s Crossle were a little way behind, with Jackson just
failing to join his son in the top ten by 0.9sec. Chris Stuart and Paul
Unsworth keeping them honest right behind. Despite setting the
fastest lap in his class, defending Over 50 champion Rob Smith
was not quite on his usual form with a dislocated finger from a bike
accident in the week but from being 23rd on the first lap after a
spin, 14th wasn’t so bad.
Historic F1 Champ Greg Thornton followed Rob 1.3 seconds away
after getting past Matt Sturmer with Matt finishing 0.4 up his
gearbox. The following Stuart Kestenbaum wasn’t having his
normal top ten race and went home early not feeling well. Hope
you’re OK Stuart…
Some great racing was to be seen further down the field too and
four seconds covered a race-long battle of the next four cars with
new boy in his FIRST race Alan Shmidt. He drove brilliantly, kept
up with, peered at, and learnt from the experienced; Alex Meek’s,
Chris Sharples’, John Slack’s and Andrew Mansell’s rear ends.
Good close racing.
Steve Mansell (11) and Nick Arden finished a great line-up.
Our other new boy Peter Mullineux was settling nicely after a brief
qualifying when his gearbox decided stuck in 4th gear “druids was
a challenge” he said. He had to bow out with a turned up nose
when he got his braking slightly wrong. He joined the over-heating
Bill Cowing in his ‘only FF Ginetta in the paddock’ who
unfortunately lasted 2 laps.
David Squires and Kevin Williams had a full-on action race which
was great to see until a disappointing coming together at Druids
hairpin where both came back a little bashful and bashed.
The second race of the day was cancelled due to timing issues
arising from an incident two races before. This news,
understandably, was a disappointment in the HFF paddock.
With one round less in an already shortened season, there is no
room for the slightest error for any of the leading drivers. The
shortest season on record may well turn out to be one of the
closest and most exciting for the main AND our Radio Caroline
over 50 Championships.
Report by Rachel Harris-Gardiner with additions by Dick.
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