Northampton, National Championship
by Francis Blay from Short Circuit Magazine, July 1979
Northampton was the setting for this year's National Championship
and it bought the biggest field of cars so far this year.
The National Championship race had Gary Pollard in his newly
acquired Arrow setting the pace, but a now blue grade Brian
Harding was soon at the head of the field. Gary Pollard spun
at half distance and it was the hard fighting duo of Mick
Bonner and Basil Craske who were soon closing in Harding.
The three of them circulated nose to tail for the next ten
laps with Bonner taking the lead after 15 laps, but Craske
was through 2 laps later. Once he hit the front there was
no stopping him and he won quite comfortably from Bonner and
Harding.
The second heat had a dramatic start when Greg Pugsley lost
it on the back straight and Dave Scott and Dave Wesbroom went
piling in forcing the red flags out. Gary Pollard was again
the leader after the re-start but spun again letting Bonner
through. Craske was again coming through the pack very quickly,
but had a rough time with Ian Fraser-Kerr - they both touched
and spun out. Craske recovered well but there was no way he
was going to catch Bonner and he ended up a quarter of a lap
behind in second position with Geoff Hughes third.
The third race gave Craske an easy win, especially after
Bonner retired early on. Pollard finally got it all together
to take second with Joe Therstappen third. Hughes was fifth
with Wesbroom sixth.
