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van Rengs leads Hanssen
Northampton action
Northampton woes for Henk van Rengs
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6th & 7th August, Brafield, European Championship
Report from Motoring News 10th August 1983 by Graham Brown
There was something for everybody at Northampton's annual
televised 'Festival of Speed' meeting last weekend; Stock
Cars and Bangers to keep the contact element of the crowd
happy, Hot Rods and Midgets for the non-contact fans, and
even truck racing to help frighten the casual onlooker!
The Midgets were racing for their European Championship, and
this was probably the race of the day, at least as far as
the TV audience was concerned. Despite the non-arrival of
World Champion Wilfried Hofer, it was still a powerful line-up
that turned out to do battle for the title. The home-based
drivers always looked like being up against it, with the Henk
Van Rengs continentals enjoying their usual capacity advantage.
The timed practice (to determine grid positions) confirmed
this state of affairs.
European Champion from 1977 to '81 (he didn't contest the
race in '82!) Jan Van Rengs took his powerful VW-powered Dastle
onto pole position, with seasoned British campaigner Mick
Bonner alongside. Defending champion Henk Hanssen (also VW-powered)
was right up there with them, as was the immaculate Lotus
Holbay motivated Fireball of Jan Litjens. There were three
Dutchmen and only one English driver in the first two rows
then, but another home-based front runner, Alf Boarer, was
close by too and ready to make a fight of it should traffic
delay the faster continental cars to any extent.
The Grid:
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(inside)
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(outside)
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Jan van Rengs (43)
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Mick Bonner (24)
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Hen Hanssen (11)
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Jan Litjens (48)
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Alf Boarer (69)
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Dan Hornby (16)
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Henk van Rengs (47)
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Geoff Hughes (10)
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Brian Forrest (9)
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Dave Cox (31)
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Tony Brewer (44)
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Gary Pollard (23)
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Malcolm Goodman (28)
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Franz Peters (182)
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Duncan Reed (15)
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Dermott McGivern (96)
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Dieter Schutz (168)
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John Smith (14)
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Dave Wesbroom (40)
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Mick Fowler (17)
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Mick Clements (32)
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John Seamark (22)
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George Gimbol (82)
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Dave Scott (7)
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Mick Eason (37)
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Rod McLaughlin
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Ross Butler (74)
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Jerry Pinny (87)
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The Race - 30 laps
The drivers all seemed to be under the impression that they
were to have two warm-up laps, but they certainly didn't get
them and the green flag was suddenly waved to send them away,
some still frantically trying to find first gat. One who never
made it off the grid was German Franz Peters who desperately
tried to push his car out of the way, but only succeeded in
getting it hit by the passing Henk van Rengs. The pair were
joined near the fence a short time later by Litjens, his right
front suspension broken, and the two prettiest cars in the
race were both lying amidst a collection of broken chrome
suspension parts - a great shame.
The rest were hard at it right from the word go however. Jan
van Rengs did all the early leading, with Hanssen right on
his tail followed by Bonner and Dan Hornby, though the latter
was trailing smoke and soon began to drop down the order.
Boarer was one of those caught napping at the start, but he
was soon cutting through after the leaders. It wasn't long
before he had Bonner's third position under pressure, at which
point the leading four hit the first big traffic jam and it
was all change. Hanssen took van Rengs briefly before van
Rengs re-established the status quo, whilst Boarer passed
Bonner for good and closed in on the leading pair. Van Rengs
and Hanssen swapped places a couple of times, but somehow
van Rengs emerged from the traffic still in the lead and once
on open road again, proceeded to make his power tell by pulling
quickly clear.
At half distance the leader was in traffic again, which suited
his pursuers nicely, Hanssen and Boarer catching up once more.
The trio remained locked in combat throughout the closing
stages, but despite some hairy wheelclimbing (followed by
aerobatics from Van Rengs!) no one could change the order,
van Rengs winning the title he seems to have made his own
again, from Hanssen, Boarer, Bonner, Gary Pollard and Brian
Forrest.
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