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9th
October, Peterborough
Report from Short Circuit, November 1988
The midget
season came to a close at Peterborough on 9th October with
the East of England Championship the feature race. BBC2’s
Top Gear team were in attendance to film the midgets with
Chris Goffey trying his hand in Dermott McGivern’s car.
Basil
Craske arrived at the meeting secure in the knowledge that
he had won the National Points Championship for the third
year running. The runner up spot was still in doubt with David
Wesbroom well within striking distance of Harry Sayell and
the minor positions were still up for grabs.
The 20
lap East of England Championship was run on a damp track with
Duncan Reed setting the pace in his Alfa-Sud engined car.
Anthony Brewer made rapid progress into second place and was
closing on Reed when he spun off, rejoining in last place.
Craske had rocketed through the field and was now challengine
Reed, taking the lead on lap seven to pull away for an easy
win. Reed was forced out with overheating problems and Harry
Lowe took up the chase while Sayell and Wesbroom battled for
third spot. Wesbroom overtook Sayell and closed rapidly on
Lowe just failing to catch him on the line. Nigel Brake was
fifth while Brewer recovered to finish sixth. Chris Goffey
finished a creditable seventh after starting from the back
of the grid.
The second
race provided another comfortable win for Basil Craske with
Brewer a safe second. Mike Fowler, Sayell and Brake ran in
close company without actually swapping places while the initial
leader, Kevin Stanford, finished sixth.
A downpour
had lef the track awash for the the final and eight intrepid
souls (nee – ‘nutcases’) had elected to put their water wings
on and venture out for 15 laps. Reed led the field away with
Shreeve and Brewer in his wake. Brewer was mastering the conditions
and took the lead on lap two and held it until the final lap
when he aquaplaned wide on the pit turn and Craske splashed
by to complete his hat trick. Brake was third ahead of Shreeve,
Reed and Sayell.
It was
a pity mechanical problems intervened to take the edge of
the chase for points. Harry Lowe’s chances of a top six finish
disappeared when he finished the East of England Championship
with a holed radiator. Harry finished rour points short of
a top six place. David Wesbroom’s chances of catching Harry
Sayell were blighted when he finished the feature race with
ominous noises from gearbox; second gear had stripped and
he was forced to complete the meeting in third gear. Marcus
Retchless was another victim, his problems costing him fifth
place as Anthony Brewer overhauled him.
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