All Plain Sayelling (review of 1990)
Short Circuit April 1991 by Anne Sayell
Whilst now retired Basil Craske dominated 1989's Grand Prix
Midget season it was his understudy Harry Sayell who took
over in 1990 in his own VW Beetle. Despite missing the first
three meetings of the season while building his Craske look-alike,
Harry took his new car to win the Drivers Championship convincingly
and won the British, National, Southern, and East of England
Championships before topping off a marvellous VW 'debut' with
the World crown at Alwalton on September 30. In fact the only
title to elude him was that of European Champion when he readily
admits was lost through inexperience of the Beetle car.
Dave Wesbroom once again took the runner-up spot but even
that was not decided until the very last race of the season
at Ringwood and then he clinched the position by just one
point. His high spot of the 1990 season came at Alwalton when
he took runner-up spot in the World Championship. Going into
the last meeting only 22 points separated 2nd to 6th places,
by the end of the championship it was reduced to just 9 points,
illustrating just how close the racing has become. John Weston
made good with third place in the championship but he even
had to share that!
David Shreeve, Harry's mentor throughout most of the season,
finished on equal points with John in joint third place, just
one point behind Dave Wesbroom. Only two points behind them
came Kevin Stanford, whose highlight of the season came with
his 5th place in the European Championship. Kevin looked set
to miss the event altogether when a driveshaft broke in practice,
but German Klaus Kilianski saved the day and Kevin made the
grid albeit at the back after missing the time trials: Adding
to the Bill Boarer Memorial Trophy and several second places
in 1990, Kevin's trophy collection is looking quite healthy.
In 5th place in only his second season came last years best
newcomer Peter Shreeve. Peter had built a new Arrow design
for the 1990 season and despite a slight reliability problem
early in the season Peter had another good year winning the
Cliff Davis Memorial Trophy as well as third place in the
World Championship. With Brits winning the first 7 places
it would be easy to overlook the challenge from the Continent
which included Klaus Kilianski and Chris Keitjens, 2nd and
3rd in the European Championship, in its five man team.
The final Drivers trophy went to newcomer Duncan Long, the
ex-Kart driver who bought Harry Sayell's ex-Arrow for 1990.
Duncan shot from white grade to silver after winning the Ace
Communications Shield at the first meeting and the Casa Challenge
Trophy at his second. He gave his many sponsors cause for
concern in June when he crashed heavily at Wisbech but the
car was repaired and back in action 4 weeks later to come
2nd in the Southern Championship at Ringwood. Unknown to Duncan
at the time of going to press, he will also be awarded 1990
Best Newcomers Trophy at the Clubs Presentation Night in January.
Also in for a surprise will be two more newcomers who've shone
in 1990, Andy Gallop the ex PRI Hot Rod driver who will receive
the Sportsman of the Year award, and Gordon Pooley, who will
receive a special Chairman's Award for his enthusiasm and
determination in 1990. Never having raced before, Gordon built
and designed his own car for 1990 including no less than 5
sets of rear suspension over the season. Spurred on by his
3rd place trophy in the Best in Europe Challenge held at the
World Championship event Gordon is building an Arrow based
design for '91 Eddy Ricketts plans to sell his VW car and
at least 3 established drivers are interested which indicates
the predicted 'Beetle battle' could well get into full swing
in 1991, with Sayell carrying the gold fin and starting at
the back of the grid regardless of results he could well find
his 1990 success difficult to repeat. With five new drivers
also planning to join the fray 1991 looks like an exciting
new year for the Club.
The new Supporters Club and monthly Club magazine free to
all members looks set to continue in the coming season. Also
fixtures are expected to include Alwalton, Northampton Stadium
and some Spedeworth venues, with Ringwood being negotiated.
The AGM in February promises to be a lively one with a wide
range of topics to be discussed including a proposal to rename
the formula to something more suitable to what is very likely
the fastest formula on the ovals and less synonymous with
sports cars or small drivers!
