2002

25th & 26th May, Alwalton Raceway, Peterborough
World Championship

Entry, time trials and grid positions (thanks to Ann Goldsby)

Race report by Andrew Bilby:

14 cars qualified for the World Championship race time trials on 25th May, of which 13 attended and 11 took part as Andy Collins' Fireball failed to fire and Gary Ganger broke a half shaft on his way down to the track. Rob Sayell, unsurprisingly set the standard, circulating the 500 yard oval in 17.08 seconds, with Neil Clarke, Harold Lowe and Gorden Pooley in the Hinch P&K rounding off the front two rows.

Sayell set the pace from the start of the race, and was always going to be the man to catch. Clarke and Pooley were having a battle with Clarke coming out on top after Pooley retired when an oil pipe burst. Gary Bonner set a time about half way down the grid, but elected to start from the back of the qualifiers as he only had 2nd gear, but this failed to deter him and he scythed his way through the field, much as he had done in last years race at Ringwood, to take third, although even he had been lapped by the top two. Of the three non-qualifiers who started Ben Pashley and our very own lady racer, Nikky Rickett also finished, Nicky in her first ever World Final / 30 lap race. No mean feat.

World Championship: - 10 77 27 16 12 25 35 3 11.

Race two on Saturday night started under floodlights (a first for Peterborough) from graded order, but was red flagged, after Chris Phillips and Daz Ryecroft embedded/ hung themselves from the safety fence on lap 12, with the result being taken a lap back, minus those two, handing the win to Peter Bourn.

Result:- 88 27 21 10 78 77 16 35.

Sunday saw changeable conditions, alternating between heavy downpours and bright sunshine, and one such downpour whilst waiting to take to the track for the East of England Championship left the 2 drivers who elected to take a mixture of wets and slicks, holding their heads in their hands. Sayell left the track partway through the race with a blown diff/gearbox, leaving the heavier front engined cars pushing home their advantage in these conditions, to take the honours with Granger leading the way home from Phillips then the first rear engined car of Clarke bringing home the rest of the pack, the most notable of which being Dave Smith who picked up his first trophy with the club, finishing a creditable sixth in the Bullet, despite being one of those on mixed tyres.

Result: 25 12 77 78 21 18 16 35

The final race of the weekend got underway late in the day from graded order, with good battles going on throughout the field, most notably Clarke with Granger and Barry Goldsby with Andrew Bilby, who spent nearly half the race side by side, with Bilby only grasping the nettle with the one lap to board already showing, all of whom followed home the flying Hinch who had reclaimed his car from Pooley.

Result:-21 88 77 25 12 16 78 18.

In all it was a good weekend's racing, only being marred by the incident in race 2, and the subsequent incident when 10 cars were sent to the centre green for the following race, only to have a Stock Rod leave the track and pile into the Hinch car, which then hit Bourn's Arrow causing damage to both. But it is a credit to all involved, as all four cars were back in working order for the following day's racing.