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27th April, Ringwood, Trafalgar Bearings
Cup
Barry Goldsby ended a 28 year drought by winning
his first ever race at a very wet Ringwood raceway. 13 cars
practiced just as the heavens opened but only 12 gridded for
the first heat as Harold Lowe took no further part in the
meeting due to a lack of wet tyres. As the green flag dropped
for the first time Mark Hodges made quite a slow start from
the blue grade and John Bilby dived for the outside line,
unfortunately finding the limit of his grip in the wet conditions
and promptly spun on the start/finish line and was collected
by Daz Ryecroft, both re-joining before going a lap down.
At the front Barry G was carving ahead of the rest of the
yellow grades and was soon joined by Chris Phillips. The red
grade divers were making steady progress from the back but
the conditions levelled the field and Goldsby's lead was quite
large as the chequered flag dropped.
Heat 1: 1. Barry Goldsby, 2. Andy Collins,
3. Chris Phillips, 4. Neil Clarke, 5. Rob Sayell, 6. Mark
Hodges, 7. David Smith, 8. John Bilby.
Heat 2 kicked off in a deluge, but this time
the red grades experience shone through from the start. Clarke
got through the traffic very quickly demoting Goldsby on his
way to the front. Andrew Bilby seemed to pull up his socks
in the later half of the race but left his effort far to late
to make any inroads on the cars in front of him. Phillips
spun out and bounced off the curbs heavily getting his thumb
caught in the steering wheel. Andy Collins was pushing Clarke
all the way home as the flag dropped and Ryecroft retired
with the water getting into his ignition system.
Heat 2: 1. Clarke, 2. Collins, 3. Sayell,
4. Goldsby, 5. Hodges, 6. Phillips, 7. A Bilby, 8. J Bilby
Only 10 cars gridded for the Trafalgar Bearings
Trophy final. Andrew Smith losing his gears during heat 2,
and Phillips with his arm in a sling nursing a sprained thumb.
Goldsby again took control from the start but was soon sidelined
with an electrical failure. David Smith then had a go at leading
but the boys from the back were soon knocking on the door.
Gary Bonner who had been struggling with the conditions all
night pulled off next with terminal handling problems. Ryecroft
then developed a misfire with the rain getting the better
of the VW. Next to go was John Bilby who snapped a throttle
cable and ground to a halt. By this time Clarke had pushed
through to the front and was starting to pull away from Sayell
and Collins. Behind A Bilby and D Smith had a few laps side
by side as Smith took the grippy outside line, leaving Bilby
to Struggle in the soaking channel. In 4th Hodges was having
a whale of a time in the Team Bilby spare car, getting it
to some alarming angles on the slippery surface. As the flag
dropped for the final time Clarke had 4 car lengths on Sayell,
who had Collins looking down his exhaust pipe.
Trafalgar Bearings Cup: 1. Clarke, 2. Sayell,
3. Collins, 4. Hodges, 5. A Bilby no other finishers
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