| |
|
25th May, Alwalton,
European Championship
Gavin Terry reports:
Daz Rycroft drove a brilliant race, in which he led for the
duration, and took the chequered flag along with the European
Championship half a lap ahead of everyone else, at the Peterborough
Bank Holiday meeting on Sunday 25th May. The European championship
attracted 18 cars, many of which had practised the day before
and camped overnight. However by Sunday only 16 cars were
running, as Brian Gough had to drop out due to oil problems
and Evan Stone's Cheetah had crankshaft sensor problems.
The day started with
time trials to determine the grid for the European race. In
this drivers had two timed laps to complete the 500 yard track,
with their quickest lap going forward. Gordon Pooley proved
to be the fastest with a time of 17.12 seconds, putting him
on pole. Daz Rycroft also put in a good lap time of 17.21
seconds to start in second, with Alan Buckland starting in
third with a time of 17.28 seconds. It was also interesting
to note that Rob Sayell produced a lap time of 17.24 seconds
which would have placed him third on the grid had he qualified,
making for an exciting race.
The European Championship
race saw Daz Rycroft, on new tyres stormed from the front
of the grid round the outside of Gordon Pooley and into the
lead by the first corner. The two non-qualifiers Rob Sayell
and Harold Lowe also made good starts. However having had
to start from the back of the grid it looked unlikely that
they would ever be able to catch Daz Rycroft who was pulling
away at the front. Andy Collins, Gary Bonner and Steve Terry
had unfortunately had to pull out by this stage due to car
failure. Andrew Bilby had also been going extremely well until
he got out of shape coming out of the corner and hit the wall
putting him out of the race. The red flag that followed this
incident closed the field right up once again. Rycroft got
an excellent restart and once again started to pull away,
Rob Sayell was also driving well getting past a resilient
Alan Buckland and eventually getting into second. Gordon Pooley
who had been going well had to pull off with engine problems.
However Rycroft had pulled out to much of a lead, taking the
chequered flag half a lap ahead, of Rob Sayell who drove a
brilliant race to take second after starting from the back
of the grid, with Neil Clarke coming in very close behind
for third. He was followed over the line by Alan Buckland,
Mark Hodges, Peter Bourn, Andy Hinch, Andy Smith and John
Salter.
The second and final
race of the day was won by Rob Sayell who led from the end
of the first lap until the end of the race, in what was a
confusing start as the drivers were not given any warm up
laps. Steve Terry was positioned well in second place, however
speedy recoveries by Neil Clarke and Daz Rycroft soon saw
them pass into second and third. Harold Lowe was also carving
his way through the field, and Rycroft was slowly starting
to catch Rob Sayell. However, Rob had pulled out a significant
gap at the front and took the race win by the length of a
straight from Daz Rycroft in second and Harold Lowe in third.
Neil Clarke, Andy Hinch, Alan Buckland, Steve Terry, and Andy
Smith rounded off the top eight.
|
