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31st May, Sheffield, Shale Challenge
Report by Steve Terry
The
Grand Prix Midgets went back to their roots on Monday 31st
May at Sheffield by returning to shale for the first time
for a number of years. The Final was won by Steve Terry with
Heat wins for Andy Smith and Mark Hodges. Eight drivers turned
up for this historic event which saw them supporting BRISCA
V8 and F1 Stockcars.
The advice given by Frankie Wainman Junior
was to prove invaluable "DON'T HIT THE FENCE!" (cheers Frankie).
The track staff gave the Midgets two practice runs which was
helpful as most of the drivers had never experienced racing
on shale, interestingly no two cars were running the same
combination of tyres!
The first heat saw Andy Smith charge away
from the rest of the field after a strong start from pole.
Steve Terry quickly made his way into 2nd after passing Mike
Fowler down the inside, but it was World Champion Andy Collins
who was showing the rest how to overtake on shale by driving
round the outside of five cars to move from last to 3rd in
just three laps. The win went to Andy Smith by nearly a lap
from Steve Terry and Andy Collins. The top five was completed
by Mike Fowler and Ez Walker.
The 2nd heat saw Mark Hodges take an early
lead under heavy pressure from Ez Walker. The rest of the
pack were tightly bunched behind with positions constantly
changing. Ez Walker was handed the lead after Mark spun however
Ez's lead was short lived as a collision in the pack saw Rod
Pashley hit the home straight fence at considerable speed
causing damage to both himself and the Mk7 although he did
hobble away from the crash. The race was restarted in the
order of the previous lap with Mark back to the front and
with just a few laps remaining he pulled away and took the
win from Ez and Andy Smith. Andy Collins and Steve Terry rounding
off the top five.
Grid positions for the Final were drawn and
saw Steve Terry take the early lead from pole. Although he
was able to hold the lead for the duration it wasn't made
easy for him by Mark Hodges who after passing Andy Collins
was all over his back bumper and never more than a cars length
away. Steve managed to hold a tight enough line to stop Mark
getting past and took the chequered flag with Mark 2nd. Andy
Collins took 3rd from Andy Smith and Ez Walker.
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