Thundersports winner James Claridge a key part in the weekend , with four races in total comprising two heats and a final on the Indy circuit on Friday , followed by a further championship race on Saturday on the GP circuit .
Graham Fennymore proved to be the class of the field despite the very best efforts of Ian Pearson , who pushed hard in his Royale RP30 . But it was not plain sailing for Fennymore after a scare in his heat when the oil pressure disappeared . Thankfully , it proved to only be a faulty gauge , but he eased his pace massively to ensure the car got home . Some rapid work by his team got the Reynard 81SF ready for the final and he was able to charge through and take advantage of a safety car to close down the lead of Pearson . Fennymore then dived ahead for victory .
Pearson led the chase again on the Grand Prix circuit and harried Fennymore for much of the race , mounting a very serious late challenge into Clearways but Fennymore held on for an important double victory . Behind the top two , it was Andrew Storer and the increasingly impressive Molly Dodd who wrapped up the top four on the GP circuit . In the heats on Friday , Jon Finch scored a first HFF2000 victory over Storer while Pearson fended off Adrian Reynard in their heat .
The Thundersports race was another excellent contest that ran all the way to the flag after 23 laps of the GP circuit . James Claridge ( Chevron B23 ) and Mark Richardson ( Lola T290 ) battled mightily and fortunes ebbed and flowed through the course of the 40-minute race . Over the second half of the race , Claridge was able to edge out a little margin but Richardson rechallenged in the final laps and got the gap down to just four tenths of a second at the flag after a wonderful battle .
Some way back , Robert Shaw brought his Chevron B19 into third from Simon Watts , while Will Schryver headed the Sports 2000 field in his Royale RP37 . Among the GT cars , Neil Merry put his Chevrolet Corvette ahead of the similar car of Peter Hallford and they made a fabulous spectacle in the early laps when they ran nose to tail .
Formula Fords played a major part in the weekend and , ultimately , there were three wins for Cam Jackson but it was never easy . Unfortunately , the opening Historic race on Saturday was
Peter Hamilton ( Tecno ) in Historic F3
Tim Brise topped the HFF Over 50s
ultimately abandoned after two red flags , the second following an incident at Druids which left Ross Drybrough with a hand injury .
In the second Historic race , Jackson had a major challenge from Tom McArthur and the lead change several times before Jackson got back ahead when it mattered . However , McArthur was less than a fifth of a second behind in a race to the line at the end of a splendid battle . Horatio Fitz-Simon went
“ Formula Fords played a major part in the weekend ”
with them once he had wriggled clear of an early battle for third with Samuel Harrison . Unfortunately , a major misfire then set in for Harrison and he pitted for attention .
Fourth place featured a sensational contest between Matt Wrigley , Will Nuthall and Danny Stanzl , and that was how they finished as a fraction of a second split them as they went across the line almost three abreast . Tim Brise in seventh topped the over 50s after a great battle with Brian Morris and Kevin Stanzl .
Harrison , Jackson and Chart in Classic FF
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