up in turn one and was the result. The main
victims this time were 647 Chris Burgoyne who
ended up on top of NI909 William Murray, 115
was also out but Speak continued with front end
damage.
The race had now had five yellow flags and had
only run nine laps of the race, only 14 of the
original starters were left for the fifth and final
restart. To add further drama, Moody summoned
a photographer to have a look under his car for
him, and sure enough, it was leaking oil. He
would last only half a lap and would retire with a
split rear axle.
Meanwhile Speak put in a big hit on Mark
Simpson, who clattered into the fence and
continued, but Speak went out with damage. At
the front it was now starting to get interesting
when at the midpoint of the race, Goldin made his
move on Brennan at turn one, pushing him out
wide and into the fence. Brennan repaid the
favour a lap later, sending Goldin into the turn one
wall. A five car fight for the lead had now
developed with Bradbury, MacMillan and Wagner
joining the mix.
Brennan retook the lead but again Goldin pushed
him wide in turn one which allowed Bradbury
through on the inside and into the lead. At the
next bend MacMillan drove up the inside of
Bradbury sending them both out wide and allowed
Brennan back in front. Wagner put the bumper in
on Bradbury which sent them out wide causing a
tangle between 886, 823, 401 and 888 which
allowed Brennan the opportunity to pull out
several car lengths over the chasing pack. As the
race settled down, Brennan began to pull out a
lead over Bradbury and Goldin moved back up to
4th place, before dropping back down the order.
MacMillan passed Wagner for 3rd place and that’s
how it stayed until the chequered flag flew.
After 25 action packed laps, Micky Brennan had
secured his second World title, Chris Bradbury
came home 2nd and George MacMillan Jnr
crossed the line in 3rd place. MacMillan gave a
very touching post race interview, having lost his
father George MacMillan to cancer only a few
weeks earlier. Sadly all his efforts went
unrewarded as his car failed the post race
checks, which promoted Sam Wagner into 3rd
place.
Result – 968 Micky Brennan, 886 Chris Bradbury,
823 Sam Wagner, NI371 Denver Grattan, 960
Adie Whitehead, 401 Barry Goldin, 270 Mark
Gibs, IOM115 Mike Booth, 871 Mark Simpson.
Speaking after the race Micky had this to say.
“I didn’t want to start on row 2 as I expected to be
in the wall on the first bend, but now that it’s over
and done with, the second row wasn’t such a bad
place to be. To be honest, I didn’t think that I
would win it, especially with all those restarts as
well, I didn’t think that I would get all the breaks
that I got but luckily it all just fell into place for me.
On the restarts I just tried to stay calm and tried
not to think about them too deeply and get myself
worked up. I managed to back them up behind
me and get away cleanly each time. I think Barry
Goldin was a little bit quicker than me, I don’t
think that I was the fastest man out there today
but it’s not always about being the fastest, being
out front without traffic helps and it all played into
my favour.
I’ve always gone well at Barford, so my dad said
that he would sponsor the World Final here via
our firm C&S Coaches, so it’s made it all that
more special winning it here today.
Chris Clark
www.insidestockcarworld.co.uk
11