WEATHER FAILS TO DAMPEN ACTION AT SNETTERTON


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Graham Roberts & Farquini Deott ended up splashing their way to FunCup glory – Photo: Marvin Hall

Despite the fact that summer is supposed to have well and truly arrived, weather conditions didn’t seem so bright at Snetterton for the Summer Race Weekend, with a mixture of tin-tops, historics and an endurance race to get through – all across both days!

Starting off the racing side of the weekend, the FunCup Championship geared up for a 6 hour thrash on the 300 circuit for its 3rd round of the season. CCS Media scored fastest time in qualifying, however started on row 3 thanks to the grid draw. That didn’t deter the team of Alan Honarmand, Ciro Carannante, Nigel Greensall and Robert Tomlinson, as they held the lead from Global Racing and JPR UVio come the end of the first hour. Come 1/3 distance, CCS Media had slipped to 3rd with JPR UVio putting the #225 car in front ahead of DespatchBay.com. From there, the duo of Graham Roberts and Farquini Deott were never headed and took the flag in treacherously wet and darkened conditions after 127 laps just 2.281 seconds ahead of DespatchBay.com’s Andy Bicknell and James Littlejohn, with the #61 Eco Racing car machine of Alan Brown, Rory Brown and Jay Sheppard completing the podium. Eco Racing also move into the championship lead as a result of their consistent results throughout the start of the season.

Moving to Sunday, the boys and girls of the Quaife Fiesta Championship took to the track with their biggest field to date of a whopping 33 cars across 4 classes! In Class C, Specialized Motorsport’s Simon Horrobin took a fairly straightforward lights-to-flag victory in Race 1 with young teammate Samuel Priest completing a 1-2 for his outfit, while 3rd place went to the returning reigning champion James “JJ” Ross, proving he was still a force to reckoned with by scoring a podium on his comeback. Race 2 saw Horrobin double up on top step visits to complete a practically perfect weekend, with Ross right on his tail to the end to complete a successful return with P2, while it was a personal best result for Alfonso Skriczka with a fantastic podium in 3rd.

In Class D, it was another fairly simple weekend for overall points leader Alastair Kellett. From pole in Race 1, the Irishman had to fend off the attentions of Jamie White to take the win, while both were followed home by another strong performance from former points leader Jessica King in 3rd. Jessica’s luck sadly wouldn’t hold out as she was taken out of Race 2 before it had even really started, leaving Kellett to make it 7 out of 7 victories for races he’d finished. White once again came in right behind in 2nd and Stuart Robbins completed the rostrum. Peter Dendy-Sadler and Tim Bennett shared the spoils of success with a win apiece in Class A, while in Class B it was another impressive showing from Derek Robinson with a brace of victories.

Their younger compatriots in the Fiesta Junior Championship experienced two races that were just as energetic in tricky conditions. Despite starting 10th on the grid for Race 1, FinSport's Ronan Quinn put in a sterling performance to become FJC's 5th different winner this year. Behind him, Lochlan Bearman scored his first ever podium in 2nd place with Jam-Sport's Harry Gooding completing the top 3. Gooding and Bearman would once again become acquainted in a second race that saw vastly changing track conditions. In the end with Bearman leading, a skirmish on the final lap saw Gooding come out on top with Race Car Consultants' Jack Davidson also scoring an initial podium in 2nd and Rockingham winner Bradley Burns scoring his 3rd podium in as many races behind them.

The BMW Race Days Compact Cup brought the largest grid of the weekend with over 40 cars out to qualify and take the starts. Former British GT champion James Gornall took pole for Race 1, however he wasn’t able to remain at the head of field as come the chequered flag, it was Ian Jones who topped the timing screens with Gornall just 0.2 seconds behind in 2nd and Joe Wiggin taking home another trophy in 3rd. For Race 2, it was just as close once again as this time Gornall did get his victory in a finish that was even closer than that of Race 1; both he and Ian Jones separated by less than a tenth! Owen Hunter became the 4th different rostrum visitor another second back in 3rd.

For historic fans, the HRDC had two wonderful displays of motorsport on Sunday afternoon. The first was the HRDC Academy & A-Series Challenge. The A-Series cars locked out the top 3 places come the end with William Lynch’s Mini Cooper S in 1st ahead of the Ashley MG Midget of Brian Small and Thomas Grindall’s MG W&P GT. Over with the densely populated Academy class, Clio racer James Dorlin proved he could run in both modern and classic machinery flawlessly with a win ahead of Tony Shirtcliffe and Nick Powell.

Finally, on the other side of the HRDC paddock in the Touring Greats and TC63 race, there was a relatively close race up at the front. It was left to the “star” drivers of the field to dice it out, with former BTCC man Mike Jordan still able to show his true speed with an overall and Class S win for his Austin A40 ahead of another A40 driven by touring car and sportscar stalwart Michael Caine, while BTCC engine developer Neil Brown completed the podium. The other class victories went to Ding Boston’s Riley 1.5 in Class B, Graham & Alastair Love in their Mk7 Jaguar in Class A, Frank Slevin & Peter Mullen clinching the TC63 honours in the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Nick Powell making another rostrum appearance in the Academy class.

For a full breakdown of the results from the weekend, you can find it courtesy of TSL Timing HERE.

Scott Woodwiss


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