Radical Clubmans Cup - Rounds 3 & 4, Croft

Although John Hewitt managed to inflict a first defeat of the season on Jonathan Wright, Hewitt’s team mate James Saggers lost his racelong lead in a final dash for the line. Wright could hardly believe he claimed his last victory by 9/1000ths!

Hewitt’s SR3 headed Wright’s PR6 by 0.485secs to secure pole for the first race, with Simon Fish’s SR3 only a fraction down in third. 27 cars made the final grid line up.

From the lights Hewitt romped away to immediate lead, with Fish, Wright, Paul Steele (SR3) and Gordon Paterson (PR6) heading the chasers, from former Legends Champion and Radical debutant Chris Grieve, who started from the back in his SR3, after a problem with timing during qualifying.

Grieve became the greatest threat when he shot past Steele and Patterson on the second lap and took Simon Dolan’s SR3 with him. A lap later he shot past Wright at the Jim Clark Esses and then had second at the Complex after Fish ran wide and lost three places in the increasingly damp conditions.

Dolan kept pressing too and tried to take Wright for third into the Complex, but had to back off having already had contact at Sunny.

Down in fifth, Fish came under pressure from Roger Bromiley’s SR3, after he had come from the back of the grid after an early indiscretion in qualifying. They both moved up when Dolan lost his front bodywork and spun at Tower on lap seven, with Bromiley close behind having already demoted Fish. “The front had come loose after the contact and just flew off on the straight and I spun,” explained Dolan.

Although Hewitt had it all to himself, Grieve started to make inroads in to his commanding lead, while the equally impressive Bromiley took his charge to within a length of third placed Wright. Into the Complex on lap nine at Bromiley was through and quickly consolidated his place.

Hewitt proved he was a master of the conditions though, taking his lights to flag victory by nearly 13 seconds. “I had plenty of testing in the wet,” he admitted.

Grieve was delighted with his second place, “I knew it would be pretty good in the rain, and I proved it suited me,” he said. “I am just over the moon, I got lucky though a couple of times with slower cars,” said Bromiley after a securing a hard fought third.

Wright managed to hold onto to fourth, “it wasn’t handling properly after the contact,” he explained. Nigel Morrison’s PR6 also snatched fifth from Fish at the Hairpin on the last lap, “I had every confidence I would get him,” he reckoned. Steele’s early promise dropped him to a solitary seventh by the end, while Mark Griffiths, Patterson and Jon Ali rounded off the top ten.

Mark Griffiths’ 1200 SR4 topped the Biduro class from Simon White and Gary Kane. In the Clubsports it was Andrew Harwood with 25 seconds in hand over Mark Boot. Wright headed the Invitation class and Richard Stables was unopposed in the Prosports.

1 John Hewitt (SR3) 13 laps in 21m07.765s (78.44mph); 2 Chris Grieve (SR3) +12.919s; 3 Roger Bromiley (SR3); 4 Jonathan Wright (PR6); 5 Nigel Morrison (PR6); 6 Simon Fish (SR3) +4.891s; 7 Paul Steele (SR3); 8 Mark Griffiths (SR4); 9 Gordon Patterson (PR6); 10 Jon Ali (SR3). Class winners: Hewitt; Stables; Griffiths; Andrew Harwood (Clubsport); Wright. Fastest lap: Hewitt 1m34.081s (81.31mph).

Fish was on pole for race two, with Wright alongside, while James Saggers took over the race one winning car of Hewitt to line up third quickest.

There were dramas at the start when Grieve was pushed away with his engine reluctant to start. Fish got a clean get away and led as far as the Complex, before his SR3 just died on him. Saggers and Wright darted past, with Morrison in third, from Stables, Dolan and Simon White’s SR4, while Fish limped pitwards where he stayed.

While the lead duo started to ease themselves clear, Morrison started to slip back towards the charging Dolan, who had just fought his way past Stables into fourth. White was also on the slide, losing out to Patterson at Clervaux and Griffiths at Tower, before a 10 car train for ninth began to close with Bill Henderson at the head.

But Dolan had to pit after his rear wing was damaged and Morrison joined the retirements on the same lap. The lead pair were therefore left with an increased lead over new third man Stables, who had plenty in hand over Patterson. Alan Hogg and Steele both added to White’s demotion at the Complex on lap eight, before working together to close on Griffiths.

Saggers had looked like repeating his team mates earlier dominant victory until lap 13, when Wright suddenly took two seconds off his lead. Time was running out though, but a number of backmarkers lay between Saggers and the flag. The gap continued to close as the chequered flag was readied, and into the Hairpin for the final time they were virtually side by side. The charge for the line brought them precariously close to more backmarkers, but it was Wright who made it to the flag and his third win of the year by 9/1000ths secs. “I was really on a mission and can’t believe I won that though,” said Wright. “I didn’t see the last lap board so didn’t realise we were on it,” said Saggers.

Stables retained third, “I am happy with lonely rather than have those SR3’s all over me,” he said. Patterson retained fourth but Griffiths lost fifth in a dash to the line too. ”I didn’t have a problem, I just backed off. I didn’t realise the challenge was for a place, I thought it was the leader coming to lap me,” he explained. But it was Hogg snatching a late fifth, “we had a lot of problems in qualifying and the first race, but that was rewarding and made whole weekend worthwhile, “ said Hogg.
Steele almost got Griffiths on the last lap, before settling in seventh, while Ali, Kane and Darren Anley completed the top ten.

Saggers still won the Supersport class with second overall, with Griffiths and Stables taking their second class wins of the day. Mark Boot turned the tables on Harwood again to clinch the Clubsport class.

1 Jonathan Wright (PR6) 15 laps in 20m57.373 (91.28mph); 2 James Saggers (SE3) +0.009s; 3 Richard Stables (PR6); 4 Gordon Patterson (PR6); 5 Alan Hogg (SR3); 6 Mark Griffiths (SR4); 7 Paul Steele (SR3); 8 Jon Ali (SR3); 9 Gary Kane (SR4); 10 Darren Anley (Prosport). Class winners: Saggers; Stables; Griffiths; Mark Boot (Clubsport); Wright. Fastest lap: Saggers 1m20.904s (94.55mph).

Issued for Radical Sportscars by Peter Scherer, June 16th 2008.

Radical UK Cup - Rounds 5 & 6, Croft

Terrence Woodward and Ross Kaiser made it five successive wins, with a fine double victory at Croft.

The 360 Racing SR8 took pole by 1 ½ secs over Ben Jackson’s similar car, while Simon Dolan/Sam Hancock headed the SR3’s from Alex Kapadia/Dan Laddiman.

It was Jackson that gained the upperhand over Woodward as they arrived at Clervaux for the first time, with Nigel Redwood, Kapadia, Hancock and Jeremy Ferguson in formation behind.
Kapadia had already made it past Redwood, and Hancock followed as they braked for Tower on the second lap. From the back Derek Johnston was pushing hard to gain ground in his rebuilt SR8, following a big off at the Jim Clark Esses on the first lap of qualifying. But a spin at the Complex reversed his early progress.

While Jackson and Woodward continued to pull away, Hancock started to tow Redwood back towards third placed Kapadia. But by lap 10 it was closing up at the front again too, with Woodward looking increasingly menacing. “I was learning all the time by watching where Ben was quicker,” said Woodward.

Johnston had settled again and worked his way past Ferguson for sixth by lap eight, before reeling in Redwood. A couple of attacks into Tower were repelled, before the safety car was scrambled when Jackson ground to a halt on the back straight with an electrical fault. The whole field took the opportunity to make their compulsory stop on the same lap, and it was Laddiman then that took over the lead, from Dolan, Andrew Ferguson, Jamie Patterson, Colin Noble and Kaiser.

There was one more lap before the green and Kaiser was straight on the pace and onto Laddiman’s tail. Through the Clark Esses the SR3 had no answer to the SR8 and Kaiser was soon clear. Ross Allen wasted no time in chasing down Dolan too, before snatching fifth into Clervaux then closing in on Noble.

While Kaiser and Laddiman continued to look relatively safe in first and second, there was all to play for behind. Andrew Fergusson was next to challenge Dolan, after both had been swamped by Johnston. Allen continued his charge too, taking Patterson for third at Clervaux on lap 28. Johnston tried to follow but Patterson kept the door firmly shut, which allowed Noble to close in again. While Kaiser cruised through the final laps to take a comfortable win, Laddiman found his hold on second drastically reduced by Allen at the flag. “It was just a case of getting through the SR3’s and nursing it home,” Kaiser reckoned. “I couldn’t see Ross closing on me, but they made me push on from the pitwall,” said Laddiman. “Well we are finally starting to show what we can do,” Allen replied.

Patterson not only saw off Johnston to retain fourth, but Noble reclaimed fifth too. “Everything went alright, it was hard work and I am exhausted,” said Patterson. “the handling was a bit loose at the back, but the boys did a magnificent job to get me on the grid at all,” said Johnston. Jamie kept blocking me though, I think he thought I was Colin Noble challenging for a class position,” he added.
Johnston was still second in the SR8 class, with Ziad and Ragdan El Akabi second from seventh overall.

1 Terrence Woodward/Ross Kaiser (SR8) 35 laps in 50m54.998s (87.64mph); 2 Alex Kapadia/Daniel Laddiman (SR3) +25.288s; 3 Jeremy Ferguson/Ross Allen ((SR3); 4 Jamie Paterson (PR6); 5 Colin Noble (SR3); 6 Derek Johnston (SR8); 7 Ziad El Akabi/Ragdan El Akabi (SR8); 8 Simon Dolan/Sam Hancock (SR3); 9 Andrew Ferguson/Nigel Redwood (SR3); 10 Paul Steele (SR3). Class winners: Woodward/Kaiser; Kapadia/Laddiman. Fastest lap: Woodward/Kaiser 1m17.595s (98.59mph).

Woodward started from pole again in race two, but with Jackson missing it was Kapadia’s SR3 applying the initial pressure. Out of Hawthorn he even tried for the lead until a touch with the grass forced him to back off briefly. “I thought it was best to back off in that situation,” he said.

Patterson had third but was unable to shake off Allen, while Dolan started to become established in fifth. But Phil Hall’s SR8 made up ground and squeezed past Dolan into Clervaux on the third lap. John Hewitt closed in too after Johnston charged past them both.

Woodward and Kapadia were well away, with Allen consolidating third after taking Patterson through Sunny. Johnston was also looking to progress further and had Hall in his sights a lap later.
Apart from Allen and Patterson everyone else pitted on the same lap, Woodward from Kapadia and Johnston in third after ousting Allen into Sunny six laps earlier. One who didn’t quite make the stop was Hall, who coasted out of the Hairpin to a smokey halt from a healthy sixth.

As in race one Laddiman led for a couple of laps as Kaiser rejoined after his longer stop, but was till in second. “We had to bump start it after the starter failed,” said Kaiser.
Patterson’s hopes were dashed when he had to pit again with a puncture, Redwood had also been delayed when James Saggers spun at the Hairpin.

Johnston and Noble both fought their way past Jeremy Ferguson for third and fourth after he ran wide at Sunny, while Rob Wheldon started to close too. At the front though Kaiser was through to lead from the Complex on lap 27.

Although the lead pair were well way, the rest were getting closer again, as Redwood closed in on Wheldon who was already closing on Ferguson, while Hancock had them all in his sights too, but was a lap adrift after Dolan had to change the rear bodywork and wing. It was Redwood that made the first move taking Wheldon on the 25th lap. Three laps later he had taken Ferguson too, while Hancock followed at the expense of Wheldon.

Kaiser completed the remaining laps with relative ease to complete a second double win of the year with Woodward. “Great, and now I am even giving Ross a run for his money on times too,” said the victorious Woodward. Although Laddiman retained second again and another class win, his pace slowed towards the end. “It had started to cut out. It felt like a plug lead maybe,” he said. “An awesome weekend for us though,” added partner Kapadia.

Johnston held onto to third, “I am pleased with that but worn out too and my neck aches,” he said after driving solo while partner Stuart Moseley was away at Le Mans.

Noble was second in class with fourth overall, “a bit lonely and I could still see Derek. Not bad though me in an SR3 compared to an SR8,” he said. Redwood held onto fifth for the last nine laps, with Wheldon claiming sixth from Ferguson at the Complex with six laps to go.

1 Terrence Woodward/Ross Kaiser (SR8) 36 laps in 51m17.374Ss (189.49mph); 2 Alex Kapadia/Dan Laddiman 9SR3) +45.623s; 3 Derek Johnston (SR8); 4 Colin Noble (SR3); 5 Andrew Ferguson/Nigel Redwood (SR3); 6 Roger Bromiley/Rob Wheldon (SR3); 7 Jeremy Ferguson/Ross Allen (SR3); 8 Ziad El Akabi/Ragdan El Akabi (SR8); 9 Dave Banham/Nigel Greensall (SR3); 10 Jamie Patterson (Pro6). Class winners: Woodward/Kaiser; Kapadia/Laddiman. Fastest lap: Woodward/Kaiser 1m17.534s (98.66mph).

Issued by Peter Scherer for Radical Sports Cars, June 16th, 2008.