Rain Enhances Play at the Bank Holiday Monday
BARC Motors TV Race Meeting!
The second meeting of the season was always going to be exciting to behold as those who had a point to prove
from Easter Monday in April wanted to get their season back on track. In all three races it was spellbinding to
behold in three completely different fashions. In the Saloon Car Championship, the battle resumed in identical
fashion to April but with just as much intrigue and tension, whilst in the Formula Ford 1600 Championship
everything that could have happened did in incredibly tricky conditions. With a heavy downpour hitting the circuit
just in time for the Sports & GT encounter it was always going to provide a sensational race, but not necessarily
for the reasons one would think of at first glance. Great entertainment for the spectators was provided from the
Classic Touring Car Racing Club, the MG Owners Club Championship and the Luna Logistics Formula Ford 1600
Championship with many of the cars featured in each championship sparking moments of joy and nostalgia for
the spectators around the circuit, as many of them will have made their names in motorsport originally at Combe.
But as the Motors TV cameras started rolling and the rain threatened overhead, the “Chippenham Champions”
were about to demonstrate what club motorsport is really all about.
CASTLE COMBE SALOONS
Gary Prebble had drawn first blood in qualifying ahead of Tony Hutchings, with Dave Scaramanga and James Winter not too
far away. Mark Wyatt lined up as the leading Class B runner with Kieren Simmons in close company and Geoffrey Ryall as the
leading Class C racer. As the 42 cars formed up on the grid, drizzle was intensifying and the circuit was set to get very greasy,
but the battle began in earnest as Prebble, Hutchings and Scaramanga set off into the distance with everybody just trying to
keep up in the slippery conditions. Early casualties included Ryall and the Seat Leon of Malcolm Webster on the very first lap,
whilst Ayrton Anderson was out on lap 2. Mechanical issues then took Paul Bird out of the action, just as the lead battle
started to heat up out in front with Prebble seemingly struggling under brakes into Camp Corner in particular with Hutchings
able to carry more speed into the final turn.
With their fastest laps both being on lap 5 and separated by only 0.005 seconds, it was clear that the victory was going either
way. Then Rodney Apperly exited the race in a plume of smoke, dropping oil at Camp and all along the start/finish straight,
catching out Steve Sutton and Lewis Penny first of all who both ran wide at the final turn, but more slides would follow as
Mike Ritchie came inches from the wall at the start of lap 8 and John Avery would follow with both drivers saving it nicely.
Then just as it looked like Prebble would lead out the rest of the race, the traffic came into play in Hutchings’ favour as he
was able to gain more time through the backmarkers and pounce in decisive fashion on lap 9. But on lap 11, Prebble made an
incredible lunge into Quarry around the outside in a daring manoeuvre to grab the lead. Hutchings was threatening through
Tower to take the lead back, and the pressure proved too high for Prebble as he missed the braking point for Camp by just
under a metre and drifted wide allowing Hutchings to take the lead back again.
So after 12 gruelling laps of action, Tony Hutchings held on for his second win of the season ahead of Gary Prebble, with Dave
Scaramanga having a fairly lonely race in third place just three seconds further back ahead of Winter and Bill Brockbank.
Mark Wyatt took the Class B victory from the hard-charging Tony Dolley and Kieren Simmons’ Fiesta, whilst Adrian Slade
dominated Class C to finish 9th overall with James Keepin just pipping Mike Ritchie for second in class. Class D was also a
dominant run for Russell Poynter-Brown who ran solidly in the mid-pack throughout, whilst Trevor Long guided his Saxo to an
impressive second place ahead of Michael Good and Arthur Marks.
CASTLE COMBE FORMULA FORD 1600
In a bone-dry qualifying session, Michael Moyers and Ben Norton laid down the gauntlet for their opposition, with Nathan
Ward making it a Spectrum 1-2-3 on the grid. Felix Fisher, Edward Moore and Roger Orgee completed the top 6 on the grid,
but nobody expected what would happen next, thanks to the increasing rain falling on the circuit.
Moyers headed off the grid out in front, but he certainly wouldn’t remain there as he became the first of several drivers off
the circuit on lap 1. With all the mêlée settling for the end of the first lap to give Nathan Ward the lead, Norton ran in second
place defending valiantly from Luke Cooper, Josh Fisher, Orgee and Felix Fisher. But on lap 2, Norton made his move and
snatched the lead away from Ward who would then lose second place too as Fisher, Cooper and Orgee. Adam Higgins had
climbed up into seventh position behind Felix Fisher and ahead of the recovering Michael Moyers who despite his spin on lap
1 certainly wasn’t done yet. But just as Norton was starting to settle in to his position out in front, the rain increased and he
lost control under braking for Camp Corner. So as Norton ended his race in the barrier, Josh Fisher took the lead from Luke
Cooper and Roger Orgee as the officials decided to put the safety car out on circuit thanks to Norton’s wayward moment,
Bob Higgins stranded car on the other side of the circuit and the ever-increasing rain meaning the race had to be neutralised.
As the race restarted, the field tiptoed its way out of the final turn to commence a seven-car scrap for the lead, with Paul
Barnes nearly causing another safety car period sliding through Camp in the mid-pack. Whilst he recovered, Fisher resumed
his lead as Orgee battled his way past Cooper to move into second place, with Moyers and Higgins able to sweep past Ward
and Felix Fisher to move up into the top 5. With the final laps approaching fast, it was time for a bold move and so Richard
Higgins obliged, carving his way through the lower end of the top ten and relishing the conditions with the Van Diemen
dancing its way round the circuit making great progress.
Orgee emerged round Camp on lap 9 in the lead, but with the field still close it was all going to be down to the finish as
Cooper and Fisher battled to the line behind Orgee. So the RF00 of Roger Orgee clinched victory in spectacular fashion with
Josh Fisher just beating Luke Cooper over the line for second place, and completing a clean sweep on the podium for the
three class winners. Michael Moyers completed his comeback drive in superb style by crossing the line a mere 0.001 seconds
ahead of Adam Higgins to grab fourth place, with Felix Fisher and Nathan Ward a second further back. Richard Higgins
stormed up to eighth place by the flag just in front of Edward Moore and Tim Reynolds, with Shaun Macklin and Glen Finn as
the runners-up in Classes B and C respectively ahead of Andrew Higginbottom who claimed third in Class C and Daniel
O’Beirne clinching third in Class B just behind.
CASTLE COMBE SPORTS & GT
The attrition rate of this incredible championship took its toll on the grid even before the race got under way. Due to
mechanical issues in the earlier Classic Touring Car races, Ilsa Cox couldn’t take up her place on the front row of the grid
beside Barry Squibb’s Mitsubishi Evo, and so Perry Waddams in the TVR lined up beside Dylan Popovic’s Avatar, with Adam
Prebble’s Rover Tomcat beside special guest and former BTCC racer Lea Wood in a Peugeot Silhouette. But even more
trouble was brewing, as first Nick Adams failed to get off the grid in his MG ZR and then the Fisher Fury of James Johnson
decided it didn’t want to play in the wet conditions. So as the race got under way with an ocean of water round the circuit
and a severely depleted field, Popovic got the best start in the Avatar but soon Squibb took the early advantage from
Popovic. It wasn’t long before first the TVR then the Tomcat found their feet and surged past Dylan Popovic, and despite the
torrential rain neither car appeared to be struggling for grip.
For Squibb, it was a matter of survival rather than record pace whilst Prebble decided to close in on Waddams and challenge
for second. Clearly faster than the TVR, he made a move and grabbed second position, but regrettably it wouldn’t last long as
the car slipped out from under him and Prebble duly saved a monumental spin that could so easily have ended his race. This
pretty much settled second place as Prebble opted for a podium finish rather than a Tomcat in the barrier. Meanwhile, Lea
Wood was struggling to keep John Avery’s Honda Civic and the monstrous Rage of Mark Higginson at bay, and eventually
both swept past.
Lap after lap, Squibb and Waddams continued to steer their powerful beasts around the circuit, with the race starting to
resemble a powerboat race encounter rather than a sportscar sprint. But incredibly through the spray Barry Squibb took his
first win of the season by a monumental 44 seconds ahead of Perry Waddams and Adam Prebble. Popovic maintained his
position ahead of Class E winner John Avery with his class rival James Blake in second in his MG ZR. Mark Higginson and Lea
Wood claimed class victories despite some McRae style slides through Camp several times during the race.