Snetterton GTs
Sunday proved a busy day on track...
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Kirkaldy got a good start to lead the opening lap and was helped as main rival Tim Sugden was battling for second place with Kirkaldy’s team-mate Tim Mullen. With Sugden pre-occupied, the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari was able to pull out a lead at the front.
The battle for second and third place became more heated when Nigel Greensall joined the fight in the RSR TVR T400R. The extra success ballast on board Sugden’s Porsche was showing as he struggled to get away from Mullen and Greensall to stay in touch with Kirkaldy.
As the leader dived into the pits to hand over to Kinch he had a lead of just over 25 seconds, the extra time that the Ferrari is handed for the driver handicap. A swift changeover by the team allowed Kinch to leave the pit-lane just six seconds clear of Sugden’s team-mate Jonathan Cocker.
Cocker pushed hard for a handful of laps and looked for a way past Kinch. However, the Ferrari had taken on fresh tyres during its stop and the extra weight and punishing pace was causing Cocker to struggle with the brakes and for grip.
A jubilant Kinch was pleased to have narrowed the gap to their championship rivals.
“The car had understeer from about midway through my stint as I had to run wide and picked up some of the marbles and dirt from the side of the circuit,” he said. “But I think Cocker was struggling towards the end. It’s feels great to have won both races, it’s just what we needed for the championship ,” he added.
Godfrey Jones took third place but was pressured toward the end of the race by team-mate Mike Jordan, who was driving well without fifth gear. Jones’ had problems of his own in the closing laps as he began to feel his engine begin to seize up.
Steve Hyde and Piers Johnson picked up fifth place in the Eclipse Motorsport TVR while the second Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari could only manage sixth by the end of the hour-long race.
The De Walt Mosler couldn't compete with the front runners having been fitted with restrictors which lopped 50bhp from its output. It did have a dramatic tussle with one of the Corvettes though - both of the large cars attempting to muscle each other out of the way on the narrow track early on in the race.
Cup Class
The Dailysportscar.com Cup Class went down to the wire as Jonathan Rowland overcame a spin by team-mate Adam Sharpe to pass Pete Chambers for the lead with just two laps left to go.
The Morgan of Keith Ahlers and Aaron Scott battled with the DRM Ferrari of Adam Wilcox and Ni Amorim early in the race, but contact between the two put them out of contention for the victory. Wilcox and Amorim managed to gain third place to make up for it.
“We were side-by-side for three laps around the back of the circuit before I finally managed to make it stick,” said Rowland. “It was a good clean race but it was such hard work,” he added.
The Team Tiger Marcos was looking in good shape (having won the class in Saturday's race) but a smokey engine hinted at problems and it was forced to retire.
The Rollcentre Noble M12 also put on a good show with Simon Pullan taking the car from the back of the grid right up to first place at one point, only to be sidelined wtih a broken wishbone, the result of a very 'physical' race!
The Jedi Racing Elise had a frustrating weekend. They'd been looking to build upon their 100% finishing record to date only to encounter a slipping clutch during qualifying. that required a complete engine removal. "The team did a great job on the repair, I will be buying them a very large crate of beer" , said Frazer Corbyn. The repair took until 10pm on the Saturday night. They made Sunday's race but a slave cylinder failure made changing gear difficult and slowed the pace. Their race came to an end when they couldn't get the car going again after the driver changeover. The team also attracted attention in the pits where ex Page 3 girl Jakki Degg was supporting the team.
Next round: Castle Combe, 19th/20th June.
Pictures courtesy of Traxtion-Control
We hope to have Jakki along to Castle Coombe as well!
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