Cadwell Park Results 220412

Second race of the season would be for the Phil Robinson Trophy, as last year at an early-season Cadwell Park with the HSCC. A rather sparse dozen were greeted with a quagmire in the Paddock, after a week of heavy rain, which had caused much trouble and a curtailed meeting on the Saturday. Sunday dawned cold and wet, but looking slightly better than the day before. It would take some effort to fire up the rather reluctant engines for a 9 o’clock qualifying session, and by the time the cars went on-track the rain had finally ceased and the surface mainly puddle-free. Given the reports of scary conditions from the previous day, most were taking it carefully. Messrs Turner, Fowler and Woods had other ideas, spinning up over the Mountain and cresting at various degrees of sidewaysness – seemingly oblivious to fact that a wheel on the grass would probably mean an accident all the way to the Old Hairpin.

These three led the times, with John Turner once again showing the youngsters how to do it. Surprising interloper in third was Richard Bishop-Miller in the Revis – not doubting Richard’s abilities, but because the swing axle car looked so stable. Mike Fowler was fourth, noting how much trickier the stiffer Mk XI was than his Mk V in the slippery conditions. Third row was Neil Hodges (not really pushing) and Steve Jones (clutch). JB was a little disappointed with seventh for the Cousy after such a strong showing at Donington. Brian Joliffe, meanwhile, did not clock a whole lap, running short of sparks – condensers would be most popular component in the post-session fixing. And Pat Barford looked better than his time showed in the Dick Irish Kieft, being assisted by Nigel Ashman. Pat, after taking so long to take the plunge and start actually racing himself, was doubling up, jumping from the Kieft into his Stanguellini Formula Junior for the next session.

Pat Barford - Kieft-Norton

Race

There followed a long wait until the end of the day, nearly eight hours, and made worse as the HSCC rightly tried to squeeze in the three races cancelled on Saturday. All well and good, but it did drag on until the cars were finally called at five o’clock. By this time a rather nasty cloud was approaching from the North. against the better advice of his brolly dolly (another string to the bow of your reporter), Neil decided to shorten the gearing on his Cooper, expecting a heavy shower. Rain started, then quickly faded before all twelve cars took to the track. JT and Darrell did a fine job corralling them for a slow rolling start, and with the lights only changing when they were ten feet from the line, the entire field could have been covered by a decent tarpaulin.

Mike Fowler got the best start, jumping Darrell but not quite clearing the yellow Cooper into Coppice. Neil and Steve both seemed to have a run on Richard, but ran out of puff on the way to Coppice – a bad omen if the rain didn’t return. Steve decided not to try a run around the outside, at least first time through, but cleared Neil and passed Richard up the rise of Park straight. At Park Corner John had a car length over Mike, who had three over Darrell, and John would lead Mike around to the end of the first lap. Clear of the battling Neil & Richard, Steve had the clearest road and was quickly moving in on Darrell, who for now was holding a watching brief half a second behind the front two (not such a bad idea, given who they were!).

A gap was quickly and surprisingly opening behind this four. Not only was Neil struggling to pass the Revis on the longer straights, but Richard had a binding front brake. The combination of ailments and their incessant battling was both dropping the front four Coopers by several seconds a lap (cars they would normally expect to be racing) and also creating a rolling chicane for a gaggle of cars behind. JB had been mugged at the start by Rodney Delves, but fought back at Mansfield and was on top of Neil as they entered the Mountain. In close order behind were Rodney, Roy Hunt and a keen Brian Jolliffe ( a bit too keen reckoned Rodney, who got a bit of a clout along the way). These six crossed the line covered by less then two seconds. Pat was some way off the back of the group (“going for signatures” but having just jumped out of his Junior after a very successful race). Last, by quite a distance was Shirley in the Mk IV after a poor start, and looking to maintain her record of never dragging a 500 to the flag at her home circuit.

Lap 2, and the lead four were closing up. Mike was close enough to take a look at Park, but John turned in anyway. Darrell was already closer, and looked for a way past the slowed Mk XI, only to find Steve jump him on the run back down the hill. Steve was on a roll, latching onto the tail of Mike as they reached the bottom of the Mountain, making a clean pass through the woods, and a great run out of Barn had him almost alongside John as they ran along the bottom straight. John held it through Coppice but Steve was quickly through on the country loop. He quickly moved away, and his cause was helped when John’s JAP ran out of sparks and retired.

The second battle was still more than enough to keep the crowd pleased. Neil clearly could go faster if he could find a way past Richard, but that short gearing stymied the usual runs along the bottom and Park straights. It didn’t help that JB nipped past second time out of Mansfield, and the three crested the Mountain as one. Chasing was Brian, and a moment in the woods for JB had him back behind Neil and with Brian alongside (literally, the pair crossing the line with exactly the same time). John quickly found himself back in the clutches of Rodney and Roy.

Brian moved onto Neil, passing soon after they crossed the line for the third time. Half a lap later he was past Richard, and Neil finally got the opportunity to do the same, following through under braking for the Mountain. The lead three were too far away, but Neil and Brian could be expected to be good for more battles – but it didn’t work out that way. Richard got a clear run out of Barn and caught and passed Neil again before Coppice. More, JB chucked it around the outside and was also past. Up the hill to Charlies, sixth became fifth as he carried the speed past Richard, then Brian lost power and John was into fourth. Nat a bad half lap!

Shirley Monro, Cooper-JAP takes Class A

In fact, on lap 5 it was kicking off through the field. Steve was five seconds gone at the front, but Darrell had decided it was time for a move when a small mistake from Mike brought right back in touch. Twenty seconds further down the road the Cousy was now in an apparently safe fourth, but now from Roy. Although barely mentioned so far, Roy had been driving aggressively, finding a way past Rodney (who was himself still in the hunt, revelling in the return of power courtesy of a new condenser) and nipping at the heels of the Cousy whenever it dropped a half second. In the melee he had passed both Neil and Richard, and was looking for another go at the French blue car. The Revis was still close, with the yellow Kieft in close attendance, but where was Neil? His new trick clutch was slipping, and while he got over the line for a fifth time it was degrading rapidly and he baled out halfway up Coppice. Finally, Shirley had knuckled down and whilst the car was clearly not running as well as we have seen recently, she had closed down a thirteen-second deficit to Pat.

For the final three laps, the core battle was for second place. Although Darrell never actually took the lead, he made a damned good effort at it – several in fact. On lap 6 he came alongside approaching Park, but Mike held his nerve a fraction longer before braking. Darrell seemed to have a little more traction up the Mountain, enough to have Mike looking in his mirrors over the crest every lap, but the advantage was never quite enough. Then at the end of each lap he could come alongside the later car, but it was Mike holding his nerve into Coppice.

Next up were JB with Roy chasing. Over the line to start lap 7 Roy moved past, but it was the Martin that twitched as they went up the hill and it took most of the lap for Roy to gather it back up and chase down the couple of seconds that had opened up. Another few seconds back, Rodney put a move on Richard for sixth. And further back Shirley passed and pulled away from Pat, who had lost the clutch and taking care to bring it home for that signature.

And so it continued to the end. Steve was comfortably in the lead, while Mike and Darrell fought to the line, finishing in that order. On the final lap Roy was catching JB, but it looked settled. The gap kept coming down, though, and the Cousy was struggling up the Mountain. Roy nipped past along the short straight to Hall Bends. In fact, the Cousy was in big trouble, stuttering through to the Hairpin before dying. Luckily it was downhill from there and John was able to silently roll to the line for a classified finish, but not before Rodney and Richard had driven through for fifth and sixth places respectively. And finally Shirley broke her Cadwell 500 duck, and Pat drove a careful race for the finish.

 Classified Finishers