North West Centre Sports / Saloon Championship 2007
Supported by Ace Vehicle Deliveries / Hillside of Heywood

Rounds five and six, Anglesey, June 30th/July 1st, 2007

The wet conditions on Saturday played into Alastair Chalmers hands, as his Caterham took a second successive victory. But a dry track for Sunday paid dividends for Ian Hall’s Darrian, using the V8 power to take a clear win.

21 cars made it out for Saturday’s qualifying in showery and unpredictable weather. Ian Hall secured pole by over two seconds, but all was not well with the Darrian. “It misfired most of the time and there was water everywhere. I had one trip on the grass and just know I should have made some inner wheel arches,” he explained.

Last round winner Alastair Chalmers was alongside, “it might all change in the race,” he forecasted. Just behind was Duncan Aukland, giving his Rover 3500SE a late seasonal debut. “It was an interesting session, but good fun. The car was fine but the driver felt rusty,” he said.

Chris Allanson was delighted to have his Z Cars Mini up in fourth, “the bonnet flew off as soon as I got into second gear, fortunately no one ran over it,” he said.

Fifth best was Richard Winter’s Banks Europa 62 GTR. “It was wet but quite good, the track is still very green and lots of standing water,” he explained. Having missed the last round due to his family holiday, Paul Dobson was back with his Mazda RX7 in sixth. “Apart from a bit of understeer it was fine,” he said.

Kevin Cryer’s Caterham was next up, “I’ve had so many problems this year it was nice to finish the session,” he reckoned. For a while there was a doubt that Chris Maries would follow suit, after four spins in his Z Cars Mini. “I explored the limit, but it kept coming back. The set up was too hard so we will change a front sprocket if it is dry. It had grip and then there was none,” he reckoned.

Heading row five was John Roberts in his Fisher Fury, with Mark Primett’s Banks Europa alongside. “I just pottered around, it was too early for heroics,” said Primett.

Robert Chalmers was disappointed to be down in 11th. “I was trying really hard, but there was a lot of standing water,” he said. Back from sea was James Aukland, with his trusty Capri V8. “I took it steady, but it’s a cracking circuit and needs to be treated with respect,” he said.

Fresh from the Nurburgring 24hrs Rhodri Hughes lined his BMW 325i up 13th, and had Nick Pakes’ Banks Europa alongside. “I spun off at the first corner and went backwards into a field, but it stopped me damaging the front splitter,” he reckoned.

Graham Taylor’s luck continues to run all bad, as his Westfield ended the session with broken rear suspension. “A nut came off the wishbone and it collapsed,” he explained.

Having crashed out on his first lap of qualifying at Oulton Park, Paul Sampson survived with his Suzuki SC100. Alan Collinson’s Rover ran relatively trouble free, as did Graham Wynn’s Z Cars Mini for most of the session. “The battery died at the end,” said Wynn.

Ralph Underwood’s TR7 V8, Phil Hall’s Banks Europa and Brian Allen’s XR2i completed the line up.

GRID

A.Chalmers         Dobson        Primett              Pakes          Wynn

              Allanson            Maries        J.Aukland         Sampson    P.Hall

*I.Hall                 Winter         Roberts             Hughes        Collinson        Allen

              D.Aukland        Cryer          R.Chalmers      Taylor        Underwood

RACE ONE

Chalmers made the most of his pole, with a clean getaway to head Allanson, Winter and Ian Hall through the first corner. But for Maries it was already a fightback, as he spun off again at the first corner. “The throttle stuck open after the start, I spun to a standstill and it was still revving,” he said.

Hall lost out to Winter, Dobson and Duncan Aukland on the opening lap, as the top five started an early escape. Dobson started to pile the pressure on Winter and was nose to tail into Rocket on the third lap, which allowed second to sixth places to take the Corkscrew line astern, as Cryer sat and watched in a solitary seventh.

Primett started to close on Roberts for eighth as James Aukland eased away from Pakes in 10th. A lap later Dobson took third from Winter and Aukland D spun at Rocket and dropped to seventh, just in front of Primett, who moved up as Roberts pitted with electrical problems.

Hall was next to demote Winter and immediately joined Dobson in pressing second placed Allanson. On the main straight Dobson powered into second and by the end of the lap Hall had followed.

There was little movement in the leaderboard during the second half, as Chalmers cruised to his second successive win. “I am doing a Lewis, two straight wins. I started on tick over and the just went for it from the start,” he explained. Dobson retained second, after fending off a brief challenge from Hall. “This car likes the wet, but I did keep thinking I was going off at every corner,” said Dobson. “I thought I had left 4 cylinders behind somewhere. The electrics were drowned and the misfire never cleared in the entire race. I just short shifted, but just missed Duncan when he spun,” Hall explained.

Allanson comfortably held onto fourth, “a good start but there was no way I was going to hold off the big lads. It was treacherous but enjoyable,” he said. Although Winter lost touch a little, he was still a safe fifth, “it was even wetter than practice, but was real fun and what racing is all about. I had a phenomenal start and then Chris spun,” he explained.

Cryer retained a lonely sixth, “after a bad start I got in the flow, it was still enjoyable,” he reckoned. Primett was eighth, “I couldn’t make much ground early on as my helmet steamed up, laughing so much when Chris shot off,” he said.

Hughes late charge took him past Aukland J for eighth on the last lap, “I was just going for survival again as I couldn’t see much through the spray,” he explained. Robert Chalmers completed the top ten, “lack of traction and vision, I am on a steep learning curve,” he reckoned.

Maries had battled back up to ninth with a lap to go, but another spin dropped him two places. A second spin proved costly for Aukland D too, dropping him from his early fifth to 12th. “Not enough grip,” was his excuse.

Phil Hall was delighted to reach the flag in 13th. “I took seven cars at the start and never put a wheel wrong,” he said. Collinson came home 14th, with Pakes, Underwood, Wynn and Allen completing the finishers. Sampson was the only other retirement, as Taylor had failed to start when a universal joint broke off the driveshaft.

RESULT

1 Alastair Chalmers (Caterham R400) 11 laps in 15m43.013s (66.210mph);
2 Paul Dobson (Mazda RX7) 16m03.472s;
3 Ian Hall (Darrian T98 GTR);
4 Chris Allanson (Z Cars Mini);
5 Richard Winter (Banks Europa 62 GTR)’
6 Kevin Cryer (Caterham Seven);
7 Mark Primett (Banks Europa);
8 Rhodri Hughes (BMW 325i);
9 James Aukland (Ford Capri);
10 Robert Chalmers (Caterham R400);
11 Chris Maries (Z Cars Mini;
12 Duncan Aukland (Rover 3500SE);
13 Phil Hall (Banks Europa);
14 Alan Collinson (Rover Vitesse);
15 Nick Pakes (Banks Europa);
16 Ralph Underwood (Triumph TR7 V8);
17 Graham Wynn (Z Cars Mini);
18 Brian Allen (Ford Fiesta XR2i).

Class A: 1 I.Hall; 2 Winter; 3 J.Aukland; no other starters.
Class B: 1 A.Chalmers; 2 Cryer; 3 R.Chalmers; 4 Wynn; no other starters.
Class C: 1 Allanson; 2 Maries; no other finishers.
Class D: 1 Dobson; 2 Hughes; 3 D.Aukland; 4 Collinson; 5 Underwood; no other starters.
Class E: 1 Primett; 2 Pakes; 3 Allen; no other starters.
Class F: 1 P.Hall; no other starters.  
Fastest lap: A.Chalmers 1m24.277s (66.210mph).

It was still as showery for qualifying on Sunday morning, when the action moved from the coastal circuit to the international.

Ian Hall claimed his second pole of the weekend, “I had eight cylinders most of the time,” he confirmed. Chalmers A completed the front row again, “no front end bite and outbraked myself into the Hairpin,” he said.

Maries kept to the track and set third best time. “the throttle wants to do 4000 revs from time to time and it doesn’t respond at the Hairpin. It’s unpredictable, but driveable and I am having to pump the clutch too,” he concluded. Dobson was alongside, “I went off into the first corner, it’s only cosmetic damage to the front,” he reckoned.

Primett was also back on the pace in fifth, I had a misfire that got worse through the session, so I was short shifting,” he explained. Team boss Winter was alongside, “really slippery but great,” was all he had to say.

Heading row four was Cryer, “I outbraked myself on the International loop a couple of times,” he said. Fractionally behind was Chalmers R, “A lot better after making a few changes,” he reckoned.

Aukland D and Allanson completed the top 10. “It blew all the water out of the radiator cap on the second lap, I stopped and topped it up but only did four laps,” said Allanson. Aukland J, Hughes, Underwood, Collinson and Sampson were next up, before a disappointed Pakes. “We changed the tyres and it nearly shook the steering wheel out my hands,” he explained. Wynn and Allen completed the grid, but Phil Hall qualified out of session after a sticking throttle and split cambelt were found in the assembly area.

GRID

A.Chalmers      Winter             Allanson                Collinson             Allen

                 Dobson       R.Chalmers            Hughes               Pakes

*I.Hall              Primett             D.Aukland            Underwood         Wynn

           Maries        Cryer                      J.Aukland           Sampson       P.Hall

There was drama on the green flag lap when Aukland D stopped on the circuit. “The front brakes jammed on, then I had to pit to refasten my belts,” he explained.

As the lights went out the front row remained as one until Hall finally nosed ahead exiting the Banking Hairpin. “Alastair was a bit crossed up, so I tried to keep away from him,” said Hall. Dobson was straight into a challenging third followed by Winter, Primett, Chalmers R, Cryer, Maries and Allanson. Maries had recovered from stalling at the start.

Chalmers R successfully ousted Primett from fifth through Banking on the second lap, and immediately closed to challenge Winter, as Primett came under Cryer’s scrutiny. By the end of the lap Chalmers was fourth. Dobson was next to be threatened, as Primett and Cryer worked together to close on Winter.

On lap six Chalmers made his move past the pits to snatch third into the first corner, but Dobson soon powered in front again. As their battle intensified, Winter, Primett and Cryer, running in line astern, all started to close.

Dobson briefly pulled away again but was back under threat again by the end of lap nine. Primett and Cryer had both demoted Winter too, but were still relatively close.

Back at the front Hall’s lead was suddenly reduced, giving Chalmers Snr a sniff of victory again. “I couldn’t get a gear at the Hairpin and lost about half of my lead,” Hall explained. But he recovered and took the flag with just over five seconds in hand. “I knew I hadn’t really got the pace to stay with him,” said Chalmers.

The battle for second went down to the line though, with numerous exchanges before Dobson secured the place on the run to the line. “Rob had me on the brakes every time, but I had him on the power,” said Dobson.  “I worked hard on him, but he had me on the straights,” replied Chalmers Jnr.

Primett eased clear of Cryer in the closing laps for fifth, “it was good but I had to keep looking over my shoulder at Kevin when I was chasing Richard,” said Primett. “It was a fantastic seven or eight laps, when Mark and I were chasing Richard. I did get inside Mark a couple of times, but couldn’t stay ahead,” Cryer replied.

Winter fell back in seventh place, “the exhaust broke and I was having trouble getting second,” he explained. Maries was unable to close the gap from eighth, but from half distance Allanson started a slide to last place, after his brakes disappeared.

Collinson expected to take ninth, until he was mugged by Underwood out of the last corner. “Ralph just doesn’t do that sort of thing. He outdragged me on the outside, I never thought he would,” said Collinson. “I was just determined. I had to beat Alan and I didn’t even know it was the last lap,” Underwood replied.

Aukland J also lost out to Underwood’s late charge, while Hughes snatched 12th from Pakes on the last lap. Wynn and Allen were next home, with the recovering Aukland D and the limping Phil Hall heading Allanson to complete the finishers.

RESULT

1 Ian Hall (Darrian T98 GTR) 13 laps in 20m46.125s (81.239mph);
2 Alastair Chalmers (Caterham R400) 20m51.329s;
3 Paul Dobson (Mazda RX7);
4 Robert Chalmers (Caterham R400);
5 Mark Primett (Banks Europa);
6 Kevin Cryer (Caterham 7);
7 Richard Winter (Banks Europa 62 GTR);
8 Chris Maries (Z Cars Mini);
9 Ralph Underwood (Triumph TR7 V8);
10 Alan Collinson (Rover SD1 Vitesse);
11 James Aukland (Ford Capri);
12 Rhodri Hughes (BMW 325i);
13 Nick Pakes (Banks Europa);
14 Graham Wynn (Z Cars Mini);
15 Brian Allen (Ford Fiesta XR2i);
16 Duncan Aukland (Rover 3500SE);
17 Phil Hall (Banks Europa)
18 Chris Allanson (Z Cars Mini).

Class A: 1 I.Hall; 2 Winter; 3 J.Aukland; no other starters.
Class B: 1 A.Chalmers; 2 R.Chalmers; 3Cryer; 4 Wynn; no other starters.
Class C: 1 Maries; 2 Allanson; no other finishers.
Class D: 1 Dobson; 2 Underwood; 3 Collinson; 4 Hughes; 5 D.Aukland; no other starters.
Class E: 1 Primett; 2 Pakes; 3 Allen; no other starters.
Class F: 1 P.Hall; no other starters. Fastest lap: I.Hall 1m33.059s (81.239mph).