Silverstone Race Report - 5th April 2008
Silverstone circuit - National Circuit (1.639 miles 6 Turns)
Best viewing position, main start finish grandstand at Copse
Class B Race Report
Class B grid saw Lee Sullivan on the front row with Paul Haylett taking pole after a great qualifying session. Ulric Scott followed behind third on the grid with the ever improving Ben Short. But the big surprise was Stratton MacKay on the back of the grid and perhaps that he had been yet again a victim of his Silverstone gremlins. As the lights went green though Mackay leapt up six place to past Ben Short, but a serve coming together of Short and Haylett saw both drivers drop out by lap three leaving MacKay and Sullivan to fight it out for the one two slot. Scott in third just kept his nose clean and watched as MacKay took the lead over Sullivan on lap two and go on to hold the lead right to the chequered flag but with Sullivan never more than a second or two behind. Ulric Scott held his third place to take a well deserved podium finish.
MacKay finally leaves his gremlins at home with a deserved Class B win.
Class Z Race Report
Class Z saw the four ZRs at the front of the grid with Dave Mellor in pole and Simon Byre alongside; the ever fast Gary Smith was on row two with Nick Golhar.
When the lights went green Smith leapt passed Mellor to fall in behind the now pole man Byrne, but Byrne’s lead was short lived as Smith found his chance to nip by and by lap two was already a making a gap between himself and Byrne. The ever chasing Byre could do nothing as his saw the back end of Smith edge further away and so for Byrne it was just a case of keeping Mellor behind until the chequered flag.
Gary Smith took the win from Simon Bryne , Dave Mellor and fourth place man Nick Golhar.
Class A Race Report
The larger grid of MGBs and Midgets had a new comer to the class Will Sharpe who moved over from class B to class A in time for the 2008 championship. Will took pole position over Jim Baynam the 2007 Champion and next to Jim on row six was Paul Eales in his MGB GT. With a grid of nine class A cars ready to go, the green light saw Will Sharpe leap close to the front of the MGF pack getting up into third place overall and holding that position for two laps. Jim Baynam meanwhile languished back in eighth overall place but second in class. Sharpe’s impressive start was soon chipped away by the faster MGFs as the midget struggled to gain grip in the wet allowing Baynam to close the gap in his MGB. It wasn’t until the last lap that Jim finally managed to get behind Sharpe, but it was too late, Baynam using his years of experience to close the gap to just 0.8 seconds but had to concede to Will Sharpe’s excellent start to the season and his first win.
Class F Race Report
The MGFs provided a familiar line up at the front of the grid with Stuart Plotnek on pole and Ian Evans in second place slot. Behind them on row two was Ian Deaves and Paul Savage with Naish and Wills making up row three. As the lights went out Ian Deaves followed by Paul Naish squeezed down the inside of the front row pack allowing Deaves to take the lead with Naish following in second place and pole man Plotnek left with third. Naish was clearly on a mission and grabbed the lead from Deaves on lap eight having made a mistake that cost him 10 seconds and left Deaves with the win. Plotnek had to make do with third place behind Naish and Peter Higton in fourth having started way back on row four.
Deaves secures his first win of the Season in his MGF