Matthew Flowers not only claimed his first race win at Snetterton, he made it a family double as father and reigning champion Nick followed him home in second.
With both Peter Chattin and Jon Morton absent from the first round grid, 15 cars set out for qualifying for round two at Snetterton, the first on the Dunlop Great & British package.
The Flowers were the pacesetters in qualifying too, as they circulated in close formation. Tom Robinson had pole for a while and Didier Prongue was also in contention. With six minutes remaining Mallory Park winner Peter Daglish hit the front after a brief stop, but Matt Flowers stormed back, only for Daglish to up his pace once more and secure pole for the race. “I had some mechanical gremlins and there was a lead off my oil pressure gauge,” Daglish explained. Flowers Jnr had to be content with second, “it was a good improvement, the car felt much better,” he said. Prongue settled in third, “I was by myself for a few laps, but got my best laps with a tow,” he said.
Robinson completed the second row, “I wasn’t driving well, but had one
fantastic lap until I got to the chicane. We decided to change the
dampers for the race,” he explained.
Nick Flowers was the one to lose out and slipped to fifth, “Matthew did
well, I may have given him a tow. I didn’t get a good lap later and
knew it,” he said. Jon Chappell struggled for grip, “I think there must
have been some oil down, but still found another 0.5sec from testing.
Simon Pryke was next up, “I took a cool down lap and didn’t get any
heat back into the tyres, plus I was struggling with my brakes,” he
explained.
Dean Leighton was hoping for a strong performance in front of his own
supporters club, “I was slightly disappointed to be slower than
testing, as I couldn’t get my tyres to work,” he reckoned.
“I Just don’t know where I am going here, I felt lost and couldn’t push
the car to its limits,” said Andrew Spencer, disappointed to be down in
ninth. Brian Small completed the top ten, “I would describe it as
slowly, and I didn’t even notice when the bonnet came loose,” he said.
“I will be happy so long as I stay on the track,” said Mark Curtis
after qualifying 11th. Andy Mowbray had problems of a different sort.
“I broke the throttle cable and it wouldn’t slow down into Russell. So
I had to cut the engine and coast in,” he explained.
“Nothing felt right and I don’t know why,” said Martin Gartside. “I
must be just me,” he added. Geoff Fairburn felt that much more heel and
toe was needed, as his car was fine. Paul Taberner completed the line
up, after “playing with tyre pressures.”
RACE
Robinson made a flying start to lead into Riches, from Daglish and
Matthew Flowers. But as Robinson tried to build a lead the five car
battle for second closed in and hauled him back. Daglish was the first
casualty however, “no warning at all. I just got past Matthew again on
the second lap and the engine blew on the pits straight,” he explained.
It became three abreast on the Revetts Straight, with Robinson, Prongue
and the Flowers in turn, but Robinson had his nose in front each time
they crossed the line. After three laps it was Robinson, Prongue,
Flowers M, Flowers N, Mowbray, Chappell and Pryke. A lap later
Fairburn retired to the pits and Mowbray was out to. “Nick forced me
wide a bit at the chicane and I bounced over the kerbs with the rear
pitched high. A lap later the starter motor fell off at Sear,” he
explained.
Prongue was next to go, after he exited Russell challenging for the
lead on lap five, with no gears. The clutch cable went, but until then
it had been so close with Tom, Matthew and Nick, as you can overtake
almost anywhere on this track,” he said.
Robinson missed a couple of gears that then lost him the lead. “Didier
had got me into the Esses on third lap when I missed one and then again
on the straight a lap later when Didier and Matthew got me,” he
explained.
From lap five Matthew had the lead and with Robinson unable to hold off
Nick too, it became a Flowers family affair. Chappell started to close
on Robinson too and Spencer was too close to ignore. Pryke had been
seventh until he engaged in the first of two spins. “It was at Sear and
I stalled too, before eventually getting started and playing catch up.
While Matthew cruised to his maiden victory, Nick kept a close eye from
a slightly threatening second. “Brilliant, swapping places with Tom and
Didier in the first four laps, then I got the lead and Dad closed in.
He got closer at the end because I made a mistake on the last lap,”
said Matthew. “Once I got clear of Tom I settled into my own race,”
Nick replied. “I just couldn’t get traction in the slow corners and
lost ground to Mathew and Nick,” Robinson explained.
Chappell’s hope of snatching a late third were dashed went his car went
sick on the 15th lap and he pulled out. Spencer therefore claimed
fourth, after surviving an off at Coram which left him finally
rejoining at the exit of Russell. “I lost fourth gear but was careful
for the rest of the race,” he said.
Small secured fifth, “Simon tried to get me around the outside at the
Esses, my plan was consistency and it worked,” he reckoned.
Pryke’s bravery gained him little reward and after his spin at the
Esses challenging Small, he was left to accept seventh behind Gartside.
“My car felt better but I was badly baulked at the start when Andrew’s
car just died on him. But from last to sixth isn’t bad,” he concluded.
Leighton had a wild excursions at Russell and Sear before finally
settling in eighth, “I just decided to keep going and see what
happened,” said Taberner who netted ninth. Curtis was another Russell
spinner but his final problem was running out of fuel. “I stopped for a
lap and then managed to get to the flag,” he explained.
RESULTS
1 Matthew Flowers 15 laps in 20m11.190s (87.02mph); 2 Nick Flowers
20m11.643s; 3 Tom Robinson; 4 Andrew Spencer; 5 Brian Small; 6 Martin
Gartside; 7 Simon Pryke; 8 Dean Leighton; 9 Paul Taberner; 10 Mark
Curtis. Fastest lap: Didier Prongue 1m19.612s (88,26mph).
NEXT ROUND, OULTON PARK MAY 26-28th.
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