A fantastic five car lead battle, made up for the lack of numbers at Silverstone. Matthew Flowers was the only one of the title chasers to lose out, as Tom Robinson led home Peter Daglish, Andrew Spencer and Nick Flowers.
Only 12 cars made it for round five on the Silverstone National circuit. Matthew Flowers secured pole by 0.168secs, looking for his third win of the season. “It was nice to have pole and I am good around this circuit. There’s more to come,” he said.
Daglish shared the front row, “there were a few little problems and I
never really got my ultimate lap, but happy with second,” he said.
Robinson was third quickest, “the car is set up but it’s more rear end
happy than I like, I changed it after qualifying. I spent the middle of
the session in the gravel at Woodcote when I got over excited. The
marshals kindly pushed me out though,” he explained.
Although pleased for Matthew, Nick Flowers was a little disappointed
with fourth, “it was OK except for a few minor issues and I didn’t
drive as well as I ought to,” he reckoned. But Brian Small on the other
hand was delighted. “I don’t need excuses for fifth on the grid.
There’s nothing to change apart from an oil breather which played up at
the end of the session,” he said.
Back in sixth Jon Chappell was not so happy with his time or his
position. “I was quicker in testing, I’ve gone backwards. The cars
seems fine, so it’s me. I am not in the right mood or my ying and yang
is out,” he thought.
Championship leader Spencer was also losing out, despite completing a
top seven covered by only 0.662secs. “I am no good at qualifying, but
it’s so close. I need a bit more front end grip though,” he said.
Martin Gartside completed the fourth row, “it’s frustrating, I just
couldn’t get grip anywhere. The harder I tried, the slower I went and
it was understeering massively,” he explained.
“I not really happy either,” reckoned Mark Curtis. “It seemed quite
slippery. All the times are close so it’s not too bad,” he added. Simon
Pryke was also having problems. “After my bump at Oulton Park we also
discovered the diff was about to destroy itself so had to replace it,
its taking some getting used to this new one. But I thought I had
reasonable pace compared to the Dunnell engined cars,” he said.
Richard Hardy-Bishop completed the qualifiers. “There’s understeer
everywhere. When I turn in it just goes straight on. I am changing the
camber and toe in for the race, but most of my rivals, aren’t here
today, and I can’t live with the Dunnell engines,” he concluded.
Having missed out on the session due to a technical problem, Paul
Taberner joined the back of the grid. “I had a brake light switch
problem and got if fixed just as the session ended,” he explained.
RACE
The numbers were down but the quality of racing certainly wasn’t, as a
five battle ensued from the word go. Daglish led the field through at
the end of the opening lap, from Robinson, Matthew and Nick Flowers,
Spencer, Small and Chappell, before a brief gap to Curtis, Gartside,
Pryke, Hardy-Bishop and Taberner.
Heading as one down the Club Straight for the second time, Robinson had
nosed ahead. But despite a huge lock up, Daglish was back in front as
they turned into Brooklands. Spencer moved up to fourth and Small fifth
as Nick Flowers was squeezed out, leaving Chappell, Curtis and Gartside
to dispute seventh.
Spencer led into Brooklands a lap later, but Robinson managed to take
back the smallest advantages as they crossed the line, with Spencer
holding onto second, and Daglish back in fourth behind Matthew Flowers.
Spencer was back in front again on lap five, and despite Robinson
nosing ahead briefly into Luffield, the teenager held on. Robinson got
past a lap later and showed signs of opening a gap, but he was soon
hauled back. Contact on lap eight dropped him from the lead, down to
fifth. “I got hit at Maggotts hard and had to back off when I lost the
back end,” he said.
Matthew Flowers was the new leader, from Daglish and Nick Flowers, as
Spencer was down to fourth too and Small looked on. Chappell sat and
watched the dicing quintet ahead from a relatively safe sixth, as
Gartside and Pryke disputed seventh.
Both Spencer and Robinson mounted immediate comebacks and joined a top
four covered by 0.646secs after nine laps. Matthew Flowers still had a
couple inches lead, but Spencer, Daglish and Robinson were all there!
“Catching back up was easy on the long fast straights, I’d had a half
second lead at one point, but couldn’t stay away,” explained Robinson.
The battle went right to the flag with Spencer starting the last lap
one tenth ahead of Robinson. But a last lap dash sent the victory
spoils in Robinson’s direction for the first time this season, with
Spencer losing out Daglish too. “I didn’t have enough power on the
straights and the circuit isn’t complex enough to make a break. So I
just went for it,” explained Daglish. “That was excellent, but I
didn’t want to lead onto the last lap really. I didn’t see the last lap
board, so was gutted to see the chequered. I wanted to keep arcing,”
said Spencer.
Nick Flowers completed a top four covered by only 0.772secs, after
contact with son Matthew had led to his retirement.” I had a very close
interesting race, and was watching Matthew have the same, We had a
slight touch between us at Becketts, which is inevitable some time when
it’s so close,” said Nick.
“Dad caught me out when he was on a slightly different line and braked
earlier than I expected. His mudguard bracket went through my tyre,”
Matthew explained.
Small just held onto fifth from Chappell. “I believe I was magnificent,
but nearly got the pitwall at the start. It was a good race, lots of
swapping and moments,” said Small.
“It was a bit hairy but I just sat behind then waiting for the
inevitable to happen, but it didn’t. If it had I would have won,”
reckoned Chappell.
Gartside just kept Pryke at bay for seventh. “Very exciting, but I lost
two places at the second corner braking too early. I spent the rest of
the race challenging Jon and defending from Simon,” Gartside explained.
“Even with a small field it was a great spectacle. I made some places,
it was great fun and my times improved,” said Pryke, “3.8 seconds back
to 8th just goes to show how close Westfield racing is”.
Curtis fell back slightly from the chase in ninth and Hardy-Bishop won
the private duel with Taberner to complete the top ten. “Good fun but
would have been better if I had past Richard,” said Taberner. “I just
defended and defended,” replied Hardy Bishop.
RESULTS
1 Tom Robinson 12 laps in 13m43.984s (85.90mph); 2 Peter Daglish
13m44.311s; 3 Andrew Spencer; 4 Nick Flowers; 5 Brian Small; 6 Jon
Chappell; 7 Martin Gartside; 8 Simon Pryke; 9 Mark Curtis; 10 Richard
Hardy-Bishop. Fastest lap: Spencer 1m06.667s (88,48mph).
NEXT ROUND, DONINGTON AUGUST 04TH-05th.
Published by Peter Scherer, June 18th 2007.
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