Kimbolton 2011 S4 Rd6
ABkC 125 KZ2
Another new venue for me, but one which was wide, flowing and offered plenty of opportunities for overtaking. In my view, the best gearbox track we’ve been to this year.
Three drivers went into this final round with a chance of overall glory, Dan Borton, and the James’, Glenister and Mudd. It was noticeable that Borton was driving with a great deal less of the pace and panache we had seen at many of the earlier rounds – perhaps just racing for points and trying not to make any errors to ruin the championship. The other two had to go for it, which was great to watch, but their challenge was effectively over when both retired in separate incidents in the same race when gaps slammed shut in front of them and both broke steering arms.
Heat wins went to Glenister, Mat Dittman and Borton, but lap times were all very close between the bulk of the grid, which speaks volumes for the various engines and chassis combinations on show. Dittman had pole from Borton, with Richard Palmer and Liam Morley on 2, Glenister and Matt Isherwood on 3 and John Church and the outgoing champ, Dafydd Iles on 4. Unlike Shenington, which had a 3x2x3 grid, we had reverted to the more normal 2x2 grid line-up with the rows offset to minimise collisions off the line.
Dittman and Borton tore off the line as one, but Palmer and Morley were close by along with the rest of the pack as they sorted themselves out in turn 1. The bus stop saw the first real action of the race with Morley exiting stage right after some contact. My view was obscured by the number of bodies in the way, but the observer on the corner radioed in that two drivers had aimed for the same bit of tarmac and one was going to lose. Their opinion was a racing incident, and thus it was treated.
Anyway, Borton had dropped back into the pack in 6th spot with Dittman still out front and under immense pressure from Palmer. The latter was having the race of his season, lunging occasionally into turn 1 and Hangar, but never quite able to fluster the leader. It was quick, it was awesome, but above all, it was clean. Iles had dragged himself up to 3rd, but he was coming under close scrutiny from Glenister and Isherwood, resulting in James slipping into 3rd on the 5th tour. It also saw Jason Edgar given a technical flag for a dragging rear bumper, the bolt of which narrowly missed my wife, who was taking pics on circuit!! Note to self, pay Jason more money next time..
Borton was now beginning to come under threat from Tom Moore, succumbing on the 8th tour as Glenister set about reducing the gap to the leaders. Part of Moore’s group were Tom Witts and Joe Charlton and they were soon adding to Borton’s pressure, whilst James Mudd was recovering from a poor grid position to tag onto the group as well.
The final couple of laps were tense in the extreme as Palmer came within an ace of the win, losing out by a mere 0.07s at the flag, Dittman having a wild celebration as he headed towards parc ferme. Glenister was about a second back, but not quite enough to wrest the number one plate from Borton. Moore came home 4th from Iles, Witts and Isherwood. Mudd Borton and Charlton completing the top 10. The championship margin of victory (based on Auntie Sue’s figures)? 5 points.
A cracking race and a fitting end to the championship.
Result
1st Mat Dittman Tony/Vortex
2nd Richard Palmer Gillard/TM
3rd James Glenister Kosmic/Pavesi
4th Tom Moore Sodi/TM
5th Dafydd Iles Energy/TM
6th Tom Witts Energy/TM
ABkC 250 National
One number less than in the programme as Ian Thomson discovered that his barrel liner was largely devoid of Nikasil on Sunday morning and withdrew. This was especially galling as he had traced and eliminated the misfire which had dogged him at Shenington. I do hope we see him back next year.
On the championship front, it was a straight fight between Lee Stamp and James Hassall, Lee needing to win everything and hoping James had a minor disaster, whilst James basically just needed to follow Lee home.
In other news, the Hoff’s bubble was adorned with a new moniker – the deer hunter. This is after a night-time incident in which young James was involved in a collision with a deer on a country road. James and companions were unhurt, but both the car and Bambi were write-offs.
It has to be said that anything vaguely furry in the Kimbolton paddock was eying the Hoff with some suspicion..
In the heats, Lee did all he needed to do by taking a clean sweep, but James followed him through at pretty close quarters, with Steve Pipes 3rd in the first heat and Willcox 3rd in the ones thereafter. Pole went, oddly enough, to Lee from the Hoff with Willcox and Richard Morris on row 2, Ron Stamp and Martin Smith on 3, with Chris Morris and Tim Woods on 4.
Lee got the drop from the lights and raced into an immediate lead, the Hoff following rapidly, but unable to quite get on terms with the leader as the gap grew by a couple of 10ths per lap. Willcox was in 3rd spot and, after an initial skirmish, looked pretty secure in that podium spot. It was less settled behind as Smith, Ron and Chris Morris all fancied a go at 4th, with Woods and Richard Morris also in the train covered by about 0.5s, until Smith dropped the ball somewhere and appeared some way back at half distance. For lap after lap, the duelling quartet would barrel down turn 1, split as they took a different line for the corner, gather it all up and disappear towards Hangar in roughly the same order. Hugely entertaining stuff with Richard Morris having a better day after being encouraged to be a lot more positive on the brakes.
The final lap hove into view and Lee could afford to back it off a bit on his cruise to the flag, the Hoff reducing the gap to under 3s at the end. Willcox was a lonely 3rd from Chris Morris, who managed to engineer a small gap on the last lap. Ron was next up in 5th from Richard Morris and Tim Woods.
Result
1st Lee Stamp PVP/Honda
2nd James Hassall Jade/Honda
3rd Nick Willcox Jade/Honda
4th Chris Morris Jade/Honda
5th Ron Stamp PVP/Honda
6th Richard Morris Jade/Honda
Report by Iain Blair
Pics by Sharon Blair.
