2002 Stock Hatch Round 1, Mallory Park
Above photos courtesy of Charles Cozens.
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My first race for some time as a spectator. I was looking forward to seeing how several people were going to get on, not least of which was Paul Sheehan in my old 106, which I have to say his boys had prepared beautifully. It was immaculate...... for the first 6 laps. Sadly, Paul crashed heavily in qualifying, just as he was about to have some clear track and get some faster laps in. He had already managed to set 12th fastest amongst the traffic, so who knows where he might have ended up. The car is very badly damaged, and I am certain it will never race again. Whether he can build another one with any salvageable bits remains to be seen, but I wish him well. He has concussion and 2 cracked ribs, but I am sure that won't stop him for long. Elsewhere in the qualifying sessions, there were other new 106s out to prove their stuff (Carl Townend and Gareth Wright). Darren Blumson spent most of his time spreading oil on the track. Gordon Macmillan qualified very well (4th) but he too paid a high price for his pace, as he crashed into the barrier just after the hairpin. Some hasty repairs were needed to get that car out again. Charles Cozens fell foul of scrutineering, and ended up qualifying in the wrong session, and sprang a water leak to add to Darren's oil, and had to start from the back of the 'B' race, whilst Andy Burgess took a controlled pole. In the race, Darren Blumson proved that some things will never change, as he continued to spread oil on the track for several laps before retiring. There were a couple of spinners down the order, but otherwise things seemed very settled in the race. Now if my memory serves..... (brain a little mushed from the grilling Paul Mcmillan was giving me about tyre pressures!)..... Paul Mcmillan managed to drag his Saxo up to 9th, Glenn Stokes proves his brakes are improving by taking 8th, Gordon Macmillan managed to hang on to 7th despite the damage in qualifying, Steve Powlesland makes a welcome return to Stock Hatch in 6th, Andy Elliot is back too in 5th, with Morgan only just losing out to Scarlett in 4th and 3rd respectively. Shepherd was 2nd, and Burgess proves again that the little Swift can handle!
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