2002 Stock Hatch Round 10, Silverstone
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Zero to hero in how many laps? That has to be the story of this event. A fantastic scorching hot day in July sees the Stock Hatch crowd back at Silverstone. The Scott Racing & Imagika Sports team would be a bit light on the ground on this occasion, the team's twin 106 cars were doing passenger rides up the Prescott Hill circuit at Pugfest. This meant the team honour would be down to Gordon Macmillan. Following damage to his 205 at Mallory, the SRIS team were employed to build a new one with whatever could be salvaged, and this race would be the first outing for the new car. Qualifying was the first ever run for the car - apart from a quick blast in a car park somewhere in the Newbury area, but the car went well. No problems with the new car, but a minor problem with the setup made the car a bit too twitchy on braking, demoting Gordon to 19th after qualifying. Some minor adjustments to the setup for the race had us full of confidence for a better showing, but first it was time to watch the B race. Man of the moment on this occasion had to be Daniel Adderley. Car problems in qualifying meant he had to start last, but he was clearly on a mission. Silvesrtone is host to some large grids (32 cars per race), yet in just 8 laps, young Adderley was leading having started last. An inspiration to us all. As the main event got underway, it was headed by Paul Taylor, until he suddenly found himself with no brakes and not enough runoff area to escape the gravel. That promoted Peter Felix to the lead in the ex-Featherstone Rallye, but he retired soon after, leaving another Rallye, driven by Mr Stokes to take the win. Meanwhile, having started 19th, Gordon Macmillan was making GOOD progress through the field, and with a couple of laps to go he was up to 6th, but with tyres that had seen better days, that was to be as far up the feild as he got A delighted Gordon reckons there is plenty more to come from the new car, so we look forward to Snetterton in a couple of weeks.
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