2002 Stock Hatch Round 2, Donington Park

It would not be right if there was a not a report from a Gordon on the Gordonracing website, so our man on the ground this time was Gordon Macmillan. He takes up the story....

Session A qualifiers were the first ones out on to a damp circuit at 9am. The track was drying so the B session had a drier track to qualify on. With only 4 drivers from the A session in the combined top 20, it was decided that the sessions were sufficiently different to justify interleaving the two sessions, where the first from session B took pole and the first from session A took second spot etc. After qualifying we were told the following:

The slowest 32 took part in the C race, of which around 12 graduate into the B race.
We were also told that the top 18 drivers automatically qualify for the A race.

The C race was the first of the afternoon and won by (check this) Philip Becker in his silver XR2i who was happy to collect the £50 prize money, the top finishers then had to rush back to refuel and prepare for the B race which was race 4. Now the controversy, the club decided to change the number of automatic A race qualifiers. They reduced it from 18 to, I think 14, this meant that 4 people who had previously assumed they had automatically qualified for the A race were required to start the B race. Unfortunately these people were not directly contacted, and as a result the round 1 victor, Andy Burgess did not turn out for the B race because he was still under the impression that he had automatically qualified for the A race. Andy tried to convince the club to let him into the A race, but to no avail, he was forced to spectate. I believe that the club announced the change over the tannoy, and they printed the grid for the B race to include Andy Burgess. But why did they change their mind from the original statement? Why did they not contact the four people personally to ensure that they were informed? Again we see the 750 Motor Clubs ineptitude at organising an event. In my opinion the club should have stood by their original numbers OR ensured that they personally contacted the four people that it affected.

**EDITORS NOTE - there remains some confusion over exactly was announced and when during the day!**

Anyway, the B race was a hotly contested affair, but the run away winner was Mark Hammersley in his XR2, who collected his £50 prize money. In a comfortable second place was Simon hunt in his 205. There was some good dicing between Mark Alden, Steve Powesland and Graham Scott in the Swift, with Powesland eventually pulling through to come third.

The A race began under threatening clouds but a drying track. After the lights went to green everyone got away cleanly, until the first corner, Gordon Macmillan was clipped from behind by an 'anonymous' driver, in the resulting confusion Hillary Howlett span off into the gravel trap. The race was red flagged and everyone re-assembled in original order. The re-start was a lot cleaner and everyone got away well. Through craners and onwards down to the old hairpin, Craig Shepherd lost complete control of his XR2i and span off into the gravel. The race was won by Paul Taylor with Tony Scarlett second and Pete Morgan third. There was an immense battle between Andy Elliot, Gordon Macmillan and Glenn Stokes for fourth place. Andy had to succumb due to an electrical problem, leaving Gordon and Glenn to battle it out, later to be joined by Hilary Howlett. Glenn took Gordon in a brilliant outbraking manoeuvre at the end of the start-finish straight on lap 4. Later in the race Stokes tyres started to go off and Macmillan's 205 started to push. On the last corner of the last lap Macmillan makes his move and dives down the outside of Stokes under braking. They entered the chicane side by side and Macmillan pipped Stokes on the line by 0.4 seconds with Howlett 0.3 behind him. Fair play award goes to Glenn Stokes for his exemplary behaviour during the race.