2003 Stock Hatch Rounds 7 & 8, Cadwell Park

The first of the heats was a cracker. David Rowe stormed away from the front row, and by the first corner was well ahead of what would turn into a great scrap for second between Richard Kingsnorth and Jonathan Howes. Richard Kingsnorth was spectacular Kingsnorth as each lap he slid around the hairpin hanging the tail out to dry, all the time with Howes watching from close quarters ready to pounce. Finally Kingsnorth seemed to struggle through the gooseneck, and had bags of understeer at the bottom of the hill, allowing Howes through for 2nd.

The second heat would start without Tony Taylor who's car was not repairable after his contact with the barrier in qualifying. It was Paul Sheehan from 2nd place that got the best start, and he too never looked under threat from that point on. Chris Cody who should have been a front runner in the first heat started from the back of this second heat, and began making progress through the field, but would ultimately retire from mid-field before the end. Horsey was making progress through the field but the large oil slick developing on his front wing was a worrying sign for the driver (along with the dropping oil pressure). Sheehan stayed up front to collect the win from Howard, Balding, Drinkwater and Horsey.

The final turned out to be a race of two halves. The lead 6 cars streamed away from the line getting ever closer to each other, and ran the first couple of corners side by side in pairs, but it was pole sitter Taylor who would emerge down the park straight in front from Felix, Blumson, McMillan, Townend, Wright and Macmillan, and that is the order they finished. Further down the order, it was a different story. Richard Kingsnorth and Simon Howard immediately resumed their previous battle, and on lap 6 at the hairpin Terry Roughton firmly caught the back end of Glenn Stokes 106 Rallye sending him into the barrier. He tried to resume but the crumpled rear quarter was hard up against the wheel and he was forced to retire. David Rowe having moved well up the order left his braking very late for the hairpin and in his efforts to avoid the car in front he moved to the side leaving Paul Tibbs no room. The contact sent Rowe up the escape road into retirement, with Tibbs to follow a lap later.

Sundays first heat saw John Hemming turn his front row position into a lead up the hill ahead of pole sitter Kingsnorth who had the edge off the line. Both cars braked as late as they dare for the hairpin alongside each other, but Hemming was through and began to pull away as Dave Balding also got the better of Kingsnorth and was up to 2nd. It was not long before Hemming was forced into retirement out at Park corner after his car had sounded rough for a couple of laps. So it was now Balding from Kingsnorth, Howard and Roughton, with all four looking to take the win and promotion into the final later in the afternoon. Balding hung on for the win over Kingsnorth, Howard, Fletcher, Roughton and Pellin (up from from 15th)

Stokes car was now largely repaired, but his right rear wheel was toeing in by 3/4 of a degree and he did not know how well it would corner. From pole he got away well, and took the early lead ahead of Drinkwater, with Howes in 3rd before John Munday passes him along the straight, and sets about pressurising Drinkwater, finding his way past a couple of laps later to take second and began to home in on Glenn Stokes. Stokes resisted the pressure to win from Munday, Horsey, Howes, Cody and Marshall.

The Final had to be restarted after a huge accident left 9 cars stranded at the hairpin, with several others managing to continue with more minor damage. The accident started when Gordon Macmillan came into contact with David Rowe, and then caught Pete Morgan on the rebound sending him into the tyre wall. Morgans damaged XR2 then bounced back into the path of the remainder of the grid, making it far to difficult to follow what happened next. To the best of my knowledge, all but 5 cars were able to be patched up and take the restart, with the two reserves now called up to fill the gaps in the grid. Carl Townend was quickest off the line, but beaten to the first corner by the flying Rallye of Peter Felix. Felix never looked back, whilst Townend had his work cut out to keep Taylor at bay. The bulk of the field began to settle, but nearer the back, the battle of honour between the Howard/Howes twins, Terry Roughton John Munday and Richard Kingsnorth carried on unabated. Dave Balding retired at Mansfield with mechanical problems towards the end, as Townend now free of the clutches of Taylor had another stab at Felix. Felix remained in control throughout and looked delighted to take the win. John Munday overcame the battle at the rear of the field, followed Terry Roughton, with Kingsnorth the filling in an identical XR2 sandwich.