Equipe Classic Racing - Silverstone Super Sprint Race Report

 

Caudwell, Wenman and Alexander our Super Sprint and cash Winners!
 
Motorsport Showroom partners, Equipe Classic Racing, finished off their season with our annual Super Sprint meeting at Silverstone, with three rounds of heats and then the finals and 76-cars coming out for qualifying! It was a day of great racing and Brian Caudwell, David Wenman and John Alexander took the wins in the finals, but we have to thank everyone who made it such a fitting end to our season and for Driven Auto Solutions for providing the prize money.
 
Caudwell was on fine form all day, winning all three of his heats in his Cobra, in the second and third rounds being chased home each time by Martin Reynolds and Paul Whight. Graham Moss in his 1950s Lister Knobbly took two heat wins, while Neil Fisher and John Pearson both claimed close wins in the opening round of races in their MGs, and Jack Rawles in his Healey and the Lotus Cortina of Garry Townsend were the other winners.
 
After qualifying and  the nine heats all attention was on the three finals, with the 21-cars contesting the Yellow final the first to take to the grid. John Pearson’s MGA was on pole and came round at the end of the opening lap almost a second clear of the Austin Healey 100M of John Alexander, Geoff Gouriet third in his MGB.   

Alexander was never more than a second away from Pearson all race, and often much closer, while Gouriet lost out to Ian Prior’s MGB on lap six to slip to fourth on the road. Pearson took the chequer flag just a few tenths clear of Alexander but had been adjudged to have made a jump start and the ten second penalty dropped him to sixth overall, Alexander taking the win from Prior and Gouriet.
 
“This concept and format are fantastic, it gives everyone the chance to compete,” said Alexander. “I had a great race with John who was hard to pass, the car was a dream all day, I’ll be back next year!”   |  |  | Neil Fisher had his MGB on pole for the Green final, but had slipped to third at the end of the opening lap as the grey MGB Lewis Saunders led from David Wenman’s Morgan. The lead three eased away from the rest, Babak Farsian taking fourth from Edward Keen’s Mini on lap two, while a driver on the move was Garry Townsend in his Lotus Cortina, who had slipped to ninth on the opening lap but was picking off the cars ahead and up to fifth by the end of lap four.
 
Lap four also saw a change at the front, Wenman finally finding a way past Saunders having crossed the line at the end of lap three less than a tenth of a second behind. Wenman opened a small gap as Fisher claimed second on lap six only to retire to the pits a lap later, the lead two now clear of Farsian in third.

  Wenman stayed clear to lead the field home with Saunders in second, while a final lap battle raged behind. Farsian went into the final lap with Townsend right behind him, and at the flag it was the Cortina heading the MGB, but Townsend had a track limits penalty that saw him drop back to fourth in the final results. 

 

 Last track action of a busy Equipe race day was the red final, with Caudwell’s Cobra, unbeaten all day, on pole, and the Mustang Mach 1 of Martin Reynolds alongside. Caudwell got away well and was a second clear at the end of the first lap, Reynolds second with Paul Whight’s Elan third, Moss and his Lister having a pre-race issue and coming round dead last having been due to be fourth on the grid.
  
 Reynolds was able to keep the gap constant through the first half of the race before beginning to open a gap. The first two were able to ease away from Whight, while fourth was being fought over by Willmott’s Cobra and the Healey of Rawles. 

 

 

 

At the end of the ten laps Caudwell claimed his fourth win of the day, Reynolds takings second behind the Cobra for the third time with Whight in third. In the battle for fourth Willmott made the decisive move on lap eight to get back into fourth and head Rawles home by less than a second, while Moss climbed back through the order to be ninth at the end.
  
 “I’ve had a day from heaven!” said Caudwell. “I’ve been at the front all the way through and the format has been great, you have something going on all day.”
    

 

 PODIUMS
 
 Yellow Final. 

 

 

 1st overall - John Alexander - Austin Healey 100M 2nd overall - Ian Prior - MG B Roadster
 3rd overall - Geoff Gouriet - MG B Roadster

 Green Final. 

 

 

 1st overall - David Wenman - Morgan Plus 4
 2nd overall - Lewis Saunders - MG B Roadster
 3rd overall - Babak Farsian - MG B Roadster

 

 Red Final 

 

 

 1st overall - Brian Caudwell - AC Cobra
 2nd overall - Martin Reynolds - Ford Mustang Mach 1
 3rd overall - Paul Whight - Lotus Elan 

The day was a fantastic end to our best racing season, we hope to see you all at our awards Dinner Dance at Whittlebury Park, Towcester, on Saturday November 11th !