WSSCC Rounds 1 & 2 Castle
Combe Monday 10th April Entry and
Qualifying.
It was a sunny & warm Easter, that is until it came to race day, when an overnight heavy rain band swept across the circuit! This left the track too wet for an early start, and the action was delayed until 10.00 and the Qualifying for the Combined C &M Sliiyhoutes and WSSCC runners started at 11.30. The track was still damp. Fastest was C& M mc runner Lewis Smith Mercedes SLK Next was Chris EVERILL with fellow Ginetta driver David KRAYEM. 7th was Damien LONGOTANO with fellow Westfield driver Nick CROMPTON Westfield was 9th Robert REES was 11th BMW Mini with Wayne SPILLER Mazda RX8 16th The rest of WSSCC runners were 19th to 25th starting with the returning Jason ‘peg-leg’Peard for his first race since he recovered from his broken leg, (Honda Civic Type R) and Andrew WILLIAMS ( Renault Clio), Both in Class 2 as they were running slicks for the first time. Next, and making his WSSCCC debut was Craig ATTARD (Mazda RX8). Gareth HAYCOCK joined us as a guest in his ‘Hot Hatch’ BMW Mini S) and he was really pleased to support us on this occasion. Mike COOK (BMW 330) and Verity BANKS (Ford Focus) were the final WSSCC runners ,with C&M runner Keith WHITE was last (having won the WSSCC Championship in 2014/15 lets hope he can see the new WSSCC regs would suit his car again). Sadly several of the potential runners hadn’t got their cars ready. One of the missing was Nigel Mustill, as he damaged the Volvo S169 the previous weekend in a warm-up race, so he may know the famous Swedish drivers Axil Bengt or his cousin Bengt Axil! Dave Krayem and Chris Everill were also doing the Castle Combe GT races as well as ours. However Dave had problems and missed our races as well as the 2nd Castle Combe GT race.
Race 1 (WSSCC round 1 – Rolling Start ) The Clerk decided to start the C &M Silhouettes first with a light start and us with a 20 second gap would get a flag start. Chris and Damian are well used to controlling the WSSCC starts and they kept the gird nice and tight until the flag waved. Chris took off like a proverbial scalded cat and chased after the Silhouettes, and he soon caught and passed quite a few, until he pulled up after 8 laps. He said later ’ I wanted to catch them all’ However he had done enough to take the ‘Driver of the Race’ award. This left Damian to take the WSSCC race win. Behind him was Robert Rees who took the Class 3 award. Wayne Spiller headed Class 2 with Mike Cook next. Jason Peard won the battle of the former BT team mates ahead of Andrew Williams. Verity Banks was the only BT/ Class One runner . The weather was dry, but very windy, and there should be an award for ‘Catching Roberts cap!’ It was such a problem that we decided to do race 2 awards at the next race at Pembrey.
Results race One https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=CCRC/2023/231568rc1wss.pdf
In between races , (the lunch break didn’t happen) it was nice to catch up with a breaded Mike Moss and his wife Jenny, who was wearing one of those thick Orthopaedic boots, having fallen downstairs at home! Sadly she said it may be October before she can do without it! Which kind of took the gloss of the old joke that came to mind, about Poison Mushrooms and falling downstairs!
Race 2 (WSSCC round 1 Rolling Start ) Flag start timed at 17.59 ( one minute to 6.00 pm) At the start of race 2 we were missing Chris Everill who had a big front end shunt in the Combe GT race, when someone unexpectedly jumped on the brakes in front of him! A lot of red tank tape was used, but sadly the car wasn’t fit to do the 2nd WSSCC race.
However starting from the back we had, Gareth Haycock, who had solved his race 1 fault . Also starting at the back was Craig Attard ‘The car had fuel pickup/ pressure problem so i could only use 3/4 throttle and only had 6500 rpm instead of 9500. I’ ve got a whole new tank and fuel system to go in so fingers crossed for Pembrey. ‘ Nick Crompton was also starting from the back, after missing race One. Nick takes up the story ‘My daughter called me just before race 1, upset she was stuck on the motorway on her way up to Combe as the dsg gearbox had gone bang! So dad to the rescue, I went to pick the car up with the trailer, so I missed the race’
As the flag dropped to start the race, Damian went into the lead from fellow front row man Robert Rees, but Nick Crompton was soon on the move! Unfortunately Mike Cook had to take to the grass to avoid the charging Nick! Nick later apologised to Mike having seen the photos of the start. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t realise it at the time!’ However Nick, using an engine he bought from Damian, was soon up to 2ND place, and on the 3rd lap he was in the lead of Class Four, and the lead of the race! Entering the closing stages, Damian retook the lead and set the Class fastest lap to stay on the lead lap! Meanwhile Nick, Robert Rees and Wayne Spiller all went 1 lap down. Jason Peard, Andy Williams, Mike Cook, Gareth Haycock were on all 11 laps , with Verity Banks on 10 laps. With the race due to end at 18.15 (6.15) with the high winds not showing any signs of slackening off, we decided to do the race 2 awards, at Pembrey.
In the meantime
Wayne Spiller leads with 42 points from Jason ‘peg-leg Peard – 36 pts & Robert Rees 34 pts
|
Driver |
Class |
Points |
|
Wayne Spiller |
2 |
42 |
|
Jason Peard |
2 |
36 |
|
Robert Rees |
3 |
34 |
|
Andrew K Williams |
2 |
32 |
|
Damian Longotano |
4 |
31 |
|
Verity Banks |
1 |
28 |
|
Mike Cook |
3 |
28 |
|
Nick Crompton |
4 |
14 |
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