Garland increases his lead

Brands Hatch - 5 May 1997

The heavens opened as the 22 entrants sat in their cars awaiting practice for round 3 of the Morgan Motor Company Challenge at Brands Hatch on Bank Holiday Monday 5th May.

It took about five minutes for marshalls to recover a car from the previous session, by which time the the rain had stopped and the sun was out. As most were still cautiously exploring the very wet track, Simon McDermott was stationary with a broken fan belt. Just minutes later Grahame Walker was coasting on Cooper Straight with a total loss of power. The practice was stopped as the car was in a dangerous place and this proved fortunate as it allowed the track to dry and times in the restarted session were considerably quicker.

Peter Garland was fastest with Malcolm Paul also on the front row, but Grahame and Simon had to settle for 8th and 18th on the grid. Keith Ahlers did well and found himself on the second row and, further back, Doug Taylerson was making a welcome first appearance in his Class E Plus 4.

The 12 lap race on the 1.2 mile Indy circuit began shortly after 3.30pm on a dry track. Once again Peter Garland led the field at the first corner, but if he had time to look in his mirror he might have been surprised to see the red car on his outside, which had come from 8th on the grid, was none other than Grahame Walker. As the field squeezed together round the hairpin at Druids, it was clear that the other car moving dramatically up the field was the cream Plus 8 of Simon McDermott. With Peter leading, Grahame was still in second as they crossed the line for the first time. Malcolm Paul was third, followed by Mike Fellowes and the first of the Class D runners, Martin Kurrein. Simon McDermott had gained 7 places and was in 11th.

On the second lap Simon had moved up to 8th, but Grahame (unable to bed in new tyres in practice) had got on to the grass at Clearways, letting Malcolm and Mike through and was now down in 4th. Behind Martin was Keith and the second in Class D, James Paterson. Following Simon came Chris Springall, Simon Orebi Gann, Chris Acklam and the first of the 9 Class E runners, Peter Horsman, Mary, Jack, Colin, John, Barry, David, Rick and Doug occupied the next 8 places and completed the Class! Stephen, running with a standard road engine, led Class C just ahead of Peter Sargeant.

By lap 3, Chris Acklam had passed Simon Orebi Gann, while Simon McDermott was now in 7th place. Martin was enjoying keeping Keith behind him and, by the 4th lap, Mary was putting real pressure on Peter with Jack and Colin in there too. Further down in Class E, John was ahead of the Barry, David, Rick battle with Doug close behind. The two cars in Class C were fighting it out at the back of the field although Peter had already recorded what would be the fastest lap in the Class, which Stephen was to win.

By the 5th lap, Simon McDermott was lying 5th, behind Graham who was desperately tying to find a way past Mike and seeing his chances of catching his Class rival Malcolm evaporate.

At the halfway point Barry was missing with a dead engine and Rick had passed David to open up the Class E field. Keith had passed Martin who was now being targeted by James, who spent the next few laps making some daring attempts on the number 1 car each time the pair approached Druids. Martin kept safely in front and went on to take a good Class win.

Chris Acklam meanwhile was determined to get in front of Chris Springall and, after several attempts, had finally done it by lap 8. Not to be out-done Simon Orebi Gann then followed suit on the next lap.

Nearing the end of lap 9, in an effort to stay ahead of Grahame, Mike took to the grass and sadly his race ended in the tyre wall. Grahame made a valiant effort (recording his fastest lap on the 10th) to catch Malcolm, but it was not to be and Malcolm went on to take Class B victory by 2 seconds.

Peter Horsman drove an excellent race to win Class E, with Mary taking second in Class after a very closely fought battle. For the third time in a row, Peter Garland secured a fine victory after leading from the lights to the flag.