Garland maintains 100% record

Donington Park - 8 June 1997

The BRSCC were the organisers of the meeting at which Round 5 of the Morgan Motor Company Challenge was held at Donington on Sunday 8th June.

Although thunderstorms were forecast for later in the day the Leicestershire circuit was bathed in sunshine at 8.15am and there was a buoyant atmosphere amongst the 23 Morgan entrants ‘encamped’ in the main paddock. A boosted Class A included the re-appearance of James Edgerton and a first outing of the season for Matthew Wurr.

The Qualifying session began at 9.45 and the sound of squealing tyres soon filled the air around Redgate as drivers experimented with the right line. Elsewhere, there were spins by James Paterson and Simon Orebi Gann and Matthew was locking-up coming into Redgate but generally it was trouble-free. Peter Garland once again set fastest time and to the delight of everyone Mary was quickest of the Class E cars and would start from the 6th row of the grid. Matthew returned to the paddock early with low oil pressure and although the sight of his car on it’s stands and surrounded by activity was reassuringly familiar, it soon became apparent that the problem with the engine was serious and despite the teams best efforts the car would not be able to take up it’s position on the front row of the grid and the long awaited challenge to Peter’s dominance of Class A would have to wait – possibly until Silverstone.

The start was delayed by 20 minutes following an incident in the previous race and this proved fortunate as the Morgans escaped the first shower of the day and the track had dried when they finally set off on the Green Flag Lap. As the 22 cars formed up on the grid awaiting the green lights Simon McDermott stalled and as the field roared off it was Chris Phillips’ misfortune to be the first ‘un-sighted’ driver to come across the stationary car. Taking to the damp grass on the outside of the track he went into a series of spins between the barrier and cars but, amazingly, emerged unscathed. A super start by James Edgerton was lost by the exit to the first corner when Peter assumed his usual position at the head of the field. As the cars crossed the line for the first time Peter was just ahead of James with Craig in 3rd and Malcolm already being challenged for 4th place by Grahame Walker. Class D leader Martin was being assaulted by the Class A car of Keith Ahlers while his fellow classmates James Paterson, Chris Acklam and Simon OG were clinging together behind waiting to pick up the pieces. Peter Horsman’s lead on Class E looked none too secure as Colin Treble was climbing all over the back of him while the remainder of that class too were strung together mid-field. Mary was at the front followed by John Clarke, Jack Bellinger, David James, Rick Bourne and Barry Sumner. Simon McD was still at the back behind Peter Sargeant and Chris Springall.

Grahame had muscled his way past Malcolm by the second lap while Martin had his work cut out to keep Keith behind him. Battles throughout E were led by the Peter H/Colin duel while further back John and Jack were soon to be joined in the fray by Chris Phillips after the engine blew on David James’ car. The third lap found Colin – having briefly been ahead of Peter H – falling back into the clutches of Mary, John, Jack and Chris P. and when Mary passed him at the Old Hairpin he returned the compliment by the chicane. By the halfway stage, Colin was trying too hard at the Craner Curves and took a huge diversion via the inside of the gravel trap, across the grass and rejoined the field five places down.

Grahame and Malcolm were having a great dice for class B and Martin had succumbed to the pressure from Keith and was now in front of James Patterson who was marginally ahead of Chris Acklam. Simon McD had safely passed the battle between Chris P, Jack and John and was now behind Simon OG. By lap 6 Malcolm had closed right up on Grahame and Martin was in front of Keith again.

With so many battles throughout the field something was bound to end in tears and Lap 7 was crunch time. Class B was not as straightforward as it seemed as Malcolm’s car was mis-firing and Grahame’s was running out of fuel. Grahame’s was the most pressing problem and once Malcolm got past him by lap 7 all Grahame could do was to get to the finish and maintain his place overall. A brilliant effort by them both!

Lap 7 also had John, Jack and Chris side by side down the straight and by the time they reached the Craner Curves, Jack had got past John. Flushed with success Jack then failed to take the next bend and selecting gear after gear spun several times on the grass, finally clouting the armco before rejoining five places down.

Crunch time too for Martin, who along with Chris A and James P had mistakenly assumed that the ivory car following them for nearly two laps was that of fellow Class D contender Chris Springall. As Simon McD (in an ailing car) came alongside the foursome, approaching the Esses, Martin was forced on to the grass while defending his line and Simon McD went straight on. Both rejoined the track, but as they crossed the line for the 8th time Martin was behind them all. An unfortunate misunderstanding all round, but a happy outcome for James Paterson, who went on to take the Class D win. A good race too for Simon McDermott who, in an unpredictably handling car, came from behind the ambulance to finish 6th!

After seeing off the early opposition, Peter Horsman ended as the clear winner of Class E and Peter Sargeant won Class C.

Outright winner for the fifth consecutive time was Peter Garland who drove his usual excellent race and as one motoring journalist remarked to me “gets everything out of that car possible – and then some more”!