JPR UVio’s Farquini Deott and Fabio Randaccio became the first double winners of the season, as they dominated the eight hours of Anglesey, having led from halfway into the second hour!
Fortunately the previous day’s rain had left, but gale force winds remained as the 20 car grid lined up with Trumans on pole with Jonathan Hoad, joined by Agua Caliente’s Rob Perry on the front row.
Hoad led as far as Rocket on the opening lap before Nigel Greensall took the Greensall Motorsport car ahead. “It was lovely to be back in the Fun Cup, and I got a good run on Jonathan to go by into Rocket,” Greensall explained.
Andrew Bentley snatched third for TFL from Perry, while Team 7 Fun Bikes Jon King and PLR’s Ben Pitch became the initial top six, before both Pitch and 2Rent Dominos Chris Hart demoted King on lap three.
As Greensall started to increase the lead, Hart managed to oust Pitch from fifth on lap eight, but behind them King headed a seven car train for seventh.
Axiamatrics Chris Dovell dropped off the train after a spin at Turn One. “An incredible fight, but then a few puffs of dust and I spun,” he explained.
Pitch was still poised to re-challenge Hart, while on lap 11 King’s defence was finally breached, as GT Radial’s Martin Gibson opened the door, which allowed Team Kennedy’s Rob Croydon to follow. “It was really hard behind Jon, but I managed to force my way through, but got a tap on my front wheel,” said Gibson. “I drove a very wide car, but then took the splitter off after a spin over the grass,” King replied.
Hart went off at the Banking Hairpin, when a radio box got stuck under the pedal’s, dropping him to 15th. Pitch went off at Turn 1 also, “it had been a great battle with Chris, but then he went off and I spun, did a 360 but it allowed Gibson to close,” said Pitch.
The first pitstop window coincided with the first safety car, after Croydon had spun and stalled. Everyone pitted so there was little effect on the order, apart from wiping out the Greensall lead.
The completion of the first hour soon followed, with Trumans out in front with Richard Webb, while Paul Lewis had the Greensall car 1.931s secs down in second.
Matt Hogg was third for Agua Caliente, with Axiamatrics’ Kristian Rose, 2Rent Dominos’ Henry Dawes and FNS’ Greg Evans completing the top six, with 13 cars still on the lead lap.
“Our car had been great but the throttle was stuck open, so I just held onto it,” admitted Caliente’s Perry.
“It had got too close with Chris Hart, he was rubbing my rear and not for the first time,” said FNS’s Walton.
TFL has lost four laps after an early stop, “we had good pace and the plan was to hold station. But the gear linkage broke when I changed down to third,” Bentley explained.
Farquini and Randaccio had the lead from the 62nd lap, which was around halfway into the second hour, “I just took it easy in the first stint and waited,” Farquini explained.
After two hours they had just over seven seconds in hand over 2Rent Dominos, with Chris “World Class” Weatherill having aided Rose and Dovell to bring Axiamatrics up to third.
Mark Holme/Nick Nunn had fought back for Team Viking, after Nunn’s “hot spin” at Rocket for fourth, while GT Radial and Apollo had settled in the top six.
While the third hour spelled the end of 2Rent Dominos after a hub problem was followed by clutch failure, UVio continued from strength to strength, but there were only five cars on the lead lap.
GT Radial headed the pursuit, with Ellis Hadley having joined Gibson and the guesting Jonathan Benson, albeit 54 secs down. “It was hard work but good too,” Benson admitted.
Axiametrcis had been into second too, until contact with a backmarker at the Corkscrew sent Dovell spinning. Having changed their running order to give birthday boy Ryan Burke the start, Apollo were fourth with Zoe Burke and Guy Wenham, while Trumans were fifth and DespatchBay.com sixth, after Riley Phillips’ start handed to James Littlejohn and Andy Bicknell, with “secret weapon” Harry Mailer on the bench.
But FNS had hit trouble too with a fuel starvation problem. “It was just through Church and Rocket, but it nearly stopped,” said Evans. Viking were also losing laps with gear selection problems.
Although UVio continued to reign supreme, the fight for the other podium places was still wide open, as Axiametrics and GT Radial battled for second, with Apollo fractionally behind.
“A few knocks but it’s all been routine maintenance,” said Apollo’s Ryan Burke. “So far so good,” Farquini added. “A good battle but being careful though,” admitted GT Radial’s Hadley.
Although a lap down, Trumans were still in contention in fifth, “I have been trying to use someone as a shield against the wind on the back straight,” Hoad admitted.
Greensall’s were sixth, with both Ryan and Paul Lewis helping Nigel keep them in contention, while Team 7 Fun Bikes King, Ed and Chris Bridle had moved to seventh, with Agua Caliente, RAW and Team 7 Hawthorns the rest of the top 10.
Through the second half and into darkness the UVio duo just carried on regardless with barely a hiccup. “We made a pitstop under the safety car for new tyres, so it made no real impression on our lead,” said Randaccio. There was still three hours on the clock but the decision proved decisive, as they secured their second win of the season by 1m21.845 secs.
The duel for second had almost ended as we went into the sixth hour, “we were on for second as I went passed the pits and I heard the driveshaft go,” Axiametrics Rose explained. They still fought back to secure 10th in the penultimate hour, but it left GT Radial a clear second and the only other crew to finish on the lead lap. “A scary moment when UVio pitted and I was first behind the safety car,” said GT Radial’s Benson. They also changed rear tyres towards the end, before Hadley brought it to the flag.
Apollo completed the podium with Guy Wenham in for the finale, while Trumans continued to consolidate fourth with Colin Kingsnorth over Agua Caliente. “We spent the whole race trying to stay out of any trouble,” said Truman’s Hoad. “In between our problems we were really quick, so a podium would have been nice,” said Caliente’s Hogg.
Team 7 Fun Bikes finished strongly too with sixth, “a pretty faultless car for us, and just changed tyres on one side at the last stop,” said Ed Bridle. “It was just great being up there again,” King added.
PLR was delighted to climb back into the top 10 at the end with Neil Plimmer/Pitch, after being stuck in gear earlier.
Eighth place was RAW Motorsports best Fun Cup result for Alex Macleod/Paul Rivett, while Team Kennedy’s Charlie Kennedy/Croydon recovered to ninth from Axiamatrics.
