Track Torque’s 2Rent Dominos Chris Hart and Henry Dawes were double winners at Anglesey’s 25th Anniversary meeting, to bring themselves right back into the Fun Cup title hunt, with only the Oulton Park finale to go.
A stunning first lap gave Marcus Clutton the lead in race one for DespatchBay.com, heading into Rocket from eighth on the grid.
The polesitting Agua Caliente car of Rob Perry gradually slipped down the order, but had contact with Hart on the second lap, which damaged the 2Rent Dominos splitter.
By the end of lap four Clutton’s lead had grown to 6.753s over Team Lane Roofing Evolution’s Geoff Fawcett, Honeywell’s Tim Wheeldon and Hart, who had CCS Media’s Nigel Greensall pressing for his fourth place.
Both Greensall and JPR UVio’s Farquini Deott continued to carve their way forward. Greensall was into second after six laps, with Deott fourth at the Banking Hairpin on lap eight, before taking Fawcett for third on the School Straight a lap later.
At the front, the lead just kept growing and by lap 19 Clutton had 20 secs in hand, but behind him Greensall had Deott beginning to threaten his hold on second.
Hart had dropped to seventh and was one of the first to stop and changed the front end, but two safety car spells brought us up to the completion of the first hour.
One of the casualties was CCS Media, “it just stopped going through Church, very scary and a two fag moment,” said Ciro Caranannte, who had taken over the second placed car from Greensall, before electrical gremlins struck.
Andy Bicknell was in for DespatchBay.com and with the safety car intervention’s the pressure was on. JPR UVio were second, two seconds down, but Graham Roberts had damaged their splitter on the grass on School Straight.
Team Lane Roofing Evolution were third, from Track Torque 2Rent Dominos, Honeywell and Viking.
After the earlier stops had equalised the order Dawes had briefly led until he stopped again, but Clutton was back in for DespatchBay.com at the second stop and they were back at the head of the field, with a reduced lead of 8.458s at the end of the second hour. “It had been a great start for us, but I think that may have made Andy more nervous,” said Clutton.
The top six were still on the lead lap, with JPR UVio second, from Track Torque 2Rent Dominos, Honeywell, Team Trooper and Team Lane Roofing Evolution, while Team Viking were doing their best to unlap themselves too. “Our car felt so good, very torquey and couldn’t have gone better,” said Viking’s Mark Holme.
Into the final hour, Team Honeywell were looking set for a podium, “or our first finish since Silverstone,” as Wheeldon pointed out. “I was in fourth gear going through Church and we had a big engine blow, filling the cockpit with smoke,” explained Neil Plimmer.
While Plimmer was recovered JPR UVio were out in front as the safety car came out again, from 2Rent Dominos, Team Trooper and DespatchBay.com, but there was one more stop before the chequered flag.
Hart was one of the first of the leaders to pit and after the rest had come in, Dawes was left with the victorious run to the flag. “Winning is always the most fun,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot between any of the top three though,” Hart added.
JPR UVio still held on to second despite serving a stop go penalty. “That penalty probably cost us the win,” said Deott. “I was struggling at the end, the tyres had gone off and I could feel the pressure,” Roberts added after taking the flag.
Clutton managed to close in on Roberts again during the final stint and continued to be the quickest driver throughout, “the car felt a bit all over at the end, but we lost out to one mistake and that was mine,” Clutton admitted, referring to his four wheels on the grass moment, ripping the front splitter off as he lapped slower cars in Rocket early on.
TLR Evolution retained a solid fourth, with Fawcett, Rob Croydon and Chris Weatherill well matched. “We were like the best of the second wave and we want to be in the first,” said Croydon.
Team Trooper were disappointed to be a lap down in fifth, but somewhat lucky to have their car intact at the flag, after Paul Wighton had gone off backwards. Jake Rattenbury had a spell in the lead for them mid-race though.
MAK Racing finished strongly in sixth, from Track Torque FNS and Team Viking, who had a dramatic race. “I didn’t hear one of the safety car calls as my radio wasn’t working. I didn’t see a flag and overtook, only to find a car across the track into Church, so I spun,” explained Jim Hadfield. “Mine wasn’t under control either,” admitted Nick Nunn too after stopping inches from going backwards into the pitwall after a spinning at the final turn.
JPR on the Piste and Amber 1 Team 7 Fun Academy completed the top 10.
RESULT
1 Track Torque 2Rent Dominos (Chris Hart/Henry Dawes) 122 laps in 3h00m47.964s (62.75mph); 2 JPR Uvio (Farquini Deott/Graham Roberts) +7.776s; 3 DepatchBay.com (Marcus Clutton/Andy Bicknell); 4 Team Lane Roofing Evolution (Geoff Fawcett/Chris Weatherill/Rob Croydon); 5 Team Trooper Iron Maiden (Jake Rattenbury Paul Wighton/Harry Mailer/Anthony Reid); 6 MAK Racing Ltd (Michelle Hayward/Stuart Hall/Chris Webster); 7 Track Torque FNS (Steve Walton/Greg Evans); 8 Team Viking (Mark Holme/Nick Nunn/Jim Hadfield); 9 JPR on the Piste (Dominic Jackson/Mark Burton); 10 Amber 1 Team 7 Fun Cup Academy (Chris Bridle/Edward Bridle/Chris Dovell). Fastest lap Clutton (DespatchBay.com) 1m19.412s (70.26mph).
RACE TWO (NIGHT)
Martin Gibson led the opening lap having started on pole for JPR GT Radial, but quickly had JPR UVio’s Roberts and DespatchBay.com’s Clutton on his tail.
But Clutton had another charge up to Rocket, stayed on the track on this occasion, and went from third to lead. Greensall was also on the attack for CCS Media, ousting Gibson on lap three, before taking Roberts two laps later.
Roberts stuck with Greensall however and reclaimed the place on lap 10, by which time Clutton’s lead had already grown again.
Gibson continued to keep GT Radial in contention and only lost one more place to Hart as they took the Banking Hairpin on lap 15, which gave the race one winners the challenge to close in on the second place duel.
Roberts was the first to stop, making way for Deott, while Greensall stayed out. Clutton was last in as he handed to Bicknell for a double stint, rejoining with a 20 seconds lead still.
After the opening hour Bicknell still led, but Dawes was second and had reduced the lead to 9.8 secs, after he had taken Deott for second into Rocket. “It’s difficult in traffic with no blue flags and we can’t flash lights,” said Dawes.
JPR UVio remained in third, from CCS Media, Team Honeywell and Team Lane Roofing, “quite happy there, we are still in it, said Team UVio’s Deott, “getting out of the car was the hardest thing for me,” admitted TLR’s Dan Gullick, while GT Radial were still seventh, with Ellis Hadley at the wheel, having retaken MAK Racing’s Chris Webster. “A schoolboy error, I got spooked by his lights,” said Webster.
The lead remained unchanged until DespatchBay.com made their second stop, 2Rent Dominos were then in charge until their stop handed the lead to JPR UVio. But when it was their turn to stop, it was 2Rent Dominos restored to the lead, from UVio and DespatchBay.com.
At the second hour “Rent Dominos were over 34 seconds clear of DespatchBay.com, with only UVio on the lead lap.
Although the podium places may have looked settled, Honeywell were still fourth,” we were losing time at the stops though. The car was over fuelling and was hard to restart,” said Plimmer.
Although DespatchBay.com regained the lead briefly when 2Rent Dominos made a stop, it was Dawes once again taking the glory. “The car was brilliant, easy to drive and easy to be consistent,” he said. “Henry didn’t know we had a misfire though, if we put the full beam lights on,” Hart added.
Clutton pushed as hard as ever in the final stint to net another podium for DespatchBay.com,” my back is killing me after that double stint though,” admitted team mate Bicknell.
JPR UVio kept their title defence on track with third place, “we will take that, although we struggled for grip again,” said Roberts.
Although a lap down, fourth was virtually a victory for Team Honeywell. “That feels good,” said Wheeldon. “Relieved but hard work,” Plimmer echoed.
Team Trooper had put Anthony Reid in earlier than usual, which left Harry Mailer to bring them home fifth, having demoted MAK Racing’s Hall in the closing laps.
CCS Media were seventh and Team Viking ended a rewarding weekend with eighth. TLR Evolution and JPR on the Piste rounded off the top ten in a race with no safety car usage at all!
RESULT
1 Track Torque 2Rent Dominos 127 laps in 2h54m56.968s (67.51mph); 2 DespatchBay.com +14.125s; 3 JPR Uvio; 4 Team Honeywell (Tim Wheeldon/Neil Plimmer); 5 Team Trooper Iron Maiden; 6 MAK Racing Ltd; 7 CCS Media (Nigel Greensall/Ciro Carannante/Bob Tomlinson/Alan Honarmand); 8 Team Viking; 9 Team Lane Roofing Evolution; 10 JPR on the Piste. Fastest lap: Clutton (DespatchBay.com 1m19.827s (69.90mph).
