Mallory Park 2009

13th August - National Championship
Round Eleven
Mallory Park (provisional as Legends have a habit of putting in non-scoring guest drivers)

Steve McCall's write up: That's the latest round over and what a weekend it was. First I must say thanks to every person in my team. It was what I would say was the hardest ever race weekend we have had in the last six years. It was a very eventful weekend. The cars were all on the pace and the whole championship has become much more hard fought by everyone. Mallory has to be the most unforgiving one ever - Ross was trying to find his limit during the practice and he had some damage but the team set about the car!

Darren Gaulton had just got his engine back in the car after having the gearbox rebuilt only to find he could not select the gears so it forced another change. Then John Jon had an engine failure, Ross had a drive flange part company and Lee took a hit due to the (too) close nature of the racing.

Nice to have John Marshall back out with us - first time in the National Legends since round one at Brands. Nick Brace had a shakedown in his new car at Knockhill and he went really well getting 3rd overall - superb for a racer in his first season and he is now back at the top in the rookie championship.

All in all it was such a hard day's motor racing, such a fast and tight race track so my team had a busy day. It was non stop from 9.40am 'til we finshed. Two of our main team members were not with us - Jim and Nikita are celebrating the birth of their son, Jay whilst Colin andn his partner are awaiting their delivery as well. We missed them all this weekend. Meanwhile we are getting ready for the next Knockhill weekend and then off to Spa - that's the race track not the shop by the way. Five from our team and maybe another car coming out to Belgium as well.

 

Pos	Driver	R1	R2	R3	Score
1	12 - Stephen Treherne	1	3	2	555
2	19 - Lawrence Davey	4	4	1	520
3	8 - Nick Brace	5	7	4	440
4	24 - Matthew Pape	6	8	6	400
5	11 - Simon Belcher	3	5	0	325
6	2 - Lee Fitzpatrick	8	2	20	315
7	16 - Richard Pocklington	7	0	3	305
8	32 - Peter Morton	2	9	0	300
9	3 - Ross Marshall	0	6	5	295
10	55 - Ben Power	10	13	8	290
11	4 - Darren Gaulton	0	10	7	235
12	66 - Steve Whitelegg	13	12	12	230
13	72 - Glenn Burtenshaw	12	15	11	220
14	1 - John 'Jon' Higgins	0	1	0	210
15	59 - Paul Mansell	18	11	10	210
16	99 - Brian Cooke	11	0	9	205
17	40 - Roger Cousins	14	16	14	160
18	7 - John Marshall	9	0	17	145
19	9 - Julie Carter	16	17	15	120
20	17 - John Hilbery	17	14	18	110
21	43 - Mick Mercer	15	18	16	110
22	77 - Robin Webb	19	0	13	85
23	47 - David Jones	20	19	19	30

Full Report

The title race was thrown wide open again at Mallory Park, when the tide turned against Burnett Motorsport's duellists John Higgins and Lee Fitzpatrick. Stephen Treherne came away with a win and two second places, to keep himself well in the hunt.

Higgins had the lead of heat one on the second lap but pulled off at Gerards with a broken propshaft. Ross Marshall was left out in front, with Lawrence Davey, Simon Belcher, Peter Morton, Treherne and Fitzpatrick running line astern behind. But with Marshall suffering the same fate as Higgins, Davey was next to lead out Gerards on lap five.

Fitzpatrick began to pressurise from third as Davey and Morton arrived side by side at Shaws Hairpin for the lead. But Treherne was also on the move, heading Belcher and Nick Brace for fourth, before a brave move around the outside at the Esses gave him the lead with a lap to go.

It was still any one of five for the lead on the final lap, until there was contact at Shaws. As Fitzpatrick got hung out to dry, he stuck to the outside but found his route cut off by Davey, he hit the armco and lost a front wheel. "Lee's front wheel nearly joined me in the cockpit. I thought I was on for second as I knew I had the pace," said Davey.

Treherne was left clear for victory from Morton and Belcher, with Davey recovering to hold fourth from Brace. "I just tried to keep of trouble," said Treherne. "Normal service is resumed, it feels as if things are coming together again," added Morton. Matthew Pape and Richard Pocklington both took the flag before three wheeled Fitzpatrick made it home in eighth, just ahead of the duelling John Marshall and Ben Power.

Brace led at the start of heat two, but soon had to give best to team mates Fitzpatrick and Higgins, with Treherne on his own in third, from the battling Belcher, Brace, Davey and Ross Marshall.

Higgins dived ahead at the Esses on the third lap, but Fitzpatrick retaliated. Into the Esses with a lap to go Higgins went through again but this time made it stick. "I could see Lee's car was handling badly, so I made sure I took him in the inside," said Higgins. "The handling was terrible, but we only got the repairs finished minutes before the race start," Fitzpatrick replied.

Treherne held onto a solitary third, "those two guys worked together so well I just couldn't catch them," he said. Davey was fourth after taking Belcher on lap six and Ross Marshall followed Belcher home in sixth with, Brace, Pape, Morton and Darren Gaulton completing the top ten.

Pocklington made the best of the start in the final and led Gaulton and Higgins in an immediate break, after Ross Marshall slowed on the Stebbe Straight. "John Jon washed out and I followed him onto the grass, I couldn't see for the grass covering the front of the car and had to back off," he explained. There was no backing off for Higgins though as he led into Shaws on the second lap and soon pulled out a sizeable gap, as Davey chased Pocklington for second and a whole gaggle fought over fourth.

Brace emerged at the head of the scrap, but had Treherne and Belcher all over him. By lap four Higgins was serenely on his way, Davey kept the pressure on Pocklington and Treherne snatched fourth from Brace at Gerards. But a lap later exiting Devils Elbow Higgins coasted to a halt with a broken throttle cable. Davey had just dived ahead of Pocklington and was almost caught out as the new leader.

It was back to four the lead with Davey heading Pocklington, Treherne and Brace, while Belcher was doing his best to close. Into the Esses on lap seven Treherne had second, but Brace was clear in fourth after Belcher expired on the Stebbe Straight. "It just cut out," he said.

Treherne's determined charge for the lead paid dividends at the Esses on the last lap, but far from giving up Davey stuck to his guns and they were as one into Shaws. Through Devils Elbow Treherne had the inside, but Davey managed to slingshot around the outside to take victory by 0.009secs. "I saw their board saying last lap, although they tried to hide it from me. So I just went for it at the Elbow," said Davey. "I was going to settle for second, but got a good run on Lawrence at the Esses. We touched a little at Shaws on the last lap and I lost a bit of momentum on my run to the line," Treherne replied.

Pocklington held onto third. "My aim was to finish and it didn't work out too badly," he said. Brace was delighted too with fourth, "my best race by far. I just did what the others do and didn't try and do it all on the first lap," he reckoned. Ross Marshall recovered to take fifth, with Pape sixth and Gaulton just holding off Power in seventh.

Brian Cooke, Paul Mansell and Glenn Burtenshaw finished in line in the fight for ninth, after John Marshall and John Hilbery fell back. Down in 20th Fitzpatrick took the flag a lap down after a pitstop to fix a broken fuel line.