Pre 65 Racing Saloons returned to the very popular Metal Man “Thunder In The Park” Meeting Dec 1st & 2nd and were one of the most entertaining classes of the round, with major class sponsors Kumho Tyres & Fresh To Go Salads making it possible.
Fantastic conditions greeted a field of 25 starters. Great to see Glenn Williams back out in the ex Shane Lamont Falcon, Stalwart Errol Hamley in a borrowed Anglia (albeit low on HP), and long time member Gary Rush in his fantastic Hillman Imp.
Qualifying set the scene for the weekend with some close (if a little slow) times, none quicker than Justin Haworth in the Watson Haworth Motors Mustang on 1.09.25 followed by Bill McKinnon in the SS Nova 1.09.28, Graham Haworth in the 2nd of the Watson Haworth Motors Mustangs 1.09.76. Glenn Williams straight on the pace with a 1.10.28. Etchells Anglias next saw Andrew Stevenson 1.12.6 from Peter Stevenson 1.13.08. The next half a dozen or so cars separated by only a second or so. Rush with early engine problems that would plague him all weekend and Alan Power failed to qualify in the Anglia.
Race one
This saw a return of four V8 cars on the start grid for the first time this season. J Haworth and McKinnon both “bogged” on the start line which was to Grahams Haworth’s advantage taking McKinnon on the inside following Justin through to the back straight. Williams holding on to 4th spot despite taking to the grass to try and get past McKinnon – to no avail. Further back Mike Johnson battling the Stevenson Anglias and managing to overtake Peter late in the race. Gary Rush despite making up a number of positions had his engine fail early putting the rapid little Imp out for the weekend. Ian Perry in his similar car shattered the windscreen early; Campbell Gould broke a pushrod putting him out also. Wayne Davies & Paul Pickerill (AP6 Valliant) had a race long battle. The flying Jimmy Arthurs had wheels waving on every corner in the Lotus replica Cortina and achieving a personal best time of 1.16.
Back to the lead cars and Justin Haworth held on for a comfortable race win in amongst lapped traffic from the very hard changing Graham Haworth and McKinnon in 3rd. Glenn Williams getting to grips with the Falcon V8 in a very respectable 4th place from A Stevenson in 5th.
Race 2, Handicap start, Sunday.
Overcast conditions saw the lap times tumble. Very busy handicap race with exciting battles within battles through out the entire field. Pit row start for Haworth, Haworth and McKinnon, Justin getting the better of the starts and putting some daylight between him and the fellow pit rowers. Very good handicapping saw the field closing up with only a couple of laps to go. Williams and Andrew Stevenson getting some very good passing opportunities with J Haworth trying to hang on to the lead pack taking Hobman with him. Last lap board with most of the field in on the back straight!
Andrew Stevenson taking the race win and re setting the new Class C track record (1.11.36) one second back to Justin Haworth in the Mustang (1.07.20), from a determined Williams in 3rd. Fourth place went to Graham Haworth who made up 6 or 7 spots on the final straight and setting his personal best lap from Shane Hobman 5th in the immaculate EJ Holden. With some great dices between the Class C cars throughout the race (Arthurs/Collier/Robinson/Davies) and giant killing performances from Dave Bone (Mini) and Richard Hill in the A40 Farina the packed grandstands were on their feet. No wonder Pre 65 Racing has been voted in the top 3 races in spectator surveys!
Race 3, Delayed Reverse Grid.
Drizzle greeted the Pre65’ers to the weekends final race. 6 from pit row this time made the race start a little confusing from a spectators point of view, but once the lapped cars were un-lapped by the quicker cars this race made great watching. Slightly greasy conditions into the hairpin saw a few funny lines, Wayne Davies Anglia was using more water and oil than fuel, rebuild time for that car – but he was still lapping in the 1.14 bracket.
Justin Haworth with a brutal 2.10 handicap had a lonely few laps until finally catching some cars on lap 5. Graham Haworth made the best of the traffic this time coming home to a 2 second lead from A Stevenson in yet another good drive to secure 2nd place and yet more valuable overall points. J Haworth had a slight coming together with Tim Patterson’s EH at the hairpin with neither car suffering too much, Justin made it through to 3rd. Williams rounded off an excellent debut weekend it he Falcon securing 4th from McKinnon’s Nova in 5th.
Round Winners, Justin Haworth takes his 2nd round win for the season (57) one point ahead of Graham Haworth (56). 3rd went to Andrew Stevenson (55)
