Sunday 26th saw the 500’s gather once again at Mallory Park for the Edwina Overend meeting organised by the BRSCC. Twelve cars were entered and apart from the regular drivers we were joined by Rod Delves, Dave Lecoq and Kerry Horan. Sadly the first casualty of the day was Hakan Sandberg who was initially prevented from signing on because of his Swedish racing license. After a lengthy period of debate and some kind intervention by Martin Sheppard, the organisers realised their mistake and Hakan was allowed to sign on with the promise of a fast-track through scrutineering to allow him to get to qualifying in time but having already had his day spoilt, Hakan sadly decided to pack up.

Practice

As we gathered for practice, the weather though windy and cold remained dry and everyone was able to get away with the exception of Kerry Horan who, unable to get his car going, also packed up and called it a day. Nigel Ashman was bedding in a new piston and was under strict instructions from Charlie Smith to take it easy for four laps. This surprised a number of competitors who found themselves passing Nigel with ease, JB Jones in particular later describing his pass as “a moment of the greatest joy” Fortunately there were no casualties from the ten that practiced with the first three being Nigel Ashman, Richard Ellingworth and Dave Lecoq. Both Martin Sheppard and Mike Bell were going very well posting 1.03 times and JB was delighted that the Cousy was running well and without problems.

Richard Bishop-Miller and Nigel Ashman in practice. Photo Hakan Sandberg

Race

The race turned out to be rather more eventful than practice. It seems we haven’t tried every variation of the start procedure because with a slight rain starting to fall, the organisers managed a new twist when we were required to take grid positions only to then complete another green flag lap before finally taking positions again for a standing start. Everyone managed to get off with the exception of Richard Bishop-Miller who had the misfortune to stall and could not get restarted. Richard was pushed into the pit lane where he managed to get started and he rejoined the race a lap behind only to then have to retire with a stuck throttle.

Nigel and Richard both made good starts with Nigel just holding the pole advantage around Gerards before Richard slipped past on the back straight. Nigel managed to re-take the lead at the hairpin only to loose it again on the main straight and so it went on for the first few laps of the race. Dave Lecoq didn’t get off the line as quick as Mike Fowler but took the place back from Mike the first time the two went through the Esses. Mike soon realised he was having problems with his car jumping out of top gear and with horrible noises coming from the gearbox he decided to pull off and watch the end of the race from the paddock.

Richard is keen. Photo David Bishop-Miller

Further back Martin and Mike were going as well as they had in practice and the two enjoyed a good battle with Martin later describing his driving as “brilliant” and Mike finding that he was lucky to finish with his magneto mounting almost having given up. Back at the front end Nigel Ashman’s Norton was starting to cough as the magneto failed and for a while he tried to stay with Richard and ignore the spluttering but the problem grew rapidly worse and the new priority became trying to get to the end of the race while the engine kept turning itself off. Richard was able to take advantage and was pleased to see Nigel disappear from his mirrors allowing him to drive away and take his first win and post an excellent fastest lap of 59.33 seconds. As the Magneto worsened, Nigel was getting slower and slower and inevitably Dave Lecoq shot past into second with Nigel just managing to hang on to third before being caught by Martin Sheppard and Mike Bell.

Rod Delves and Mike Gilbert also had a good race together with neither suffering major problems other than Rod loosing his Carb ram tube which was later recovered from the track. JB Jones brought up the rear and was delighted to finish without problems. At one point JB was shown the blue flag for the approaching Nigel Ashman but was able to drive away from the rapidly dying Cooper giving him another moment of joy!

Martin Sheppard rounds the hairpin. Photo Hakan Sandberg

Classified Finishers

Mike Gilbert leads JB Photo David Bishop-Miller

Mike Fowler at the hairpin. Photo Hakan Sandberg