Honours even after Silverstone Pickups thrills and spills

There were plenty of thrills and spills during a mixed weekend of weather for the Silverstone MotorSport Vision Racing meeting as the most spectacular action came from the Pickups – which produced thunderous noise and close racing across two heats and a final.

Ryan Hadfield led most of heat one, with Dale Gent keeping him honest until retiring with a broken driveshaft. Matthew Simpson and Aaron Thompson moved into contention in the race’s second half, with Thompson taking victory ahead of Hadfield after Simpson was handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits. Gent bounced back to win heat two, with Hadfield again a close second, while Thompson lost out in a fierce scrap for third with Simpson after a lairy moment on the grass.

David O’Regan fought at the front with Hadfield and Simpson in the early stages of a thrilling final. Gent charged from ninth on the grid to join them before moving ahead at the halfway stage, as Hadfield locked up into Becketts and sent Simpson spinning down the order. However, more drama was to follow when Gent had a pirouette of his own, and O’Regan prevailed in a dice with Thompson before edging Hadfield to victory by 0.360s.

The Porsche Boxster Cup season got off to a wild start, as Saturday morning rain caused chaos for competitors. While most of the field struggled on a greasy circuit, former Junior Saloons racer Bertie Bream impressed with a dominant victory on debut. Brenden Haffner battled for second with Barrington Darcy and Perry Darling before his challenge was halted by mechanical woes. Darcy fought back from spinning twice to take third behind Darling, while Max Watt recovered from stalling at the start and a spin to finish fourth.

Dry and sunny conditions arrived for race two, and it was Bream again who took another comfortable triumph. Multiple championship runner-up Mike Thompson threatened to challenge for victory initially before fading to a distant second, while Scott Evans edged Darling to third.

Despite “making a mess” of the start and slipping to ninth, Jake McAleer charged back up the order to win the Porsche Club Championship opener ahead of his double title-winning father Mark. McAleer Sr had looked set for victory after taking the lead away from Simon Clark but lost time in lapped traffic, allowing his son to sneak through, with the top three separated by 1.3s at the finish.

It was the same trio of 997 drivers who locked out the podium in the sequel, with Clark initially building a 3s lead before being hunted down by McAleer Jr, who pounced as they lapped another car approaching Becketts. He eventually came home with a slender 0.4s advantage to complete the double.

It was a case of redemption for Leo Panayiotou in the Focus Cup, having bounced back to win race two after being robbed by a driveshaft failure in the earlier contest. He led a wet race one until being forced to pull off at Copse, and Ian Mitchell resisted late pressure from Lewis Clark to win by 0.4s while John Baker cruised to third.

Simon Walton initially led the partially reversed-grid finale ahead of Gary Mitchell, who soon dropped back with an issue. Panayiotou climbed from 10th to sweep past Walton into Copse and, after navigating his way through a frenetic backmarker battle, came home 3s clear of Baker while reigning champion Clark completed the podium.

“We had the pace to win [the opener] but sometimes things happen in racing and you have to keep your head high – I’m over the moon,” said an elated Panayiotou.

Past champion Steve Dickens scored a hat-trick of Clubmans Sports Prototype victories while fellow frontrunner Michelle Hayward was hampered by reliability gremlins. Dickens took a commanding race one win in his Mallock Mk29 ahead of Steve Collier’s Vision V89 and Jarred Lester’s Clubmans Mk35, while Hayward’s Phantom P82TR suffered gearbox failure.

An overnight gearbox change proved in vain for Hayward, who retired again in the sequel with clutch release issues. Frustrations while lapping traffic resulted in Dickens having to work harder for his second win, with Lester filling his mirrors until the chequered flag, and Collier again finished on the podium.

Dickens took three Clubmans wins while Hayward suffered three lots of disappointment

Photo by: Steve Jones

Dickens led from lights to flag in the finale despite Hayward running close behind him early on, only to agonisingly be forced to stop again, as Lester beat Collier in an enthralling dice for second.

MCRs filled the top five places in the Sports 2000 curtain-raiser, with reigning Duratec champion Michael Gibbins keeping Joshua Law at bay to win. Timothy Tudor was passed for third by Richard Johnson but held off Ben Cater for fourth.

Gibbins was again chased by Law in race two, with a safety car period closing things up halfway through. A Luffield spin initially appeared to have ended Law’s chances, but he was handed the lead and eventual victory when Gibbins suffered mechanical failure one lap later. Tudor came home second, while Paul Trayhurn broke the MCR stranglehold with third in a Gunn TS11.

Another eclectic mix of cars were on show as the new Bernie’s V8s season got under way, with American muscle cars fighting it out with classic British machinery. Jake Swann produced a stirring drive in race one to hold his own in his Chevrolet Camaro against a pack of more nimble TVR Tuscans. He beat Bill Thompson for fourth at the finish, while Stewart Robb won emphatically ahead of fellow Tuscan runners Dan Birch and Steve Hyde.

Adam Chodosh’s Chevrolet Corvette was soon swamped by Tuscans in race two, where Robb dominated once more and Michael Saunders recovered from a non-finish in the previous encounter to climb to second ahead of Birch. Swann repeated his earlier heroics to again deny Thompson fourth, this time by an even closer margin.

James Colbourne denied Simon Vercoe victory by 0.282s in the Production GTI opener, but had to settle for second in race two behind reigning champion Simon Hill.

Colbourne was a narrow winner in Production GTI opener

Photo by: Steve Jones