2006 race reports archive (by Mike Hogg)

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March 26th, 2006

Back at Knockhill for another new season of racing and 2006 got off to the best possible start, despite the concerted efforts of the weather. All the day's races were held on a track which at all times was a type of wet be it simply damp or resembling the River Forth. That said, we're lucky the season didn't start a week earlier or chances were spiked tyres would have been required. We'll see what transpires next year when the first round crops up in January...

***

The Scottish Legends events were a mixture of Scottish Series regulars and National Series visitors but some things never change - such as Ben Mason taking victory in the first two heats of the first round. The first heat fell victim to a first lap red flag with two cars stuck in the deep new gravel which has cropped up around the track but at the restart Lance Gauld took the lead only to be passed by Mason who grabbed the win by three seconds. Dave Newsham came home some way back to complete the top three. The second heat was all Mason with Gauld initially second before falling back down to fourth behind Newsham and Gerard McCosh. Derek Pierce took fifth despite a late attack by Chris Grieve. The final saw a fraught initial lap after which Newsham and Grieve escaped into the distance. Newsham grabbed the win by a nose with Derek Pierce completing the podium. Mark Howden finished a notable fourth with McCosh and Gauld fighting it out over fifth place to the flag. Mason fell victim to a first lap incident and failed to finish.

The second round of the double-header started with Grieve and Newsham carrying on their battle, though Grieve just came out on top this time by. Ben Mason shadowed them all the way, crossing the line just behind in third. The second heat saw Pierce take the early lead from Gauld who left the track and dropped back. Mason jumped up to second leaving Newsham, Grieve and McCosh to battle over third. A late attack by Mason saw Pierce defend too deeply into the hairpin resulting in a spin down to fifth with Mason taking victory followed by Newsham, McCosh and Grieve. The final saw newcomer Stuart Gilchrist blast through the field from fourth to take the lead into Seat Curves though Grieve was soon to take the point. A spirited battle for second between Newsham and Pierce saw the two bang wheels twice leading to Pierce spinning off track, rejoining and grabbing fifth from Gilchrist while Mason in third closed on Newsham, attempting the pass into Seat but braking late and forcing both cars to bounce through the gravel. As the last lap began, Mason slowed dramatically and plunged down the rankings, leaving a very spread out Grieve, Newsham, McCosh, Pierce and Gauld to complete the top five.

***

Eyebrows were raised when at the end of the Scottish XR2 Championship Qualifying session, veteran Peter Cruickshank was knocked off the top spot by newcomer Andrew Winchester, making only his second start. When the race got underway, Jamie Bickett grabbed the lead but there was carnage on the second lap when a number of the leaders got together and the field was swept up in the accident. Red flags flew and Winchester's car was left heavily damaged, ending his day altogether. At the restart Marc Baynham shot into the lead but left the track, allowing Bickett back to the point along with Colin MacKinnon and Peter Cruickshank. Just as the lead battle got underway, Cruickshank suffered an off into the deep gravel, digging in and rolling out of the race to allow Charlie Cope in easily his best showing to date into third. MacKinnon tried his hardest to grab the lead but couldn't make it stick, Bickett grabbing the win. Ten seconds down the road, Baynham had caught back up to Cope, briefly taking the final podium spot before leaving the track again and allowing the delighted Cope back into the spot. Behind Baynham came the battling pack of Alistair Fraser, John Findlay, Derek McDougall, Billy McMillan Jnr and John Turner.

The second race of the double-header event will go down in the history books as possibly the strangest ever, with almost the entire field pointing the wrong way at some point. Bickett led away from MacKinnon who from an early stage clearly had some form of engine problem from the increasing amount of smoke coming from his car under power. A sideways moment by Bickett at Seat saw MacKinnon into the lead, though mere laps later oil from his dying engine got on his tyres, spinning him into the gravel at the bottom of Seat where he proceeded to copy Cruickshank and roll onto his roof. With Bickett now caught up to Baynham who had inherited the lead, battle was joined until Baynham lost the car at Scotsman and backed off the track into the tyres. Not that he was alone - several cars were pointing in the wrong direction throughout the race with Derek McDougall, John Findlay, Scott Fraser and Charlie Cope missing out on possibly their best ever results to spins. Indeed, with Cruickshank retiring his repaired car with a fuel leak, David Dryburgh and Alastair Fraser found themselves the unlikely but no less welcome podium finishers a very long way behind Bickett.

***

The Scottish Autotrader Mini Coopers also enjoyed a double-header meeting, Olly Mortimer leading all the way in the first race, originally from Rory Butcher. Sandy Forrest soon passed Butcher, however and pushed Mortimer all the way to the flag. Butcher came home three seconds behind them in third with Vic Covey Jnr and Paul Wilson completing the top five.

The second race saw a red flag at the first start when Covey skipped across the grass at Scotsman, tagging Dave McLennan and leaving him stranded in the gravel. The restart saw Garry Meikle and the impressive Wilson head to the front, but Mortimer soon started to track them down, whilst the field behind them jostled for position, entering the newly widened Knockhill corners four-wide on occasion. A smoky Wilson retired in the pits just after Mortimer had grabbed the lead from Meikle who then lost second to a demon move through Butchers by Forrest. Butcher and Covey completed the top five at the flag.

***

In the various Sportscar classes, Colin Simpson's Marcos Mantis took a dominant victory in the Scottish Saloon and Sportscar Championship following the retirement of Robert Pritchard's hugely quick Vauxhall Caterham. Tony Caig was the only other finisher in contact with his Focus, twelve seconds behind. Bob Lyons took third in his Caterham.

The debut Supersports race saw Roddie Patterson on pole in his Radical but the red flag flew for a nasty looking crash which saw Bill Carr's Mallock into the tyrewall at the hairpin with the driver remaining inside. After the arrival of the ambulance there was much relief when Bill managed to make his way to the rescue vehicle himself, shaken but not injured. The restart saw Patterson demoted to the second row for jumping the original start but he dived straight into the lead on the run down to Seat, passing returnee Harry Simpson's black Radical. Patterson then simply vanished into the distance while Simpson and Pritchard battled hard for most of the race, Simpson using every inch of the road to stay ahead. Ali Thom finished a fine fourth on his Radical debut while Tommy Dreelan's fire-spitting Porsche 911 GT2 came home fifth.

***

The Historic classes saw two dominant victories, with Geordie Taylor taking a straight-forward win in the Formula Phoenix race while Stan Bernard's Porsche pulled steadily away from Olly Ross in his gorgeous Lotus Europa to win by around ten seconds.

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202006_files/Knockhill/25th%20March.pdf

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April 30th, 2006

After having to fight the penguins for viewing spots at Knockhill a month earlier, spectators finding something to do with their bank-holiday weekend were treated to far more agreeable weather conditions for the second rounds of the SMRC Championships. Some came away with a touch of sunburn but all came away having witnessed some great racing.

***

The Legends started with a fraught Heat 1. Following two busy first laps, Ben Mason emerged in the lead followed by Ali Thom, pushing as hard as he could to stay in touch. The large Burnett Motorsport setup in the paddock boasted a number of visiting cars, none more emotive than that of John "Jon" Higgins, returning to the National Series this year and out at the 'Hill to dust off the cobwebs. Having started right at the back, he cut through the field like butter, not really having to fight until he reached Thom who blocked and fought as best he could until Higgins got through. Higgins then caught but could not quite pass Mason who took yet another win while Alex Knight took third. David Thorburn, Thom and Gerard McCosh all fought to the line over the rest of the top six.

The second Heat was all about Higgins. Having started at the back again he quickly got to the front, passing Mason and then early leader McCosh to take the point. Mason mounted a fightback which saw him pass McCosh and latch onto the back of Higgins but as with the first race (but in opposite order) the hunter could not get past the hunted, allowing Higgins to grab the win. Behind McCosh in third and Thorburn in fourth, a group comprising Lee Fitzpatrick, the newly 1250cc engine shod Gary Crawford, Frank Hynds and James Willis all fought hard to the flag.

The Final (which did not feature John Higgins who had already left) saw Knight lead to begin with followed by Ali Thom and Caroline McMurdo, though Mason soon worked his way to the front. Knight tagged on and followed the defending Champion to the flag, not quite managing to regain the lead while McCosh took third from Thom late on having just lost his stuffed pig to the slipstream (the remains of which were returned to him by the marshalls on the slowdown lap.) Gary Crawford lost what would have been a good finish on the last corner of the last lap when a collision with Thorburn saw him off in the gravel.

***

The first two races of the Scottish XR2 Championship seemed to show a field of drivers who didn't want to win the races, let alone the Championship! Round 3 saw not quite as much gravel and grass action as the previous races, but there were still developments which surprised a few people. Peter Cruickshank seemed to be easily the quickest on track, initially leading away and building up a big gap to the pack. A spin into the gravel would drop him well down the order, however, handing the lead to a no doubt surprised but delighted Stewart Scott followed a little way behind by Steven Gray and Scott Fraser.

Cruickshank caught the pair battling for the final podium positions but it was too late to make an impact and he had to settle for fourth. Fifth went to John Findlay who came out on top in a huge battle with Derek McDougall, Marc Baynham and Charlie Cope. In what was a pretty well behaved race, the only big damage done was to Richard Carr's white Fiesta when he lost his brakes entering the hairpin and he had a sizeable and eerily similar crash to his father's March incident in the Mallock, thankfully with the same lack of injury. Despite not even attending this race, Jamie Bickett should still have a fairly large Championship lead!

***

The Sportscar classes were headed by the debut of the Celtic Cup Radical forty lap enduro race. Duncan Vincent had posted the first ever sub-fifty second lap of Knockhill in qualifying thanks to the revised circuit for 2006 in the gorgeous Caledonia Homes car followed by the equally good looking silver and red Nissan-liveried car of Colin Noble. Noble grabbed the early lead but Vincent would not be denied, retaking the point. With Noble starting to fade backwards, Roddie Patterson continued the heroics he is becoming well known for by taking the lead in his older car for a while before dropping back to second, a trip through the gravel demoting him behind the rapid Richard Parsons. With the mandatory pitstops getting underway, Vincent managed to retain his lead with Parsons and Patterson retaining their podium positions. Noble's day was going from bad to worse; his position in the field continuing to plunge until oil smoke started to puff from the driveshaft, becoming so bad he had to pull into the pits and retire. The order remained from there, the field sufficiently spread out as to maintain position to the chquered flag, at which point confusion broke out. Some people thought the race was forty minutes while others thought it was forty laps including the flag marshall who half waved the chequers at Vincent only to immediately pull it back in. Vincent, Parsons and Patterson slowed, assuming the race was over while other cars roared past the line, seeing no flags. Cue Graham Brunton sprinting for race control while Vincent was met with a sea of waving arms on the pitwall imploring him to get up to race speed again. The race was stopped on the next lap, however, the result being declared as it had been at the end of forty laps.

The Supersport field suffered from a lack of Radicals due to most being entered solely in the Celtic Cup race, though it is questionable if any would have been able to deal with Robert Pritchard's mighty Vauxhall Caterham. Looking great in a new bright green paintscheme, he initially led away from Harry Simpson's Radical which just couldn't get by. After Simpson's lap nine retirement Willie Hourie in the sole other Radical in the race tried to close the gap but was over a second shy at the chequered flag with George Brewster's modified Caterham twenty further seconds back in third.

The Scottish Sports and Saloons race was again a Pritchard dominion, a poor start by the second placed Marcos of Colin Simpson leaving him eight seconds behind the Caterham at the end. Brewster took his second third place of the day with Alistair McMillan fourth in a former BTCC Honda Accord Super-Touring car, still sporting its 1999 Lee Brookes Rock-It Cargo colour scheme.

***

In the day's other races, Geordie Taylor took two dominant Formula Phoenix wins, while a hard battle between Stan Bernard's Porsche and Al Fleming's Lotus Elan was eventually won by the Lotus driver. The visiting Dunlop Supercars and Fiat Abarth Cup provided some Irish thrills, the Fiats especially providing some close and clean battles.

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202006_files/Knockhill/30th%20April.pdf

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June 4th, 2006

Legends fans were in for a treat at Knockhill for the third SMRC race meeting of 2006, with a double header providing six races. Although the field size suffered through an unfortunate clash of schedules with the National Series running at Croft, there was still a lot of action to be had, especially at the front of the field where Ben Mason discovered he wasn't going to have it all his own way this time.

In the first heat, Lance Gauld stamped his authority on the field early by working his way to the front followed closely by Alex Knight. Frank Hynds appeared in an impressive third in one of a pair of brand new white cars for himself and Pat Hynds while a big battle raged for fourth. Mason worked his way through this pack and caught Hynds just as the latter caught Knight and they passed him on either side heading into the hairpin with Mason emerging at the front. He caught Gauld with one lap to go but could not pass and had to settle for second with Hynds coming home third ahead of McCosh who passed Knight for fourth around the outside of the entry to Seat in the dying laps.

The second heat saw normal service resumed with Mason taking the early lead and pulling out a gap to McCosh and Gauld. Frank Hynds was looking to grab fourth from David Thorburn before going off at the hairpin on the last lap and gifting the position to Ali Thom.

The final started with James Willis and Ali Thom leading. Gauld was in inspired form, however and leapt from the back to first place within a handful of laps, Mason took a little longer getting by Knight into second and could not quite get by Gauld in the last laps. Eight seconds further back McCosh led Knight and Frank Hynds across the line to complete the podium.

The first heat of the second round was a bit calmer than the races that had come before with Gauld leading away, Mason once again catching but again unable to get by for the win. McCosh, Hynds and Thorburn completed a spread out top five.

The second heat once again saw an amazing charge through the field by Gauld from the back, indeed he was in third place by lap two. Mason had vanished into the distance from the outset though and proved uncatchable, though Gauld was able to grab second from Hynds towards the end.

The final followed a familiar pattern with Knight taking the early lead and Gauld once again cutting straight through the field and grabbing the lead within a handful of laps. Mason worked his way towards the back of Gauld in fairly short time as well and was soon within striking distance. Mid-way through the race Carol Brown was spun entering the hairpin and in the following confusion Pat Hynds was launched over Willis and barrel-rolled four times to a standstill, thankfully unhurt. Mason, meanwhile, made a last gasp effort for the lead on the final lap, grabbing the win by a whisker. McCosh took the final podium place from Ali Thom in the final laps. Later the result was amended giving Mason a ten second penalty, dropping him to third.

***

The XR2 race saw the return of the 2005 Champion Nick Sanderson for the first time this season and he promptly got straight back into the groove, taking pole and smashing the track record. He led away at the race-start with Andrew Winchester in second being swallowed up by the pack after a misunderstanding as to whether there was to be a green flag lap. Things got worse for the newcomer when he went off the road out of Scotsman corner, rejoining at the tail of the field, though he would fight his way through to ninth by the end.

With Stewart Scott and Peter Cruickshank a little way behind, Sanderson seemed to have an easy race win until an off at Scotsman dropped him into the midfield, the incident later being explained as the engine shutting itself off half way down Seat. Scott happily took the lead and held it to the flag, coming home five seconds ahead of the battling Cruickshank and Scott Fraser. Colin MacKinnon had a solid drive to a lonely fourth with John Findlay completing the top five by leading home a group comprising of Alistair Fraser, Marc Baynham, Sanderson, Winchester and Charlie Cope.

***

The Supersports had a double header at this meeting but someone forgot to tell the drivers, trying as they did to demolish their machines! The first race started with a rolling start which quickly descended into confusion though the field did manage to negotiate Seat. Willie Hourie's Radical SR3 emerged in the lead with Robert Pritchard's Caterham Vauxhall first chasing closely and then grabbing the lead. Things then turned ugly with Harry Simpson running Roddie Paterson off the road at the exit of Clark. Paterson endured a long spin down the straight, coming to a halt in the middle of the track where an unsighted David Headen ploughed into his Radical, destroying both cars. The red flag was immediately thrown while the wreckage was collected and the ambulance despatched, though incredibly both drivers were fine.

The restart saw Pritchard lead away though Simpson and Mike McPherson (in his first Radical drive) got by. McPherson attempted to dive by Simpson into Clark but once again there was contact and McPherson bounced through the gravel, rocketing back onto the track and smashing into Simpson before demolishing what was left of his car in the tyre wall. The scene of carnage was completed by both of the visiting Global GT Light cars of Ray MacDowall and John Borthwick (supporting their sons who were running in the T-Cars) spinning into the Clark gravel behind all this, though they were able to rejoin. This left Hourie clambering all over Pritchard , though the Caterham eventually won the day. MacDowall spun on the last lap allowing the similar car of Borthwick into the final podium slot. With Robin Brown retiring with mechanical maladies, of the five Radicals who had started the race only one finished the race and of the others two were detroyed and another badly damaged.

The madness of race one meant that the original field of twelve had been culled to five for race two. Pritchard had suffered gearbox maladies so had started the long trip back to England early, giving what looked to be an easy win to Hourie's Radical. Not so as it turned out, with Borthwick grabbing the lead in his little GT Light and just managing to hold the more powerful car off. Simpson could have challenged but his repaired car was soon badly damaged again when a missed braking point by MacDowall saw him biff the black Radical hard on the entry to the hairpin and though they both tried to continue, they were forced to retire.

This meant that the only other car left in one piece was incredibly Norman Nicol's Caterham (some ten seconds a lap slower than Hourie and Borthwick) and he duly took the final step of the podium as the only other finisher!

***

The Saloon and Sportscar race came in between the Supersport races and it was all about Pritchard. He led fairly easily, though he was starting to feel the pinch when Andrew Gallacher's rapid Escort turbo began to reel the Caterham in when its gearbox started to go. Gallacher had initially had a fabulous battle with Colin Simpson's Marcos Mantis but after clearing it he started to catch the leader before he coasted to a smoky stop.

This left Pritchard miles ahead to win by seventeen seconds from Simpson who had a hard time fending off Ian Cowie in George Brewster's heavily modified Caterham in the dying laps. Peter Frith and Gordon Wright completed the top five in their Caterhams.

***

The Classic Saloon and Sportscars also had a double-header and it was the usual suspects to the fore once again, Al Fleming's Lotus Elan winning both races with Stan Bernard's Porsche in close attendance. Jim Grant took a pair of third places in another Lotus Elan.

The Formula Phoenix race was another Geordie Taylor whitewash and saw him win by thirty-five seconds. A big battle for second raged all race between David Kerr, Andrew MacGregor and Barry Smith.

The visiting T-Cars provided two very good races with a number of big upcoming names - the family connections of Alex Brundle, Jolyon Palmer and Max Chilton probably don't need to be explained! The youngsters provided some great and clean racing and we look forward to the return of the series.

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202006_files/Knockhill/4th%20June.pdf

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July 22nd, 2006

The well publicised heatwave was well underway for the July SMRC club meeting, on this occasion running on a Saturday as part of a two day event which would culminate in the Historic Speedfair on the Sunday.

The story of the Scottish Legends Championship in 2006 has been the fight between Ben Mason and Lance Gauld at the front of the field. That scenario continued at this meeting with Mason just edging Gauld out after a race long battle while Gerard McCosh got past Alex Knight for the final podium spot. An unfortunate incident on the seventh lap saw Andrew Donald miss his braking point entering Clark and he hit the back of his brother-in-law Mark Lees' car, the Ford and Dodge coming to rest with Donald's car firmly mounted on the other. A quick hospital check confirmed only a sore neck for Donald, but he would take no further part in the day.

The second heat saw a determined Ali Thom lead away but Mason and Gauld were soon on the point. A multi car accident at the top of Seat eliminated Thom and sent David Thorburn careering through the gravel, while Mason would grab the lead from Gauld and just hold it to the flag. McCosh, Knight and Ally Hunter completed the top five in a group covered by less than a second.

The final saw Gauld grab the early advantage and he sprinted into the distance while Mason made his way into second. Over the next few laps he would cut the gap each time by, until on the last lap he was right with Gauld, diving out of the slipstream on the run to the chequered flag to take the win by 0.005 of a second! McCosh held a secure third until towards the end when Carol Brown put on her most impressive showing so far to finish just behind him with Hunter a further five seconds back.

***

The Supersports race suffered from a low entry, Colin Noble dominating proceedings in both qualifying and the race. Eleven seconds behind him at the chequered flag came the impressive Mike MacPherson who is taking to Radicals in a big way with a three car battle raging behind him for the final podium spot.

Willie Hourie originally held the spot but suffered from bad oversteer, first dropping behind David Thorburn in Ally Hunter's car and then losing out to an outside pass by Harry Simpson through Seat on the last lap. George Brewster's Caterham was the only non-Radical in the race and he finished a distant sixth after a short battle with Scott Caldow which saw the latter back his Radical into retirement against the Clark tyre wall early on.

***

The Scottish XR2 Championship race was all about the impressive Scott Fraser. Pole position and led every single lap to take a dominant victory, though equally impressive newcomer Andrew Winchester matched his pace for most of the race, being right on his tail at the flag.

John Findlay initially held third but after losing the spot to Ross McColm who would go on to take the final podium spot, Findlay was passed by Stewart Scott and was defending a pass by Colin MacKinnon when he left the track going through Seat and had a sizeable accident, thankfully with no damage to the driver. In the end the top ten was completed by Iain Fraser (yes, there are three near-identical dark blue Fraser cars in the field now!), Charlie Cope, Alistair Fraser, Derek McDougall and Jamie Bickett.

***

Controversy reigned in the Scottish Saloons and Sportscar race which saw an impressive array of Escort Cosworth machinery at the front. Stewart Whyte's car unfortunately did not make it away at the start and Robert Pritchard's Vauxhall Caterham grabbed the early lead only to be passed by the AM Sport Escort duo of Andrew Gallacher and Chris Doherty.

Doherty grabbed the lead for a short while before Gallacher took it back but a black flag for corner cutting saw Doherty disqualified while a huge spin for Pritchard leaving Seat allowed George Brewster's equally modified Caterham through into second. Despite reeling in the leading Escort, he couldn't quite summon the pace to take the win and finished right behind Gallacher with Pritchard four seconds further back. British GT contender Keith Ahlers was the only other contender on the lead lap in his Morgan with Gavin Cairns in his Sylva Stryker fifth. Completing the top ten were Gordon Wright's class-winning Caterham, Phil Dryburgh's unique Lotus 340R, Richard Reed's Caterham, Paul Luti's insane MG ZT 5 litre monster and Russell Paterson's Morgan.

***

Given the unique setup of the Classic Speedfair weekend there were several visiting Championships on hand. Oli Mortimer and Mark Dryden took victories in the Scottish Autotrader Mini races, the Northern Saloon And Sportscars were once again very welcome visitors with a mix of familiar cars and new machinery and several Historic classes ran over the two days, sporting drivers such as Jackie Oliver and David Leslie. On track displays of Ecurie Ecosse cars and demonstration runs of various cars of all sorts (not least the now famous run by Sir Jackie Stewart in his 1970 Tyrrell Ford 001) kept the crowd entertained as they tanned.

Full results: www.smart-timing.co.uk/Results%202006_files/Knockhill/22nd%20July.pdf

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August 20th, 2006

Despite feeling like we just got going, the season is starting to draw to a close for the drivers in the SMRC classes. The penultimate Knockhill meeting of 2006 didn't fail to provide varied thrills though and the large crowd was treated to some great racing.

The Scottish Legends Championship came to a close with this meeting, Ben Mason pretty much assured of the Championship for the second year running given the non-appearance of his only championship rival Gerrard McCosh. If that was supposed to slow Mason down a little so he could cruise to the title, Mason had other ideas...

The first heat saw Frank Hynds take the early lead with Alex Knight catching him up to challenge. Ben Mason (shock, horror!) soon caught them both and the three enjoyed a titanic scrap for a few laps before Mason's blue car managed to pull out a gap at the end. Hynds managed to just stay ahead of Knight with Ali Thom fighting hard to take fourth just ahead of David Thorburn, Elliot Mason and Carol Brown.

The second heat could be described as one of those things that comes along every ten-thousand years... an ice-age, a meteor strike, a pretty uneventful Legends race. It may well have been down to the greasy track and tyre choice, but the field generally took it pretty carefully, Mason getting the lead early on and taking the win by six seconds from the ever improving Carol Brown who took her first podium finish. Alex Knight completed the podium a further four seconds behind with Pat Hynds and David Thorburn completing the top five.

The final was a scorcher though, Elliot Mason (quickly showing an almost uncanny speed resemblence to his brother) grabbing the early lead for several laps with Thom and Andrew Donald in close attendance. Frank Hynds was the first of the faster runners starting from the back to catch them, though contact with Thom would lead to them both being taken out of the reckoning. Ben Mason then got stuck in, taking the lead and putting daylight between himself and the field. Carol Brown once again got right up to the front, passing the younger Mason for second and fending him off to the end where they came home almost four seconds adrift of the Champ. Thorburn finished a lonely fourth with Knight, Donald, Pat Hynds and Steve Coull fighting it out in a group to the flag behind him.

SCR.co.uk Comment: It's been a great year for Legends racing, despite the fact that quite a few of the ex-Scottish runners elected to go National in 2006. Congratulations obviously go to Ben Mason for the back to back championships and it will be interesting to see what he decides to do in 2007.

***

The Scottish XR2 Championship produced an excellent race despite the lower grid size than usual. Scott Fraser and Andrew Winchester have been stamping "new generation" all over the series this year and this race was no different, the two of them escaping into an early lead. A great battle followed with the two young guns trading positions several times, occasionally with bodywork flying! Behind them a five car group was fighting a ferocious battle over the final podium spot though the numbers were soon reduced when a collision between Iain Fraser and Stewart Scott ended their day at Clark, followed by a spin into the hairpin gravel by Charlie Cope. This left Jamie Bickett and Derek McDougall to fight it out, Bickett taking the spot when the red flag flew on lap 12 due to the sheer number of cars parked just off the track. At the front Winchester had managed to get ahead and so took his first victory of year, Fraser settling for second and the knowledge that with the non-finish of Stewart Scott, he has made a major stride towards the Championship.

John Findlay completed the top five with Alistair Fraser and Alastair Hall battling to the line. Ian Maughan and Charlie Thornton took their first top ten finishes with Peter Cruickshank and Stuart Wilson rounding out the eleven finishers.

***

The Scottish Saloon and Sportscar Championship races were all about the highly modified and frankly insane Caterhams of Robert Pritchard and George Brewster. The two of them pulled out a huge gap to the field in the first race of the double-header, though Pritchard always kept a comfortable distance and he took the win by just over a second. Further back, Jim Geddie's GT3 class Porsche sadly did not last long and the chase was taken up by Colin Simpson's Marcos which was the only other car to finish on the lead lap. Andrew Morrison's MG was in impressive form, taking fourth despite starting at the rear of the field with Peter Taddei losing a possible top five in his Fiesta when he was forced to retire in the pits, the spot finally being taken by the Sylva Striker of Gavin Cairns.

The second race was red flagged early when Simpson's Marcos climbed over Brewster's Caterham at the hairpin, putting the muscle-car out, along with the Darrian of William Patterson which had suffered major rear-end damage in a seperate collision with John Nathan's Escort. Brewster was able to take the restart, following Pritchard away. A series of missed gears on the main straight dropped Pritchard to second and he set about trying to get the lead back from Brewster, culminating in a hair-raising run to the chequered flag which saw the two cross the line side by side, Brewster getting the nod. Cairns took third with Richard Reed's Caterham fourth and Tommy Dreelan's Porsche 911 GT2 fifth after Peter Taddei retired after a collision with Alan Dean's Porsche left oil all over the main straight.

***

The Scottish Supersports also had a double-header but they suffered from a low entry list, leading to the cancellation of the Celtic Cup. In the first race, Mike McPherson squandered the pole position and dropped to the back of the pack, allowing Harry Simpson to escape into a huge lead. While MacPherson set about working his way through the field, David Thorburn spun his Radical into retirement, George Brewster also retiring with mechanical maladies at the hairpin. MacPherson had battled his way up to third and was considering going after Robert Pritchard when he spun into the tyre wall at Seat. This left Pritchard seventeen seconds behind Simpson's Radical at the end and two seconds ahead of Colin Simpson's closing Marcos. The remaining finishers were Robin Brown's Radical Prosport and Tommy Dreelan's Porsche.

The second race suffered an even more decimated field with MacPherson and Pritchard having packed up early. Harry Simpson led away from pole but Colin Simpson's Marcos swept into the lead and held it for a handful of laps until Thorburn managed to fight his way past them both into the lead. The Marcos then retired to the pitlane leaving Thorburn to take the win just ahead of Harry Simpson. Brewster took third with Dreelan's Porsche the only other finisher.

***

The two Scottish Autotrader Mini Cooper Cup races saw easy victories for Oliver Mortimer and Garry Meikle with fairly furious battles going on in the field behind them, while in the Classic Saloon and Sportscar race Al Fleming took the victory, closely followed by the Porsches of Adam and Stan Bernard. Geordie Taylor took his now customary victory in the Formula Phoenix race, finishing over thirty seconds ahead of the field.

The XR2s, Saloons & Sportscars, Minis and Classic Saloons & Sportscars now head to Croft in September for a double header meeting before returning for the season finale at Knockhill in October.

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October 8th, 2006

The 2006 season came to a close at Knockhill this weekend with a typically "end of term" atmosphere and delivered a not unexpected number of thrills and a couple of large spills.

The Legends race may have been a non-championship affair but that didn't stop a field of 18 turning out comprising of most of the usual regulars, the Aly Hunter hire cars and the visiting Burnett Motorsport cars. The first round began with Gerard McCosh taking the lead but after being boxed in behind a slow moving backmarker on Hislops he dropped behind Ben Mason and could only follow closely to the chequered flag, though a flag rule infringement by Mason dropped him to second after the race. A large chasing group was broken up when Pat Hynds missed his braking and slammed into David Thorburn at high speed in the hairpin, Hynds retiring in the pits and Thorburn sustaining huge rear end damage. Alex Knight and Frank Hynds battled to the flag over the last podium spot almost twenty seconds behind the leaders while Elliot Mason completed the top five ahead of Andrew Donald, Mark Lees and Ali Thom.

The second race was one of two parts, the first of which was almost unabated chaos. In the run through Seat on the first lap, Ben Mason, McCosh and Thorburn's miraculously repaired car spun off in all directions while the next time by a high speed off saw Frank Hynds knock a tyre barrier into the middle of the road at Scotsman. The five lap restart started with Knight bursting through the front row to take the early lead while he was soon joined by the Masons and McCosh. Working together, the Mason brothers soon got to the point and bump-drafted all the way home, Elliot taking his first ever win with McCosh taking the last podium spot after an outside overtake on Knight into Seat. Thorburn led a train of cars comprising Donald, Thom, Pat Hynds and Alistair Dow home to take fifth.

The final started with Frank Hynds and David Thorburn taking the lead and pulling away from the pack, initially led by Ali Thom who held the spot for a number of laps against Ben Mason and Knight, eventually dropping behind them. Having passed Elliot Mason, McCosh then latched onto Thom, eventually getting by while further up the road Mason had passed Thorburn and was attacking Hynds for the lead. A short battle saw the lead change hands a couple of times before Mason got by and pulled out a lead of about a second, taking the last race win of the day. Eight seconds further back, McCosh led home Thorburn, Knight and Thom.

***

Having already taken the XR2 Championship at Croft in September, Scott Fraser could take it reasonably easy at this double-header meeting to round out the year. In the first race, an early red flag for multiple stranded cars (Stewart Scott, Alistair Fraser and John Findlay out of the running) brought about a restart which saw Andrew Winchester take an early lead from Jamie Bickett, Scott Fraser and Iain Fraser. After Jamie Bickett went off, the Frasers then caught Winchester who crashed out on the last lap, gifting the top two places to the Frasers, followed by Alastair Hall. Peter Cruickshank and Andy Allan completed the top five.

The second race saw an amazing fight through the field by Winchester from the rear. While he scythed through the field, Scott and Iain Fraser followed by Hall took off into the lead until a mechanical failure saw Scott end his Championship year in the pitlane. With three laps to go, Winchester was right with the two leaders and with two laps to go they went three-wide going under the Clydesdale Bridge. What happened next was frightening to watch, Fraser getting hooked on Hall and turning sharply into Winchester's door in an explosion of glass. Worse was to follow with his car piling into the tyrewall at high speed and rolling violently. The red flag flew and emergency teams were right with him, the ambulance taking the driver to hospital in Dunfermline though happily it has emerged there is no major damage to the driver, even if his car was destroyed. The race result was declared with Hall taking his first win ahead of Winchester and Colin MacKinnon. Cruickshank, Allan, David Dryburgh and Jamie Bickett were classified in that order following a close battle for several laps with the top ten being completed by Stewart Scott, Alistair Fraser and John Turner.

***

A double header event for the Sports & Saloon Championship saw a major battle in both races between three heavily modified Caterhams. In the first race Robert Pritchard immediately took a lead which he would hold for the whole race with George Brewster and Ian Cowie fighting it out behind him. Chris Doherty got in amongst them to begin with but an off on the back straight saw him drop down through the field. Colin Simpson, David Headen and Peter Frith were the only other cars to finish on the lead lap, Headen and Frith enjoying an epic race long fight.

The second race was a scorcher, the track being soaked by a rain shower just prior to the start. An incredible start by Cowie saw him into the lead into the first turn while Doherty fought his way up to the Caterhams straight away, before an off on the run to Clark lost him a number of places, though an epic fightback in a car with an amazing amount of power but no grip kept the crowd entertained. Paul Luti's huge MG ZT ran alone in fifth with a huge group of cars fighting over sixth until they were broken up by an off for Andrew Morrison. An attempt for the lead at the hairpin caused Brewster to spin himself as he chased Cowie but he got the hammer down and caught him again on the last lap, getting alongside on the run to the flag but just missing out by 0.056 of a second. Pritchard finished a distant third with Doherty the only other car on the lead lap.

***

The Supersports also enjoyed a double header, Mike McPherson starting from pole in the first race. Robert Pritchard briefly grabbed the lead in his Caterham while contact between David Thorburn and Harry Simpson saw Simpson retire.

Roddie Paterson made an incredible comeback in his Radical Prosport, passing Pritchard to grab the lead and vanish, winning by fourteen seconds from the battling Pritchard, Willie Hourie and Thorburn.

The second race sadly only saw four starters, Patterson again taking the victory but with Thorburn in close company. Hourie finished third with Simpson fourth a long way back in fourth.

***

The thirty lap "enduro" race which has finished the Scottish Autotrader Mini Cooper Cup for the last couple of years was again the final event for the cars this year, though only six cars were on the grid this year. Jamie Cleland led initially from Rory Butcher after swapping the lead a few times, Butcher stopping and switching to Ian Forrest with no problems, though Cleland's switchover to Sandy Forrest suffered a delay and dropped the car to fourth.

With the Butcher/Forrest car well clear in the lead, the attention switched to the battling pair of Steve Mitchell/Mike Connon and Mark Dryden/Ken Thirlwall which Sandy Forrest fought hard to catch but in the time left could only cruise up behind them before the end. An entertaining battle between George Brewster and Alan Keith was fought out to the end after the cars were handed over by Vic Covey and Glynn Geddie respectively.

***

In the Historic classes Geordie Taylor took yet another Formula Phoenix win, though Graham Brunton kept him honest to the end in his return to racing while an entertaining battle between Al Fleming's Lotus and the Porsches of Stan and Adam Bernard in the Classic Saloons and Sportscars was interupted when the white Elan broke down, leaving Stan Bernard to fight off his son for the win.

Now the long winter break begins before we all return in March of 2007 to start all over again.