Just six competitors were left to contest Rounds 21 and 22 of the SBD Motorsport UK HSA British Sprint championship at Kirkistown on August 8th.
Fresh from his maiden victory the day before Graham Porrett (Lola T90 Tegra) set the pace in qualifying for Run Off 1 by over four seconds ahead of the two Mygale Ecoboosts of Pete Goulding (with repaired rear suspension from the Saturday) and Graham Blackwell who were separated by half a second. In Run Off 1 Porrett matched his qualifying time to take the win while of the two Mygales it was Blackwell who improved the most to take second ahead of Goulding.
Blackwell continued to improve his times and led qualifying (and took an extra point for a new class record) for Run Off 2 ahead of Goulding and Mark Anson (Jedi MK6). Porrett’s standout week-end took a downward course as gearbox problems intervened, not for the first time this year.
The final Run Off of the week-end saw the closest finish with Goulding just pipping Balckwell by a hundredth of a second. John Loudon (Force HC) took his second podium of the week-end in third (with a new class record) ahead of Anson who went for it on his last run, Grahame Harden (his Radical PR6 having an issue free week-end) and Porrett .
The weekend’s results had a profound effect on the championship positions. After taking into account dropped scores, Blackwell moved to within eight points of leader, Steve Miles, and Goulding jumped up to third ahead of the improving Loudon and Anson.
As is customary at Kirkistown, the British Sprint contingent were joined by a variety of unusual and very rapid local competitors for the event. Among them were Alan Cassells OMS 25 who was fasrtest on the Saturday and Gerard O’Connell’s Dallara WS who was second fastes on both days.
Results:
Run Off 1 (Round 21)
1. Graham Porrett (3.5 Lola Tegra) 112.13secs
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale Ecoboost) 113.27secs
3. Pete Goulding (1.6t Mygale Ecoboost) 115.27secs
4. John Loudon (1.1 Force HC) 120.57secs
5. Graham Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 121.51secs
6. Mark Anson (1.1 Jedi MK6) 126.83secs
Run Off 2 (Round 22)
1. Pete Goulding (1.6t Mygale Ecoboost) 113.45secs
2. Graham Blackwell (1.6t Mygale Ecoboost) 113.46secs
3. John Loudon (1.1 Force HC) 118.36secs
4. Mark Anson (1.1 Jedi MK6) 119.75secs
5. Graham Harden (1.3 Radical PR6) 121.54secs
6. Graham Porrett (3.5 Lola Tegra) 151.00secs
Words: http://www.britishsprint.org | Photos: GRAHAM BAALHAM-CURRY
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