Cadwell Park – Jim Baynam leads Darryl Davis – photo Steve Jones

After a four-week break the drivers headed off for their annual visit to the challenging Cadwell Park circuit for Round 10 of the Championship. Cadwell is one of the longest circuits in the country and with 12 corners and a number of dramatic gradient changes it is a most demanding circuit which many drivers regard as being a highlight of the racing calendar.

On a cold and grey autumnal morning the Class A cars were first out to qualify and it was no real surprise to see the Midgets’ of Julie Clark, Gary Smith, Peter St Barbe and Lorraine Clark on the front two rows of the grid ahead of the MGBs’ of Jim Baynam and Jonathan Kimber. The big surprise was that the MGF of Darryl Davis qualified well down the grid in 7th position. A welcome addition to the Class A runners was the pale green MGF of experienced Maestro driver Nick Golhar who qualified in 11th place, Nick having finished preparing the car only days before the race.

 
Cadwell Park – Race winner Julie Clark followed by St Barbe, Smith and Baynam – photo Steve Jones

As the lights turned green it was St Barbe who took an early lead from Julie Clark and Smith with Baynam and Davis getting by Lorraine Clark to slot up to 4th and 5th places ahead of Clark and Kimber. By lap 2 St Barbe was under great pressure from a fired up Julie Clark but Cadwell is a narrow track and overtaking is notoriously difficult, however on the 4th lap St Barbe made a small mistake and Clark was through into what looked like a race winning lead. The battle continued behind with Baynam, Davis and Smith who had fallen back a couple of places after a lurid off along Park Straight. Things changed dramatically on the 8th lap when Smith spun at the Mountain then suffered a complete loss of brakes at the Hairpin resulting in heavy rear damage to his immaculate Midget. Davis eventually found a way past Baynam and set off after St Barbe but he was unable to find a way past the experienced Midget driver. When the chequered flag fell after 10 eventful laps it was Julie Clark who took her 3rd win of the season a full 10 seconds ahead of St Barbe with Davis 3rd and Baynam the highest placed MGB in 4th place. Further down the field Gerry Thorn drove well to take 9th place just ahead of Golhar’s MGF, Jim Gotobed just held off Kelly Mercer to take a narrow lead in the Class A novice Championship.

Cadwell Park – Davis on his way to his first Class B win – photo Steve Jones

The Class B Maestro’s always provide a great spectacle around the twists and turns of Cadwell and with a high quality entry of 20 cars the crowd were looking forward to seeing some dramatic action.

Nick Arden took an excellent pole position by almost a full second from Darryl Davis who was out for his second race of the day in his familiar lurid pink Maestro with Andy Campbell and Nick Evans on the second row. The real star of qualifying however was Kevin Bull who put his Maestro in an excellent 5th place on the grid ahead of many more experienced drivers.

Cadwell Park – photo Steve Jones

As the lights flicked to green it was pole position man Nick Arden who took an immediate lead from Davis, Campbell, Nick Evans and the on-form Bull. A close battle for 2nd place allowed Arden to pull out a useful lead and he looked like gaining his first ever win until his engine expired in a cloud of smoke on the 3rd lap leaving Davis to inherit a narrow lead from Campbell, Evans and Jim Edwards Snr, who had moved up from 8th on the grid. These four had pulled away from Bull who was keeping ahead of Lydden winner Nick Golhar. The leading pack of four cars were never far apart but Davis drove an immaculate race to record his first Class B win of the year from Campbell and Evans. The Stewards of the Meeting later ruled that Edwards had carried out an illegal overtaking manoeuvre and he was excluded from the results thus elevating Bull to an excellent 4h place which moved him within 6 points of Gilchrist in the Class B novice Championship.

Oulton Park is situated in the Cheshire countryside only 15 miles from Chester. The circuit is popular with the drivers offering challenging corners, quick straights and a very relaxed feel in the paddock.

 
First lap at Oulton Park Nick Golhar leads Darryl Davis, Julie Clark and Gerry Thorn – photo Steve Jones

Class A cars were second practice and followed International Karts on to the circuit. The track was still wet and it was like driving on ice at various points around the circuit giving all the drivers an interesting moment or two. The track did start to dry but this only made the track more difficult to drive as the grip level changed on each lap. At the end of practice it was Julie Clark in her Midget who was pleased to secure pole position in her Midget 0.638 seconds ahead of the two MGFs of Darryl Davis and Nick Golhar. Lorraine Clark in another Midget made it to fourth place with Gerry Thorn very pleased to qualify fifth in his MG BGT.

 
Darren Young going through Nickerbrook leading Ian McCormack and Gerry Thorn – photo Steve Jones

The Class B practice was much later in the day and with the previous practice groups having been around the track coupled with the bright sunshine and gentle wind, the track was dry. By the end of the 15 minutes practice it was Nick Arden who set the quickest time by just 0.055 second from championship contender Andy Campbell. The second row of the grid consisted of Nick Evans and Nick Golhar with Darryl Davis and Nick Bull on the third row with exactly the same qualification time.

With about two minutes to go before the Class A grid lined up for their race Lorraine Clark flew in the collecting area scraping in to take up her fourth position after an engine change was necessary following an engine problem in practice. As the red lights came on the revs rose and all nineteen Class A cars swooped into Old Hall, the first corner, as the close pack went into Cascades, the following corner Gary Smith rolled his Midget in slow motion causing the race to be red flagged and stopped. Thankfully Gary was unhurt but it did mean the end to his race. At the restart both MGFs got good starts and Nick Golhar went into the lead closely followed by Darryl Davis and chased by the very quick Julie Clark. Dave Rees and Gerry Thorn were the first of the MGBs but after contact at the hairpin Thorn dropped back and allowed Jonathan Kimber to pass and chase Rees.

 
Andy Campbell lead from start to finish at Oulton Park – photo Steve Jones

The front three cars battled for the whole race while Rees could not catch the leading trio Kimber was unable to catch Rees. Behind the first five it started to become, unusually for the normally reliable Class A cars, a race of attrition. Out of the eighteen starters of the re-started race seven were not to finish with a mixture of brake failure, offs, clutch problems and blown engine. As they took the chequered flag it was Davis followed by Golhar in the two Fs first and second followed by Clark’s Midget for third with Rees and Kimber making up the top five.

 
Maestros of Simon Byrne and Kevin Bull ‘nudging’ at Nickerbrook – photo Steve Jones

As the fourteen Class B cars powered away from the green lights it was Any Campbell who made the better start and as he completed the first lap had a lead of about four cars. Nick Golhar had a very good first half of the lap coming up from fourth into second place closely followed by Nick Evans, Darryl Davis and James Perry having also made a great start. Sadly for Arden he had not managed to capitalize on his pole position and by then end of the first lap had slipped to sixth. Over the following seven laps the positions of the top eight did not change with Campbell extending his lead and taking a convincing win.

With only the rounds at Brands Hatch and Snetterton left of the 2000 series it is all to play for in the overall title.

Stop Press MGOC Class B Competitor Jim Edwards Junior has clinched the prestigious 2000 Renault Clio Championship, all drivers and MGOC Championship supporters wish Jim well in his quest for a works drive in 2001 British Touring Car Championship.