P&O Portsmouth MG Owners Club 2002 Race Championship in association with Custom Lifts
Having not been to the Croix circuit for three years all the drivers had to refresh their memories of where the track went. Croix is very heavy on brakes with four hairpins in the short circuit. Overseas races never seem to disappoint and this year’s double header in France was to be no exception.
Qualifying
Qualifying was largely uneventful, apart from Chris Pollard losing it at high speed under the bridge and very nearly rolling in the gravel trap. Gary Smith took pole, with Pollard second. Paul Naish was third, following an unhappy session with handling problems, later traced to a rear shock absorber, and Kelly Mercer completed the front two rows. Peter St Barbe pulled in early with clutch trouble. Most competitors found the track to be getting quicker up to about two-thirds distance, after which the tyres began going off.
Race 1
Smith and Pollard both got away well, and were together into turn 1 with Pollard on the outside. Following some paint trading with Smith, Pollard ran wide letting Naish through. Smith held onto the lead, with Naish in hot pursuit, and Pollard holding off Mercer for third. Positions held station until Pollard outbraked himself into the gravel on lap 12 bringing out the red flag, so Mercer inherited third to complete the podium. St Barbe retired with jammed steering after a stone stuck in the steering following an excursion into the edge of the gravel.
Race 2
The grid for race two was set by the finish order from the first race, with Smith on pole alongside Naish, and Mercer third. Having failed to finish race 1, Pollard and St Barbe started from the back of the grid. Smith got away, holding the lead from Naish and Mercer. Pollard and St Barbe started well, with Pollard up to 4th on lap two when another late braking manoeuvre led to a hat trick of trips to the gravel trap and retirement. Mercer took second briefly from Naish with a well timed passing manoeuvre at turn one, but Naish fought back on the exit, repassed as Mercer ran wide and eased away. Mercer’s engine began sounding sick around lap 10 and despite a brief trip to the pits, expired at turn one shortly before the end. Third was therefore gifted to steady Trevor Dixon and a well-deserved 4th for Ian Deaves. St Barbe retired again with overheating.
So a good weekend for Gary Smith with two wins, and two fastest laps – maximum points. With two second places, though, Paul Naish is still hot on his heels as the Championship headed for Mallory Park.
Qualifying
With the first corner on the circuit being a hairpin, pole position had a greater relevance as the first car in to the corner would have a better chance of pulling out a small lead. Unusually the first MGF on the grid was Nick Evans sitting back in 6th overall position followed by Darryl Davis back in 12th position while Michael Weidner did not make the journey across the channel. Therefore the two front rows were made up of Maestros with long time championship competitor Andy Campbell heading the pack up in pole position with James Perry lined up along side. Nick Golhar lined up in third with Doug Cole along side in fourth.
Race 1
Andy Campbell capitalised on his pole position and was just able to hold back the chasing cars in to the first, busy, corner. With the track suiting Campbell he managed to pull out a time buffer over the chasing group. This group consisting of Perry, Golhar, Cole and Nick Arden battled hard with each other while the MGF of Evans played catch up. However, as the chequered flag came out for the end of the first race it was Campbell who took the overall and Class B win followed by the Class B cars of James Perry, Nick Golhar, Doug Cole and Nick Arden. The first Class F car to cross the line, and take the class win, was Nick Evans who finished sixth overall.
Race 2
As with the Class A race the result of the finishing positions of the first race were taken and the grid formation of the second race. This gave Andy Campbell his second pole position of the weekend with the following four Maestros taking position and the first MGF back in sixth place. The outcome of the second race was a real turn around from the first. Once again at the front it was very fiercely fought. However, it was Nick Evans who had a much better race than the first to bring his MGF to the front of the field and just clinch a Class F and overall win, while Doug Cole took a very popular and well deserved first win in Class B. He had been knocking on the door of a win for a while but it all finally came right in Croix. With a slight time buffer Cole was followed home by the Class B cars of James Perry, Nick Arden and Nick Golhar with the Class F car of Darryl Davis making it into the top six.
Having enjoyed the trip to France it was a busy schedule for the racers as Mallory, Croft and Lydden meetings took place soon afterwards. These meetings will be covered in the next issue of the magazine but if you want to see the last few races then please see the dates in forthcoming events.
Qualifying
It wasn’t going to need Dr. John Nash to calculate that with 27 cars qualifying and a sub-minute lap, the early morning session would be hectic. A few old hands guessed the only way of ensuring a clear lap would be to get their towels on the beach early and arrived in the assembly area with time to squeeze in more than a croissant or two before the practice started at 9-30. In the event, at which point the outside temperature was already 26 degrees, everyone was on track within 50 seconds and whilst not as spread out as on some of the longer circuits, most people seemed to find enough space. An impressive session from Jim Gotobed surely gave him his highest grid position ever, Malcolm Hill did well first time out and Gary Smith who looked smooth and effortless put the Midget on pole. With Andy Campbell alongside on the front row and Peter St. Barbe and Nick Golhar on row two the start was sure to be feisty. The biggest disappointment for the championship was James Perry leading driver in Class B who suffered terminal engine trouble and wouldn’t make the race. The wait in-between qualifying and race was spent relaxing in the sun with no major repairs. Kelly Mercer had been struggling with clutch slip and Paul Naish decided on a different diff ratio, but for most it was general fettling, buffing and breakfast.
Race
Smith got away badly and it was Andy Campbell, Peter St. Barbe and Nick Golhar who lead into Gerrards the first time around with Paul Naish having a look at Smith around the outside. One of the biggest hazards at Mallory or any race circuit for that matter, is a hairpin or very slow corner on lap one. Mallory has such a hazard. With 27 cars, separated by less than 15 seconds it would be at the very least busy… The cars concertinered into the braking zone, event free and as the leaders emerged to head up to the flat out Devil’s Elbow, the order was the same with Smith the pole sitter having dropped to 6th place, Naish back 3 places, Andy Firth up 4 and Paul Roberts and Malcolm Hill up two. But the most impressive first lap had to be Nick Arden who had made up an impressive eight places. On lap 3 Smith was fighting to get back to the front and St. Barbe and Golhar were having quite a tussle. St. Barbe seemed to have the edge into the Esses but had nowhere to go. Meanwhile Pollard and Gotobed were having an almighty battle in 9th and 10th.
By the end of lap 4 it was status quo. Campbell, Golhar, St. Barbe, Ian Evans in the sole ‘F’, and Smith pressured by Naish all separated by just 3 seconds.
Lap 7 saw Pollard start slipping down the order with overheating problems and Darren Leonard has already retired with a sick sounding Maestro. Round the inside at Devil’s Elbow Naish took on St. Barbe but Peter was suffering from overheating and pulled out on his 10th lap.
Lap 9 and 10 Smith must have decided to take the fight to Campbell. He put in the two fastest laps of the race and closed the gap to less than a second. But with St. Barbe out, Naish, currently 2nd in class A would be free to gnash at Smith’s heels. It was certain to hot up as the leaders started encountering back markers and on the back over Devil’s Elbow which provides an almost perfect view of the whole circuit, a sizeable crowd, shuffled backwards and forwards. Into the Esses went Campbell and Smith with a superb tactical line taken by Campbell as they went up the hill to Shaw’s hairpin with only a couple of tenths between the. Not far behind them, Nick Arden, Paul Roberts and Ian Evans were also separated by a few car lengths in a battle which would continue right to the end.
By the end of lap 12 the first four cars were still separated by just 3 seconds. Campbell in the Maestro still leading Smith, Naish and Golhar. Kelly Mercer pulled out down the hill to the start line, after a disappointing weekend. “I put it into 4th out of the elbow and it just died on me”. On 13 and 14 the first three fought tooth and nail. Smith ran worrying wide a couple of times on the exit of the Esses and Naish also looked to be pushing the envelope of adhesion but on the last lap down the inside on the entrance to Gerrards Andy Campbell finally conceded a lead held for the whole race.
So a very fine, hard, clean race, with battles being fought all through the field. Some disappointments… a very fine drive by Jim Gotobed whose third place in Class A was very well deserved, Malcolm Hill who finished respectably in his first race with a very good lap time.
So Smith leaves Mallory with a nine point lead over Naish in Class A and overall, Doug Cole has a slender lead over James Perry in Class B and Nick Evans leads Class F. With four races to go it’s still wide open. If you were travelling incognito and in one of the 100 or so Morgans parked up on the hill then good for you. If not, you missed a very, very fine day’s motorsport.
| Class A | |
| Gary Smith | – 168 |
| Paul Naish | – 159 |
| Christopher Pollard | – 100 |
| Class B | |
| Doug Cole | – 133 |
| James Perry | – 131 |
| Nick Arden | – 107 |
| Class F | |
| Nick Evans | – 90 |
| Michael Weidner | – 70 |
| Darryl Davis | – 64 |