P&O Portsmouth MG Owners Club 2002 Race Championship in association with Custom Lifts

The ‘other’ Kent track bears more than a passing resemblance to its more famous neighbour, Brands Hatch, with Chesson’s drift – a long sweeping crested curve – a hairpin with an uphill approach (North Hill) and a treacherous bend onto the start-finish straight (Paddock). A fair complement of MGs made the pilgrimage to this admittedly not very popular track. Weather was brooding, with very heavy rainstorms in the area – but we were lucky, and escaped with only few spots during qualifying, and dry races.

Qualifying was relatively uneventful. In class A, Philip Waterman managed to run off at the outside of Chesson’s, and park in the barrier – followed a couple of laps later by Gary Smith, who chose the exact same spot to come off, and rammed the back of Waterman’s car. Damage was largely superficial, however, and Smith had managed to claim yet another pole, with Chris Pollard alongside him. The second row was occupied by Peter St Barbe and Jim Gotobed. Class B qualifying was also largely without drama, with Michael Weidner and Darryl Davies’ MGFs on the front row, ahead of Andy Campbell as first of the Maestros.

This was not to be the A class’ finest hour. Kelly Isherwood’s car stuck in gear at the start, and despite her remonstrating with the marshals to rock the car to free it, she was pushed to the side. St Barbe managed a great start from the second row, overhauling both Smith and Pollard, and leading into the first corner. Pollard then fell back though the field with transmission problems, and was overhauled by Kelly Mercer and David Amphlett. Proceedings were brought to an abrupt halt on lap 5 when Paul Grainger ran wide at the treacherous Paddock bend, crossed the very short gravel trap and impacted heavily with the tyre wall. This brought out the red flag whilst Paul was extricated – fortunately, with nothing more than a few bruises – and the stricken car removed. The pack was held at the bottom of Hairy Hill, in approximately the running order, although some of the positions were very confused. The race was duly restarted, with the pack getting away cleanly, but with Pollard outdragged by Paul Naish and then overtaken by Gotobed. This was to proved decisive. Just two laps from the restart, Gotobed spun defending his place at Paddock, and was collected by the chasing Pollard. The resultant heavy impact put both cars out, and brought out the red flag again. The marshals decided we had had enough fun for one day and duly declared the result, with St Barbe taking the win and fastest lap from Smith, Naish, Amphlett, Mercer and, rounding out the top six, Roy Clarkson on his home track.

Weidner and Davis both started well, and pulled away from the rest of the field. Campbell also started well, despite the lack of torque of his 1600 Maestro in comparison with the 2-litres, and held on to third overall (and first in class B) to the finish. Nick Golhar made a spirited attempt to catch and pass Campbell, but to no avail, and finished second in class. Vince Hunt was unlucky to retire again with mechanical problems, whilst James Barnett’s day’s work finished in the gravel at the notorious Devil’s Elbow. As ever, the Maestro pack was very close, with much jostling for position, whilst at the front, Weidner slowed, conserving his car, but not sufficiently to fall into the clutches of Davis. Weidner and Davis crossed the line first and second, well ahead of the pursuing Maestros. Championship leader Jamie Perry was bottled up in the pack on this tight and hard-to-pass track, and could only manage to climb to fourth, finishing behind third placed Nick Arden. Simon Byrne’s improving form saw him finish fifth, with the top six completed by Robin Walker. Doug Cole was somewhat disappointed with seventh place, but consoled by the extra point for the fastest lap.