Round 1 of MGOC Race Championship

Silverstone, the traditional opener for the MGOC Championship, always gives an insight to the season ahead and with all of the cars now running soft compound Yokohama tyres who would be able to make best use of the new rubber? Last year’s snowy meeting was quickly forgotten as race drivers and spectators alike basked in the bright spring day as a great day of racing lay ahead.

The MGBs and Midgets of Class A were out in the second session of the day and the winter cobwebs were soon blown away after the first lap or so while the tyres warmed up. Grid positions were at stake and it was Chris Pollard, in his 1500 Midget, who secured his first pole position in the Championship very closely followed by Dave Amphlett’s MGB alongside on the front row. The second row was made up of two of the championship contenders from the 2001 Championship, Gary Smith in his Midget and Jim Baynam in his MGB with the third row again being made up of an MGB of Jonathan Kimber and Midget of Dave Brown.

The Maestros and MGFs of Class B and F car came out on track slightly later on in the morning and again acclimatized to the track and the new tyres over the first couple of laps. The first three positions on the grid were taken by the MGFs of Michael Weidner in pole position, Nick Evans along side with Ian Evans in third. The first car in Class B was the Maestro of Paul Roberts in fourth grid position, with the top three rows being rounded off by the two Maestros of Martin Lovell and championship stalwart Nick Golhar.

As the lights went to green all nineteen cars on the grid tried to make the best use of the horsepower and extra grip available. Dave Amphlett obviously had the edge as he came out of the first corner leading, although closely followed by Chris Pollard, Jim Baynam, Gary Smith and the rest of the field. The positions at the front remained extremely close with Smith, Baynam and Pollard swopping places while still giving Amphlett something to worry about until lap eight where as they came up to a back marker. A hesitation by Amphlett allowed the battling three to slip past and demoted him to fourth. On the last but one lap, pole man Pollard made it back to the front to take his first, and popular, win in the Championship. Pollard was followed in by Smith, Baynam, Amphlett with Peter St Barbe in his 1500 Midget in fifth having demoted Kimber down to sixth on the penultimate lap. The first four crossed the line within 0.838 seconds which gives a clear indication of an exciting season ahead with many of the spectators describing the race as one of the best they have seen in the championship.

Nick Evans got the better start against Michael Weidner, both in their MGFs and they led through the first lap but were being chased hard by Ian Evans. However, Weidner passed him on the second lap and started to pull out a small gap. Meanwhile Paul Roberts in his MG Maestro capitalized on his pole position for Class B cars to head the B field but was being closely pursued by Martin Lovell and James Perry again in Class B Maestros. The positions remained fairly static although very close for both classes until lap six when Nick Evans had a problem in his F and retired. He was followed in retirement by Ian Evans two laps later pulling off at Copse corner. This took pressure off of Weidner who could relax slightly in his MGF eventually crossing the line to take the overall win by some 7.5 seconds and Class F win by over 18secs. In the Class B battle Lovell unfortunately retired with rotor arm failure on lap seven leaving Paul Roberts to take the Class win followed by James Perry, Simon Brynne, Robin Walker and Paul Naish making up the top five in class. In Class F following Weidner’s win it was Mark Trotter, Phillip Cook, and Simon Kendrick who made up the class finishers. Again it was another good clean race giving an indication of a great season ahead.