A rolled car, two disqualifications and the race red flagged - what more could you ask for from an afternoon at Mallory Park?
These events rather overshadowed a very close race at the front, with the top three finishers covered by less than half a second. In the end it was to be Pete Sparrow's race, having wrestled the lead from Richard Dalton. Royce Grey made up the trio of frontrunners, but he was to have his place denied by the Clerk of the Course after a 'tankslapper' under a yellow flag.
Colin Whitely claimed fastest lap of the race as he tore up the field from his 14th place grid position to finish in 6th. Christian Callendar was lucky to get his 3rd place after a run-in with Dirk Williams, who had to retire after just 3 laps. Christine Savage's hopes of a top five finish were dashed by a poor start from her second row grid position.
The story of the day had to be Edmund Drake-Lee's acrobatics at Gerrards. After loosing the back end, his nearside rear wheel dug into the dirt, collapsing and sending the car tumbling off into the tyre barrier. He emerged safely, to everyone's great relief. The incident prompted the doctor's car to be sent out, and a rescue vehicle to adopt what was later described by the Clerk of the Course as a 'defensive position' on the track to protect it.
Opions differ as to the effectiveness of the marshalling for this incident. Yellow flags were used immediately before the stationary vehicles, but this did not help Simon Pearson, already committed to the corner. His braking manoeuvre ended with the rear of his car hitting the rescue vehicle. Incredibly, he was able to drive his car back to the paddock under the red flag, but was later relieved of his 9th place because of the incident.
