Hawkswood Saturday

It was a very warm, still day in the office for the marshals and 29 competitors, despite the cloud cover. The drivers had clearly taken on board the information they were given at the drivers briefing about the road condition as everyone laid down a clean run. In a league of his own from the get go was Neil Webb in his Mitsubishi Mirage with a 1:03.86. It was a much closer competition between Justin McLean, RX7, and the Honda Integra of Brad Hudson who set a 1:10.63 and 1:10.72 respectively for second and third overall. There were close battles going on throughout the field. Four drivers were vying for the last spot in the Top 10. Dan Haworth, RX7, Lee Crew, Bambina, Byron Kelsall, Celica, and the Starlet of Michael Parkes were all on 1:18’s. The second half of the field were covered by 13 seconds.

Caution started to go out the window a bit on Run 2 as the drivers felt they had a handle on the road conditions. The only driver to run into trouble, or more accurately, a ditch was Michael Bennett in the Corolla which he was able to drive back to the pits minus the front bumper. Still leading the way was Neil Webb but his day came to an early end when the clutch in his Mirage let go. Mike McDonald pulled the pin on his day at the end of this run. This event was the first he did in his Mirage and would also be the last as he had recently sold it to Doug Good. Also calling it quits was Lee Crew who needed to get back to Christchurch to watch his son race at a speedway meeting. The battle for second was now a 5 way one with Stephen Hurst, Evo 1, knocking 4.5 seconds off to move up from 8^th at the end of the first run. Still in the mix were Justin and Brad; joining them was the second driver of Justin’s RX7, Paul Price, and the Class 2 Starlet of Riley Stubbs. Twenty seconds covered the remaining 23 competitors with the closest battle being between Mike Kennedy, 323, and Geoff Combe, Starlet, who were separated by .04 of a second.

Competition resumed after a break for lunch. This run was the last for Graeme Menzies Datsun 1200 as it had an overheating issue. Brad Hudson had a moment at the last corner before the home straight. Fortunately, he gathered up the Integra but it showed in his time as he dropped nearly 4 seconds. Neil Webb’s position at the top of the leaderboard was looking secure. Stephen Hurst was looking pretty settled into second spot having lowered his time by 2.5 seconds. Behind them a good battle was continuing for the remaining podium position. Riley Stubbs was leading the three-way tussle for third on 1:09.00 from Justin McLean .62 behind followed by Paul Price whose fastest time was his Run 2 time of 1:10.08. Three drivers – Byron Kelsall, Jeremy May, BMW 130i, and Michael Parkes were vying for 10^th place. The trio were on 1:14’s with gaps of .09 and .33. 18^th place was also being contended for by Mitchell Lovett, Trueno, Mike Kennedy, Geoff Combe, Nick Turner, Trueno, and the Mini of Andre Vermeulen with 1.26 seconds covering them.

First and second positions looked settled but the other places were far from it as Run 4 got underway. Justin McLean knocked two seconds off his previous run time to pull out a bit of a lead over Riley Stubbs for 3^rd place who was just shy of a second behind. 1.85 seconds covered the next six places. Jeremy May dropped out of the running for 10^th place on this run when he tipped the Beamer on its side at the exit of the hairpin leaving Byron Kelsall and Michael Parkes who had a scant .09 of a second between them, to battle it out. Nick Turner was leading what had become a three-way battle for what was now 17^th place. Andre Vermeulen had leap frogged Mitchell Lovett by .36 of a second to be three quarters of a second behind Nick.

Half the field did the final run of the day. Neil Webb’s 1:01.20 proved unassailable. Stephen Hurst ended the day in 2^nd overall with a 1:04.11 with Justin McLean securing 3^rd overall on 1:07.59. 4^th overall and 1^st in the 1301-1600cc class was Riley Stubbs. Behind him was the 1601+ 2WD class winner Paul Price. The closest result of the day was between David Hudson, Mazda MX5, and Colin Payne, taking out the 4WD class in his Subaru Impreza, who were separated by .03 of a second in 7^th and 8^th respectively. Lee Crew lead the 0-1300cc class, finishing 16^th overall. Brad Hudson beat Dad David by one place and 1.5 seconds in 6^th and 7^th overall. It was a close result between the drivers of the three two driver cars. Justin McLean led by two places from Paul Price and around 2.5 seconds. In 18^th and 19^th were Nick Turner and Mitchell Lovett who were .05 apart. 1.57 seconds separated Mike McDonald and Doug Good in 26^th and 27^th respectively.

Congratulations to the class winners Lee Crew, Riley Stubbs, Paul Price and Colin Payne and to Neil Webb on the overall win.

Sunday

The overcast conditions were welcome after the heat of Saturday, the cold wind not so much for the 39 competitors. Mark Scott last competed here in 2022 in a TVR Tuscan Challenge. This year he was driving a Porsche 968 Turbo RS, topping the leaderboard on the first run of the day with a 1:09.65. There was less than a second between David Owen, 1975 Ford Escort RS, and Anton Evans, Ford Escort MK2 RS1800, in second and third overall. 6^th and 7^th places were also very close with .06 between Tim Hymers VW Golf and Tim Stace, driving his father Jeremy’s E Type Jaguar. Craig Pidgeon, Hillman Avenger, was leading the three-way contest for 10^th place from Jonathan Phillips BMW 159 and the Super 7 Clubman of Greg Mowat who were all on 1:18’s. The next 12 places were covered by 3.5 seconds. A little further down the field there was less than a second between the 6 drivers in 32^nd to 37^th places. It was good to see the Austin A35 Peanut of Des Ward make the start line this year after a mechanical issue in 2023. While the run itself was uneventful a couple of cars needed a bit of help to get back to the pits. Craig’s Avenger needed a tow and a jumpstart was needed as the battery in Jonathan’s BMW had gone flat.

Despite Mark starting in third gear, he still held his place at the top of the leaderboard. Also maintaining the status quo were David Owen and Anton. David McKee made a 4.5 second improvement on his first run time in the Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione in 4^th. Tim Stace was closing in on Bert Govan, Jaguar MK2, and the Porsche 924S of George Coates in 6^th and 7^th. Craig and Jonathan had pulled away from Greg and were now on 1:15’s with Tim Hymers in between them. Three drivers – Greg, William Noordanus, Jaguar MK2, and Luke Richardson, MG B GT, were all on 1:18’s in the battle pack for 13^th. Behind them it was very close between the next half a dozen cars with 0.01 separating the Porsche 911ST of Wayne Graves and Don Gerrard’s 1959 Mistral in 18^th and 19th. John Burt, VW Golf GTi, and Tony Orr, Chevrolet Camaro Z28, were tied on 1:21.45. Sanford Huckle, in the Jensen Healey he was sharing with Mike Crehan, made the biggest improvement on this run as he knocked 6.9 seconds off his first run time.

Run 3 was also uneventful bar a slipping clutch for Kevin Stevenson’s 1965 Shadetree Special Mk1 which made it to the finish under its one steam but would call it quits for the day. Also calling it a day on this run was Russ Haines, 1960 MGV, Mark Barrett, Lotus 7 Series One, Des in the A35 Peanut, George and Jonathan. Mark got down to a 1:06.75. James moved up into 2^nd just under 3 seconds behind Mark. Anton, who put the Escort on the trailer after this run, held onto 3^rd from David Owen who was showing his rallying skills on this run as he went sideways round the second left hand bend. The ding dong battles were continuing throughout the remainder of the field. Less than 2 seconds covered 15^th to 22^nd places. Rod Corbett, 1959 Triumph TR3A, and Neil Kay, 1972 MGB Roadster, were separated by .4 in 23^rd and 24^th.

The majority of the remaining competitors went slower on this run including the first and second placed drivers. Anton’s decision to trailer the Escort saw him drop to 5^th behind David Owen and David McKee. Further down the field Tim Evans, Alfa Romeo 1750 GTV, had closed right in on Rod and Neil.

11 drivers opted to do a 5^th run. 8 of them set their fastest time of the day on this run. David Owen was again showing some sideways action at the same left hander. Mark Scott had done enough to secure 1^st overall after the 3^rd run. In fact, all the placings had been decided at the conclusion of the 4^th run. Congratulations to Mark for winning the event.

A huge thanks goes to our volunteers for their work in the lead up to the event and throughout the weekend. Without them giving up their weekends we would not be able to run these events.

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Article added: Monday 11 November 2024