Loton Park - Round 6, 2021

The Henney's championship resumed with its now traditional late August Sunday meeting at the beautiful Loton Park. This was the first time back since 2019 for the series following the uncertainty and event cancellations surrounding the Covid 19 situation. Some drivers elected to also enter on Saturday and they were very successful in the pre' 71 classic class taking first, second and third awards. The weather was also just about perfect with mostly sunshine but a reasonable air temperature making both engines work well and drivers not getting cooked in queuing vehicles. As a result many PB's were set and lots of drivers were under their handicaps. This may also be explained as with the 2 year break at this venue lots of cars have had small tweeks here and there & also many drivers have themselves improved their own performance.

Saloon Cars:

Six cars made up the field, being headed on Scratch time by Simon Braithwaite in the Ford Escort Mk1. His best time came on the first practice run and despite trying hard couldnt be bettered. Second fastest was Matt Clarke in the mighty Mini. Sideways antics at all the viewing points on the lower part of the hill made this a favourite amongst the spectators! Third was Mark Hobbs in his Mk2 Escort having a good run. These three drivers were also the handicap winners, with Simon first from Mark then Matt. This moves Matt into the championship lead prior to any dropped scores being applied. As Overall champion in 2020 if this could be repeated it would be some feat!!. Other drivers included Dave Parr (Ford Anglia), Andrew Cairney (Imp) and Martin Saunders (Mk1 RS2000) , Martin having his first visit to Loton and finding it great but tricky.

Sportscars:

A very healthy grid of Sportscars was once again assembled. This being the strongest class in terms of numbers in 2021. Richard Jones was fastest in his Porsche 911, taking honours on his final run of the day. Garry Cox (Reliant Scimitar Coupe) was second, pleased to finally break the 60 second barrier. Third quickest was Ryan Eamer in the family Frogeye sprite. A great result and cruelly denied a final run when a car issue presented itself. Ryan was progressively going faster each run so was dissapointed to not get a final chance to improve his time. First on handicap was Steve Phennah in the MGB roadster. A string of good results puts Steve the closest to Matt Clarke for overall championship honours. Second on handicap was Brian Ashley in his MGB GT. Turning up on saturday only to find the meeting was on sunday didnt help his mood....but obviously the light hearted banter surrounding this spurred him on to greater things!. Third was Paul Eamer prior to the car problem that affected Ryan.

Racing Cars:

A small field of 4 drivers were present. The class was headed on scratch and handicap by Andy Tippett with the big Brabham V8. Les Buck was second on scratch in his FF1600 followed by Martin Jones in the pretty Elva Mk7 sportscar. Les and Martin were reversed for Handicap points. Carole Nicholls in the Nike FF1600 was fourth but now sporting the dayglo pink gloves!.