Cosby Opens the Account

Qualifying in the morning was on a generally dry track and John Seale (355/Ch) claimed pole from Alan Cosby (F512M) and the two 355/Chs of Fred Moss and Graham Reeder. Moss had moved up from the “O” class which he won the previous year and he was delighted with his second row grid slot. Ian Hetherington in the F50 was taking things a little easy to claim fifth, ahead of Rory Fordyce in another 355/Ch.

Gary Culver (355) led the “O” class in 8th place overall.

By the 4.00 o’clock start time, the track was nice and wet, although the intermittent drizzle gave some drivers the chance to reflect whether to risk slicks. In the event only Fordyce took the plunge, which turned out to be not the best decision.

John Seale fluffed the start badly and dropped way down the order as Graham Reeder’s yellow 355/Ch took the lead, hotly pursued by Cosby, Moss and, after an amazing start, Culver’s “O” class 355. Seale was already making up places fast but had a body-crunching get-together with John Avery’s 355/Ch at one of the chicanes.

Cosby’s enormously powerful F512M sat on Reeder’s tail and eventually took the lead on lap 5, with Moss in third followed by a battling Reeder and Seale. On lap 8 Seale squeezed past Reeder in a manoeuvre that the circuit observers took a dim view of and which was later to have serious consequences.

At the front Cosby drove magnificently in the large 512 to hold on to a strong first place finish some 8 secs ahead of Fred Moss’s class-winning 355/Ch. Seale crossed the line in third ahead of Reeder and Gachoud, and Hetherington’s F50.

In the “O” class Gary Culver led from start to finish. Shaun Powell (F355) and Richard Smeeton (328GTB) gave mighty chase until heavy traffic impeded their progress.

In the paddock afterwards came the ominous call for John Seale to see the Clerk of the Course and he was subsequently excluded from the results due to the reports received from the circuit observers about his robust driving standards

It was an interesting race, with many close battles throughout the order and some pointers for the remainder of the series are already emerging. Seale and Moss will both bring their own varying styles to the front of the “C” class, whereas Gary Culver will be difficult to beat amongst the “O”s. Whilst Hetherington’s F50 felt uncomfortable in the wet conditions it will surely prove a potent challenger to Cosby’s 512 as the season carries on.

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