PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUND 6 : SILVERSTONE: 24 JUNE 2000

The AMOC's St. John Horsfall Trophy meeting included Round 6 of the Ferrari Challenge. The entry, given the illustrious nature of the meeting, was a little disappointing, with just 19 cars taking the start.

Ian Hetherington's F50 took an easy pole but the Zest Testarossa of Nick May was a surprise in second place. A surprise not in terms of its speed potential but more because of the reliability problems the car has recently been suffering. Another thundering flat 12, the F512M of Alan Cosby, was on the second row, with the four 355 Challenge cars of Graham Reeder, John Avery, Phil Nuttall and Mike Reeder closely behind.

Where was John Seale? Following many laps of testing on the Friday before the race his engine blew comprehensively, possibly as a result of a trip through the gravel traps.

In the "O" class Gary Culver (F355) qualified quickest and was almost assured of victory once David Ashburn's similar tipo had retired hurt with not much compression in the engine department.

Under threatening skies Hetherington shot into a lead that was to last precisely two corners when, caught on the inevitable cold tyres, he went off the road and several others went with him, including second-place Alan Cosby and the "O" class cars of Andrew Duncan (348tb), Richard Smeeton (328GTB) and Kevin Wilkins (328GTB).

Although all the cars recovered to continue the race, Nick May's Testarossa was left in a lead he was to carry through to the finish. Graham Reeder's 355/Ch gave vain chase, with John Avery (355/Ch) and Mike Reeder (355/Ch) next. Avery retired with a poorly engine on lap 3 but by this time the main interest of the entire race centred around the tremendous catch-up being played by Cosby and Hetherington, who were scything their way through the field.

By lap 4 Cosby was sixth and Hetherington tenth; by lap 8 Cosby was third and Hetherington sixth and by the final lap Cosby made a lunge down the inside of Graham Reeder for second place but instead of glory he ended up beaching the 512 off the road.

At the flag, therefore, Nick May took the win, followed by Graham Reeder, Hetherington and Phil Nuttall. This was not the end of it, however, because following post-race scrutineering the winning Testarossa was found to be 12 kilos underweight and was disqualified from the results. A delighted Graham Reeder therefore took his first overall win, with Hetherington in a second place he could only have dreamed about as he spun his way down to the back of the field on lap 1.

The "O" class was a foregone conclusion, with Gary Culver taking the win ahead of the closely-matched cars of Richard Stevens and David Ingram-Hill, with Chris Chadwick's dented 328 following in fourth.

All the various class results have helped to emphasise the championship points positions. Gary Culver is now 42 points ahead of his nearest pursuer, David Ashburn in the "O" class. Ian Hetherington has an even bigger lead amongst the "S"s over Peter Lowe and John Swift, and Graham Reeder is beginning to look a likely candidate amongst the Challenge cars.

The next round of the championship is a two-heat race at Castle Combe on 1st/2nd July.

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