At the start Hetherington (1) squeezes past Kinch (30)

...who in turn nearly has Nuttall off the road

Three into Redgate sometimes works

Carman, Nuttall and Reeder joust while Swift watches

Rare sight: Allen's 328 motoring along

Simon Bartholomew debuts his ex-Seale 360/Ch

Hetherington had to lean on it heavily to get that win

Driver of the Meeting award went to Tony Jones

pics by Paul/Fotografia Corse

PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUND 7 : DONINGTON : 10 JUNE 2001
by Nicky Paul-Barron

Donington is one of the drivers' favourites and this is reflected in a consistently big entry. On this, our second visit of the year, there were 26 cars lined up for qualifying, which is a respectable number. Of this no fewer than fifteen were entered in the popular 355 Challenge class. There were two "new" drivers on the day. Phil Dunmore was entered in one of the Damax Racing 355s and we also had hillclimb veteran Richard Allen taking in his first circuit race since 1963!

The weather was bright and warmish and the circuit was in reasonable nick.

So who did what? The morning qualifying session was soon interrupted with several cars retiring in dangerous positions leading to a red flag. Alan Cosby had gearbox problems, Richard Allen stopped and Skid Carrera had a spin. Although most got in nine laps or so in total, it was difficult to get into a rhythm.

On pole was the impressive Nathan Kinch in his father's 360/Ch. This was followed by our current 355/Ch wunderkind Gary Culver. Ian Hetherington was next up showing good form in his 360/Ch from Tony Jones, Phil Nuttall, David Ashburn and Graham Reeder (all in 355/Chs). Then we had Simon Bartholomew in the ex-John Seale 360/Ch. Simon suffered more than most with the interruption and was sure to improve in the race.

So to the race at 6.00 p.m! This was a great shame. It had been a big two-day event but by the time we took to the grid (and it does look impressive even to an old hand) there was hardly anyone at the circuit. Oh well, at least the cleaners had a good show.

Nathan made a poor start and was mugged by Ian Hetherington, who is looking a good deal more aggressive these days. Flyers from the start were Simon Bartholomew and David Ashburn. David went around the outside at Redgate, which is normally a recipe for disaster, and Simon followed him. All was OK and at the end of the first lap it was Culver from Ashburn, Hetherington, Bartholomew, Jones and Carman.

On the next lap there was a slight coming-together between Jones and Bartholomew, which put the latter into the pits to check damage. This was a great shame as up until then Bartholomew was hanging on gamely. Nathan Kinch was in fifth position on lap four but was making up ground, his silver 360 looking particularly attractive in the evening light. Ashburn was just about hanging on to Culver which is some achievement and showed a great improvement over his qualifying form.

There were battles down the field, particularly in the mid pack of 355 Challenge cars. Reeder and Ward were close as always but it seemed that Carman had the legs of these two, as Jones did on Carman.

On lap six Kinch was up to fourth and was still moving up. Hetherington must have become aware of this and made extra efforts to get by the two duelling 355s that had, to date, held him at bay. On lap nine he was through to second and a lap later he took the lead. This was an excellent drive. Ashburn had a few stabs at Culver but never headed him and both stayed ahead of Kinch at the flag. Carman had sixth position overall (fourth in class) sewn up but maybe got bored and decided to have a bit of a push. Like at Rockingham, he managed to spoil a good position ahead of Lowe, Reeder and Ward with a mistake which let the trio through. Rod did, however, have the pace to re-pass Reeder but then dropped the ball again to end up eighth overall.

In the "O" class Richard Smeeton had such an easy time that, when his F1 gearbox played up, he simply stuck it into third and cruised on to another win.

At the flag it was Hetherington from Culver, Ashburn, Kinch, Jones and Ward. Non-finishers were Skid Carrera and Richard Allen. All three classes gained new lap record holders, Kinch in 'S', Culver in 'C' and Smeeton in 'O'.

Tony Jones was the popular winner of the Wilkinson Driver of the Meeting award, and it was Phil Nuttall's turn to win the Wine & Beer 'Best Turned Out' award.

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