PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
REPORT : ROUND 10 : CROFT : 27/28 JULY 2002

Croft is judged to be "up north" and so only the hardy, the racers and those needing championship points made the journey to the Darlington circuit. What greeted them was fantastic weather, a friendly atmosphere, an lovely circuit and some fine racing in the other classes as well.

Qualifying at Saturday midday in bright sunshine saw Oliver Morley (360/Ch) take another dominating pole position, over a second ahead of Gary Culver (360/Ch). Robin Ward (355/Ch) was next, the quickest of the "C" class drivers as usual, followed by the similar tipos of Graham Reeder, Alan Newton and Les Charneca. Richard Stevens, needing points to keep his "C" class hopes alive, qualified down in seventh ahead of Mark Cale in the third of the 360/Chs. Of just two "O" class entries John Taylor's 360 was handily faster than Mike Furness's 328.

The Sunday programme was running slightly ahead of schedule and at 2.15 on another warm afternoon the 14 Ferraris lined up on the grid.

Morley got the drop when the lights went green but in a tight tussle Ward slipped his 355 ahead of Culver's 360 as they streamed into the first corner. At the exit, however, there was contact between several cars: Cale, Newton, Charneca were all involved although everyone resumed the race but with varying degrees of body damage.

Half way round that first lap Culver out-braked Ward and immediately closed up to Morley and sat within inches of his tail waiting for the slightest opportunity to slip through. Ward fell back into a distant but class-leading third place, ahead of Graham Reeder, Stevens, Cale and Witt Gamski (355/Ch), who had taken advantage of the first lap melée to move up from 11th place on the grid.

At the front Morley and Culver were glued together nose to tail with neither driver able to eke out an advantage. Behind them, however, Ward was beginning to slow as an alternator failure dropped the engine revs to just 5000 and also stopped the ABS from working. By the fourth lap he was caught and passed by the flying G. Reeder and on the sixth lap Stevens also went by, as did Cale in the 360.

Newton was also on the move. He had dropped to dead last as a result of the first corner incident but quickly moved up the order until he got as far as Gamski but there was just no way past. The two of them had an entertaining five lap battle for seventh place and they only just failed to catch Ward's ailing 355 by the time the flag came out.

After ten laps Morley took his second consecutive PMFC win with Culver, mindful of the Maranello championship situation, content to gather second place points rather than risk a wild overtaking manouevre. Graham Reeder took the "C" class, seven seconds ahead of Stevens, who in turn had pulled out a healthy lead from the Cale 360. Ward, Gamski and Newton flashed across the line together but some way behind them was Duncan McKay (355/Ch) who was feeling decidedly off-colour and had a quiet race. Inevitably John Taylor ran out the easy winner of the "C" class ahead of Mike Furness, the two of them being split by John Swift's 308.

Retirements included Les Charneca on lap five with severely rubbing bodywork following the first lap incident and also Mike Reeder (355/Ch) as a result of rear body damage which had squashed his exhaust pipes and caused a minor fire.

Whilst John Taylor and Gary Culver look safe at the top of the "O" and "S" class respectively, the "C" class is hotting up. Ward still leads with 106 points over G. Reeder on 94 and Stevens on 87 but Ward is not planning on doing either of the next rounds at the Brands Ferrari Festival. The class championship here is still wide open!

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The start, and Morley heads the field

....while Ward temporarily squeezes into second

Charneca bears the ravages of the first corner incident

Hanging gamely on: Furness in the O-class 328

Taylor took his customary O-class win

Graham Reeder took a good C-class win

The leaders fight it out, just inches apart

Gamski just held off a determined Newton

Ward's ailing 355 is passed by Stevens

Swifty's 308 was running perfectly again

pics by Paul/Fotografia Corse