PIRELLI MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE

Less than a week after Oulton Park the battle-weary PMFC rolled into Brands Hatch for a double-header, with qualifying on Saturday and racing on Sunday. Most of the entries (a meagre 11 in total) were as at Oulton, but with the addition of David Dove, who had returned from holiday, and the Reeder brothers, Mike and Graham. Bo McCormick, who although Danish is London-based, turned out for what is effectively his home track. Alan Williamson and Les Charneca were again sharing the latter’s 355, doing a race apiece.

In the first PMFC qualifying session all of the drivers were on slicks and most complained of a lack of grip, which probably had something to do with oil spilt in the previous saloon car practice (were they Alfas by any chance?). Riley spun at the bottom of Graham Hill Bend, fortunately ending up undamaged on the grass outfield. Bo McC and Witt Gamski found Clearways particularly slippery. After all the drama it was Peter Sowerby who ended up on top in ‘S’ class, with Witt Gamski doing the business in ‘C’ Class.

Just over an hour later the Ferraris were back in the collection area for Q2. Track condition was much the same as it had been earlier and so times were much the same too. Marco Attard speeded up slightly but not enough to get in front of Sowerby who again secured pole. Gamski maintained his previous advantage at the top of the ‘C’ Class pile while Charneca, who had replaced Williamson at the wheel of their shared 355, was a gnat’s crotchet behind Reddick.

Race 1

The weather on Sunday was again mixed, it had rained in the morning but had almost stopped when the Ferraris were called up for their first race at 1.30 pm. There was the trace of a dry line on most of the corners, but track conditions were decidedly "iffy"; making tyre choice a bit of a lottery. Most drivers opted for wets but Mike Reeder and Ted Reddick took the “racers’” option of slicks. Kevin Riley tried to cover all eventualities with worn wets.....

Attard took the lead almost immediately after the start, hotly pursued by Sowerby and Burton with a small gap before Graham Reeder and David Dove, going well for a ‘C’ Class runner. Reddick made an uncharacteristically slow and cautious start and whether this was due to alternator problems (the faulty unit was replaced before the race), or the fact that he was on slicks wasn’t clear. The fact that the only other slick-shod runner, Mike Reeder, was languishing at the back, gave us some clue.

On lap 2, Riley managed to squeeze past Dove to take up 5th position and three laps later Gamski also demoted the Yorkshire man to capture the lead in ‘C’ Class. Meanwhile, at the sharp end, Sowerby was closing up on Marco at various points on the track, but as we know, it is one thing to close but quite another to get past, particularly when conditions are less than ideal.

By mid-race the track had begun to dry out and Reddick reaped the reward for his brave tyre choice, taking huge chunks out of Dove and Gamski’s lead. It was around lap 17 that Sowerby made his bid for glory. For two or three laps previously he had been making all sorts of lunges and dummy moves to show Attard he was there but now, finally, it came off and he slipped by. At the same time Riley found his worn out wets were not a bad choice after all and he took Burton’s third place away as the latter struggled for adhesion from his overheating wets. And that wasn’t all: Reddick was enjoying his new found speed as his slicks came into their own and he passed both Dove and Gamski on the same lap to take over the top spot in ‘C’.

This was how they finished. A do-or-die last lap effort by Attard ended with a spin at the exit to Druids and Peter Sowerby took the chequered flag by some 8 seconds, with Riley picking up the third podium position. Attard scored the one point bonus for fastest lap. Ted Reddick took a well-earned perfect score of 16 Championship points to reinforce his position at the top of the 'C' class table.

Race 2

The second PMFC race was the last of the afternoon and due to the delays caused by previous events, it was almost 5.30pm before the contest got underway. Track conditions were rather better than they had been in R1.

Sowerby made no mistakes this time and took the lead from the lights, with Burton on his tail after outgunning Attard into Paddock Hill Bend. Then it was Riley with Reddick on his tail, followed by Gamski, Charneca and a slow-starting Graham Reeder.

It only took a couple of laps for Attard to dispose of Burton and resume his chase from Race 1 of Championship leader Sowerby. These two were pulling away from Burton, in third, who now found Riley giving him unwanted attention. By lap 5, Reeder had found his feet and moved up to 4th overall after passing‘C’ class leader, Reddick.

Further back, Mike Reeder had made a promising beginning and was not only ahead of Dove, but was having a good joust with Charneca. However, on lap 6 it all went horribly wrong. As he and Charneca came through Paddock Hill Bend, almost side by side, he was forced to take a wide line onto the marbles on the outside. His F355/Ch executed a 90º spin and Dove, close behind, was unable to avoid contact. Dove retired on the spot but Reeder managed to crawl back to the pits for an inspection of the damage.

There was lots of debris on the track as a result of the Reeder/Dove incident and it took three laps for the decision to be made to bring out the Safety Car so the stuff could be removed in safety. This meant that the field was bunched up with Graham Reeder right behind to Riley and ‘C’ class leader Reddick threatened by Gamski and Charneca.

After the re-start, on lap 12 Reddick slowed noticeably on the ascent to Druids, pitted at the end of the lap and his race was over with maybe some serious engine malady.

The battle at the front between Sowerby and Attard continued relentlessly until, on lap 18, when Sowerby spun away the lead at Clearways He recovered quickly but not before Burton had nipped past for second. Graham Reeder must have scented that third place was his for the taking and he closed to within a few lengths of Sowerby. The two 360s hurtled into Druids, with Reeder closing under braking and - disaster! Sowerby was t-boned and both cars were out of the race.

All this meant that this once-exciting race finished in anti-climax. Marco Attard cruised to victory two seconds ahead of Phil Burton, with Kevin Riley a further 4 seconds in arrears, in third place. Witt Gamski took the honours in ‘C’ Class by less than a second from a delighted Les Charneca, who is racing better than ever. Mike Reeder, who had eventually restarted the race after his accident, picked up the third place award although he was posted as ‘unclassified’ in the official results.

So ended another typical 2004 PMFC round, characterised by small grids, hard racing and loads of incidents. Fortunately there is now an eight week gap before the next round in which the dazed field can re-group and re-equip after all the incidents so far.

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Dove was well up early on in R1, Gamski and Riley follow

Riley muscled his way past the 'C' Class to take third

Slick-shod Reddick (l) tore past the other 'C' Class cars when the track dried

Sowerby makes his move on Attard

Attard tried everything to re-take the lead and eventually spun

Burton finished up second in R2

360/Chs howling AND plunging

Reddick led 'C' Class in R2 until his engine went clunk - handing Gamski the win

Mike "Never say Die" Reeder persevered to finish third in class

pics by Paul/Fotografia Corse