Pogson Doubles His Tally

Practice at 9.30 a.m. saw a very wet and dirty track greet the bleary-eyed competitors and lap times were some 10 -12 seconds behind a good dry time.

The conditions undoubtedly helped the two 355/Chs of Neil Woodford and Marco Attard to overcome the heavy brigade and they put their cars on to the front row. Colin Davids' Testarossa and John Pogson's F40 followed in the second row, with Nicky Paul-Barron (F355/Ch) and a delighted John Taylor (308GT4) following in the next positions. Stuart Bowler's F40 was not running well, with a persistent misfire, and it qualified only seventh - just narrowly ahead of Fred Moss's "O" class 355.

By race time, the weather conditions had been transformed and it was in warm sunshine with a dry track that the Ferraris lined up on the grid. On the fast Snetterton track Colin Davids' Testarossa used its power advantage to lead on the first lap ahead of Woodford, Pogson, Attard and Nicky Paul-Barron. Pogson soon moved his F40 up to the tail of the Testarossa and on the third lap he moved ahead, with Ian Hetherington's F50, which had started down in ninth place, already up behind the two leaders. After a hesitant start, with his F40 not working at all well, Bowler pulled into the pits and retired.

Behind the two supercars, the Challenge class was under the control of Attard, who had re-taken Woodford for the class lead and the two of them were holding a narrow advantage over Nicky P-B. At the front of the field, however, things suddenly changed …. Davids' Testarossa had a suspension failure and he retired on lap 8, whilst Hetherington spun the F50 lapping a back marker. Woodford also had a spin and all this realignment meant the order was now Pogson's F40, a long way ahead of Attard's 355/Ch and the similar car of P-B.

The leading three held their positions to the end, whilst the spinners, Hetherington and Woodford, finished fourth and fifth ahead of the astonishing "O" class leader, Fred Moss.

Moss's class win was relatively untroubled in that his nearest rival, David Ashburn, had the clutch disintegrate on his F355GTS and retired. This moved Shaun Powell (F355) to second in the class with an excellent tenth overall, ahead of newcomer Gary Marsh's similar "O" class car. John Swift, in his venerable 308GTB, produced one of his best results for many a year by finishing twelfth overall and fourth in the highly competitive "M" class.

For his determined and successful drive, Marco Attard was awarded the Pysgnosis Driver of the Day award.

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