© Pix by D. Seymour, K. Bluemel and E. H. Fadia

GOODYEAR MARANELLO FERRARI CHALLENGE
RACE REPORT : ROUND 12 : CASTLE COMBE

Bowler Wraps it Up

And so to the last race of the 1998 season, with a fine grid of 31 cars turning up for early morning Saturday practice. Appropriately the Ferrari race was the main event of the day and was given a meaty 15-lap distance.

Wet and ever wetter was the outlook for qualifying and all eyes were on Gary Culver in his 'O' class 328GTB to see if he could finally stick it on pole. It was not to be, however, because John Pogson (F355/Ch) pulled out a bravado wet weather performance to decisively take the quickest time ahead of Stuart Bowler's F40. Culver ended up third, handily ahead of fourth placed man, George Christopher (308GT4). Another notable 'O' class qualifying run came from Fred Moss's 348tb, who put it on to ninth on the grid in his effort to grab second place in the 'O' class championship from Culver. Awkward conditions caused a number of spins, with the F355s of Marc Gachoud and David Wilkinson surviving barrier crunches.

By the time of the 3.30 p.m. race start the rain had stopped and a good breeze enabled slicks to be fitted for the dry track. Although George Christopher shot away at the green lights, Stuart Bowler soon took over the lead he kept to the finish. At the front it was disappointingly processional, with Christopher and Pogson following at ever-increasing intervals. Ian Hetherington, however, had his F50 moving well on the dry track and took it from a lowly 16th grid position to fourth at the end, narrowly pipping Marco Attard's 355/Ch by less than half a second as they crossed the line. The impressive Neil Woodford (F355/Ch) and Marc Gachoud's similar car finished closely behind.

Gary Culver made the very best of his second row starting position and initially led the 'O' class but Graham Reeder (F355) inevitably reeled him in in his much more powerful car to take the class victory. Fred Moss never gave up and hounded Culver until, having just turned in the fastest class time, he forced his 348 past to finish just two seconds behind Reeder. All to no avail, however, because Culver's third in class gave him enough points to retain second place in the category championship.

Fourth in the 'O' class went to Shaun Powell (F355) who led a tightly packed group of six cars across the line, behind him being David Wilkinson (F355), Ray Ferguson (348/Ch), John Swift (308GTB), John Taylor (308GT4) and Peter Everingham (308GTB). Equally tense was the magnificent 5-car battle at the very tail of the field which eventually finished in the order Terry Esom (328GTB), Ibrahim Essat (328GTB), Mike Reeder (308GT4), Tony O'Donnell (308GTB QV) and Jos van de Perre (328GTB).

As a race it had been somewhat of an anti-climax and the two class championships had already previously been decided. In their classes both Bowler and Reeder had once again shown the superiority exhibited during the entire season. What a shame Peter Cook had given up the title chase in his F40 and that Gary Culver was not driving a 355! The Psygnosis Driver of the Day award sent to Ray Ferguson for his gritty drive from 29th on the grid to 16th and a most popular choice for Driver of the Year was Gary Culver for his many giant killing drives in the 'O' class 328.

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