Curborough Sprint, Sunday 28th June – the second of two days sprinting

Sunday at Curborough came without the stifling heat of Saturday so the question in every driver’s mind was: would today’s results be any different? There were of course a few changes of personnel with Paul doing just the Saturday and Jim taking his place in the group of six drivers and 5 cars. The access road to the track was the same, including the hole caused by the fallen tree. The course however was different. Now two laps would be required without cutting back along Sunday’s figure of eight configuration.

The first practice was a relatively cautious affair but the changes certainly affected one driver.  He thought he had overshot the turn off point to begin his second lap. He slowed down at the finish line, and as he wondered what to do, he realised that the second lap began after the line.

He accelerated away on the right course. His subsequent runs were much faster.

Before the second run the drivers sat patiently in the queue waiting to join the track when there was news of a serious accident. A fast Honda had come off and the ambulance was parked by the crash for what seemed ages, an hour’s delay. There was a sombre mood and thoughts of improving times seemed foolhardy. It was some comfort that lunch time was declared and calories could be consumed. To everyone’s delight news came through that the driver was safe but had a shoulder injury;  Michelle’s apple cake with almonds tasted even better. When the second runs eventually happened, as expected, all the Morgan drivers’ times improved with Simon Clarke leading the pack closely followed by Chris.

Because of the delays there would only be time for one more run. This would be the decider. Would Chris take the prize again? Simon got off to a blistering start but at a crucial gear change his glove came off. He wrestled with it and amazingly completed the course with a personal best time. Chris, though, was not to be beaten and won the day. His run of 68.76 seconds was a mere 4.64 seconds more than his target time and so he collected 100 points. Simon was second with 98.74 points. The rest of the drivers were slightly behind but the handicapping system meant their points scores were very close. So while there was not much change at the top it had been a close day’s racing and all involved had enjoyed a great day.