BHR Cadwell – 29th & 30th September 2018
The 7th and final round of the 2018 Challenge Series was held on Saturday. It’s been a busy old season with a lot of competition. This year’s winner was finally crowned at this event. Well Done Chas Reynolds and commiserations to Danny Hodgson who’s pushed so hard this season.
Six races featuring Morgan Three Wheelers and some tight competition.
| Words from Rob Pike:
We had promising start to the weekend with a dry forecast and it remained so for us all weekend, although Friday night was very cold giving a few slow starts on Saturday morning. It was confirmed that Saturday would be the points-scoring day and our first outing was Race 3, the Morgan only race. The race was run at the same time as the BEARS sidecar class, which gave an extra element with a lot more traffic on track. Rob Pike and Petra got off to a good start around the outside of Danny and Bronte and took the lead, followed by Chas Reynolds and Steve Ash, and Austin and Julia. Austin’s drive belt had jumped at the start, but didn’t seem to hold him up too much at all as he managed fastest lap of the race by just over 2 seconds. The only problem with writing the report and being in front is not being able to know exactly what happened behind, but Tony Pearson/ Phil Bridge were parked by the chicane after the 2nd lap when Tony’s wheel Centre failed. Luckily, he spotted it wobbling and managed to get the car more or less pulled up before the wheel came off, so top marks for that! Chas was hounding Rob all through the race and his superior experience allowed him to go around the outside at the bottom of the Mountain. Chas missed a gear at the top, and the 5 speeder came back and then the pair caught Hugo and Mike Pickup in the 8/80 racer. Chas came through again through Hall Bends on the last lap, which was great entertainment for the spectators at the bar! So, Chas won, claiming enough points for the class win in the championship, as did Rob and Petra by gaining that much needed extra point just ahead of Austin and Julia who came in 3rd. Danny Hodgson and Bronte Pearson were 4th in the very quick F type racer, followed by the Pickups in 5th and Cathy Quinn and Jackie Scruton in the ever-reliable TM F Type TM. It seems Chas and the 5 speeders are quite evenly matched which is giving some close and great racing. Unfortunately, Tom Cowley was having trouble with Cathy’s racer and could not continue as he suspected internal damage of some kind. |
Race 6 was the B3 race, and by this time Tony Pearson has borrowed a spare wheel and had a tyre fitted and was good to go again. Now, this meeting was the Jed Goodwins memorial, and before the start of the race they scattered Jed’s ashes from the back of a machine on the warm up lap. It was a windy day, and with all sensitivity and respect being considered, it seemed that Jed’s ashes got very well spread, and part of the ashes found their way over quite a few of the competitors and also into Bill Tuer’s Carburettor which got stuck open. As a result of this, Bill looked a bit like a concert pianist at the wheel as he had to drive one cylinder on the mag switch at full throttle. This helped Chas, as he managed to beat Bill to 11th, with Bill in 12th, Danny and Bronte in 14th, Tony and Phil Bridge following in 18th with no wheel issues. Hamish was a DNF after losing his battery on the track through Hall Bends.Nigel Challis arrived on Saturday night and was ready for racing on Sunday and overnight Austin had tightened his belt more than he does when he walks into a bar, so there were no further issues at the start on Sunday’s race. He took the lead from Chas into the first corner, followed by Rob and Petra, being closely pursued by Nigel and Sarah in 4th. Nigel got up to 3rd, but his brakes failed after the long straight going up to Park Corner and went off onto the grass but managed to pull up without hitting the barriers. Rob managed to catch Chas and Austin as they caught up with some BEAR outfits, and managed to return a late pass on Chas and was then able to catch and pass Austin on the start finish straight, and these positions remained until the finish. Again, Danny and Tony both finished cleanly but Hugo and Mike Pickup has some issues and dropped out on lap 3.
The last race of the weekend for us was the B3’s and Bill and Hamish spent the race chasing 2 quick outfits, a Yamaha and BMW. Bill managed to pass them both for the win and Hamish and Paula came in 4th. No other issues occurred, and the weekend ended very successfully again for the Morganeers. Again, a brilliant weekend of racing was had by all, and a massive thanks to the organisers, marshals, supporters and passengers!! |
