Knockhill seems to be stuck in something of a timewarp
this season with the same old dodgy weather re-appearing each
time the SMRC classes run there. The big addition this time though
was some torrential rain into the morning of raceday.
The
Historic Saloon and Sportscar Series is producing some incredible
racing in 2007 and was no different this time out. Olly Ross found
his Lotus Europa to be well suited to the conditions and he more
or less ran away with the first race, finishing twenty seconds
ahead of a huge struggle between Stan Bernard, Matthew Gordon
and Al Fleming in his Lotus Elan. Jim Grant's similar Elan completed
the top five.
In the second race with the finishing positions
from the first reversed, Ross blasted through the field up to
second on the first lap, hitting the front and vanishing again
to win by over thirteen seconds. Matthew Gordon worked his way
forward to grab second but Stan Bernard found the going tougher
and could only manage sixth place. The top five was made up by
Al Fleming, Tommy Gilmartin's BMW and Jim Grant after Mike Connon
suffered a late breakdown in his Sunbeam.
With
the Northern Saloon and Sportscar Championship visiting Knockhill
at this event, there was no shortage of extra entries in the Scottish
Saloon and Sportscars. Indeed, twenty-four cars took the start
in the first race, but one car initially looked head and shoulders
above the rest with Andrew Gallacher blasting away in his awesome
Ford Focus. Behind him Colin Simpson's Marcos and the similarly
impressive Focus of Charlie Shaw battled hard over the remaining
positions all race, catching Gallacher to withing a second or
so at the end. Robert Pritchard and Harry Simpson were next up
in Caterhams with Tommy Dreelan's superb new Porsche 997 in sixth.
The top ten was completed by the Caterhams of Bob Lyons and David
Headen, Ian Hepburn's Westfield and Peter Frith's Caterham.
The second race was more of the same for Gallacher,
taking a lead he wouldn't lose. He was hard pushed by Simpson
however, who after a coming together with Pritchard had to fight
his way back to the lead battle, having to settle for finishing
right with the Focus. Dreelan took the final podium position with
Lyons and Pritchard battling to the line for fourth and fifth.
The top ten was completed by Headen, Hepburn, Tim Evans in a Sylva
Phoenix, Frith and Peter Taddei.

The
first heat of the Scottish Legends was held in very wet conditions,
with Alex Knight and Carol Brown taking to the front early on.
They were soon joined by Ben Mason and Robin Drysdale. With Frank
Hynds getting involved and Brown suffering an off, Drysdale pulled
out a small lead to win by a second from Hynds, Mason, Knight
and impressive rookie Rory Bryant who completed the top five,
taking the fastest lap en route.
The second heat saw Mason vanish into the lead but
the organisers felt he had jumped the start, issuing him with
a ten second penalty, elevating Frank Hynds into the winning position.
Drysdale and Gerrard McCosh crossed the line together to complete
the podium ahead of David Thorburn, Mason being classified fifth.
Brown and Bryant's battle for sixth ended with Bryant head first
into the hairpin tyrewall on the last lap.
The final started with a pile-up at the bottom of
Seat Curves seeing several cars off the road. This allowed Frank
Hynds into the early lead with Mason working his way up to second.
Drysdale completed the podium while Knight, Bryant, Brown and
Thorburn all finished within a second or so of each other.

The
Scottish XR2s were, as usual, all about Scott Fraser and Andrew
Winchester. The first race started with carnage, a spin by Willie
Davidson taking out a large number of the field and causing a
red flag. The second start was almost as messy but carried on,
with Fraser taking the win around three seconds ahead of Winchester.
Dave Colville marked a welcome return to the podium with third
ahead of Davidson and Colin MacKinnon.
The second race saw a reversal of fortunes with
Winchester initially leading, losing the point to Fraser and then
regaining it to take the win by a couple of seconds with Fraser
having to fend off the hard charging Colville. Colin MacKinnon
took fourth with Davidson grabbing the last of the top five positions
just ahead of Stewart Scott. Graham Whitehill lost a top five
finish when his engine let go at the hairpin.

In
the SMRC Formula Ford 1600s, Mike Gardiner took a dominant victory
in the first race, leading home Louis Di Resta by over eight seconds.
Di Resta held a similar gap back to Stuart Thorburn while Rory
Butcher and Elliot Mason enjoyed a close battle to the end to
complete the top five.
The second race saw another dominant victory for
Gardiner in the tricky conditions, this time he was joined on
the podium by Butcher and Mason who once again were all over each
other. Thorburn took fourth ahead of Graham Carroll while Di Resta
struggled to an eighth place finish after a number of offs.

The
Smartycars Scottish Mini races also saw the worst of the weather,
with Rory Butcher eventually winning the first race by three and
a half seconds from Oliver Mortimer in the celebrity car. Steve
Mitchell completed the podium but had to fight hard for it, keeping
Vic Covey Jnr behind him to the flag. Mark Dryden completed the
top five with the race being halted early to retrieve a bale of
tyres which had been knocked onto the racing line.
The second race saw a victory for Mortimer with
a big battle for second place going the way of Paul Wilson, just
ahead of Mitchell and Butcher. Kenneth Thirlwall rounded off what
had been an impressive weekend with a top five finish.