June 24th, 2007

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.