August 12th, 2007

The festivities at Knockhill for the August SMRC meeting got under way with the Smartycar.com Mini Coopers. The first race saw the lead battle come down to four cars, Ken Thirlwall pulling away a little from the battling Ian Milton, Glynn Geddie and Vic Covey Jnr behind him. Mark Dryden fought his way past John Barrie to complete the top five.

The second race saw the top six reversed so Barrie initially led away, Covey not lasting too long before a spectacular looking collision with the tyrewall. Geddie grabbed the lead in a frenetic struggle and managed to pull out a slight gap while Gilbert Grossett, Mark Dryden and Thirlwall engaged in a fantastic battle for second place, taking it turns to hold the position. Dryden eventually grabbed it, following Geddie home a second behind, Grossett and Thirlwall in very close attendence. Barrie completed the top five after a similarly close fight with Jordan Gronkowski.

Having enjoyed his trip to Knockhill in his fabulous Triumph TR4 for the Classic Speedfair, Cleveland's Mark Campbell was a welcome returnee to the track to take part in the Classic Sports and Saloons races. He stamped his authority all over the first race, taking a dominant win by over eleven seconds from Stan Bernard's Porsche, Matthew Gordon not far behind in his own 911, the two having swapped positions late on. A long way back and completing the top five were Tommy Gilmartin's BMW and the Lotus Europa of Olly Ross which enjoyed a long battle with Ian Longford's Escort.

The second race was again a fairly straight-forward affair for the Campbell TR4, recovering from a poor start he went on to win by a generous margin from the battling Ross and Bernard who crossed the line together. Gordon and Gilmartin completed the top five.


The Scottish Sports and Saloon Championship saw an epic day of battling between the ever dominant Ford Focus of Andrew Gallacher and the Caterham Vauxhall of Robert Pritchard which was visiting along with the constantly entertaining Northern Sports and Saloons. Having initially pulled out a slight lead, Gallacher found himself having to defend from the red Caterham later in the race, taking the win by the smallest of margins. David Headen took third position after an equally good battle with Bob Lyons, Tommy Dreelan's Porsche GT3 in fifth.

Race two was more of the same, a fabulous race long battle between Gallacher and Pritchard going the Caterham's way after a breakdown on the second to last lap for the Focus dropped it eight seconds behind at the end. Headen and Lyons once again battled over third with Warren Dunbar coming home fifth in his Caterham.

The SMRC Formula Ford 1600 Championship saw a huge grid on hand, but no-one could match Mike Gardiner on the day. In the first race he led from lights to flag, Rory Butcher initially holding second place all race before being disqualified. This gave second to Graham Carroll with Stuart Thorburn and Robert Thomson completing a spread-out top five.

The second race was a Gardiner dominiated affair once again, though a huge battle for second eventually went to Carroll ahead of Thorburn. Alan Kirkaldy circulated with them at the end with Craig Brunton just holding off Elliot Mason to complete the top five.

The Scottish XR2 Championship was the hotbed of controversy for the day when in the first race Graham Whitehill and Andrew Winchester led the field away but were adjudged to have jumped the start, ten seconds to be added to their race times. Peter Cruickshank attempted a move on Winchester into the chicane on the third lap but contact between the two saw Cruickshank off the track and into retirement. The officials initially excluded Winchester from the results with regard to this incident but on appeal he was re-instated, being classified seventh. Whitehill pulled out a large lead but in the end it would only be enough for fourth when the penalty was added, Scott Fraser taking the win with Willie Davidson and Charlie Cope right behind him. A wide moment at the hairpin dropped Dave Colville from a possible win to fifth place at the end.

The second race was a lights to flag victory for Whitehill, his run to the flag being aided by the three car battle behind him as well as the very early breakdown of Scott Fraser. Davidson initially held the place and held off pressure from Cope and Winchester for the majority of the race before falling behind them both on the penultimate lap. Five seconds further back, Dave Colville led home a large pack of battling cars to complete the top five.

The first heat of the day for the Scottish Legends Championship started with Gerrard McCosh and Ben Mason breaking away from the pack, McCosh initially building up a lead which Mason ate into after working his way through the field, taking the lead on lap five and holding McCosh off to the flag. Dave Newsham also had to work his way through the field but did so in fine style, coming home in a lonely third place ahead of the equally singular Dave Thorburn and Carol Brown. Incident of the race was between Steve Reynolds and Andrew Donald when a mechanical problem robbed Reynolds of engine braking and he slammed into Donald's car at the hairpin, losing the front-right wheel.

The second heat was a walkover for Newsham, leading the entire race from pole. Mason once again worked his way through the field but still had three seconds to make up on Newsham at the end. Scholarship driver Rory Bryant put in the drive of the day to grab his first podium, helped by a tangle behind him between McCosh and Thorburn which saw Carol Brown up to fifth.

The final was once again between Newsham and Mason when it came down to it, Newsham made a slightly better job of it and managed to pull a small gap which Mason could not pull back. Having started on the front row after a bad day, Frank Hynds made the most of it to come home in a lonely third place, a long way ahead of a huge battle between McCosh and Brown, which would go McCosh's way after a last gasp move at the hairpin.