A very wet Barbagallo circuit welcomed the drivers to the June meeting. Wet weather tyres were the order of the day although occasionally the sun teased us only to rain again just before the Formula Classic events.
Unfortunately, again, only a small field of cars were entered for the June meeting, 10 to be precise. It was good to see one new driver join our ranks for the event, Glen Page, driving the Sutol 23 from Neil McCrudden’s the WARM museum.
Simon Alderson was all dominant in the very wet qualifying session posting pole position by 5 seconds from the second placed car. The three races were closely contested by Simon and Michael Henderson with Hendo taking two wins to Simon’s one. Leone Magistro, Bob Creasy and Allan Ould were scraping over the minor placing, Leone ending up with the final trophy.
It’s good to report that despite only a small field of cars for this meeting all 10 entrants finished the last race.
The prize giving was a bit of as debacle as WASCC recorded the results for Formula Classic in two sections (Historic and Libra log booked cars) and failed to combine the results for the prize giving awarding on the Historic log booked cars only. This was subsequently addressed but at the time it was a little awkward and embarrassing.
Collie Ernie Hastie Memorial meeting – 18th – 19th May
Spin, spin, spin, that was the order of the day for a couple of the Formula Classic entrants on the new long track at Collie. Craig Thompson almost making an art form of it with a first lap spin in each of the first three races. Brian Searles only managing two spins, one in the free practice on Friday and the second in qualifying on Saturday.
Despite this round being the inaugural meeting on the new long circuit Formula Classic only managed to attract 7 entrants. These were the ‘usual suspects’ however a couple of the drivers entered in different cars. Lance Carwardine had borrowed the ex Roland Ratzenberger Van Diemen Formula Ford from the WARM museum as his regular car is still undergoing repairs from last season’s accident at Barbagallo. Jamie Kerkhoff’s had recently acquired a Formula Toyota TRD but due to work commitments was unable to enter the meeting himself but kindly offered the seat to Brian Searles who’s regular car is undergoing a gearbox overhaul.
All the Formula Classic drivers enjoyed the challenge of the new track.
Michael Henderson ran away with the outright round results take all four race wins. Simon Alderson tried very hard to hang on to Michael but he was unable to match the Ralts pace, his only consolation being a very consistent second throughout the weekend. Allan Ould, Craig and Lance enjoyed a great scrap all weekend for third place honours, Craig come out on top three times out of the four, however Allan made a great start in the final race and held third all the way to the checked flag.
Only 11 Formula Classic cars were entered for the April race meeting, a somewhat disappointing number for the third round of the 2019 championship, however it was good to see two Sports 2000 cars from Rob Jordan’s collection join the Formula Classic group for this race meeting. Rob was driving his Tiga SC80 and David Turner in the Lola T492. Rob ran reliably in the first two events but spun off on some oil during the third race. Dave, unfortunately struggle all day with the Lola only managing a couple of laps before retiring the car. Hopefully we’ll see more of them throughout the remainder of the season.
Michael Henderson continued his winning ways in his Ralt RT4 with Simon Alderson snapping at his heels in Race 1 but unable to keep up that pressure on Michael during the next two runs due to some clutch issues with his Van Diemen. “Hendo” did get his wrist slapped by the officials after race 2 for overtaking a backmarker under the yellow flag and he earned himself a 30 second time penalty for his trouble reducing him to second place in that race.
Harvey Leys brought out his big Chevron sports car and it ran strongly all day, Harvey cleaning up in the handicap results winning all three rounds.
Outright positions for the weekend were;
1st Michael Henderson
2nd Simon Alderson
3rd Andrew Nielson
Handicap results for the event were;
1st Harvey Leys
2nd Murray Charnley, Simon Alderson, Craig Thompson & Michael Henderson
The next round is the Ernie Hastie Memorial at Collie over the weekend of 18th – 19th May, this event should be on the new long circuit so let’s see if we can put out a large group of cars to support this event and the Collie Motor Club.
