THE

GEARBOX MASTERS

Bishopscourt MSA F250 International & Superkart Series

Very fast and very, very bumpy, that’s the circuit at Bishopscourt. The following Monday after the Short Circuit S4 round at Nutts Corner, The long circuit drivers made there way to a former airfield just outside Downpatrick in Northern Ireland.Not a particularly large entry in any of the classes and just over 60 in total, a fair number of which, were local entrants.Three races for each of the classes also counted as three scoring rounds, for registered drivers, in the Superkart and MSA Championships.

F250 International and again one driver was dominant and that was Mark Owens, The full bodied rig notching up three maximum scores. He took a fairly comfortable win in Race 1 from John Riley and Malcolm Crowe. Race 2 and Stephen McAdam led for most of the race, Owens not making the best of starts, only 6^th by the close of the opening lap he had to work his way through and only just moved to the front on the last lap. McAdam did take 2^nd but was shadowed across the line by Riley and Paul Machin, Nigel Dace in 5^th. Owens was quickly into his stride in Race 3 and by the start of lap 2 had passed the early leader Machin, McAdam was 3^rd from Riley, Phil Martindale, Andy Taylor and Crowe. Crowe would retire on the next lap, with Martindale another retiree a lap later, amazingly 11 of the 21 starters would fail to make the full race distance.Outfront, Owens was now inching away from McAdam, who had demoted Machin on lap 3 and he would eventually notch up his 3^rd win of the day.A little more tight, for second place as Riley had bested Machin on lap 4 and for the rest of the race he and McAdam frequently traded places, with John just edging Stephen out on the line, Machin was 4^th with Charles Craven and Kevin Dent 5^th & 6^th.

Mark Allen proved untouchable in races 1&2 of F250 National, but his kart refused to fire up prior to race 3 and he failed to make the start. Andrew Walker had taken 2^nd in race 1 after an early dice with Robert McAdam and Paul Tinker. In race 2, guest driver Colin Menary posted his best result of the day with a 2^nd ahead of Walker, Stephen McAdam and Wayne Sandford. With Allen unable to make the start of Race 3, it was left to Stephen McAdam to lead the first tour from Walker, Sandford, R McAdam, Tinker and Menary. Lap 2 and it was still S McAdam but he went no further, pulling off the circuit at the end of the lap. This left Walker outfront from Sanford and R McAdam, all three very close together. A small gap back to Tinker and Menary was growing, but along with Robert Walkinshaw, both would retire on the following lap, leaving leading trio the length of the straight clear of Igor Ashwell who was now 4^th. As the laps were reeled off it was very close up at the front, Walker continued to lead and would eventually take the win, Sandford was kept busy defending 2^nd place, but with 2 laps remaining R McAdam swept past and he just managed to keep the advantage until the flag. Ashwell taking a distant 4^th ahead of Keith Dyer.

 Pembrey MSA F250 International & Superkart Series

Cardiff Kart Clubs recent Long circuit event at Pembrey didn’t provide a huge entry but it was a quality one.

  With the Grand Prix due to be held here in August it gave the drivers an ideal opportunity to do a little bit of testing before the major event of the year and score some points towards championship honors in the process.

Three races for each of the classes meant a packed programme. The weather was unusually fine and with the sun popping his head out every now and then it meant a pleasant day for racing. 

 Mark Owens headed the Timed practice session for 250 International closely followed by Malcolm Crowe, Paul Machin and Peter Lazzari, with the number 20 of Nigel Dace rounding out the top 5. Surprisingly the 0 plated outfit of John Riley was languishing down in 17^th.

  After a mid season switch and after a number of years on Formula 1 hard-ware, John was still coming to terms with his new Anderson outfit and but for a few laps in unofficial practice was still acclimatizing himself with the equipment.                         In the other classes, grid positions for the first race are decided by the current championship table, but the following grid for Race 2 is the finishing order Race 1 and so on.

     On to racing and F250 National were first out on the track, After winning five of the previous nine rounds Mark Allen had proved he is the man to beat. Moving swiftly into the lead he quickly set about adding to his tally, dominating Race 1 he took a comfortable lights to flag victory, he did it again in Race 2 and after a faultless run he completed a clean sweep by taking Race 3 as well.

  In contrast the battles for the other podium places were very tight, after a great scrap with Paul Tinker, Stephen McAdam nipped past in the closing stages of R1 to take 2^nd place, Gavin Bennett would take 4^th place, demoting Robert McAdam on the last lap.

In R2 McAdam again took 2^nd, ahead of Carl Hopkins this time, Andrew Walker, who had started from the back squeezed past Tinker on the last tour to take 4^th.Walker headed the pack chasing Allen in R3, but both he and S McAdam would retire leaving Hopkins with his best finish of the year. A brilliant dice for 3^rd, place was eventually led home by Roy Bennett, R McAdam, was next then Tinker.  Wayne Sanford's day had started off with a puncture in R1, 11th place in R2 and in R3 he would take 6^th ahead of Robert Chillcott and Igor Ashwell.

The combined National and Open 125 class provided plenty of entertainment, but again one driver dominated and that was Graham Barker, Local Hero Richard Hanmer gave him a reasonable run in R1 but in the closing stages Barker eased clear. In Races 2&3 no one came close, Graham pilled on the pressure and pulled away in both taking untroubled wins. Again the racing for the other places was superb, Matthew Gray and Denis Gale frequently traded place for 3^rd in R1 with Gray just edging in front on the last lap, Robin Kingham would take 5^th ahead of Bob Nash, Ivor Gent, Charles Johnson and Ian Finch. Hanmer had taken 2^nd in R1 and he repeated the feat in R2 and R3 and that would move him 2^nd in the race for the open class title. Robin Kingham would take his best result of the day with a 3^rd in the last race after a great scrap with Denis Gale. Ivor Gent would take 4^th with Scott Dunn 5^th.

   As mentioned Mark Owens headed the Formula 250 International timed session and he led the field into Hatchets Hairpin for the first time. As Race 1 progressed both he and Malcolm Crowe quickly pulled clear of the field, Crowe pressed him all the way but Owens eventually took the win. Paul Machin held 3^rd early on but Riley who had started well down had gradually worked his way through and on lap 6 slipped past, but a lap later Machin would regain his lost spot, as Riley slid off at Honda Curve, his race over. After a dismal start to his season Boyd Barrington found himself back on form as he headed off Peter Lazzari to take 4^th. Malcolm Clark was 6^th with Dave Harvey 7^th.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Race 2 and again Owens and Crowe had soon eased away, but this time it was Crowe who would take the spoils, after shadowing Owens for 5 laps he moved ahead on lap 6 and on to victory. Machin was 3^rd again well clear of Barrington, Clark would take 5^th with Riley coming from the back to take 6^th, after having demoted Lazzari on the last lap. Owens again moved to the front at the start of lap 3 but this time it was only a brief spell as Crowe flashed past on lap 2. Seemingly Owens was suffering with a tyre problem. Crowe gradually built himself a comfortable cushion and would go on to take his second win of the day, Owens would hold onto 2^nd place ahead of Riley, Machin this time 4^th, Barrington 5^th.A gaggle of Seven drivers frequently traded places in a battle for 6^th, with Lazzari just holding off Harvey on the line, Chris Hart was next from Kevin Dent, Chris Berry, Malcolm Clark and Kevin Ahern.

 Just four entries in F250E and it was local driver Carl Kinsey who took pretty convincing wins in Races 1 & 2. Tom Stambach played second fiddle in both with Andy Scott taking a brace of 3^rd places. Kinsey look a likely winner in R3 until a mechanical problem forced him out and it was left to Mark Ellis to pick up the pieces, with Scotty the only other finisher.

Kimbolton :-  Super 4 National Gearbox Championship. 

  Just a fortnight after Fulbeck, Kimbolton hosted the next round of the championship.

  The entry list had grown slightly as a number of guest drivers decided to measure their talents against the best Super 4 had to throw at them and with the increase the necessity of B finals for 125 National and 250 National.

 Sky TV’s cameras were also televising the event and unlike previous visits the weather was particular unkind, very windy, cloudy and a couple of brief showers during the heats was followed by more persistent rain just as the finals began and then with racing over out came the sun, Typical!

 Racing itself was close although the rain didn’t help and a few fell fowl of the slippery conditions. With the B finals out of the way, 125 Open was the first of the main finals run.

 After concentrating most of his 1999 efforts into Europe, reigning Champion Peter Budd was making a guest appearance and managed to win one of the heats, as did Dan Grieg and Paul Ozanne. Joining Grieg and Ozanne on the front row was young Damien Fernendez, but even before the green light a broken coil wire put him out of the running.Grieg didn’t make the best of grid one but Ozanne opposite did and led the field into Stow Corner, by the close of the lap Mark Brookman had slotted into 2^nd from Wesley Crankshaw, Dave Fricker, Nelson Rowe and Mark Fell, unfortunately Grieg had slid off at Kestrel Corner ending his effort.Ozanne was quickly into his stride and with a couple of laps run was already building himself a good lead. Behind, Brookman continued to hold 2^nd, Crankshaw tucked right under his bumper, Fricker briefly held 4^th but on lap 3 he pulled off the circuit with a snapped chain, Rowe the benefactor, Fell was next from Ian Pratt, Peter Palmer and Peter Budd. Outfront Ozanne was reveling in the slippery conditions and continued to extend his advantage every lap, by mid race he was over 10 seconds clear and with neither mechanical failure nor driver error he would eventually build over half a laps lead at the chequered flag. The battle for 2^nd was tight, Crankshaw had demoted Brookman into 3^rd on lap 5, but it was Rowe who was on the move, dispatching Brookman of lap 7 he set about Crankshaw and on lap 9 he moved into 2^nd place, once ahead he soon had a small 10 kart length cushion. Crankshaw had a similar advantage over Brookman and that’s how they would finish, Fell completed the top 5.

   F250`E` rolled out next, Carl Kinsey had swept all before him in the heats but the final was a different proposition, Paul Kennings made the better start, Kinsey followed from Tom Stambach and Richard Lietner. The damp conditions suited Kennings and he slowly began to pull away, Kinsey chased but Kennings extended his lead every lap eventually taking an untroubled win, Kinsey followed him home in a distant 2^nd, Stambach had briefly held 3^rd but Lietner pushed him back a place on lap 3, Stambach eventually retiring on lap 5 which allowed Paul Troalic to take 4^th.

 The rain had increased and the circuit was very wet as the 250 Internationals came out for their final, Andy Holmes, John Riley and Dave Harvey had shared the heats. At the lights it was Harvey who led the charge down to Stow, but a brave move by Riley saw him dive down the inside and into the lead. Holmes was an early casualty; a punctured rear tyre forcing him out, a spin by Graham Lewis dropped him to the rear of the field and Boyd Barrington suffered a similar fate, Jamie Blackburn held 3^rd followed by Stephen Peace, Robert King and Rob Millar. Lap after lap Riley continued to stretch his lead and would take a comfortable win, his first for the Anderson camp since moving from F1.Harvey and Blackburn had pulled clear of Peace and were having a great scrap, on lap 7 Blackburn moved past and looked to be on his way to 2^nd, but as they rounded Stow Corner for the final time Blackburn looked over his shoulder and a moments lapse in concentration ended in a spin, Harvey avoided and went on to take 2^nd place, Blackburn did manage to recover and just held 3^rd ahead of Peace; after his earlier mishap Barrington did eventually work his way back into 5^th place by race end.

 Unexpectedly a rather disappointing entry of only 10 Europa`s at Kimbolton. Charles Long, Rodger Barrell and Dave Morris logged wins in the heats and it was Morris who led them round the opening lap, conditions were very slippery and a spin allowed Charles Long through into the lead Barrell was next from Neil Adlington and Russell Spence. Circulating very cautiously, Long was at home in the wet and gradually pulled clear taking a relatively unchallenged victory, Behind Barrell would take a comfortable 2^nd place whilst Spence managed to get the better of Adlington to take  3^rd.

   Paul Platt, Carl Hulme, Kevin Pinder and Richard Ward had taken the heats but with a bumper entry a `B` Final was needed to sort of 125 Nationals, the first four would join the back of the `A` Final and those were Mark Burrows, Charlie Johnson, Andrew Agnew and Mark Craig.                                                                                                                           Pinder made a peach of a start and led them on the run down to Stow Corner, behind Paul Platt got it all out of shape and collected Alan Moffat and Mark Craig in the process, all managed to rejoin albeit at the rear. By the close of the lap Pinder continued to lead, Scott Neal held 2^nd from Simon Scott, Matthew Bett, Carl Hulme and Chris Pike. As the race progressed Pinder and Neal eased clear of Scott and Bett, Pike managed to squeeze past Hulme on lap 3 but would retire on lap 4 and that left Hulme leading a train of 10 karts. By mid race things had settled down, There were no change in the top five positions Pinder and Neal had a small but useful advantage over Scott and Bett, they were clear of Hulme, who had Jeff Stewart and Richard Ward harassing him. Sandy Bonner led a group just behind Ward and that consisted of Paul Parsons, Jason Sammut and Dennis Gale. As the remaining laps were run, it stayed very close and that looked like being their finishing positions, but on the last lap the top four regrouped and that allowed Scott to steal 2^nd place from Neal at Kestrel Corner.

In 250 National Neil Burroughs, Andrew Walker, Don Kennedy and Kevin Ridley took the heats and again another bumper entry necessitated in a `B`Final.At the green light Roy Bennett caught the field napping and blasted into the lead, early casualties included Ridley, off at the Hanger Complex and Nic Reynolds who spun and rejoined. Burroughs briefly held 2^nd on lap 1 but Kennedy moved ahead on lap 2, once past he set his sights on Bennett and a lap later was right with the leader, lap 4 and he now led the race and that’s were he would stay for the duration. Continuing his downward spiral Burroughs pushed Bennett further back on lap 5 and although he pushed hard to catch Kennedy he would have to settle for 2^nd place, Bennett continued to fall back and would eventually finish 12^th.Malcolm Witts had Andrew Smith breathing down his neck for most of the race. Smith did briefly put his outfit in front on the penultimate lap but Witts regained before the drop of the flag, Stephen Clarke drove a super race and after lying 13^th a lap 1 he worked his way through to claim 5^th ahead of Andrew Walker by race end.

Shennington :-  Super 4 National Gearbox Championship. 

After a superb year the Super 4 finally drew to its conclusion with the sixth and last round at Shennington. All six classes had still to be decided but some were closer than others. It was bright and sunny during the morning practice, but the odd shower and a rare glimpse of the sun followed that, this did affect tyre choice but on the whole it was only marginal.

  Tony Edney was making only his third 125 Europa appearance in S4 this year, but he swept to victory in all three of the heats. Mark Leeson had led the championship table before the event from Charles Long & Dave Morris and going into the final a winner would come from one of these. Morris looked to be favourite as he had eked out a small 5pt lead during the heats but a dreadful start was followed by a collision on the first left hand bend which tore off his offside rear wheel and that ended his race and unless Leeson and Long both failed to finish his title hopes. Edney led the final during the early stages but Guest driver John Boucher, who was on wets, moved ahead on lap 4. Boucher established himself a small lead but Edney began to reel him back in as the track dried and with a third of the race to run Edney retook the lead and on to eventual victory. Dave Lucas and Tony Gilson battled it out for 3^rd with Gilson taking the spot, behind Mark Leeson would come home 5^th from James Farrell 6^th with Charles Long taking a cautious 7^th and that would give him the championship title by just two points from team-mate Leeson, Third place for Lucas boosted him into 3^rd in the championship just ahead of Morris.

  In 250 National Neil Burroughs had already placed his hands around the title after Larkhall and a win in the first heat at Shennington confirmed him as the 1999 Champion. Second place had yet to be concluded and a trio of drivers, Mally Witts, Andy Walker and Don Kennedy could still yet take the runner up spot. Witts and Walker took a win apiece in the other heats helping their chances but it was all down to the final. Kennedy had pole but it was Walker alongside who blasted into the lead and it was a lead he would not relinquish, slowly extending his lead throughout the race taking a comfy win and the #3 plate in the process.  Behind Kennedy had held 2^nd but Andrew Smith overhauled him on lap 4 and Smith would put in a great performance to take his best result of the year, 3^rd for Kennedy was enough to secure 2^nd in the championship, Witts could only manage 7^th placing him 4^th for the year.

  After some 20 races just 1 point separated Carl Kinsey and Paul Kennings in F250`E`, Kinsey completed a hat trick of wins in the heats and that meant just finishing a place behind Kennings would be enough to take the title. Setting the pace he moved into an early lead, Kennings right on his bumper. As the race unravelled Kinsey seemed to be under control but an error at the chicane saw him off the track and on the banking, fortunately for Carl he managed to rejoin still in 2^nd place. Paul now led and from there he kept extending his advantage each lap finishing ½ a lap clear at the flag. Kinsey only needed 2^nd to take the title and he duly obliged shortly after, Andrew Scott took third place and in doing so clinched 3^rd overall.

250 International had provided some of the most consistent scoring in any class. The top 4 drivers had posted only four non-finishes between themselves all year. John Riley headed the point’s table on arrival at Shennington from Jamie Blackburn, Dave Harvey and Graham Lewis. Riley took two heat wins with Harvey the leading them home in the other, Riley looked favourite for the title but Blackburn was still in with a shout, Harvey’s non finish in the final at Larkhall had put him out of the running. At the lights it was Harvey who made the better start, Riley slotted into 2^nd from Andy Holmes and Jamie Blackburn. By the close of the opening lap Riley had moved into the lead, quickly stamping his authority he began to ease clear of Harvey in 2^nd. Behind, Holmes had Blackburn looking for a way past but a spin dropped Jamie back to 5^th behind Stephen Peace. Lap after lap Riley continued to pull away and after a trouble free run, victory, and with that the 1999 title, Harvey eventually coming home a distant 2^nd. Blackburn’s race ended in controversy, after his early spin he quickly despatched Peace and began once again to press Holmes for 3^rd but contact rounding pit bend, in a rather ambitious move, saw Blackburn’s rear wing flying in the air and subsequent retirement, Holmes receiving the black flag as a consequence, that gave Peace 3^rd place with Graham Lewis eventually 4^th after a scrap with Mike Young and Rob Millar

  125 National and 125 Open have provided some outstanding racing this season, but there could only be one winner in each class. In the Open class any number of drivers were still in with a possible chance of taking the title, on arrival Mark Fell headed the points table from Wesley Crankshaw and Paul Ozanne. In the heats Fell, Ozanne and Richard Palmer took wins and Palmer would be a revelation in the final, Nelson Rowe took an early lead, from Daniel Grieg, Grieg took over on lap 3, a fantastic recovery after a big excursion on lap 5 only dropping him two places, Rowe was once again the leader, but after starting down in 19^th place Palmer had been busy working his way through the field and on lap 7 swept past Rowe and into the lead, continuing his pace he pulled away and on to an impressive victory. Grieg managed to again get ahead of Rowe in the close stages of the race and Rowe was pushed further back by Stephen Coward on the penultimate lap. Behind points leader Fell had been languishing down in 11^th place early in the race, slowly making his way forward he would just edge his outfit into the top five on the last lap ahead of Wesley Crankshaw and in doing so take the championship by just 15 points over Rowe.

Five heats and a `B` final were needed to sort out the 24 drivers in the 125 National final, with wins for Richard Ward, Simon Scott, Matthew Bett and Kevin Pinder(2). Realistically either Kevin Pinder or Matthew Bett would take the 125 National title, just 16 points separated them at the top of the table and they lined up 1 & 2 on the grid. At the green light Pinder made an unbelievably fast start, Bett found himself swamped by the pack, as both Paul Platt and Simon Scott swept past, Matthew really needing to win to stand any chance of overhauling Kevin.  By the close of the first lap Pinder was already easing clear of the field, Bett was trying to find a way past Scott but Simon was defending his place. Lap 2 and Pinder, who was putting in a tremendous effort, had again put a little more air between himself and the rest, Platt and Scott continued to hold 2^nd & 3^rd with Bett all the while pressing in 4^th. By the time Bett had managed to squeeze past Scott on lap 4 and then Platt on lap 5, Pinder had long gone, Bett bravely chased but unless a problem hampered Pinders progress, it was doubtful that he would catch him before the flag and that’s just how it finished. Pinder punching the air as he took the chequered flag for the final time this season, the championship in the bag and the #1 plate for next year. Second position was little consolation for Bett after coming so close last year, hopefully he will return in 2000. Simon Scott would take 3^rd ahead of Andrew Agnew in the race, giving him the #5 for next year, Platt completing the top five in the race.

Final Championship Standings Gearbox Masters

Robin Haworth