ROBERTS TAKES THE LOW ROAD. By our Special Correspondent
Qualifying
Fourteen cars turned up for this eighth round of the Formula Honda Championship (the fifth actual meeting as there have been three double headers). After a 20 minute session held in weak sunshine under cloudy skies, Saward sprung a surprise as he aced Reuben and Tremayne for the first pole of his Honda career, slipping his silver Arri Media car on to the top slot with a lap of 47.327s. Reuben couldn't have been closer, with 47.328s, while Tremayne might have beaten both had his final lap, his fastest, not been made more dramatic as he slammed over the start/finish line. He was following Welshman James Baker who lifted off as he took the chequered flag, necessitating a hasty bit of avoidance by Tremayne who only just missed him as he had to jink towards the pit wall to avoid the green and white car dawdling in the middle of the track. Tremayne's 47.378s was a good effort after testing on Wednesday had seen his rebuilt motor blow up after only one quick lap when he'd spent all morning running it in, thereby giving him zero set-up time for his new aero package. None of them was close to Tremayne's pole time of 46.937s from last year's race, when the cars were running harder Dunlop tyres, but the weather was nowhere near as good.
Roberts signalled his intentions with an excellent lap of 47.441s in the fastest of the low-nose cars, which would be at less of a disadvantage here as Mallory only has two corners where aerodynamics really matter. He was followed by David Scott, a fair chunk further back on 47.863s, and Mark Fell with 47.943s. Then came Jodie Hemming, who built on a strong test run at the track the previous Wednesday to trail Fell by a mere five thousandths of a second in seventh place. And right behind her was Louis Hamilton-Smith on 47.993s. 'Skid Carrera' aka John Cooper, made his first appearance in the formula since 1999. After a strong familiarisation session on Wednesday he punched in a good 48.040s for ninth to edge out David Roper whose qualifying session was hampered by fuel pressure problems in his ex-Ben Cooper car.
Mark Hosken and Bev Comber (making his first appearance of the year) shared the penultimate row, on 48.622s and 48.991s, so while the top 10 were bracketed within one second, the top 12 were only 1.6s apart. The back row contained Baker, on 49.207s, and Robin Pritchett, back for his first run since Cadwell, who managed 52.755s.
Race
The weather was similar to qualifying's as race time approached, but a long delay when the preceding Caterham race was red flagged left the Honda grid to form under overcast skies. There was immediate drama when Rueben stalled on his second spot on the grid and Roberts, behind him, momentarily waved his hands in warning before realising that the race was going ahead anyway. Further back this left Hemming believing that the start would be aborted, and she promptly stalled as she realised that it had started after all.
Thus Saward leapt into the lead from Tremayne, and initially these two left the rest for dead. On the second lap Tremayne drew alongside Saward on the outside going down to the Esses, only to have to drop back behind him, but it soon became apparent that his car was understeering at Gerard's and didn't have what it took on the back straight with its spare engine. The teenager thus became bottled up behind the silver car, and soon fast-starting Scott and Roberts were drawing the pack closer with Fell on their tails. Behind them Carrera was sixth ahead of Roper, Hamilton-Smith, Hosken, Comber, Hemming, Baker and the restarted Reuben. By lap three Roberts had displaced Scott. A lap later he got Tremayne going down Devil's Elbow, and by lap seven he'd grabbed the lead from Saward after running boldly round the outside in the Esses. The two brushed wheels as he slipped ahead, and it wouldn't be the last time Saward had contact with another car in this race.
From thereon in, Roberts was untouchable, relishing the perfect set-up and worried only by a differential that he knew to be a little touchy even before he started. His first race win in Honda came at Oulton Park late last year, but this was infinitely better, as he beat a top quality field.
Behind him, nobody else had an easy ride, for this was a fabulous race all the way down the field. Tremayne hadn't finished with Saward and kept attacking, as Scott and Fell faded and were replaced as their principal challengers by the flying Reuben and Roper. By lap 10 Reuben had Tremayne in his sights, and lucked in as Saward put a big squeeze on the Restless Spirit driver at the hairpin. As the blue and orange car slipped up the inside, Saward kept moving over. With the wall to his right Tremayne had nowhere to go and had to brake very hard, but still Saward walloped his left front wheel as he cut across. Tremayne's left track rod was bent, and as he struggled to regain momentum, Reuben went round the outside and grabbed third place on the exit. On the last lap Reuben again used the high line at the hairpin, where Saward was slow in comparison. On the exit he and Saward were side-by-side, and there was more contact as Saward attempted to discourage the manoeuvre by moving to the left and squeezing Reuben on to the rumble strips. But Reuben kept his foot down and had enough momentum to grab second from Saward on the line. Roberts was 4.896s ahead, while only three-tenths of a second covered Reuben, Saward and Tremayne who was coming back at both of them as they all crossed the line. Roper was only another three-tenths further back after an excellent and spirited drive up from 10th on the grid.
Sixth place eventually fell to Scott, who had the white and yellow ex-Votex cars of Hamilton-Smith and Hemming right up his gearbox by the finish. Only six-tenths covered this trio. Hemming's drive was particularly commendable after her problem at the start. Admittedly she was helped by running on new tyres, but nothing could detract from the way she drove hard and with great spirit to work her way by Comber, Hosken, Fell and Carrera. Proof of the strength of her performance came as she set the race's second fastest lap, half a second shy of Reuben. Her programme is beginning to come together nicely now.
Carrera was looking strong in fifth place by lap four after passing Fell, but he missed a shift on lap seven and lost several places. Nevertheless, ninth was a good result after his layoff and his times were competitive. He was well ahead of Hosken, Fell, Comber and Baker by the finish. Pritchett registered the only retirement, when his gearbox wilted after two laps.
Again the weather frustrated attempts to beat Tremayne's 2001 lap record of 46.672s, but Reuben set fastest lap in 47.097s. He extended his points lead, while Roberts' win moved him ahead of Roper for second place, and Scott displaced Fell for fourth in the standings.
RACE RESULT
Pos Driver Gap Qual
1 Andy Roberts 0.00s 4
2 Nigel Reuben 4.896s 2
3 Adam Saward 4.936s 1
4 Tom Tremayne 5.195s 3
5 David Roper 5.418s 10
6 David Scott 6.005s 5
7 L Hamilton-Smith 6.185s 8
8 Jodie Hemming 6.611s 7
9 Skid Carrera 7.567s 9
10 Mark Hosken 12.719s 11
11 Mark Fell 13.561s 6
12 Bev Comber 15.282s 12
13 James Baker 22.717s 13
RETIRED
Robin Pritchett, lap 3, gearbox 14
FASTEST LAP
Reuben, 47.097s on lap 2, 103.19mph
POINTS STANDINGS
After round 8 Mallory Park, June 16
POS DRIVER POINTS
1 Nigel Reuben 114
2 Andy Roberts 74
3 David Roper 72
4 David Scott 60
5 Mark Fell 57
6 Adam Saward 49
7 Tom Tremayne 48
8 Hamilton-Smith 41
9 Luke Kidsley 21
10 James Baker 15
11 Mark Hosken 13
12 Jodie Hemming 13
13 Scott Mansell 10
14 Philip Churchman 05
15 Rob Hedley 03
16 Robin Pritchett 02
17 Skid Carrera 02
18= Dean Kidsley 01
18= Bev Comber 01