Rockingham Motor Speedway report 2001-0701

BRSCC Two Shires Raceday - Sunday 1st July - Race Results

For the fourth race meeting in a row a new circuit lap record at Rockingham Motor Speedway was set. The International Circuit's two week old record, set by Takuma Sato at the recent British Formula 3 meeting, was broken by EuroBOSS racer Tony Worswick. The driver from Lancashire pushed his Formula One Jordan 194/Judd to set a time of 1:32.880 and record an average lap speed of 99.22mph. Tony had gone even faster in the morning qualifying session to become the first driver to lap Rockingham's longest road circuit at an average speed of over 100mph (101.12mph). However, it was a bittersweet experience for Worswick as his Jordan coasted to a halt with mechanical failure while leading the race. The lead was taken up by Geoff Farmer until his Pacific Cosworth V8 suffered the same fate as Worswick's Jordan, allowing Tony Richardson to take the race win in his Tyrell Judd V10.

While the F1 and F3000 cars of the EuroBOSS Championship provided the spectacle of the day it was the packed grids of the Mini Se7ens and the Mini Miglias that provided the best racing action of the day. The 35 Se7ens provided door-to-door action of the highest calibre with pole man Tim Sims eventually taking the honours after fighting his way back up through the field. The most enduring memory of this race is of these little cars powering around the banked track four abreast with no driver giving, or asking, for quarter as they dived through the first corner chicane.

Later in the day it was the turn of the Mini Miglias. The race began with a poignant reminder of British Motorsports recent loss as pole position was left empty in tribute to Steve Bell, who lost his life in a racing accident at Silverstone two weeks ago. What followed was a vintage, action packed Mini race that Steve would have been proud of. There were five changes of leader in the first five laps as the top drivers battled for supremacy. However, it all came to an abrupt end when the red flags were shown to retrieve two cars that had stopped in dangerous positions. The race was declared on the 7th lap with Chris Lewis taking the top spot from Rob Cullum and 2000 champion Peter Baldwin.

The V Sport Racing Championship provided two wonderful races, with the V8's sounding fantastic to the small crowd in the Rockingham grandstands. Mike Doble and Steve Thompson took one V6 win apiece, while Kevin Clark and Barry Lee split the V8 spoils.

The small Caterham field added the final touches to a great days racing, with Rory Stockbridge taking the chequered flag ahead of Mike Neumann.

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RACE 1 - V Sport Racing V6 & V8 Championship Race - 15 Laps

1 - B - Mike DOBLE - Mondeo V6 / Toovey - 13:30:06.751 2 - B - Steve DANCE - Mondeo - +5.614s 3 - B - Steve THOMPSON - Mondeo V6 / Ford - +34.579s 4 - A - Kevin CLARK - Mercedes - +1 lap 5 - A - Miku SANTAVIRTA - Mondeo V8/Ford - +1 Lap 6 - B - Steve OFFER - Mondeo - +1 Lap

Fastest Laps A - Barry LEE - Mondeo - 1:52.705 - 81.77mph B - Scott BOOTH - Mondeo V6/Toovey - 1:56.343 - 79.21mph

RACE 2 - Dunlop Mini Se7en Challenge - 14 Laps 1 - Tim SIMS - 31:54.301s 2 - Kelly ROGERS - +0.395s 3 - Dave BANWELL - +4.926s 4 - Stuart GRAYER - +5.709s 5 - Stuart HAYMAN - +35.020s 6 - Jon CULLUM - +42.793s

Fastest Lap Dave BANWELL - 2:13.788 - 68.88mph

RACE 3 - Caterham Trophy - 14 Laps 1 - Rory STOCKBRIDGE - Caterham Super Seven - 29:36.855 2 - Mike NEUMANN - Caterham Supersport - +5.574s 3 - John BENFIELD - Caterham - +34.003s 4 - Dean CHIDDENTION - Caterham Super Seven - +1:42.522s 5 - Alan WILLIAMSON - Caterham Super Seven - +1:43.323s 6 - John BARRY - Caterham Roadsport - +1 Lap

Fastest Lap Rory STOCKBRIDGE - Caterham Super Seven - 2:05.516 - 73.42mph

RACE 4 - EuroBOSS Formula - 14 Laps 1 - A - Tony RICHARDSON - Tyrell 021/03/Judd - 24:00.949s 2 - B - Martin KENDRICK - Reynard 97D/Mugen - +59.645s 3 - B - James BELTON - Reynard 93D/Cosworth - +1Lap

Fastest Lap A - Tony WORSWICK - Jordan 194/Judd - 1:32.880 - 99.22mph ***NEW LAP RECORD on the INTERNATIONAL (LONG) CIRCUIT B - Max WAKEFIELD - Reynard F300/Mugen - 1:41.208 - 91.06mph

RACE 5 - Dunlop Mini Miglia Challenge - 7 Laps 1 - Chris LEWIS - 14:35.617s 2 - Rob CULLUM - +2.854s 3 - Peter BALDWIN - +3.204s 4 - Wayne GRAYER - +4.347s 5 - Endaf OWENS - +4.539s 6 - Mark CHANDLER - +6.802s

Fastest Lap Chris LEWIS - 2:03.288 - 74.75 mph

RACE 6 - V Sport Racing V6 & V8 Championship Race - 6 Laps 1 - B - Steve THOMPSON - Mondeo V6/Ford - 10:08.337 2 - B - Steve DANCE - Mondeo - +7.540s 3 - B - Rick LEMMON - Mondeo - +7.894s 4 - B - Shaun RICHARDSON - Mondeo V6/Toovey - +11.912s 10 - A - Barry LEE - Mondeo - +1:20.282s 11 - A - Christian DICK - Mondeo V8/Ford - +1:22.508s 12 - A - Kevin CLARK - Mercedes - +1:23.083s

Fastest Laps A - Miku SANTAVIRTA - Mondeo V8/Ford - 1:53.062 - 81.51 mph B - Steve DANCE - Mondeo - 1:59.985 - 76.81 mph

-Rockingham