RAIN STOPS PLAY
Heavy flooding halts Castle Combe double-header
Severe weather from ‘Storm Alex’ swept across the UK at the weekend, with persistent rain eventually causing the Autumn Classic meeting to be cancelled on Sunday morning due to a waterlogged track, and Round 9 in the M7RC’s National Challenge left ‘on hold’.
However, despite damp and gloomy conditions on the Saturday, the Round 8 races went ahead, former BTCC champion Andrew Jordan opening out a clear advantage to win his second Miglia race following victory at Brands in August, with Kane Astin gamely chasing in his spray throughout. Rupert Deeth recovered from an opening lap spin to claw his way back to third ahead of Aaron Smith and Scott Kendall, Smith retaining a comfortable series lead.
In the Libre class, Dan Lewis edged closer to Rob Davis in the standings as the pair finished 1-2, with former Miglia racer from the late-80/early-90s, Richard Colburn returning in his original car for third in class.
The overall result in the Se7en/S-Class encounter was no less wetter but was rather more contentious, Jeff Smith taking the chequered flag in front of Spencer Wanstall but, according to the live timing at least one lap, or over 2 ½ minutes earlier than the scheduled 20 minutes. The ‘early’ flag was due to “debris on track” which was actually Smith’s bonnet that had eventually detached itself after contact when lapping S-Class cars, and the question was raised why there wasn’t a red flag, but ultimately the result stood. Andrew Deviny was third from Glen Woodbridge and Leon Oli Window.
Further back, Connor O’Brien continued his return to winning ways in S-Class, eventually dropping the closely battling pair of Thorburn Astin and Matthew Ayres, although fourth-placed Greg Daw retained his points lead.
Hopefully the ‘weather gods’ will be kinder in three weeks’ time at Thruxton in Hampshire on 24-25 October, and the final scheduled rounds in the already revised calendar for the 2020 Dunlop National Challenge supported by Mini Spares ●
RESULTS: Castle Combe 3-4 October
Round 8 Miglia / Libre 15 laps
1st 77 A Jordan – M
2nd 11 K Astin – M
3rd 23 R Deeth – M
9th 171 D Lewis – L
Round 8 Se7en / S-Class 11 laps
1st 1 J Smith – 7
2nd 73 S Wanstall – 7
3rd 77 A Deviny – 7
6th 787 C O’Brien – S
Round 9 Miglia / Libre
– Race postponed –
Round 9 Se7en / S-Class
– Race postponed –
Full results can be viewed at www.tst-timing-com
Provisional points will be posted on www.mini7.co.uk
