Jones sees victory melt away under searing heat!

Yes folks once again a severe lack of rain has resulted in a poor finish for the Joneseyracing MGB.

I should have realised things would take a turn for the worse after queuing up for scrutineering for half an hour only to see the blue flash sneaking along the inside lane pretending he was out in an earlier race.

The scorching hot sun was having a strange effect on the drivers, it was bad enough that the Legs of Doom were once again on show, but it began to look like a knobbly knees competition at one stage with drivers throwing  caution to the wind and strolling around in all manner of tasteless shorts!

Good old boy James Walpole was not to be out done as he donned his lucky Wurzel Gummidge hat, which he uses to earn a little extra cash at weekends standing in for the local scarecrow.

Practice.

A relatively sort practice session for the Peter Besters as we were red flagged because of a bit of dangerous parking by Weasley at the hairpin….was this a taste of things to come…?? In a word…YES!

Stan and Ollie were unleashed on an unsuspecting crowd, but despite a remarkably good qualifying position by Ollie the end result was more of a silent movie. The clutches on both cars packed up and their day was done.

To add insult to injury the tow truck ripped off Ollie’s front tow strap which had been hastily glued on for scrutineering…and I did hear that for a finale he ripped the whole spoiler off when taking the car off the trailer during the twilight hours after the race.

Race One.

As the grid was split and class T & F went out with the Metros before the bulk of us (I will get to Mr Burchill later) I had a chance to try and pick up some tips before I went out, sadly with the memory of a gold-fish it did me no good at all.

As we lined up and the lights went out I managed to avoid my trademark wheel spinning start helped by the downward gradient so far back was I on the grid.

Round turn one we went like a pack of heat crazed maniacs and then all hell broke loose. …cars spinning in all directions led if I am not mistaken by  silver roadster number 63 Ron Moorcraft.

Of course if any spinning is involved you can be sure that Weasley will be in there and sure enough I saw him taking evasive action crossing the track at a 90 degree angle.

I shut my eyes and aimed for a gap and was surprised to find myself on the other side with only a coating of dust over the windscreen.

Then it was like a dream, for the first time ever I had the somewhat un-nerving sight of James Walpole…(always un-nerving at the best of times)…in my rear view mirror.

Right I thought, best I make the most of this!!!.

There was no way he was going to get past me and I easily held him off for at least two laps…….. then the safety car went in and half a lap later he did a nose dive into Paddock Hill bend and was gone!….

Then Tinkler went past like a man possessed…..really wild  round paddock hill…how he stayed on track I will never know.

If that wasn’t enough I then had to contend with the “blue-flash” weaving around behind me along the straights in a desperate attempt to get past, which despite my best efforts he did quite easily.

Any thoughts I had of trying to improve my race position were thwarted as I had misjudged my fuel load and the trusty B started to splutter a bit on the corners…(.perhaps it’s time to get a proper tank instead of the factory fitted original?) but we made it through to the chequered flag.

To sum up Lew Bergonzi stormed to the class A victory closely followed by Dr Evil & Primrose.

The overall winner was Good Old Sandbag who had put in a little practice the day before with the MGOC.

So with race one done, the over-heated cars and drivers had an hour to spend basking in the sizzling sunny weather before we went back to do it all again in race 2.

Race 2

Determined not to make the same mistake twice I put all my remaining fuel in the car and some of Team Neaves as it had become clear they had quite a surplus.

The start was a little bit more restrained once the marshals had finally made up their minds where we were meant to be on the grid.

I spent most of my time jousting with frustrated class A wannabe Pete Burchill, who employing his tried and trusted “slow cornering and flat out on the straights” technique was more than a match for my ageing B.

Still I thought, at least I could hold on to fourth but NO!!!  The (up until then) welcome return to racing of Brian Blessed impersonator Peter Andrews ,.co-driver of Primrose, had other ideas and blasted past me with a cheery grin to join the train of cars behind Burchill.

Tantalisingly close I got in the corners only to drift off line or spin the rear wheels uselessly as the pack zoomed away in front of me.

The only thing that improved this race was my consistency…I was consistently 5th and that’s a place lower than last year….progress or what?

The final result was a slight switch around of drivers save for Sandbag who clinched another scorching victory. Second went to Barry Holmes this time out swapping places with Simon Cripps from race one.
James Walpole swapped with Lew Bergonzi taking  1st in class A  and Darby with his newly re-built engine took third by a whisker from Peter Andrews.

Glorious weather and exciting racing once again from a packed PBIC grid…roll on Silverstone!

Pit Lane Gossip:
The return of the clockwork orange car in October following its purchase by Legs of Dooms’ pal, who tells me he is busy de-tuning it to bring it back down to class A spec…..hang on a minute,…???

Stan & Ollie likely to miss Silverstone to resolve their clutch problems…but god help us when they do!!

Rumours that another Montego estate (oh no) and maybe a Maestro are looking to join the series….we just need a few more models to have a full set.

And a quick apology for missing the presentations this time round but I was pressed into service assisting Team Neaves who sport 3 cars but just the one trailer. (Sorry about the spoiler Ollie).

Well that’s all for now folks, I hope to get the pre-Silverstone report out in time but am looking to take a few days off with the long-suffering “her-indoors” so don’t hold your breath!

Jonesey