Cockshoot Cup season comes to a close at Croft

The Darlington and District Motor Club Battle of Britain Meeting at Croft Circuit provided the venue for the two final rounds of the Cockshoot Cup for 2015. A brilliant mix of car and bike racing was on the bill which kept everybody entertained. The weekend was destined to remain dry. 

Twenty one drivers took to the circuit for qualifying. Initial pace-setter was David Morrison in his Class B Midget, but he was stranded on the track after four laps with a broken halfshaft, although his time was good enough for fourth on the grid. Howard Hunt driving his MG ZS grabbed pole position from Gary Wetton in his ZR 190 and Philip Standish piloting the MG TF LE500. Guest driver Bill Kirkpatrick was second fastest in Class B in his Midget. Jeremy Toes was the quickest Class A runner followed by Ian Wright and Ian Staines. Class F was up to three entries and Adam Key proved to be quickest. Back in the paddock, David Morrison’s car was quickly repaired, but all was not well inside Gary Wetton’s K series 190 engine. A lift of the cylinder head revealed internal damage and the team guided by Dan Surridge set to work. An engine was located in a breakers yard and Gary set off to collect it. Meanwhile, the existing engine was removed and when Gary returned, parts of the original engine were attached to the new arrival and everything was back into the car in time for the race.

Twenty cars lines up for the first race, Gerry Windett being a non-starter, which was destined to be very short. David Morrison and Philip Standish both got superb starts from the second row, but a collision between Andrew Wolf and Simon Lowery blocked the track and the red flag was thrown stopping the race. The cars were lined up on the grid again in the original order and when the red light went out again, David and Philip both got great starts again and were ahead of the pack. Phil Standish then drove a superb race to take his first Cockshoot Cup victory. Howard Hunt got quicker as the race went on and passed David Morrison to take second in the race and Class C. David finished third on the road and first in Class B. Ashley Woodward was next up clinching third in Class C from Gary Wetton with the repaired engine running well. Second in Class B was guest Bill Kirkpatrick so second and third class points were won by Julia Penfold and Helen Waddington in their MG ZR 170s. Jeremy Toes needed to win his Class to get closer to the Cockshoot Cup Championship. He achieved the Class A win after dicing with Ian Staines and Ian Wright who finished second and third. Andrew Speight was in contention, but suffered a rear brake fire and was forced to retire. Adam Key won class F from Volker Eickmeyer. New lap records were set by David Morrison, Jeremy Toes and Adam Key.

More repairs ensured that nineteen drivers were gridded for race two. Simon Lowery’s car was fitted with a new suspension arm ferried from the Midlands, Ian Wright fitted a new clutch, and Ian Staines and Andrew Speight modified their rear brakes. Once again David Morrison and Phil Standish got great starts, but Bill Kirkpatrick also flew away from the start. The two Midgets were ahead of the field, but Phil Standish got by both of them to take the lead. Howard Hunt slipped down the field after contact and several other cars had damage. Half way through the twenty minutes, Adam Key lost control of his MG F and made contact with the barriers and the race was stopped. The cars were lined up in the order in which they were running for a restart over five laps. Instead of taking up his grid position, Phil Standish headed into the pit lane where a broken piece of throttle pedal was removed. This would mean that he would have to start from the pit lane at the back of the field. David Morrison got a clean start and took the race win and Class B. Incredibly Garry Wetton’s “scrap yard” engine took him to second and the Class C win. Bill Kirkpatrick was third on the road from Ashley Woodward and Phil Standish. Phil made rapid progress through the field but slipped back again after a spin and finally overtook David Coulthard at the last corner where DC had his own spin. Second and third points scorers in Class B were James Johnson and Julia Penfold. In Class A, Ian Staines was victorious from Ian Wright and Jeremy Toes. Class F was won by Volker Eickmeyer from Margaret Farquhar.

The Malimson Trophy for best performance in Class C was won by Phil Standish, the Genesis Trophy by David Morrison and the Entune Trophy was awarded to Ian Staines.

Gary Wetton and Jeremy Toes ended the season both scoring a maximum seventy seven points from their best seven races. They had an equal score from their eighth race and so the Cockshoot Cup was awarded on the ninth race score with Jeremy Toes being declared the Champion Driver. Gary won Class C from Phil Standish and Howard Hunt. Class B victor was David Morrison with Ray Collier second and Julia Penfold third. Jeremy Toes triumphed in Class A with Ian Staines runner up and Andrew Speight third. In Class F Volcker Eickmeyer took the win from Adam Key.