Thrills in the Hills at Sonoma!

Sonoma Raceway was the venue for the  second meeting of the RLLMUK Historic trophy Roadsports series, and once again, the series put on a display of the intense close racing that's been its trademark.

After Qualifying, Meatball's Mustang claimed pole, with Kurzheck's second in the Capri, RichXM655 in the Lotus Cortina third, ahead of boozy's Alpine  and Rice Kingford in another Mustang.

In the early phase of the 10-lap race, Meatball eased out a lead in the powerful pony car, while Kurzheck and RichXM655 battled behind in their smaller, more nimble fords. As the race passed mid-distance, Rich in the Cortina finally managed to start bridging the gap across to Meatball and place the big car under some pressure.

That pressure ended up with Meatball running wide off the track in the Carousel - the long, punishing left hander half way through the lap. Both Rich and Kurzheck got past the Mustang, which rejoined in pursuit.

The action wasn't just at the head of the field. Boozy and Rice were engaged throughout the race in a david-and-goliath style battle where Boozy's lightweight Alpine would dominate the turns, and then Rice's big V8 would re-assert itself where the racetrack was straight.

A racing incident saw Meatball push Kurzheck off-track, again at the Carousel, and she breifly dropped back into the clutches of Rice, before being able to recover to 3rd. as the race ended, RichXM655 took the win by 1.4 seconds from meatball, with Kurzheck trailing in 3rd. the action wasn;t over though as Rice took 4th by half a second from boozy, to finish the running.

It was testament to how hard all the drivers had pushed that they all beat their qualifying lap times. a short break followed to allow shattered nerves to be repaired and then the grid formed up for race 2.

Off the line, Race 2 settled fairly quickly into RichXM655 leading, Kurzheck in second, and Meatball in third, while Rice and Boozy scrapped for 4th place again. The top three slowly pulled away from the other two, with the race splitting into two groups.

At the head of the field, no driver really pulled away from any other and there were several attempted overtakes, though none that were made to stick.

That all changed on lap 9, As Kurzheck and Meatball entered the carousel. Meatball got a good run into the corner, but the Capri driver held tight to the inside line and saw off the attacking Mustang. However, at the following corner, the purple car went in way too deep and left the door open for Meatball to pass through.

Meatball's charge wasn't over though and at the same point on the final lap, Rich got a bad exit in the cortina, allowing the pursuing mustang to take the lead through turn 9 with two corners to go. But it wasn't over. Meatball got into a slide through the crucial turn 10, Allowing the tiny white car to counterattack into the hairpin. So, as they crossed the line, Rich took a second win, with Meatball second, and Kurzheck third again.

Results:
Round 1:

1	RichXm655	19:33.055		1:55.483	30
2	Meatball	19:34.415	1.36	1:57.306	25
3	Kurzheck	19:42.262	9.207	1:55.830	20
4	Rice kingford	19:46.505	13.45	1:56.355	16
5	Boozy	19:47.110	14.055	1:56.268	12

Round 2:

1	RichXM655	19:24.595		1:55.084	30
2	Meatball	19:25.836	1.241	1:54.410	25
3	Kurzheck	19:27.848	3.253	1:54.982	20
4	Boozy	19:35.622	11.027	1:55.431	16
5	Rice kingford	19:37.100	12.505	1:55.509	12

Championship Standings

RichXM655	106
Meatball	95
Kurzheck	95
Boozy	64
Rice kingford	28

Historic Trophy Season 3 gets off to a thrilling start at Brands Hatch!

If you ever needed proof that you don't need big grids for thrilling racing, then the opening meeting of the Historic Trophy this weekend was about the best evidence you could ever hope for.

At the start of round 1, 4 cars lined up on the grid of Brands Hatch's famous Indy circuit, and once the flag dropped, the action was non-stop for the next 20 laps. Kurzheck took the early lead in her Capri, With Meatball's Mustang alongside into Druids.

Meatball's Mustang probably wasn't the best suited for such a tight track, and in the early phase of the race a couple of uncharacteristic minor errors dropped the season 1 champion down to the rear of the field.

Just after half distance, Kurzheck succumbed to pressure and RichXM655's Cortina slipped into the lead, and while this was going on, meatball had got the hammer down on a recovery drive - overtaking Boozy's Alpine and then setting after the leading pair.

By the end of the race, Rich held on, just, taking the win by less than half a second.

Round 2 started in similar fashion, with cars 3-wide into druids on lap 1. Kurzheck took the lead early on and was able to build a small gap as RichXM655 and Meatball46 engaged in a long dice for second place. Meatball would nab second, briefly, into druids, but then RichXM655 would use the Cortina's superior cornering to hold on around the outside of the hairpin and retake the lead down into graham hill bend.

Eventually, an unforced error around lap 15 took the white car into the gravel at the exit of clearways allowing Meatball through cleanly. From that point on, it seemed the race was settled until another error, this time coming out of druids on the final lap, saw RichXM655 fully spin the car and lose third place to Boozy.

Coming away, the pairing of a win and a second place puts Kurzheck on top of the table, 9 points clear of RichXM655 in second place. Meatball is only one point behind, and boozy props up the table for now.

With two dropped scores in the championship, there's still all to play for, as any new entrants who race in all the remaining rounds have as much of a chance of taking the title as anyone else.

Next week, the focus will switch from roadgoing cars to brutal prototypes as the Can-Am series gets underway, bringing the thunder to Lime Rock. With another short track, coupled to fearsomely fast cars, the racing, once again, promises to be fast and intense.

(Many thanks to Kurzheck for the Race 2 photos. The full set can be seen here)

Round 1: Results

Position	Name	Finishing Time	Gap	Best Lap	Overall Points
1	RichXM655	19:17.639		57.882	30
2	Kurzheck	19:18.065	0.426	56.869	25
3	Meatball	19:18.523	0.884	56.56	20
4	Boozy	19:29.800	12.161	57.807	16

Round 2: Results

1	Kurzheck	19:12.576		56.068	30
2	Meatball	19:16.767	4.191	56.723	25
3	Boozy	19:29.559	16.983	55.979	20
4	RichXM655	19:35.291	22.721	57.835	16

Standings

Kurzheck	55
RichXM655	46
Meatball	45
Boozy	36