A small grid didn’t dampen enthusiasm, or the drama, of the
final two rounds of the RLLMUK Historic Roadsports trophy, held on Silverstone’s
national circuit.
Going in to the race, Meatball46 led the championship by 4
points from RichXM655, before the application of dropped scores, so the scene
was set for a decisive final pair of races between the drivers. While both
drove Fords, Meatball’s Mustang dwarfed the Lotus Cortina of RichXM655. Meatball
went in to the meeting having won a pair of victories at the Nurburgring, so
arguably had the advantage of momentum.
Race 1 started with the championship contenders lightly trading
paint into Copse, before Meatball eased the big Mustang into a lead that wouldn’t
be lost for the remainder of the race. RichXM655 drove hard and kept his rival
within sight, until a technical issue saw the Cortina driver lose 20 seconds
with the car stationary. This was enough to drop him behind Kurzheck, who had
kept her Capri in touch with the leading pair.
Series newcomer justbiglee had chosen the Alpine A110 for
his car, and struggled a bit to get up to speed with it. As the race
progressed, he started lapping fairly consistently, though at the flag had lost
a lap to the leading pair. Across the line, the result went Meatball, Kurzheck,
RichXM655, and then Justbiglee.
With the championship still in the balance, and both
contenders now on three wins apiece, Race two would be a fight to the flag –
the cars lining up in the same order as the first race, with meatball on pole
on the racing line, and Rich’s Cortina on the inside. Off the line, the small
car got a slightly better getaway, and on the way in to copse, Rich held the
inside line and the two fords ran side-by-side down the short straight to the
Beckett’s complex. As the cars swung right onto the Wellington Straight, the
small ford took the lead as the bigger car was unable to corner quite as quickly.
The race then entered a phase of Cat and Mouse, the small
car unable to pull clear of the pursuing V8 – the nimble Ford/Lotus’s nimbleness
set against Detroit muscle. Neither driver could afford to make a mistake, and
for a good while, neither did as they traded fast laps on the absolute limit. On
lap 7, however, the unexpected happened, and Meatball made an uncharacteristic unforced
error, running off the track at luffield. This excursion allowed Kurzheck
through to second place, about 5 seconds behind her brother in the Cortina.
The drama wasn’t yet over though, as just before half
distance, Meatball lost connection to the race and retired. From this point,
the race was set – Speaking after the race Kurzheck said she “Just didn’t have
the pace” to keep up with her brother, who edged out a lead of X seconds at the
flag.
So, with the racing done, the only thing to do was to tot up
the scores.
Meatball and Rich both scored 200 points across the whole series,
and both had to drop a third and a fourth place for each driver as their worst
results – 35 points. They ended, tied still, on 165 points, requiring a
tiebreak using the countback of wins through the season. With Rich having won 4
races to Meatball’s 3, The Lotus Cortina driver was crowned champion.
