Goodwood Revival Saturday Race Round-Up

In better conditions that Friday’s qualifying racing got under way on Saturday at the 2017 Goodwood Revival with Stuart Roach winning the Chichester Trophy Roach led until midway through the race when Peter de la Roach briefly moved ahead, but Roach was soon back in front and survived an encounter with an errant back marker late int he race to take the win.

Miles Griffiths took his Lotus to a dominant win in the Madgewick Cup, finishing well clear of Dion Kremer who recovered to second after an early race moment which saw him briefly off the track. Kremer recovered to dice with Ian Dalglish for second, finishing just ahead despite another moment at Woodcote late in the race.

After the Austins set th peace in wet qualifying yesterday today the Jaguar of Frank Stippler dominated the opening instalment of the St. Mary’s Trophy double-header, leading home BTCC veteran Jason Plato home by 18.5-seconds after 25-minutes of racing. The German’s Jaguar MK1 initially vied with Andrew Jordan’s Austin A40, but the former British Touring Car Campion retired his car shortly after half-distance. Stippler ran unopposed thereafter, with Plato’s bucking Austin A105 coming home in the runner-up spot despite a deflating tyre late in the day.

All eyes, however, were on the battle for third between Austin A40 duo, Rob Huff and Michael Caine. They were never more than a few inches apart, routinely swapping places on each lap. Caine just held on, a late challenge by Tom Kristensen’s monstrous Ford Thunderbird ending with barely two minutes left to run after the car’s exhaust threatened to fall off. The Dane hadn’t driven the car before the race and had steered it from the back of the field with gusto.

A dramatic Goodwood Trophy race saw the pre-war single seaters slithering around as rain visited the circuit once more. Dowling lead from Calum Lockie at the end of lap one, but the leader had a moment at Lavant that also involved third-placed Mark Gillies and with the two ERAs at the side of the circuit the safety car came out, Lockie losing ground with an intermittent engine issue.

That put the Alta of Gareth Burnett at the head of the safety car queue from Michael Gans and when racing resumed the latter drive round the outside of a sliding Burnett to take the lead. The lead two went wide at Woodcote and third place Nick Topliss spun out on the exit of the corner on lap seven, Gans staying clear to take his first Goodwood Trophy victory.

Burnett was having handling issues and lost second to David Morris, Lockie also going past in his Maserati - first non-ERA home. A charging drive from Duncan Ricketts who had started at the back of the grid after supercharger failure on Friday saw him get as high as fourth before retiring.

Rain before the start made the circuit slippery for the mighty 1960s sportscars of the Whitsun Trophy, a race made all the more dramatic as Mike Jordan, quickest in qualifying on Friday, was banished to the back of the grid. Nick Padmore led the field away with with fellow GT40 racer Chris Ward second and the Lola T70 Spyder of Mike Whitaker into third. The cars were leaving plumes of scary and somehow by the end of the first lap Jordan had his GT40 in 13th, having passed 26-cars.

A car off at the exit of St Mary’s brought out the safety car after just one racing lap, and when they were released again at the start of lap six Padmore and Ward quickly opened a gap, and lap later they crossed the finish line side by side, Ward going ahead. As Padmore pushed to stay with the flying leader the conditions caught him out and he rotated on the way down to Woodcote, holding onto second.

On lap nine Jordan passed Stuart Hall and Christopher Wilson to move into fourth, with top three too far ahead to be targets, Ward winning from Padmore and Whitaker.

“It was so slippery out there,” said Ward. “It was a fantastic race, we were spinning wheels everywhere there was just no grip. Nick Padmore pushed me hard but had a spin and that gave me breathing space.”

Final race of Saturday was the Freddie March Memorial Trophy, another race to see the quickest car in qualifying taking for the back. Having won the previous race, Chris Ward used his track knowledge to find the grip and storm through the order from the back in the Cooper-Jaguar, with leader Rob Hall by lap seven with a series of fastest laps.

Having caught the leader getting ahead proved harder as Hall defended, Ward getting inside the leader at Lavant on lap ten only to slide and allow Hall to exit the corner ahead. At the chicane they were tearing through back markers, Ward putting paint from the chicane barriers on the nice of his Cooper as he cut them a fraction too close.

Together across the line into he final lap, Ward had the inside line into Madgewick and held onto to take his second consecutive race win - which was later taken away as he was given a five second penalty for that clip of the chicane. Richard Woolmer took third from Steve Boultbee-Brooks after a fine battle.

Race Results:

Chichester Trophy

1 Stuart Roach (Alexis-Ford Mk3) 14 Laps in 21m04.2014s

2 Peter de la Roche (BMC Mk2) +1.285s

3 Pete Morton (Ausper-Ford)

4 Ivo Goeckmann (Jolus-Ford)

5 James Hicks (Caravelle-Ford MkIII)

6 John Chisholm (gemini-Ford Mk3A)

Fastest Lap: Roach 1m28.123s (97.23mph)

Madgewick Cup

1 Miles Griffiths (Lotus-Climax Eleven) 14 Laps in 21m05.756s

2 Dion Kremer (Lotus-Climax 17) +14.389s