Cooper Qualifying – Bright and Dry

The sun was shining and 16 MINI Coopers were all set to go. Back from a break with Eurotech/Wix was Martin Poole. Determined to show Kyle Reid he is no walk over.  The 4th lap of 7 laps was the quick one for both of these guys. But Martin left it until the last minute to put in his quick one, .046 from Kyle.  Robbie Dalgleish and Toby Goodman were both using all the track, (and beyond) to get in some very quick times. 7 cars had their times withdrawn due to exceeding Track Limits, perhaps they were all trying a little too hard.

In the Am class Andy Godfrey, Neal Clarke and Alex Nevill were hard at it, getting faster and faster as their tyres came in and the track rubbered up. Gary Papworth joined in with them but was just of their pace.

Cooper Race 1 – Bright and Dry

Martin Poole on Pole, would he beat Kyle Reid of the line? Nope, Kyle got the jump and drove a superb race. Staying in front of Martin by Old Hall corner. Meanwhile, Robbie Dalgleish was staying in touch with them both, overtaking Martin on the 4^th lap. Robbie stayed so close to Kyle, a tyre banging wing mirror tapping down Hill Top into Hislops, with Kyle leaving Robbie to take the lead only to lose it again in the same place next lap. Kyle thought he had done enough to take the chequered flag. Unfortunately, due to exceeding track limits Kyle was handed a 5-second penalty, all the way down to 4^th place. Rules are rules and he was warned. The win was given to Robbie, P2 to Martin and P3 Toby Goodman.

In the Am class, Andy Godfrey was on fire, a great start and lights to flag. He just kept his head down with Alex Neville and Gary Papworth in line astern. Followed by Adrian Norman, Neil Clarke, Neil had a grass track moment at Hislops undoing all his hard work, A great race to watch, a very exciting 9 laps, all over too soon!

Cooper Race 2 – Bright and Dry

Last race, no red flags, no rain. What a great end to the MINI Festival races.  Reverse grid, just to mix things up a bit. Because of the 5 second penalty handed to Kyle, the reverse grid draw, being top 4 places reversed, gave him pole position. Perfect he thought. Next to him was Toby Goodman on P2 followed by Martin Pole and Robbie Dalgleish. Am class had Adrian Norman on Pole followed by Gary Papworth, Alex Nevill and then Andy Godfrey. Kyle led from lights to the Red Flag on the 6^th lap. Neil Clarke had upended his car causing the race to be red flagged and being so near the end of the race it was a chequered flag too. P1 to Kyle and P2 to Martin, P3 to Robbie and P4 to Toby Goodman. In Am class, Andy Godfrey fought his way through to P2 but left it too late to reel in Alex Nevill. Great to watch and a bit sad to see the only racing red flag of the day.