John Cooper Challenge Rounds 9 & 10, Mondello Park
Mondello Park, Ireland saw new faces on the podium in both S and ClubClass. Novice racer Martin Depper (36, Birmingham) took an impressiveClub Class victory in Round 9 and 2002 JCC Champion Steve Meli (39,Balham), capped a triumphant JCC return with an S-Class victory in Round10.
The story of the S-Class category at Mondello was the return of IrishmanSteve Meli, competing in the absent Mark Speller's 210bhp Works MINICooper S. Bike shop owner Meli was not scoring points in Rounds 9 &10and was only interested in podium finishes.
S-Class Championship rivals Arthur Forster (37, Newcastle) and AndySayle (46, Congleton) went to Mondello with just 8 points separating thetwo drivers, with Sayle leading before dropped scores are accounted for.The two main protagonists were separated on the grid by Meli with Saylein pole position and Forster in third. All three men got good startswith Forster faring best of all and overhauling both Meli and Sayle onthe first lap. Sayle soon had mirrors full of a hard charging Meli andwhen the Irishman made his move, Sayle knowing the Balham based Irishmanwas not scoring points, allowed him through.
Sayle remained third until the end, settling for a solid 19 pointsrather than risk ending the race in Mondello's unforgiving gravel traps.A brief safety car period allowed Meli and Sayle to close on Forster,but the canny Geordie got the drop on everyone on the rolling re-startand stayed ahead to claim his sixth victory of the season.
Round 10 was no less eventful, with Forster quickly claiming the leadfrom his second position on the grid. Having already taken victory inRound 9, few would have bet against Forster taking a double victory.However, having passed Sayle at the start of the race the determinedMeli started to hunt down Forster and after several laps on his tail theIrishman capitalised on a rare Forster error to take the lead. Despitesustained pressure from Forster who was clearly quicker in the closingstages, Meli held on to take his first ever victory in an S-Class MINI.Afterwards Forster commented:
"On the day I got a first and a second, which would be great under anycircumstances but with Steve not scoring points I effectively have twovictories worth of points which is what counts! It has been a greatweekend championship wise and I will be like a cat on hot bricks untilthe finale at Silverstone now."
The established order in the Club Class was shaken up with novice MartinDepper taking pole position for Rounds 9 & 10 by a convincing half asecond, in qualifying. The surprise of seeing a newcomer to racing infront of many drivers with a great deal more experience was matched whenDepper claimed his maiden victory in Round 9 with an assuredperformance.
The grid position of clear Club Class points table leader Barney Craggs(34, Clapham) who started 11th for Rounds 9 &10 was a shock for manyincluding Craggs, who had an average weekend by his own very highstandards. Animation student, David Shepherd (20, Sandbach) continuedhis impressive debut-racing season with two-second places on the grid.
Depper looked to have lost out very early on, when hard chargingyoungster, Shepherd nailed his start to claim the lead by the firstcorner. Shepherd's lead was short lived with an errant S-Class carforcing him off line and allowing Depper through before the end of lap1. Depper maintained his lead and was rarely challenged by Shepherd whowas busy fending off the experienced and determined Rob Austin (40,Romsey).
Depper looked odds on for his second victory when he formed up on polefor Round 11, but unfortunately for him a failing clutch plate led tohim retiring early on. The increasingly impressive Shepherd took thelead, where he stayed, taking his third victory in his debut seasonagainst experienced opposition
The early part of Round 10 had been made all the more chaotic by aspinning car early on allowing Craggs to leapfrog up into third. MickBeauchamp was in his highest ever position of second before a mistakeallowed three cars past him showing just how tight the ever-competitiveClub Class is. With Craggs and Gary Kounnis (41, Old Harlow) managing toavoid the spinning MINI they grabbed second and third where they stayed,keen to collect strong points finishes. After a weekend which featuredhis maiden victory, Depper commented:
"For some reason I just clicked with this circuit straight away when Igot out in qualifying. Everyone else is convinced that I have been outhere in secret or practicing the circuit on my Playstation! I was guttedto miss out in Round 10 I had the bit between my teeth and I wouldn'thave given the lead up easily!"
The final two rounds of the John Cooper Challenge will take place atSilverstone on the 8th and 9th of October.
