SBD Motorsport MSA British Sprint Championship - Round 14: Mallory Park, 6 September

With the 2009 SBD Motorsport British Sprint Championship already in the bag Nick Algar was free to enjoy the final round at Mallory Park. In qualifying he pulverised the Outright Course Record and then in the Top 12 lowered it again. He also set a new Outright Lap record for the 1.35 mile course leaving it at 37.92 seconds bettering the previous mark set by Jos Verstappen back in 1997 in an Arrows F1. Algar’s season long form was due to “the fantastic help from all my Westfield Sports Car Club supporters and my son Luke.”

The battle for second, third and fourth was frenetic. Championship sponsor Steve Broughton finished a fantastic second having rewritten the 2 litre class record in qualifying. He clinched the runner-up slot in the championship despite having the largest dropped score.

After missing the Colerne round Mark Smith had no score to drop so was on a 100% net gain so his third place in the run-off was enough to elevate him to third in the overall rankings. Terry Holmes seemed lethargic in comparison to the sprightly two litre cars of Broughton & Smith. Fourth in the run-off wasn’t enough for the Chichester Chippy and he slipped back to fourth place overall.

Kevin Lealan and Graham Porrett both leapfrogged the absent Robbs to move up the championship order whilst Steve Miles continued his regular points haul and held onto fifth place in the final rankings which is his best ever result. Glynn Sketchley capped a great week-end by taking eighth in the run-off despite an oil pressure problem and finishing ninth in the overall rankings in what has been effectively his first totally committed season to the Sprint Championship. Finally it was good to see Tony Jarvis qualify for his first run-off in this his debut season not only in the Sprint Championship but also in the two litre racing car class; he finished a creditable tenth.

Round 14

1 Nick Algar (3.5 Gould-NME GR55) 54.46secs;

2 Steve Broughton (1.3s OMS-Suzuki CF06) 59.61secs;

3 Mark smith (2.0 Reynard-Vauxhall 903G) 59.67secs;

4 Terry Holmes (3.5 Lola-Judd T90/50) 60.32secs;

5 Graham Porrett (3.5 Lola-Judd T90/50) 62.59secs;

6 Kevin Lealan (2.0 Pilbeam-Vauxhall MP62) 62.64secs;

7 Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Zetec RF96M) 63.81secs;

8 Glyn Sketchley (1.6 Force-Suzuki PT1600) 64.83secs;

9 Tony Ellis (2.0 Megapin-Duratec 31-07) 66.47secs;

10 Tony Jarvis (2.0 Reynard-Opel FVL) 67.15secs;

11 Martin Webb (2.0 Reynard-Opel FVL) 67.54secs;

12 Bill Gouldthorpe (2.0 Van Diemen-Zetec RF96M) 68.42secs

Final Championship

1 Nick Algar 146 pts;

2 Steve Broughton 119pts;

3 Mark Smith 115pts;

4 Terry Holmes 112pts;

5 Steve Miles 87pts;

6 Kevin Lealan 74pts;

7 Graham Porrett 68pts;

8 Stewart Robb Jnr 66pts;

9 Glyn Sketchley 64pts;

10 Stewart Robb Snr 63pts;

11 Ross Napier 50pts;

12 Phil Lynch 43pts; etc.