Wallbank and Campbell take Lydden Hill sprint glory

Martin Wallbank and Stephen Campbell were the key winners at Lydden Hill on Easter Saturday (10 April) in the opening round of the 2004 John Cooper Challenge. Despite demanding conditions for the Golden Jubilee Sprint, Wallbank and Campbell won their respective classes during a day of hard-fought competition.

Wallbank, making his debut in the championship, created a piece of motorsport history as he became the first driver to win an event in the Works MINI Cooper S. Campbell, meanwhile, underlined the strength of his title bid by taking the MINI Club Class. In both S Class and Club Class, the results were decided by slender margins on the second and final timed runs of the day.

A superb field of 27 MINIS competed against the clock in the sprint, which was the opening round of the 2004 Challenge. Conditions throughout the day were testing, particularly in practice when rain made the circuit very slippery. However, as the day continued the conditions improved slightly, so that everything rested on the final runs.

Wallbank, competing in a sprint for the first time, didn't set a time in practice, and so was not really able to judge his pace. But he narrowly headed Arthur Forster after the first timed runs and pushed even harder on his second and final run to secure victory. A tremendous late charge from local ace Tony Skelton put him into second at the expense of Forster, just 0.17s adrift of Wallbank.

"I had a brilliant day," reckoned Wallbank. "I think the rain really helped me, because it was really greasy. It is very hard to get it bang on in a sprint, and you don’t get any second chances. I'm well chuffed to start the season with a win!"

Behind Skelton and Forster, Darren Needham, Mark Speller and Andy Sayle completed the top six S Class runners, although Nick Smith should have been up there as well, but failed to improve during his second run.

In the Club Class, Campbell was only fourth after the first runs, but the London youngster dug deep on his final run to improve by nearly six seconds and grab a hugely impressive victory. Having been baulked on his second run, Campbell had a re-run, in which he made full use of the clear track to break the 94s barrier and secure victory. "It felt really good, and it all seemed to work," admitted Campbell, before getting confirmation that his time had won him the class.

Barney Craggs, always a strong contender in the speed events, led the chase of Campbell, but was just over a second away in the runner-up slot as Jonathan Shepherd found a big chunk of time on his second run to take third. Series newcomer, and competition novice, Ed Stark was an excellent fourth as Mick Beauchamp belied his lack of experience to claim fifth ahead of a gaggle of closely-matched drivers.

It had been an excellent start to the John Cooper Challenge, and more against the clock action now awaits the drivers in round two at the Wiscombe Park hillclimb in Devon on 25 April.