Round 1: Castle Combe, 22 March

Reigning champion Colin Calder kicked off the new season with victory at Castle Combe.

Calder was pushed hard by his daughter, Heather, who finished just 0.14 seconds adrift of her father’s outright course record. Mark Smith and co-driver Craig Sampson took third and fourth in Smith’s two litre Reynard.

Terry Holmes, last year’s Combe winner, missed his first ‘Top 12’ run due to a delaminating rear wing. Once fixed he had just one run to garner some points. Holmes was looking good for third spot only to have the battery short out and he stopped just metres from the line.

Results1 Colin Calder (3.3 Gould-NME GR55 V8) 112.61s – Outright Course Record; 2 Heather Calder (3.3 Gould-NME GR55 V8) 112.75s – New Ladies Record; 3 Mark Smith (2.0 Reynard-Duratec/SBD 903) 116.27s; 4 Craig Sampson (2.0 Reynard-Duratec/SBD 903) 117.90s; 5 Graham Porrett (3.5 Lola-Judd ERH) 119.37s; 6 Steve Miles (2.0 Van Diemen-Duratec/SBD RF96/MM13) 122.47s; 7 Steve Broughton (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall/SBD F3RB01) 122.78s; 8 Terry Graves (3.5 Gould-Cosworth HB GR55B) 123.27s; 9 Scott Pillinger (1.3t DSP-Suzuki/SBD) 123.28s; 10 Matt Hillam (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall/SBD F3RB01) 127.70s; 11 Tony Jarvis (2.0 Dallara-Vauxhall/Connaught F399/00) 134.98s; 12 Terry Holmes (3.5 Lola-Judd ERH) Failed Run

Provisional championship standings1 Colin Calder – 13 points2 Heather Calder – 12= Mark Smith – 124 Craig Sampson – 10 5 Graham Porrett – 8