Reports > Castle Combe summer spectacular August 1st 2020
Two class 'C' wins for Steve Bracegirdle
Castle Combe's second race meeting of the shortened 2020 season was held in dry and warm conditions on August 1st. The WPR team had their usual three Formula Fords and a pair of Hot Hatches out once again for two races each.
Steve Bracegirdle qualified his Van Diemen RF89 in Class C second place and on pole for the two races setting an encouraging 1m 13.91s time. James Colborn qualified his similar car just behind Steve in Class C third for both races. Chris Warden, Swift FB91, was still getting to grips with his car and was further back.
In Race 1 Steve got the jump on the other Class C front runner, Mark de Rozarieux, at the start and held a tenuous lead of no more than a couple of tenths for the entire race to take a well earned Class win under intense pressure. James had a plug lead work loose, pitting on Lap 8 and was unclassified at the end while Chris managed to circulate safely to be classified at the finish.
In Race 2 James made a better start to take second place, behind Steve, on Lap 2 and from then on the two WPR drivers remained tied together (and ahead of de Roazarieux) to take the top two spots on the Class C podium. Chris continued to improve lap by lap and was again classified as a finisher.
In the two, very well supported, Hot Hatch races Graham Cox (Renault Clio) and Steve Bracegirdle (Mini Cooper S) qualified 26th and 24th for Race 1 and 26th and 22nd for Race 2.
Graham made a cracking start in Race 1 to leapfrog Steve up to 21st on Lap 1 and put in a strong race to finish 16th (after a long battle with another Mini) with Steve a few places further back in 21st reporting a lap of grip despite running new tyres for the event. In Race 2 Steve got away ahead of Graham who reversed the positions on Lap 2 and they went on to finish 18th and 20th respectively.
