Reports > Castle Combe Bank Holiday Monday 31st Aug 2020
Class win for James Colborn
Competitors were greeted with dry and bright conditions for Combe's usual late summer Bank Holiday meeting on August 31st.
The WPR team were present with a couple of Formula Fords and a couple of Hot Hatches for their usual drivers, James Colborn, Steve bracegirdle and Graham Cox.
In practice Steve Bracegirdle suffered brake failure in his Mini Cooper going into Tower which led to a serious accident. The Mini was badly damaged and Steve was shaken and bruised. He was taken to the circuit Medical Centre and later released but unable to take any further part in proceedings.
In qualifying for the two Formula Ford races, James set the pace in Class C with his Van Diemen RF88 qualifying ahead of his rivals both times. James didn't have the best start in the first race, dropping to second on Lap 1 and then third on Lap 3 but then maintained his place until the finish. James made no mistake in Race 2, leading from start to finish despite coming under persistant and heavy pressure for the entire race as well as a very unusual incident. During the race an incident had damaged the tyre crash barriers which had released some of the tyres onto the circuit. One of these tyres managed to wrap itself around James' wheel. The field was red flagged and as James came down the pit lane the team couldn't believe what they were seeing - in effect an oversize wheel & tyre on a Formula Ford! Fortunately the problem was quickly fixed and James was sent on his way - to win the Class.
For the two Hot Hatch races Graham Cox qualified his Clio in 24th and 21st in a very large field. In Race 1 Graham made a good start to cross the line in 20th place at the end of Lap 1 but quickly got swallowed up by a pack of faster cars. However, by lapping consistently and with retirements ahead of him he was able to finish in 21st.
In Race 2 Graham made another good start but retired at half distance with a broken exhaust having run as high as 16th. His improved times and performance had been helped by some pre-race setup changes and driver coaching from Combe regular, Will di Claudio.
