ADNITT’S DOUBLE WIN….. BUT SAFETY CAR DOMINATES
Only 0.233 secs split Nick Crispin and Gary Adnitt in qualifying for race one, with David O’Keeffe and Sandro Proietti sharing the second row of the 22 car grid.
Crispin made the best of the start in race one, with Adnitt and Proietti tucked in behind as they climbed the hill to Charlies. But the safety car was out immediately with Nicholas Home off at Charlies too.
But there was confusion following when O’Keeffe and Proietti both passed under yellows as Crispin and Adnitt slowed for the safety car. Proietti handed the place back, but O’Keeffe stayed in front.
After two laps the green flag was waved and O’Keeffe sprinted away, with Crispin and Adnitt nose to tail for second.
“I had gone ahead at Barn just before the safety car, then made a good restart from the green flag,” O’Keeffe explained.
Proietti snatched third into Coppice, but the lead quartet were line astern as they completed the opening lap, with Chris Yates and Lien Davies heading the pursuers.
Adnitt soon reclaimed third place and tried for second in Mansfield on lap five, while Proietti started to lose ground in fourth.
Davies made it into fifth on lap five, with Julie Walford following, as Yates slipped back to seventh. “Lien got me into Coppice and I couldn’t get back,” said Yates.
Over the Mountain for the final time Adnitt was all over Team 2CV Lion teammate O’Keeffe, but the door stayed firmly shut as they held station to the flag, with Crispin retaining a close third, having lost out to Adnitt into Park.
“I was in second when we got passed under yellows, so that spoiled the race,” Adnitt explained.
Proietti, Davies and Walford also held station to complete the top six, with Martin Riman claiming a late seventh at Yates’ expense. Matthew Hollis and Simon Turner rounded off the top 10.
“I made a poor start and then got a run-on David and Nick from third, but had to slow to avoid Gary and he got me back,” Proietti added.
“It was clean and tidy and I had a good battle with Julie at the end,” said Davies.
“Disappointing really as I didn’t get a very good start,” added Riman.
After the race O’Keeffe was given a one second penalty to drop him to third behind Adnitt and Crispin in the final result.
Three laps into the second race the red flags were out with Home and Sebastian Jones-White off at Barn. “My throttle struck open when I was challenging for eighth, “ explained Jones-White, at least I hit a big foam pad,” Home added.
From the restart it was Crispin from Adnitt, Luca Proeitti, O’Keeffe and Davies through Coppice, before a big opening lap sort out.
Adnitt had got Crispin into Park again and O’Keeffe was following from Davies, as Crispin and Proeitti slipped to fourth and fifth with Steve Walford challenging.
Proietti was quickly back into third and joined Adnitt and Davies in a telling break, while Walford led a five-car battle for fourth.
Davies began to look for the lead, but he couldn’t breach Adnitt’s defence, as the chasing group slowly started to fragment.
O’Keeffe and Crispin had retaken Walford and all three were beginning to spread out, but after holding seventh throughout, Matthew Hollis crashed heavily at the foot of the Mountain, when the front wheel was folded under after what appeared to be a hub failure.
Proietti and Davies had taken the Mountain side by side, with O’Keeffe laying in wait. Two exchanges followed with Davies in charge again, but their duel had helped Adnitt build on his lead.
With Hollis’ car stranded in the tyre wall, the safety car was out again and the clock began to run down. Three slow laps and it was down to zero, so out came the chequered flag and the race was declared after seven laps.
“I had to everything twice in that race. It was the same lunge I made on Nick as I did in the first race, then I had to defend. That’s consistency though,” said Adnitt after his second win of the day.
“I had managed to take second back from Luca into Park Corner, as I seemed loads faster into there than anyone, it’s my corner, “claimed second placed Davies.
Proietti was unable to challenge again with the safety car out, so had to settle for third. “I got hit more than once on the straight, but had fun though. It was sensational going side by side over the Mountain with Lien, and there was no way I was going to back out,” he added.
Fourth place went to O’Keeffe, with Crispin and Walford completing the top six. “I just hadn’t got the legs in this one. Park Corner is in my head and the exit of Barn the same, I get them both wrong. But I am happy to stay on and get a result,” Crispin explained.
Yates claimed seventh after Hollis’ off, while Andrew Bull, Richard Hollis and Glen Oswin were the rest of the top 10.
Results: https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2022/2216222cv.pdf