SPORT
A tough start
THE Royal Navy and Royal Marines Racing team had a tough start to the Armed Forces Race Challenge at Brands Hatch and sit third after the opening stop of the campaign. In a race weekend blighted by problems, Keith Attwood was the shining light, taking second in class and fourth overall in the first race of the day, before his car was struck down with mechanical issues, meaning he had to retire from the second race. After the dust settled on the opening race weekend of the season, the RNRM team found themselves behind the Army and RAF and are only ahead of the veterans’ team heading into the second stop at Angle-sey next month. Individually, the standings after round see Attwood in fifth, Gareth Moss in eighth, Lewis Pemble in 18th, Adam Dewis in 19th and Steve Hutchings in 20th. Meanwhile, Royal Marines veteran Mark Inman was in great form, coming first in the second race of the competition after a runners-up place finish in race one. It was mainly a juggling act with the conditions at Brands Hatch. After a chaotic qualifying session, which saw two stoppages due to a track incident, the team were actually in good stead.
Attwood lined up in fifth with veteran Inman behind in sixth, Dewis further back in 11th with Hutchings (13th), Moss (15th) and Pemble (20th). Now it was a decision over to go for wet or dry tyres. It was clear when race one got underway in rain, sleet and hailstones, the dry option was not the one and would cost many drivers. Despite the tricky track, after eight laps, most of the RNRM cars had climbed towards the front of the field. That was until the Ford Fiesta of rookie Richard Beaumont spectacularly span three times at the Surtees and Clearways complex. Beaumont’s race finally ended after sliding wide and into the gravel trap outside of Paddock Hill Bend. A red flag immediately followed, ending the race with the guest BMW M3 GTR victorious, with Inman in second. In overall fourth place, and second in Class C, was Attwood in the Mini with the best result for the RNRM team. Moss came eighth, Hutchings 12th and Lewis 16th. Ahead of race two, the track had partly dried out and the tyre strategy was simple – semi-slicks.
Unfortunately for the RNRM team a number of issues meant three of the team’s drivers had to retire. Firstly Hutchings in his Peugeot 106 pulled into the garage with engine trouble after the formation lap. As the race began Attwood got a great start and pulled out to overtake the bunching three cars in front of Dewis, Moss and an RAF driver. But they were unsighted of a stalled BMW M3 further ahead. Quick reactions avoided a heavy rear impact, but contact was inevitable. This resulted in the race being stopped and Attwood retiring. Moss also sustained some damage in the melee, losing all coolant and so forcing his retirement as well. On the restart the remaining cars got off the grid in order and lap times began to tumble as cars spread out and drivers pushed on a completely dry track. After 13 laps, veteran Inman in the VX220, took the chequered flag in first place. The three official RNRM finishers crossed the line. Dewis came seventh, Lewis 19th, Rich 24th (and 5th in Class D). To get involved and to find out more information please visit rnrmmsa.co.uk.
Gliders take the lift ROYAL Navy Gliding & Soaring Association and Seahawk Gliding Club headed to the Black Mountain in Wales for Adventurous Training to experience ridge and wave soaring. They had excellent flying conditions the whole week and they experienced good ridge and thermal lift plus a little wave conditions as the sunset during the first three days. This allowed them to explore the area and achieve a number of duration flights. The last two days were more settled, however, this was perfect for working on circuits to land on a relatively small-sized grass airfield with sloping runways in challenging conditions. The team achieved a number of notable British Gliding Association qualifying flights. Commander Barney Wainwright made one and two hours Bronze Cross Country duration flights, plus a
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field landing. Lieutenant Commander Paul Callaghan sealed two hours Bronze Cross Country duration flight and Bronze Exam. Mr Nic Barretta made his fivehour Silver Certificate duration flight, while Lieutenant Commander Rob Dowdell and Lieutenant Tom Luscombe both made first solo flights Talgarth. Expedition leader, Lieutenant Commander Chris Bryning, said: “Once again Talgarth has come up trumps, great weather, a warm welcome and some outstanding ridge and wave soaring for a bunch of flat lander pilots. We will be back again next year.” For more information on gliding opportunities available to all RN personnel, no previous flying experience required, contact Lt Cdr Bryning, Secretary RNGSA at sec@ rngsa.com.
Bikers are in groove THE opening round of the Inter-Services Motorcycling at Brands Hatch saw some good finishes and plenty of drama for the Royal Navy riders. The newest rider to the team, Lieutenant Commander Llewellyn ‘Derek’ Thomas – whose poorly R1 had to be worked on until the early hours before race day – came home with a few scrapes and plenty of memories after a ‘rollercoaster weekend’. He also gained a new Zoolanderinspired nickname. For not being an ‘ambi-turner’, he was named Derek, after main character from the hit film, Derek Zoolander. “This was the first race weekend for me and what an incredible experience,” Lt Cdr Thomas said. “Chasing down the Army in the military race was the high point, until a lowside crash trying to put down the power on the cold side of the tyre coming out of the only sharp left on track. “That was a lot less painful than my new nickname, however, gifted for not being an ‘ambi-turner’... Derek.” Qualifying saw Corporal Charlie ‘Chippy’ White start in 19th and climb four places in race one, finishing 15th overall, before the second outing of the day saw him finish 16th. A broken throttle cable made ‘Chippy’ not so chipper, withdrawing from race three, before he got the bit between his teeth in the fourth and final outing. “I was determined to do well,” he said. “I had a great start again pushing up five places before turn two. “I latched onto the group I had been chasing all weekend. Lap after lap I was overtaking the riders in this group and eventually led the group with a lap to go.” Chippy didn’t get the best run on the home straight but managed to seal a third place finish in his class (12th overall). Chief Petty Officer Stuart ‘Goody’ Goodson secured 14th in qualifying in the Golden Era Superbike competition and seventh in the Inter-Services race. “Race one went well initially making a good start but unfortunately I couldn’t hold off some of the more modern and more powerful machinery that was also sharing the grid,” he said. “I had a few good battles on track but ended up a lowly 19th overall at the end but fifth in my class.” CPO Goody withdrew from race two after his bike lost power, but he pulled out his spare bike for the military race, with some quick thinking from LA (AH) Alan Curtis and CPOAET Adam Myhill swapping the dry wheels from his broken bike onto the new one for the race ahead. It was a race against time to be ready, but Goody did make it, although had to start at the back of the grid in 30th. He climbed an impressive 15 places to finish 15th. He said: “Despite the misfortune of starting at the back, I had the most fun ever during that race. It was certainly one to remember and I couldn’t have done it without the help of the pit crew.” In the following two races he finished fourth in class twice with 16th and 12th place finishes in the overall standings. Meanwhile, things didn’t go entirely to plan for Sergeant Luke Terry. An oil leak saw him black flagged in qualifying and the time spent fixing the leak meant he missed race one, eventually starting race two at the back of the grid. He climbed three places before a superb battle in the military race saw him edge past James ‘Jimmy’ Cotrell on the home straight, after some major braking issues. “All in all, a very busy and stressful weekend with many lessons learned, ready for vast improvement in the next round,” he said.
JUNE 2019 : 39