Dyson and Fennymore Claim the Caterham Powertrain Honours

04 April 2005

David Dyson and Graham Fennymore emerged on top at Donington Park this weekend, Dyson taking twin outright wins in the Powertrain Caterham Challenge in his R400 and Fennymore claiming a brace of Roadsport A class victories.

It was the first time that the two classes of Caterham had been combined on a single UK grid and, with a field of 24 cars and some thrilling race action, the move proved an enormous success for competitors and spectators alike.

Saturday's sprint race set the scene for an exciting weekend, Hyperion drivers Luc Paillard (Sevenoaks) and Dyson (Altrincham) battling it out for victory all the way, and having at the same time to fend off the attentions of a gaggle of pursuing R400s.

Paillard and Dyson had taken advantage of a poor start from pole man Nathan Bell to assume control of the race, with Will Mitcham, Ted Murray and Jack Newland leading the pursuit. Paillard held sway initially, even managing to pull out a two-second gap at one point, but the Frenchman was quickly reeled in by his team-mate.

Luc led over the line to lead the final tour but, critically, failed to spot the last-lap board and was unconcerned when Dyson swept past him and into the lead through Schwantz Curve. "I thought we had another lap to go," said Paillard, "so I was not too worried - a big mistake."

Dyson crossed the line a tenth ahead to open his title-bid account. "It's a good start to the season," said the Frasc-backed driver, "and now I need to build on it."

Mancunian Murray impressed on his maiden R400 outing to take third, just ahead of Mitcham's down-on-power car. Less than a second separated the top four, with new lap record holder Nick Payne and Ben Dezille Butler hot on their heels for fifth and sixth. Newland, Rachel Green, Paul Allen and Matt Blyth rounded out the top 10. Bell's misfortune was compounded after five laps when he picked up debris and cooked his engine.

The Roadsport A battle was shaped by a first-lap incident: the quickest qualifier, Bicester's Graham Fennymore, and several of his rivals were forced on to the grass on the opening lap to avoid the R400 of Soh Fukushima, which had been nudged into a spin. Fennymore slipped to third place and had to fight back past the Roadsports of Riki Nash and Malcolm Barnett to regain the lead.

Graham romped on to a three-second class victory - ahead of James Gardiner, Nash, Tony Hawkins, Barnett and Doug Clark - breaking the Roadsport A lap record as he went. Stuart Smith was the only Roadsport driver not to finish; his car was damaged when it made contact with the spinning Fukushima.
Sunday's Feature race provided not only twice the distance for competitors but also double the drama. Once more Dyson and Paillard were in the thick of the R400 action, and again they had a host of rivals for much of the race.

Among those who took the fight to the Hyperion men were Newland, Mitcham, Murray, Green, Allen and 23-year-old Blyth, whose strong run up to fourth was brought to an end just before mid-distance with a gearbox problem.

With Blyth's demise the battle for victory settled down to a straight fight between Paillard and Dyson, Newland and Mitcham, with Green heading a pursuing pack but separated from the leaders by a second or two. With five laps to run Luc eased out a 1s advantage, only for Dyson, who appeared to have conserved his tyres rather better, to reduce the gap once more.

Nonetheless Paillard held on to the lead into the final lap, only to throw his advantage away with a lurid spin at Coppice Corner. Thus Dyson was gifted his second race victory of the weekend, two-tenths ahead of Bury St Edmunds driver Mitcham - his best-ever R400 result - with Newland third and Paillard recovering to fourth.

"It was Luc's race really," said Dyson, "and I really feel sorry for him. I was struggling a bit for grip, so I'm lucky to be standing here the winner." David broke Payne's day-old lap record on the way to victory.
Hyperion Motorsport's new team manager Steve Hindle was delighted by his drivers' efforts at the start of the new season: "Having scored a one-two in the first race, a total of two wins, a pole position and a new lap record, I think we can reflect on a job well done."

Green took an excellent fifth, and her Fauldsport team-mate Allen would have collected sixth were it not for an untimely last-lap battery failure which halted his car within yards of the finish line. Bell profited from his demise, taking sixth ahead of Murray, Payne, Dezille Butler and Ewan McIntyre, who had started from last on the grid.

Fennymore was once again the Roadsport class victor and, though he led from start to finish, he was harried all the way by Gardiner, the Derby man finishing just over a second behind. Clark got the better of a lengthy and exciting duel to take third in class ahead of Hawkins, Nash and Barnett.

The winners of the prestigious Minister Driver of the Day awards were Paillard, Green, Gardiner and Clark.

See series calendars for all 2005 Caterham Championships

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