HSCC Donington Park 11th April 2004 Round 2 of the 2004 Miller oils/ AMOC/FJHRA Championship.

I arrived too late to watch the Qualifying practice, paddock chat soon had me up to speed with the grid positions.

Fastest overall was Edwin Jowsey in his Lotus 22 with a time of 1.25.045, this some five seconds slower than the time set by Edwin in Qualifying at the final meeting last season, confirming that the resurfaced (and damp) circuit was slower and according to all the drivers I spoke with, very slippery, for the Formula Juniors in qualifying.

In these conditions no surprise to find John Fyda Mallock U2 and Robin Longdon Lola Mk2 third and fourth respectively with 1.30s. Mark Green was fifth with a 1.32 in his Lotus 22, Mark Woodhouse Lotus 20/22 was sixth also on 1.32 having had a problem with his undertray, this brought him into the pits and shortened his practice session.

Andy Bradshaw headed the class B runners with a 1.36. It was good to see three Lotus 18s competing, the most seen recently in a UK race, they were complemented by the Elva 200s of Doug Martin and David Bain, bodes well for class B in 2004.  Bill Grimshaw Gemini Mk 2 suffered a third gear failure, this sidelined him after six laps, disappointing as his engine was very strong.

The drivers briefing caused a bit of a stir amongst the FJ drivers, no green flag lap allowed, this led to FJ driver queries about cold engines, brakes etc, but to no avail.

No formation lap, the grid was still very late getting formed up, (so much for saving time on green flag laps) this delay, caused by two cars not being in the assembly area, so twenty minutes behind schedule the grid formed up, all the pre assembly warming up wasted ! 

With a minimum of fuss the lights changed and Edwin led the charge into Redgate in the 22, he was hotly pursued by Mark Woodhouse in the 20/22, Paul Smeeth 22 was in third, next was the Longdon Lola which was being challenged by the Fyda Mallock, the race settled down with Jowsey's Lotus building about a ten second gap gradually over the Woodhouse Lotus which was in turn inching away from the Smeeth 22, as the race progressed John Fyda's Mallock passed Robin Longdon Lola into fourth spot, the sixth place was being contested by Mark Green and Andrew Hibberd both in Lotus 22's, this contest went Hibberd's way at about half distance, he then inched away from Green and began to close on the Longdon Lola, in class B the Lotus 18 of Kevin Musson had the better of Andy Bradshaw's similar car, Crispian Besley Elva 100 was ahead of  Tony Goodwin also Elva mounted, in the closing stages of the race and the commentator reported some excitement with the Goodwin Elva, as the race continued, at the front of the race Edwin Jowsey was maintaining his ten second advantage over Mark Woodhouse with Smeeth in a solid third place, then on the final lap,  the excitement started, Woodhouses 20/22 developed an ignition fault which sidelined him on the last lap, Smeeth suffered a spin which let the Fyda Mallock through into second, Smeeth got going just quickly enough to hold on to third from Longdon's Lola which very nearly caught him.  A comfortable win then for Edwin Jowsey Lotus 22, John Fyda Mallock U2 second,  Paul Smeeth 22 just holding off  Robin Longdon's Lola for third, Andrew Hibberd Lotus 22 fifth,  Mark Green Lotus 22 sixth, Robin Longdon Lola Mk 2, took class A2 honours,   Kevin Musson Lotus 18 was winner in class B. Peter Mullen Osca was best in class A1.

Twenty one cars started the race nineteen finished.

 Stan Hibberd 12-4-2004.