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Another win for Simon Blanckley
Class wins for Jason Holmes, Simon Taylor, Richard Ibrahim and Simon Jackson
Photos courtesy of Peter Fitzgerald
The season finale at Silverstone. The sun came out, and so did 25 drivers for this last race in the 2006 LMA Euro Saloons championship. Although the title had been won by
Jason Holmes last time out, and most class winners were now known, there was still much to play for in terms of pride and bragging rights, not to mention the battle for the
Class D title which was going right to the wire.
Qualifying
 Simon Blanckley (Honda Accord) has been having things pretty much all his way this
season, having won all but one race he has finished, but Peter Challis' Nissan Primera always goes well at Silverstone so it was going to be interesting to see how that battle went. Richard Hawken might
have been expected to join in the battle for pole but was unable to get out in qualifying, the Primera not starting due to a solenoid lead coming adrift. An unknown would be Malcolm Wise in the Ford Escort
Cosworth with over 400 bhp, how would he fare against the Super Tourers.
First blood to Challis who took pole position by 0.422 seconds from Blanckley with Wise
just a tenth further behind, John Hammersley (Vauxhall Cavalier) and Tony Soper (Alfa Romeo GTV) 2-3 seconds further back still. Outgoing champion Simon Taylor (Honda
Civic Type-R) headed a strong Class C entry in 6th overall, with new champion Jason Holmes (Rover Tomcat) heading Class B in 7th. A record entry in Class D saw Mark
Hammersley (Ford Fiesta) put down his marker in the title fight with Tim Morgan-Barrett (VW Golf Gti) looking in trouble at the back of the group. Simon Jackson (Vauxhall Nova) headed the Class E runners.
Race
Silverstone is known as the "power" circuit, and power told right from the off with Wise getting the jump from the 2nd row and heading Blanckley and Challis into Copse.
Blanckley took over the lead at Becketts on the first lap and led all the way to the finish. Challis got past Wise on lap 3, but Blanckley was already 3 seconds clear by now.
Challis gave chase hard and the lead cars were soon among the backmarkers. By lap 10 the gap was down to just 0.6 seconds and Challis looked favourite to win, but the
following lap he fell right back before pulling into the pits and out of the race with a broken gear lever, leaving Wise in 2nd place. Richard Hawken had started from the back
of the grid and was soon carving his way through the pack, taking over 3rd place with the demise of the Challis Primera. He chased Wise down hard finishing just 3 seconds
adrift in 3rd place with John Hammersley and Tony Soper filling 4th and 5th places.
 In the battle of the champions, Jason
Holmes and Simon Taylor spent the whole race in tandem. Holmes was not resting on his laurels, taking 6th place from Taylor by just a second and lapping a good second faster than in the race here
earlier this season.
Another punching above his weight was Simon Jackson in the Class E Vauxhall Nova, being embroiled in a race long battle with newcomer Jason Newman's
Class C Peugeot 306, the pair swapping places while both in pursuit of Naz Hosseinian's Class A Vauxhall Calibra Turbo. Newman finally got the better of
Jackson when the Nova engine just cut out, and then just as suddenly restarted just as Jackson was parking up.
The battle for the Class D title went right to the end. Mark Hammersley was out in front
, but picked up a puncture just 3 laps from the end. He needed to finish the race to have any chance of amassing enough points so we saw him driving round slowly as the
flat front tyre took more and more punishment. He made it to the finish to collect enough points, the 2 points for fastest Class D lap being vital as he won the title by
just 4 points despite Tim Morgan-Barrett's excellent run to third from seventh on the grid. This left Richard Ibrahim to take the Class D win in his Alfa Romeo 33.
Summary
So another successful season ends for the LMA Euro Saloons championship. LMA would like to extend their congratulations to overall champion and Class B winner Jason Holmes
, and the other class champions John Hammersley (A), Jim Mepham (C), Mark Hammersley (D) and Simon Jackson (E). Here's looking forward to starting all over again next year!
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Race:
Winner: Simon Blanckley (Honda Accord), 2nd Malcolm Wise (Ford Escort Cosworth), 3rd Richard Hawken (Nissan Primera), 4th John Hammersley (Vauxhall Cavalier), 5th Tony
Soper (Alfa Romeo GTV6), 6th Jason Holmes (Rover Tomcat), 7th Simon Taylor (Honda Civic), 8th David Roberts (Rover Tomcat), 9th Nigel Ainge (Honda Integra), 10th Jim Mepham (Renault Megane)
Class Winners: Class A Blanckley, Class B Holmes, Class C Taylor, Class D Richard Ibrahim (Alfa Romeo 33), Class E Simon Jackson (Vauxhall Nova)
Fastest lap: Challis 1:02.404 (94.55mph)
With support from Mark Fish Motorsport and Alpha Composites
Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 ( www.nyssaracing.com )
Click here for more action & paddock shots from Silverstone
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