Anthony
& Barry take the 2007 Radical Enduro SR3 Championship!
Anthony
and Barry Gates ended their year successfully winning the
2007 Radical SR3 Enduro British Championship title at Brands
Hatch!
Going
into the weekend the pair had a 23 point lead, over 'Team
RPM' team mate Phil Bailey and his driving partner, newly
crowned 2007 British GT Champion Bradley Ellis. In a closely
fought contest, the pair did what they had to do in order
to take the championship, knowing a 3rd and 4th place would
be suffice to win, regardless of what the competition did.
Qualifying
It
was a very tight affair in the SR3's, with Anthony and Bradley
battling for the Pole Position. The pair traded the top
slot throughout the session, inching hundreths here and
there until Ellis finally cemented his position with a fantastic
44.8, two tenths faster than Anthony. Former
Formula Vauxhall Champion Wayne Douglas made a welcome return
to racing on British soil - his first visit to Brands for
12 years - when he was racing against Dunn's now-partner
Amanda Whitaker! Sharing
with Jeff Collier, Douglas was also in the battle for the
SR3 top slot, having causing a stir by setting the fastest
time in practice and lined up just a tenth from Dunn in
3rd place, ahead of regulars Paul Thomas, James Harrison
and Nigel Greensall.
Race
1
Paul
Thomas took the lead at the start, but it was short lived
as the red flags were shown due to Martin Schlaeppi's stricken
SR3 at the approach to Graham Hill bend - a victim of first
lap contact with Jean-Lou Rihon. At the restart, Phil Bailey
held the lead from Paul Thomas with Barry just behind and
James Harrison and Jeff Collier hot on their heels.
Barry
made a decisive moved on Phil Bailey, diving up the inside
of his championship rival at Druids on lap 9. He held a
close 2nd to Paul Thomas knowing he was in a strong position
points position and really showed the maturity he has developed
through the year. He handed the car to Anthony and although
there was a longer than normal pitstop due to a starting
problem, causing them to drop to 4th. Anthony was soon back
in 2nd place behind Thomas and treaded carefully through
the traffic, ever mindful of the potential points at stake.
This allowed James Harrison and the pursuing Bradley Ellis
to close, but he held his nerve, just slipping past a backmarker
to give himself some breathing space on the last lap with
Bradley nipping past James to finish 3rd.
Race 2
Into
the final race, Barry & Anthony knew they just had to
collect 5 points - a 13th place in class - and the championship
was theirs. With this in mind, they opted to start from
the pitlane to avoid any first lap collisions. In hindsight
it was a wise decision...their main rival Phil Bailey was
hit from the rear by James Saggers at Clearways on their
first lap, breaking his rear suspension and with it loosing
any hope of winning the title. So Barry and Anthony were
champions!
Anthony
radio'd through to Barry the good news and the clear signal
"GO FOR IT!" which Barry did! Although he'd lost
approximately 20 seconds on the field due to starting from
the pitlane, Barry got his head down, lapping faster than
the class leaders and soon was climbing back up the order.
However
as the leading SR8's began to close in to lap the SR3's,
being anxious not to get in their way now that his
title was decided, Barry looked one too many times in the
mirrors and approaching Paddock Hill bend missed his braking
point and with it a graceful end to the campaign!
"That
was the biggest anticlimax possible!" laughed Anthony
after the race. "However, we worked hard for the title
this year which is my first National Championship win and
Barry's too - which isn't surprising considering it's his
first full year of racing!".
"The
decision to start from the pitlane may have looked odd and
it probably cost us any chance of going for a win but we
wanted to reduced all the risks to the title and it worked
out fine."
ALL
PHOTO'S COURTESY OF OLIVER READ
Anthony
coaches Barry through his IWannaGoFaster.com
performance driving tuition business.
