Anthony & Barry strike back at Croft!

The 'IWannaGoFaster' pairing of Anthony Dunn & Barry Gates closed the gap in the Radical Enduro SR3 British Championship this weekend to just 8 points from main rival Phil Bailey by scoring a 4th place & a win at the two races at Croft.

Following their disastrous last round at Donington in which they had two mechanical failures leading to Bailey & team mate Ellis pulling out a 44 point lead, this time the luck was with them.

Anthony showed his qualifying pace by posting just 5 laps in qualifying, enough to take class pole position by 7 tenths of a second - 6th overall - and decided to saving the tyres in the warm Bank Holiday conditions.

Race 1

In the first race, Anthony made a terrific start to pass two of the SR8's on the outside of Clervaux corner and avoided the spinning car of Austin Reynolds to slot into 3rd overall out of Hawthorn! Young star Jacob Greaves sprinted away in his SR8, but Anthony was able to fight with the other 8's of Richard Ince, Nick Dove and Derek Johnston. Anthony was being held up by Johnston & despite making a couple of passes in the tight corners, Johnston came blasting back past down the straights. This allowed Dove to close and make a move on the pair of them. Coming out of Tower Johnston & were side by side jostling for position allowing Anthony to get a run on them both and he passed on the outside of the Jim Clark Esses with all 4 wheels off the main tarmac at over 120 mph!

Watch the video of the move above!
3mins 28secs

It was the break he needed and he managed to hold his 3rd position over Dove for the remainder of his stint, and as Richard Ince faltered momentarily out of the hairpin with a gear changing blip, 3rd became 2nd overall!

Anthony pulled out a 16 second lead over the next SR3 of Paul Thomas, lapping over a second a lap quicker and handed the car to Gates. A stall in the pits dropped the gap to 9 seconds, but on the opening laps Barry drove well initially to keep the gap stationary, although had a moment lapping traffic & spun off at Sunny dropping him to 3rd in class. He then mistakenly came in for a stop-go penalty and a half spin at the Complex finally allowed the Nick Sinfield to take 3rd and Barry came in 4th.

It was no disaster though - this belonged to Phil Bailey who did not start the race at all due to a heavy fire in practice and the Team RPM guys did well to rebuild the car for the 2nd race on Sunday.

Race 2

The pair decided that it was best for Barry to take the start with the aim on keeping close to main rivals Paul Thomas, Colin Noble and Nick Sinfield which were all close on lap times. This time Barry drove exceptionally well, taking a confident class lead from the start and himself mixing it with the SR8's. He defended well from Thomas until he found a gap at Tower to come through with Barry deciding it was best to follow Thomas. Barry then had a good battle with reigning Radical Biduro Champion James Saggers who was making his SR3 debut. It was tough but fair and Barry bought the car into the pits with only a 4 second deficit to Thomas.

Anthony took over the lead and when Thomas came out of the pits, he closed him down and made a move at Clervaux. The pair collided and went for a trip through the gravel...and resumed in the same order! Anthony continued to harry Thomas around the lap & then Thomas made a mistake at the hairpin, locking up his rear wheels under gear change and half spun.

Once passed, Anthony made a quick getaway, setting fastest lap in the process and took their first class win since Oulton Park, also finishing 3rd overall.

Ross Allen - making his Enduro debut as Bradley Ellis was racing at Thruxton in British GT - and Phil Bailey did a good job to bring their car home in 5th place and score valuable championship points with Allen setting the second fastest lap of the race.

"Barry drove brilliantly today - I'm very proud! I think he had a point to prove after yesterday's performance and today he really showed his caliber." Said Anthony

So with the championship closed right up, the pair go to Pembrey in 3 weeks time.

ALL PHOTO'S COURTESY OF OLIVER READ

Anthony coaches Barry through his IWannaGoFaster.com
performance driving tuition business.

Full video's of both the races are below

46mins 15secs

Race 1

Anthony (black gloves) starts the race, making up 3 places to run 3rd overall at the first corner. Anthony runs in the lead of the SR3's & battles with the more powerful SR8's of Richard Ince (blue car), Derek Johnston (white car) and Nick Dove (yellow car). Note the SR8's have a lower engine air intake than the SR3's.

Anthony catches Johnston and battles to get past him through the tighter sections, whilst the SR8 blasts away down the straight. The SR8 has 360 bhp compared to 250 bhp on the SR3!

This allows the SR8 of Nick Dove (yellow car) to a move on them both into Tower. As Dove & Johnston squeeze together out of the corner, Anthony gets a run on them both & 'keeps his foot in' to pass on the outside of the Jim Clarke Esses at 120mph with 4 wheels off the track!

3rd place overall then turns to 2nd as Richard Ince falters out of the Hairpin with gear selection problems and Anthony pits with a 16 second lead over the next SR3 of Paul Thomas.

Barry resumes in the lead, albeit with a shortened gap of 9 seconds over Thomas after he stalls in the pits. He runs strongly at first, holding the gap to Thomas, but then makes a mistake overtaking a backmarker & spins at Sunny. He collects it together & runs 3rd behind Thomas & Colin Noble. He then mistakenly takes a stop-go penalty and finally has a half spin in the complex to finish 4th in class. Not the best day in the office but still points on the table & a point to prove in the second race on Sunday.

 

48mins 54secs

Race 2

Barry starts the stint and following a 'challenging' first race on Saturday, drives like a demon! He leads the SR3's from class Pole Position and chases the more powerful SR8's of Austin Reynolds (yellow car) and Derek Johnston white car). Note: SR8's have a lower engine air intake than the SR3's.

Barry has his hands full of trying to overtake the SR8 whilst simultaneously defending from Paul Thomas's SR3.

Barry passes Johnston in a clean move at Hawthorn, but is passed himself by Thomas. Note slight onscreen interference as Anthony is talking to Barry on the radio, coaching him & telling him who's in what position in track. The objective is for Barry to stay close to Thomas, so when Anthony takes at half time over he has a chance to take the win.

Barry keeps the gap to Thomas to around 5 seconds and has a good battle with the yellow car of 2006 Biduro champion James Saggers who is making his Enduro debut. Barry fights off Saggers & hands the car over to Anthony in the pitstops.

Anthony takes the helm and chases down the blue car of Thomas which reemerges from the pits following his pitstop.

After a lap, Anthony gets a run on Thomas out of the hairpin. Thomas defends approaching Clervaux, but Anthony makes a last minute dive. Thomas doesn't see the move & turns into his apex (and into Anthony) forcing Anthony onto the grass then the gravel. Thomas follows him, but they resume in the same position. A lap later Thomas locks his rear wheels into the hairpin & spins, gifting Anthony the lead & Anthony brings the car home amongst lots of traffic to take the win to a jubilant Team RPM.

 

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