Race 2: John Fitzpatrick Trophy for Under 2-Litre Touring Cars

The first of the touring car races on Tin Top Sunday was a50-minute showdown for a 40+ car field of U2TC saloon cars – the grid packedwith Lotus Cortinas, Alfa GTVs, BMW 1800Tis and Mini Coopers.

With Cortinas to the fore, pole man Andy Wolfe made the beststart and, as Neil Brown and David Cuff battled for second, Wolfe built up anastonishing five-second advantage after the first lap.

Mark Sumpter in another of the Cortinas, and the Andrew BanksAlfa Romeo Guilia Sprint, joined the battle for second and faced some veryrobust defending; Banks being forced onto the grass at Farm before making lightcontact with Sumpter.

The first of the leaders to pit was Brown, handing over toFortec Motorsport owner Richard Dutton, followed by Cuff who gave way totouring car legend Steve Soper. Soper set after Dutton for second place andeventually used his experience to pressure the rival Cortina, nipping by whenDutton ran wide. All his hard work, though, came to nothing when his car rolledto a halt on the final lap.
Ahead of the drama, Wolfe had handed over the leading Cortina toRichard Meaden who took a dominant victory.

1. Andy Wolfe / Richard Meaden (Ford Lotus Cortina)20 laps
2. Neil Brown / Richard Dutton (Ford Lotus Cortina) +19.819s
3. Andrew Banks / Maxim Banks (Alfa Romeo Guilia Sprint GTA)+28.447s

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