SOMBRE winner Ben Norton dedicated his victory at Saturday’s August Cup meeting at to fellow Formula Ford competitor, Peter O’Shea, who died after suffering a heart attack during a qualifying session, writes John Moon His car came to a rest on the infield at Castle Combe with no other car or driver involved. The qualifying session and the rest of the day’s racing was deferred until Sunday.

Despite the tragic circumstances, the Worcestershire driver’s Swift Cooper racing team, based next door to the circuit, continued preparing their remaining cars, including the championship leading Swift SC10 of Rob Hall.

Fourth on the grid was a commendable effort from Hall, just two hundredths of a second shy of Bratton’s Norton in the pole sitting Wiltshire College Spectrum.

In race one, Hall was soon into the lead and enjoyed a series of place swaps with Norton, who went on to win.

Hall’s initial pace had slackened as the race progressed, a wheel-touching incident with third placed Steven Jensen, from Saltford, in the Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum slightly upsetting the balance of his Swift.

Norton was humble in his victory and said: “It was a good race and I think Peter would have enjoyed every minute of it. I would like to dedicate this to him”.

Race two saw Hall’s car in perfect order, giving him an untroubled win despite dealing with two safety-car incidents and a restart. The race was red-flagged on lap six after a coming together between Jensen and Felix Fisher, which sent Jensen’s Spectrum flying into the air. Although Jensen walked away, he was taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath for assessment, though it transpired no bones had been broken.

The restart saw Hall go on to win by six seconds from Bradford on Avon’s David Vivian who had finished fifth overall in race one.

Significantly, Vivian picked up the two class B wins, which gave him the driver of the day award.

The Swift Cooper team’s other drivers also scored worthwhile results, with Coventry’s Nathan Ward third overall and second in class in race two and Luke Cooper sixth overall and fouth in class.

Chippenham’s Adam Higgins took second in class B in race one and third in race two.

The first Saloon Car championship race saw Adam Prebble win in his venerable Rover Turbo from Bristol’s Mark Wyatt, hounded by fastest lapper Tony Dolley from Bridgwater in the Peugeot 206. Taking another class win and a fine fourth overall was Yate’s Nick Charles in his Peugeot 106.

Race two was rather more controversial, with Prebble leading until the penultimate lap until Dolley forced his way through into Bobbies in a somewhat optimistic move, the pair finishing in that order, but Prebble far from happy. Charles picked up the third place on the podium and another class win to strengthen his grip on the title lead.

Charles Hyde-Andrews-Bird from Ditcheat took two class C wins in his Fiesta after the gearbox of Nick Clark’s Suzuki Swift split open in race one.

The circuit’s Sports and GT championship continued its ebb and flow with Simon Tilling slightly extending his overall title lead in race one, only to blow the engine of his Radical SR3 as he crossed the line. Tilling’s absence in race two gave Trowbridge’s Andrew Shanley the space he needed to take a win and resume the lead of the championship in his Radical Prosport.

Ian Hall, from North Wraxall, another championship contender, qualified his V8 Darrian Wildcat third fastest for race one but stalled on the grid.

Making amends on Sunday, Hall won his class but dropped down the overall order when the engine went off song towards the end.

“I had to drive around in fifth gear which is not much fun and I could only use 4,500 rpm instead of the usual 6,000,” he explained.

Some of the usual drivers in the Sports and GTs also took part in the visiting BRSCC Open Sports Car Series which saw 2003 Combe Special GT champion, Tony Sinclair, take two relatively easy wins in his three-litre Nissan-engined Jade.