BTCC from Knockhill

[Tom Nas <tnas@euronet.nl>]

Hi all,

Just finished watching the video of the BBC's coverage of the latest rounds
in the BTCC from Knockhill, Scotland. Through a power outage (@##%#$!) I
lost the recording of the second race- anyone else care to report?

The qualifying rounds got Bintcliffe into pole for the first race and Biela
into 2nd. Championship leader Alain Menu was in 3rd. For the second race,
Biela and Bintcliffe had changed grid positions.
Knockhill is a very narrow, twisty circuit, but the best passing
opportunity is in the hairpin, where better grip and braking can show their
worth. As usual, BBC coverage was superb, with in-car microphone and camera
in John Cleland's Vectra, and bumpercams in Anthony Reid's Nissan.
The nature of the circuit made passing very difficult, and positions didn't
change much during the 35-lap race. Biela stayed hot on Bintcliffe's heels,
never letting the difference become more than .5 of a sec. Biela ('McBiela'
as his window lettering proclaimed) also set a lap record and the track
record.
As said, not a lot of passing took place, the only changes happening
through drivers going off (Patrick Watts in his Peugeot, Jason Plato in his
Renault and a breakdown (again!) for Paul Radisich's Mondeo). Anthony Reid
managed to keep from hitting anything this time after rear-ending a BMW in
the qualifying laps.
As said, the status remained quo, so the win was taken by Bintcliffe (his
first in the BTCC), and second place was for Biela, close behind
Bintcliffe. Alain Menu, pretty sure of his championship win, took it easy
and hung on to third- in the end being 24 seconds behind Biela. Obviously,
the reduced weight penalty has been good for Audi! Fourth place was taken
by Rickard Rydell in his Volvo S40, fifth was for Anthony Reid. All in all,
a pretty good race for Audi, but not an exciting one. No-one was taking any
chances, and there was no passing or close action. Still, it was pretty
good to see Audi once more in the lead!

Bye,

Tom

PS Dying to read about the second race! Any takers?

 _______________________________________________________________________
 Tom Nas                                          Zeist, The Netherlands
 tnas@euronet.nl
1988 Audi 80 1.8S, Tizianrot metallic, 212,000km

              Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog:
     Nobody really enjoys it and the frog generally dies as a result.