Reports > Combe Carnival May 27 2024
Walker scores a Combe double
The Castle Combe Carnival meeting was held on May 27th Bank Holiday and the WPR team had entered their usual pair of Classic Auction Review backed cars, the Class A Van Diemen RF01 for Alex Walker, having his second outing with the team and Sam Mitchell in the Class D Merlyn MK20A. Tommy Mac was back in the Class C Van Diemen RF89 and Steve Bracegirdle was having an outing in another Van Diemen RF01.
In the dying moments of practice Alex put in a couple of very fast laps to take pole for both races while Tommy was a couple of tenths adrift of Class rival, David Cobbold. Sam put in his usual performance to line up mid grid in the Merlyn while Steve went quicker in the closing laps of practice for 13th on the grid.
In Race 1 Alex made a good start to lead into Quarry, a lead which he was to hold until the end. At one stage he managed to break away as his two rivals, Felix Fisher and Luke Cooper, squabbled over second place although they managed to close up near the end.
Tommy made a good start but went straight on at the Esses on the first lap, losing a bit of time and leaving a gap to the Class C leader. However, a few quick laps saw Tommy close right up onto David Cobbold's exhaust (taking fastest lap in Class on the way) and as he was about to find a way past his engine began smoking. He dropped back and then pulled off.
Sam had a good battle with Shaun Macklin's Swift taking 8th place on the last lap while Steve had a quiet race to finish 10th.
In Race 2, Tommy was an unfortunate non starter but Alex again led away from the start with Sam also fast starting to hold sixth at the end of lap 1. Another faultless drive under intense pressure from Fisher and Cooper netted Alex a double win. Sam finished 7th with Steve a little further back in 11th.
