John Cleland inherits opening win of Super Touring season
John Cleland inherited the first win of the 2014 HSCC Super Touring Car Championship as mechanical issues hampered James Dodd’s day.
Dodd dominated the race for 18 of the 20 minutes before unexpectedly peeling the ex-James Thompson Honda Accord into the pits and retiring with a drive shaft issue, yielding his four second margin to the two-time British Touring Car Champion, Cleland.
Cleland had been locked in a thrilling early race battle with the Honda Accord of Stewart Whyte, the BMW 320 of Paul Smith and the Peugeot 406 of Patrick Watts, with drivers switching positions almost every lap.
As the battle started to spread out, it appeared to be Whyte who had the advantage and had his sights set on hunting down the fellow Accord, only to spin out at Church, resulting in retirement. The team later blamed contact with Cleland for the accident, stating that a hit from the rear had thrown the handling out.
From then on it was plain sailing for the top three, with Dodd holding a sizeable lead over Cleland, who in turn had a handy advantage over Watts in third. The race appeared to be going the way of James Dodd before mechanical issues forced him out, while his father, Graeme, also retired his Nissan Primera from the race not thirty seconds later with a steering problem.
The retirement allowed Cleland to streak away to the first victory of the 2014 season, followed across the line by Watts, with Paul Smith taking his BMW 320 to third place.
“It was a shame that Dodd retired,” Cleland told TouringCarTimes. “He’s a class driver and that car was quick. I was quite happy to see Whyte go off at Church as he was getting pretty wild. In terms of the championship, we’re just taking this one race at a time, there’s quicker cars out there.”
“That was great fun,” added Smith, who didn’t expect to find himself on the podium at the end of the race. “At the start of the race I could see John [Cleland] was coming and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to hold him back. To finish on the podium is just fantastic, I’d love to get more but our goal is to just finish both races.”
Nick Whale was the first of the non-Super Touring machines across the line, taking GA class victory.
“We’re a long way off the pace,” said Whale to TouringCarTimes. “It’s frustrating, I wouldn’t say we really deserve a trophy. Despite that, it’s great to be back in the car, that view from behind the windscreen is something you never forget.”
