Season long championship protagonists James Bird (Midhurst) and Julian Godfrey (Heathfield) continued their duel at the head of the SuperModified field in the final round, even though Bird was already assured of the championship.

Bird was fastest in all three qualifying heats, setting the class FTD at 2m53.005s in the second heat and taking both the five extra bonus championship points for his performance and also securing pole position for the A final.

Godfrey non-finished the first heat but fought his way back into contention with second fastest times in the remaining two heats. The front row of the grid was completed by Steve Cozens who had his best run of the year here. Gary Pusey and Phil Chicken shared the second row and were the last two starters after John Collins retired his Vauxhall Tigra and Dan O’Brien’s Ford Ka was damaged in a second heat crash.

Bird led but was passed Godfrey at the end of the first lap. At the end of the second lap the bonnet on Godfrey’s Ford Fiesta ST blew open and flattened itself against the screen, almost totally obscuring the driver’s view. Continuing at almost unabated pace, Godfrey held the lead until the last lap when Bird made a great pass at the end of the Stebbe loose surface section, moving ahead and taking his sixth win of the year.

Pusey was third and the last finisher after Chicken retired his VW Golf with a bad misfire and Cozens pulled up in the first lap.

Result

SuperModified A final (4 laps) 1 James Bird (Renault ClioSport V6) 3m53.383s; 2 Julian Godfrey (Ford Fiesta ST) + 3.426s; 3 Gary Pusey (Peugeot 206 turbo); 4 Steve Cozens (Renault ClioSport V6) 0 laps; 5 Phil Chicken (VW Golf IV) 0 laps; no other starters.