Webster's orange BMW was off like a robber's dog when the red lights went out, and rapidly began building a lead of around three seconds a lap over Ed Cockill, who was himself pulling way from a four-car battle that was the highlight of the opening laps. Peter Cunningham led the group, at least for the first couple of laps, but they were two, three, sometimes four abreast up Woodham Hill, giving way to a snake through the Club Chicane; Graham Johnson and Wayne Gibson were the middle two of the group, trading places through the laps, with Tom Howard keeping a watching brief on the rear bumpers of the scuffling pair. It was clean, though, clean and exciting stuff from four experienced racers. Gibson made the power of the E92 stick after a couple of laps, pulling a tentative half-second advantage over the pack, with Johnson dropping to the rear and Howard eventually displacing Cunningham.
Early pit visitors were Cris Hayes' Toledo, the wiring loom issues spelling retirement, and the luckless #9 Intersport BMW E46, Adam Hayes having a throttle issue investigated. Hayes had made short work of cutting through the field from the back row, and was closing up on the four-way fight for third when he pitted. Radcliffe would take over later in the race, and bring the BMW home eighth overall.
Another who had pulled through from a low grid slot was Nick Adams, who had got some clear air around the Damax BMW 320i, in seventh place, and heading Class 3 ahead of Anthony Wild's ETCC version of the car. Behind them was another close battle, with the Porsches of Production Sportscar frontrunners Richard Bennett and Guillaume Gruchet, split by Simon Roche's SEAT."
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