The Top 16 saw Maciej Polody return to Silverstone after missing the first round at Donington in May, he found himself up against newbie licence holder Steve Carter who came from the reserves list into the top 16 after Declan Hicks had Clutch trouble after Qualifying, Steve was on form and his driving was good but not good enough to see off the Polish Polody who seemed to be driven by the devil! Steve was knocked out, Polody moved on, Phil Morrison, last years champ had car troubles too in qualifying and managed to use his back up HCR32 Skyline against Pete Barber in a battle for a top 8 place, both drivers were faultless and Phil pipped Pete top a top 8 slot despite being without his new S15 weapon.
Ben 'Bon Bon' Broke Smith took on Northern Irelands's latest arrival to the series Alan McCord, Bons black Chaser was no match for Alan in his S15, Bon being familiar with the high speed circuit at Silverstone took the win and advanced, Mark Luney in the SVA imports 350z was up against Mark 'The cowboy' Buckle in the DCY HCR32, Luney finally seemed to gel with the car after the SVA team changed the suspension set up and tyre choice to Toyo R888 , he was on serious form to dispose of Buckle pushing the SVA team into the top 8.
A crowd favourite from 2006 Steve 'Stiggy' Evans was up next against kiwi Tony Green in the black Whifbitz FD3S, again both drivers were drove amazing but Stiggy's little rocket starlet was having difficulty matching the grunt of the big powered FD and Tony took the smoke machine into the next round by a whisker after Stiggy dropped a point with an early initiation on his lead run causing him to take a defensive line through Brooklands.
Chris 'Paz' Parry was up next against the north east's Niall Gunn, Paz was smoking in qualifying and looked set to go higher this round, The Toyota AE86 of Parry has outstanding grip levels but relatively low horsepower compared to the rest of the field, with what looked like a missed gear Paz fell behind and couldn't make the speed up to challenge Gunn, he fell behind leaving Gunn to take the victory and a place in the next session.
Next up was a battle of the Nissan S13's, the bright orange machine of James 'Bladerider' Grimsey and the purple weapon of Ian Harrison, James drove like his life depended on it but Ian was on top form and after a gravel trap visit from James stole the top 8 placing with some outstanding driving, Bladey was out!
Two of the series hottest drivers had the final battle in the top 16, Brett Castle in the red S14 Silvia up against a troubled James Hudson, James managed to get the car back together after his turbo trouble in qualifying only to make a silly mistake with a trip to the gravel on Brooklands corner, Brett was through and as usual was on a mission!
The top 8 saw more blistering battles with Polody knocking out the 2006 champ Morrison after 6 runs to chants from the crowd of 'One more time', Mark Luney snatched a top 4 place from the clutches of Bon Bon who seemed to be constantly tinkering with the car on the start line after each run, Tony Green disposing of Niall Gunn despite a gravel excursion and Brett Castle beating Ian Harrison into submission.
Polody who was now running low on rubber after the earlier Morrison battle found himself up against the number 3 SVA car driven by Luney, Polody seemed to have the edge over the 350z with high entry speeds, oustanding angle and when Luney took the leads Polody shadowed him through plumes of tyre smoke.
The other semi final saw Tony Green up against seasoned vet Castle, Castle drove like a robot on automatic pilot and could not put a foot wrong, Green too was on form but with mid corner corrections his drive was more unstable that Brett and the ice man Castle took a place in the finals up against Polody.
As the cars were ready to do battle Castle had to make a decision. During earlier runs the car was suffering with high temperatures, did he take the chance and go head to head with Polody in a fight to the bitter end isking his car or did he bow out gracefully and forfeit the battle with Polody?
Common sense won over and Brett announced his retirement from the competition, Polody had taken the win and a well deserved win it was too!
Throughout the whole weekend Polody had been like a man possessed, and it was clear he had one thing and one thing only on his mind, to make the long trip back to Poland with the first place trophy and a maximum of 20 points to his name!
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