Race Report: 2021 Gerry Marshall Trophy Heat 1 | 78th Members’ Meeting | GRR
Jim Morris dominated the opening heat of the Gerry Marshall Trophy contest on Saturday afternoon.
Morris guided the Mk1 Volkswagen Golf GTI raced in period by his father John to victory by 7.521 seconds, although the remaining podium positions were far from settled until the dying moments. At the start, it was pole-sitter Nick Swift who led the way into Madgwick aboard his Patrick Motors-liveried Mini 1275GT. However, the Goodwood veteran retired the car on the second lap which allowed Morris to disappear up the road, with Tom Shephard a distant second aboard Morris’ ex-Tony Lanfranchi Scirocco GTI Mk2.
Shephard spun off at the first part of St. Mary’s shortly after half-distance by which time Morris was already 8.6 seconds up the road. Battle then raged between Mini man Harvey Death and Ford Fiesta man Simon Goodliff. They squabbled until the final lap of the 20-minute heat, with the latter being wrongfooted amid traffic on the back straight. Death placed second ahead of Escort racer Kerry Michaels and a badly baulked Goodliff. Shepherd recovered to claim fifth place.
Photography by Pete Summers.