Jason Davies storms to the 2016 title – by Nick Rocke (Race 1 report at the bottom of the page)<\/p>\n
Race 2 – Pembrey- 15 minutes + 1 lap \u2013 rolling start.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n So after several torrential down pours of rain since the 1st<\/sup> race, everyone emerged from there hiding spots and swept the water from their work space, and started preparing their car for our second race of the day and the last race of our season. With a lot riding on this last race some were keener than others to get it done, but due to the terrible weather conditions some decided to throw in the towel and pack up.<\/p>\n We had a total of 26 cars entering out of the 31 that were out in qualifying. Mark Harris had decided not to race but he wasn\u2019t racing for points, Del-boy Delaronde had the same idea as well. Andy \u2018Risca\u2019 Williams decided not to repair his Sierra Cosworth after race 1 and loaded it onto the trailer to fight another day. Richard Francis also could not enter the final race due to his car intermittently cutting out. The weather had got so bad that they even cancelled one of the super karts races as they deemed it too dangerous for them to race.<\/p>\n But a bit of rain wasn\u2019t going to phase our WSSCC drivers, as most of us are used to the Welsh rain by now. Championship contender Jason Davies in the turbo powered Sierra Cosworth was at an advantage in the wet and also strangely likes racing in the wet weather, he would need to finish this race high up in his class to keep Tyrone Lufferelli\u00a0( class BT ) from stealing the Championship crown. There only the odd one or two points between the top 4 drivers in the championship, so if one was to falter in this race someone else would be waiting to take their spot in the top 3 overall.<\/p>\n So race 2 got under way it wasn\u2019t raining at the start but there was lots of surface water, Jason had the inside line again coming into hatchets and gained substantial ground in the first few corners. Krayem and Everill were next around surprisingly followed by Fabio\u2019s Corrado silhouette who had gained two positions off Keith White and Reuben in the Peugeot 206cc, then followed by the Mini turbo of Jim Lyons who had BT star Tyrone behind him!\u00a0 Tyrone had got past 3 class CS cars at the start and was now almost chasing his dad in the Corrado. Chris Morris was passing the Clio of Colin Lewis going into the crossing on their first lap.<\/p>\n Jason\u2019s lead had grown again by lap 2 almost looked like a repeat of\u00a0 race 1 , Fabio was still running in 4th<\/sup> in front of Keith in the Z4 , Tyrone had stayed with Jims MNini and was trying to get past at every opportunity. Back further in the pack Roger Dowden was running in front of Daryl Radford\u2019s Honda civic with Peter Hills behind him. Peter still appeared to be slower than usual, my guess is the weather and poor grip were to blame.<\/p>\n By lap 3 Jason\u2019s lead had grown yet again and was now 10 seconds in front of 2nd<\/sup> place Dave Krayem, Keith White in 5th<\/sup> had caught up to Fabio\u2019s Corrado and was now looking to make a move. Jims mini had pulled away and had a bit of space between him and Tyrone now. Colin Lewis was still running in 2nd<\/sup> in class BT and had the Evo of Bradley John sandwiched between him and Colin Dunn. Colin was pushing hard to try get past the Evo but the BHP figures were against him I think. \u00a0Daryl was still chasing Roger Dowden\u2019s Davrian. As Jason Davies came through the crossing on lap 4 he had a more than comfortable lead over Dave Krayem who was still pushing hard to keep 2nd<\/sup> place away from Chris Everill\u2019s Ginetta G50. By now Keith White was running in 4th<\/sup> and 3rd<\/sup> in Class D, which suited him well as with his Joker in play, he only had to keep Chris in sight to win Class D for the 5th<\/sup> year running.<\/p>\n Tyrone was all alone running in 1st<\/sup> in BT. Colin Lewis had pulled away from Colin Dunn a bit but we had seemed to of lost Bradley john, Chris Morris had now put the little yellow Iggy \u00a0between Lewis and Dunn.<\/p>\n On lap 5 Jason looked to have this one all wrapped up his lead continued to grow and all he needed now was to bring it home to become the 2016 WSSCC Champion. Most of the pack were evenly spaced out and no close racing on this lap although Colin Dunn had managed to get passed Chris Morris and now was trying to play catch up to gain on Colin Lewis. Jason, Krayem and Everill made their way through the traffic on lap 6, Peter Hills had picked up the pace a little and appeared to be pushing a bit harder eventually catching and passing Roger Dowden, and in the process taking the fastest lap in the AS class. This will have an impact on the new \u2018Colin Gundersen\u2019 Fastest Lap Trophy, as Roger, Jason and Tyrone have all now only scored 7 out of the 8 rounds at Pembrey! This will take some working out!<\/p>\n Back in the race, Jim Lyons was making up ground in the turbo\u2019d mini and was catching the 206cc of Reuben Taylor, Colin Dunn had pulled away from Morris and had made some ground up on Lewis. Jason Davies came past on the start of his lap 7 still running and running well he had a 22 second lead over Dave Krayems Ginetta, Krayem and Everill were still a few car lengths apart they had been like this since the start of the race, Keith White had caught back up and was only a second behind Everill, Daryl in the Civic type R had closed the gap to Dowden and was waiting for Roger to make a mistake. Somewhere in the spray Bradley John visited the pits on lap 3 and had re-appeared in the middle of the pack, having lost almost 5 minutes! The official time keepers only had him down as doing 10 laps which was not enough to be classified as a finisher! \u00a0Whether it was Brads lack of real wet tyres, and he only did do 10 laps, it shows the value of keeping your own lap chart, so you can challenge the result if you need to! Back in the race, Jason was now starting lap 8 and carried plenty of speed through the crossing kicking up a massive tail wave in the standing water! It is hard to express how wet it was on circuit but it didn\u2019t phase Jason! The gap between the \u2018Colins\u2019 was still the same but both drivers were pushing hard, Chris Morris was now catching Gareth Haycock\u2019s VW Golf and were only a few car lengths apart.<\/p>\n Keith had caught up with \u00a0Chris Everill and was looking for a way past, Fabio lufferelli was still out there didn\u2019t appear to being pushing, this was not surprising considering how ill he felt before the race, but he was out there supporting the Championship and hopefully having a bit of fun in those wet conditions! Daryl had made the move on Dowden and had gained a bit of ground, I know how hard it can be to get past Roger. He is really good on the brakes, so it\u2019s hard to out brake him into corners, and that little Davrian really shifts out of the corners as well, so Daryl would have to work hard to outwit the gentleman. Tyrone was still 1st<\/sup> in class BT and as long as he didn\u2019t make any mistakes, there was no threat close by. Jason started his lap 9 and didn\u2019t appear to be as flat out as previous laps he was probably thinking to conserve the car as he must have known by looking in his rear-view mirror on the straights, he\u2019d done enough to secure his position.<\/p>\n Glynne in the M3 was now having a bit of a battle with Bradley\u2019s Evo, Peter Hills appeared to be getting into his stride as he made up some ground to Radford. In a dry race he would normally be running in the top 10 positions but this wet weather didn\u2019t agree with his little Mini,\u00a0which was one of a few Mini\u2019s that were out with us at this meeting, shame it wasn\u2019t dry as they can get very competitive due to their power to weight ratio, matching some of the much larger engine class cars. \u00a0And as if at a blink of an eye Jason was coming passed again on his lap 10 and was carrying a 26 second lead to comfort him on his way, must have made his most important race of the season a bit less daunting knowing that he just had to keep his lines clean and get it home. Reuben\u2019s Peugeot 206cc was still running well but with no one around him to race with. Jason was now on lap 11 only a few more to go I did wonder what was going through his head at this point in time, (Check out the post-race interview). Jasons dad Martin Davies who won 3 WSSCC championships in a 2wd car (Martins 4th<\/sup> win in 2012 was with the 4wd car) was waiting nervously in the pits, counting down the laps, and almost 20 years to the day that he won the last of his triple wins in 94,95 & 96, so this was a very important race for both him and his son Jason!<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Colin Dunn had closed the gap right up to Colin Lewis and was now within a second of him.<\/p>\n Jason Davies had now started lap 12 of his race, Daryl Radford slipped down the inside of the backmarker Craig Edmunds in the 205 gti, Craig has been out with us for the last 4 races and is new to racing and is gaining his signatures to move on to bigger and brighter things in the near future, we wish him all the best but maybe he will come back out with us next season for a few races. Dave Krayem and Chris Everill were stilling fighting hard for that second place, within half a second of each other. they were pretty evenly match just down to who wants it more I guess but good racing to watch though.<\/p>\n Colin Dunn was still within a second of Colin Lewis but was a backmarker to the Corrado of Fabio so lost a bit of time coming through old paddock but maybe this will play to his advantage when Fabio passes Lewis going down to Brooklands. Jason now on lap 13 with a 34 second lead over Dave Krayem he had time to back off a little and not kill the car off in the last few laps. The \u2018Colins\u2019 were now either side of Bradley\u2019s hamstrung Evo again. Jim Lyons had pulled off just after Debeni corner on lap 12, as he felt his gearbox go tight after a heavy trip over the kerbs. Damian Logotano had pulled off early on leaving Ken James to take 3rd<\/sup> in Class CS and 3rd<\/sup> in the Final Class CS points. Bradley John was 2nd<\/sup> in the Final Class CS points having already scored enough points, so his NQ and Zero Joker score in this race did not really matter! It was a seriously good debut season!<\/p>\n Back in the race the Class D trio of Krayem, Everill and White were still running in the same positions and fighting all the way to the end. 4th was Fabio Luffarelli, ahead of Reuben Taylor Peugeot 206cc 2000 \u00a0(5th<\/sup>) with Tyrones\u2019 BT \u00a0Pug 106 Gti 1600 in a fantastic \u00a06th <\/sup>\u00a0place overall!<\/p>\n Reuben won the Driver of the Race for his debut performance amongst the ranks of those with such recent Pembrey history, and promised to come back to do the Championship in 2017. Actually Keith White, Fabio and Reuben all have hot-rod heritage! (Looks like a Michael Caine fact by Robert)<\/p>\n Somehow in the last lap Colin Dunn managed to get passed Colin Lewis to steal second in class BT, Lewis still finished in a respectable 3rd<\/sup> in class BT. Behind them in 17th<\/sup> was Antony Weeks. 18th<\/sup> Roger Dowden. 19th<\/sup> Andrew Williams. 20th<\/sup> Huw Turner. 21st<\/sup> Alan Smith. 22nd<\/sup> Craig Edmunds. Alfie Brown was 23rd <\/sup>\u00a0and last!<\/p>\n So the flag dropped, as Jason Davies sailed across the line to win by over 30 seconds and become our 2016 WSSCC Champion, Class CS winner and win the Outright Wins trophy too! It was bloody well-earned as he hasn\u2019t been handed it this year by any means, he\u2019s had to fight and push himself and that Cosworth turbo to the limit. Well done Jason you are a credit to your family and the WSSCC and most importantly yourself. An amazing achievement and I liked the little celebratory burnout, I was expecting a bit of doughnuting but you can save that for your next championship win!<\/p>\n End of Race 2 Commentary<\/p>\n\n