2002 Championship rounds 1 +2

2002 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship

Jointly adminsitered by WRDA & BARC Wales

Supported by The Pembrey Performance Driving School

The weather was sunny and dry at Pembrey for the start of this year’s Championship. A host of new cars and new faces joined the familiar crew, and a great week-end of racing was in store.

Practice went well for most people, with some extremely quick times being set. This, of course, was before the trucks came out and laid rubber and diesel all over the circuit! Nick Spence was the only casualty, bending the front of his Marcos on the back wheel of Stuart Eyres Toyota at Hatchetts. The back wheel faired much better than the Marcos! Pity as it was going well. Terry was quickest in his new Radical Prosport, at 56.91s, while daughter Catherine was doing well in her first outing in her Prosport, posting a 1.04.69. Clive Hayes had been helping Cindy Pierce to fix her Global Light after a pretty big off on Friday, and qualified 2nd in his shiny red Radical. David Smith, in an immaculate Mallock Mk28, was looking very quick and assured in third place. Jonathan Coleman was 4^th up in a beautiful brand new Prosport. Alvin Powell was trying hard to master the superb 2000 BTCC winning Mondeo, and was fifth fastest after some hairy looking moments. Ian Hall had his lovely Darrian out for Saturday only and was 6^th fastest, followed by Mark Fennell in the Corrado, Catherine Brown, Martin Jones’ Sierra Cosworth, Nick Spence, Mark Smithers, Peter Williams in his Global Light and Nigel Bowen’s Cavalier Touring car all within a second or so of one another. Just behind them by less than a second was Rhodri Jenkins in his Civic R, followed by the visiting Caterham of Michaele Apostolides, Cindy Pearce, Pete Salter in his Rover Gti, Stuart, Mike Quenby in a Nova and Paul Gibbs in the Renault Clio.

Terry had a great start and looked more at home as he gradually pulled away from the field. Clive kept him in sight until he had an annoying intermittent problem from half way through the race which deprived him of a few cylinders, but he still held on to finish second behind Terry. Alvin had some wild moments in his Mondeo, with an early spin putting him well down the field. As he made his way through, he hit Mark Fennell and lost further time, and ended up 6^th. David Smith continued to look good in his Mallock, but could not quite stay with Ian’s Darrian, and ended up a comfortable 5^th with Ian 4^th behind Jonathan’s Radical in 3^rd. Further down the field, Peter Williams had a great race, moving up to 7^th place to win the driver of the day, and very close racing for 8^th place resulted in Martin’s Sierra just keeping ahead of Nigel’s Cavalier and Catherine’s Radical. Rhodri kept all the cars behind him that he realistically could to finish 12^th, and Cindy was getting used to her car in 15^th place. Other finishers were Michaele Apostolides, Mark Fennell, Peter Salter, Stuart Eyres, Mike Quenby and Paul Gibbs.

There was a fair bit of diesel and rubber on the circuit and times were generally slower. Three additional drivers joined us for practice, 2 Nissan Primera’s of Guy Lidbury and Gus Singh, and Valerie Diederichs in her Caterham. Terry was again fastest in practice, with Jonathan getting ahead of Clive for second place on the grid. Catherine was really getting used to her car and put in a 1.02.87 to qualify 5^th.

The trucks had been out immediately prior to the race and it was a treacherous track to be racing on. The Nissans had had problems in their earlier races and did not start. The race was red flagged on the first lap after Alvin’s Mondeo spun at Brooklands and ended up half way across the circuit. At the re-start of what was now a 10 lap race, Terry again pulled away and led to the finish, with Clive again having a mysterious intermittent fuel feed problem. However, he did manage to get 2^nd place as Jonathan had to pit before the re-start for a safety check and then start from the back of the grid. Jonathan managed to fight his way through to a creditable 3^rd despite this, and in doing so won the driver of the day award. Behind this, Rhodri came off at Hatchetts as he tried to overtake Cindy, who by now was really getting to grips with her Global Light. Rhodri made up places and ended up with another class win. Catherine was 1^st of the ladies home in 8^th place, with Cindy 11^th and Valerie 13^th.

All in all, an excellent weekend. Next races are at Pembrey on 11^th and 12^th May. See you all there!!