2002 Championship rounds 3 + 4

2002 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship

Jointly adminsitered by WRDA & BARC Wales

Supported by The Pembrey Performance Driving School

The weather for practice was a mixture of rain and clouds on Saturday with another bumper turn-out of 20 cars for races 3 and 4 of the 2002 Welsh Championship

Practice for Race 1 was at 9am on Saturday, and sure enough at 8.30am the heavens opened! No real surprise to see Terry Brown on pole with his Class A Radical Prosport, at 65.003s, with Clive Hayes (Radical) 2nd and Keith White in the Corrado 3rd ahead of rainmeister Graham Hollis, whose trusty Escort Mk II was in its usual sideways mode! Also showing well was Nick Spence (Marcos) in 5th with Rhodri Jenkins (Civic) an excellent 8th, having defined a new line between Spitfires and The Crossing (straight across the grass!). The Mallocks of John Yeldman and Marc Weyer were 6th and 7th. In 9th place was Catherine Brown (Class A Radical), folowed by Peter Williams (Global), Mark Fennell, Martin Jones, newcomer Richard Hollebon (Ginetta) and Dave Smith (another Mallock). Larry Phillips (Sapphire) was 15th with Andrew Hey (BMW M3), Mike Edgell (Mini Miglia), Pete Salter in his Rover GTi, Cindy Pearce (Global), and Paul Gibbs in the Renault Clio making up the 20 car grid. Pity that Paul Townsend could not get on track after a lay-off of a few years, but his newly prepared Escort was adjudged by the scrutineers to need a little extra work on the roll-cage before it can be allowed out on circuit. See you soon, Paul (maybe at Oulton Park?)!

The rain had cleared for practice 2 but it was the same result at the front. Terry was on pole with a lap in only 56.90 secs. (92.10 mph!). Clive Hayes was a second slower to take 2nd with Keith White in 3rd. Dave Smith was 4th with Cathy Brown an excellent 5th. Marc Weyer was next ahead of Peter Williams, Mark Fennell, Nick Spence and John Yeldman completing the top 10. Richard Hollebon, Martin Jones, Graham Hollis were covered by only 1.5 secs with Rhodri Jenkins a further second behind in 14th. Jonsey unfortunately lunched his gearbox so it was no racing for him, only practice! Cindy Pearce was the big winner in a major shuffle of the pack at the back, but she was only a 10th ahead of Larry Phillips! Pete Salter, Mike Edgel, Andrew Hey, and Paul Gibbs in the Renault Clio completed the grid.

Well, Graham and Rhodri's rain dance on Saturday was completely ineffective, as the sun shone all day on Sunday! Martin Jones was unlucky to have a transmission problem which unfortunately ruled him out for the day. There was drama on the grid before the race even started with Nick Spence snapping his throttle cable and Larry and Andrew Heys unable to start with technical gremlins. So after a 2nd warm up lap, the lights finally went green and Terry took the lead. Initially there looked to be real scrap on at the start of the race with Clive right on his tail, and alongside him! Unfortunately Clive was forced out early when a drive shaft broke, and from there on Terry looked to have a relatively straightforward win. However, Keith White was flying in his hot rod Carrado, and finished just 2 seconds behind Terry. Marc Weyer had an assured drive in his Mallock to finish 3rd , in only his second ever race despite a very scarey moment at Honda on lap7! Peter Williams, Cathy Brown, and Mark Fennell had a race long dice, and Peter did well to fend off our Catherine and her Radical, finishing just ahead of her by less than half a second in 4th place. Mark Fennell was next up, followed by Graham Hollis who, for once, had a relatively quiet race! Behind them, Richard Hollebon in his Ginetta G27R just kept in front of Rhodri's Civic, with Rhodri again taking to the grass, this time bouncing along the whole length of the start/finish straight after coming off at Honda Curve! Cindy was next in 10th having pulled up from 19th, followed by Pete Salter, who just managed to pass the Mini Miglia of Mike Edgell on the last lap after a race-long duel. Peter set this fastest ever lap in the race and was looking well pleased with himself. Mike was followed by Paul Gibbs.

Once again the warm up lap proved a crisis point for some with Dave Smith and John Yeldman both disappearing with diff and drivetrain problems, and Paul Gibbs taking to the pits with an electrical problem. Again, Terry Brown had a good start and maintained a lead throughout the race, though Clive kept in touch to finish just 3 seconds behind. Peter Williams used his meagre 600 c.cs in his Global Light to good effect and took 3rd place early on. However eventually the power of Keith White pushed him up to 3rd , and Marc Weyer into 4th spot. Peter kept going to finish 5th just ahead of the impressive Cathy Brown in 6th. Cathy was giving Peter a torrid time early on, but Peter managed to keep her at bay and eventually drew away to finish about 5 seconds ahead . Behind them, there was a great battle in the early stages between Nick Spence, Graham Hollis and Mark Fennell, with Mark's hot rod Corrado surprising both Nick in the Marcos and Graham in his Escort when he overtook them both on the OUTSIDE at Hatchetts in a single excellent move! Behind them, Richard's Ginetta and Rhodri's Civic traded places a few times, with the Ginetta again just pipping the Civic by half a second. Larry was next up, having managed to sort out the earlier heating problems with his Sierra Cosworth, to get his first proper run in the car. Pete Salter again kept Mike's Mini behind, with Andrew Heys close behind in his BMW M3 and Paul's Clio several laps down after his early pit stop. Cindy Pearce was going well until the throttle stuck open on the approach to Hatchtets on lap 5 and it need some quick work to slow it down!

So, another great weekend of racing, and only a very few days to prepare for the next race at Oulton Park on May 18th. Pembrey follows on 22nd and 23rd June. See you all there!!