Pre-season Test March 22^nd Pembrey

Some brilliant sunshine and warm weather greeted the championship contenders as they got some early testing in. There were plenty of new faces and some welcome returns too.

Making a welcome re-appearance in the paddock was Glynne Jones who was enjoying the sunshine and company of some old mates. Will he be racing this year? "I may do a few races this year" If he does that will mean a welcome return of one the most sideways racers in championship history.

In the small saloon class there was a strong showing with defending class champion Rhodri Jenkins having up to 6 others battling for his title. Amongst the challengers Peter Salter is kindly offering a discount deal on new races helmets, and Mike Edgehill, who proves a well driven Mini is always a competitive prospect.

There was also plenty of new cars in the sports-car class, chiefly Radicals but another driver making a welcome return was 1999 Welsh Champion Graham Cole having just completed his new Darrian GT project which seems to have taken about a century to build. (Well he did start it in the 20^th and finished it in the 21^st century!) Graham conceded "Yes it did a lot longer than I thought"

Impressive new car from 1999 Champion Graham Cole, at least he'll be nice and dry if it rains!

Amongst the Radical runners, reigning Welsh Champion Terry Brown decided he wasn’t quite ready for the rocking chair yet and was putting in some quick laps. However he will have plenty of opposition from 2000 champion Clive Hayes who will be joined by last years runner up Peter Williams who has upgraded his Global to a Radical, and Huw Williams who has swapped his Darrian t9 to a Radical too!

2002 runner up Peter Williams gets ready to give his nice shiny Radical a run.

However a potential cat amongst pigeons could be the new-comers from Port Talbot, Jamie Lovell and Mark Thomas. Mark will be running a club sport Radical but Jamie will have a full on Radical Prosport. Jamie has been running in the BTCC and other saloon series and could be a dark horse.

Championship newcomers Jamie Lovell and Mark Thomas are looking to programme some Radical success in 2003

Other new drivers to look out for could be Mike Bevington and Richard Rozhon. Mike is a mate of Mark and Jamie and Richard has done some sprinting in the Welsh Sprint Championship. Also showing in the paddock was the rapid Castle Combe regular David Green and a couple of other CC regulars and it must be hoped that Dave and the others will do more Welsh races this year.

All in all it looks like we could be in for an interesting year!