2003 Welsh Championship

Round 1 - Pembrey Saturday April 12^th. Entry and practice

The weather for the opening day of the season was exceptional, with blue skies and lots of sunshine, and there was a pleasing 17 car entry, with a sprinkling of new faces and new cars, in amongst the more familiar faces. What hadn’t changed was the name at the top of the practice times sheet, with Terry Brown taking his umpteenth consecutive pole position at Pembrey out of umpteen races with a time of 55.71 seconds.

Terry Brown - 2 poles + 2 wins = nice weekend.

Terry seems to have moved to making light of his continuing dominance and described his latest pole "A bit of a fluke" In 2nd place was newcomer Mark Thomas who had his Class C leading Radical Prosport well wound up and was less than 8/10ths slower than Terry, but a good 2.5 secs faster than Peter Williams. Peter had an equal distance between him and the second newcomer of the day Dave Krayem, who showed some stealth by running his unique and lovely sounding Royale Sportscar which has a 5 litre Chevy V8 fitted! Dave was the only non-Radical in the top 6. In 5^th was another newcomer Jamie Lovell, who did well to pedal his Radical Clubsport (that’s the 1100 cc version) so fast.

Jamie Lovell - loving it!

Completing the top 6 was Huw Williams, who is also Radical mounted this year. 7^th and first saloon was Rhodri Jenkins and he was chased by another quick newcomer Rhys Lloyd. It was Rhys first car race but he has had a lot of Kart experience and he put to good effect and he was only a couple of 10ths slower than Rhodri! Rhys headed a gaggle of newcomers with Richard Rhozons’ Radical Clubsport only a few 100ths quicker than Paul Trowbrige and his Ginetta G20. Next and going quickly was Peter Salter (Peter had customized his windscreen with his bonnet, after leaving the holding paddock with his bonnet clips undone, leaving some nice freehand cracks!) , heading a bunch of familiar faces with Mike Edgell 12^th and Cindy Pearce 13^th . Following them in 14^th were 3 newcomers Mike Bevington, Ken Smith (both Honda mounted) and Lee David with a Golf Gti that looked as if it had just stepped off the street and was complete with number plate and tax disc! Finally the last unfamiliar face was Clive Hayes. Ok so Clive is obviously well known, but last was an unfamiliar place for him to be "It was the electric’s, the car just died!" Clive said as he checked out the fuses. However 17th was going to give him a good chance to get to known a lot of the new faces early on.

Race report  Round 1 - 14 laps - Pembrey Saturday 12/4/03. Sunny and dry

With only a whisker separating the practice times of the Class A Radical of defending champion Terry Brown, and the horde of hungry Class C cars headed by Mark Thomas, the opening round looked like being a cracker. However when the lights changed both Terry and Mark got bogged down as the tension equated into wheel-spin. Peter Williams found himself launched into a rocket start but with nowhere to go, but then Terry found some grip and headed the charge down to Hatchets emerging with a lead he was never to loose. Behind him there was a big sort out at Hatchets which ended with Peter in 2^nd place, but under great pressure from Mark Thomas, who pressed too hard later in the lap and spun at Honda. In the meantime Clive Hayes had risen to be up to 3^rd place in only 3 laps, but he was soon under pressure from Mark who had recovered quickly from his spin. Dave Krayem and Peter Salter where also spinners, Dave at Hatchets and Peter at Honda on the slippery surface in the early laps. Rhodri Jenkins described some corners as needing "a big intake of breath".

However Terry, having set his fastest lap on lap 2, was sitting pretty and began to draw away from Peter Williams, (who was content with racking up the points in a fully subscribed Class C), to win by 9 seconds

Clive Hayes slices through the traffic, chased by Mark Thomas.

Behind Peter it was hammer and tongs action between Clive and Mark as Mark turned up the pressure and set his fastest lap on lap 6. Clive responded but then fell back into Marks clutches following a moment at Dibeni lapping Rhodri who seemed to be concentrating on his own lappery. On the line there was only 6/10ths of a second separating the dueling pair! Jamie Lovell excelled himself to finish 5^th in his Clubsport Radical ahead of Captain Krayem who was the last unlapped runner in 6^th.

Dave Krayem - Royale progress

Huw Williams, Richard Rozhon and Rhodri Jenkins had their own races to finish 7^th, 8^th 9^th, 1 lap down. Rhys Lloyd who recovered after being balked at Hatchets, headed the runners who were 2 laps down, followed by Cindy Pearce who struggled with a deflating front tyre to finish just about a second clear from Paul Trowbridge’s Ginetta, with Mike Edgell rounding out the 12 lappers in 13^th place

Peter Salter, Mike Bevington, Ken Smith and Lee David rounded out the finishers, Ken was particularly pleased "I finished my first race, and I wasn’t last!"

Lovely sunshine - good racing! Lee and Ken battle it out.

Round 2 Pembrey Sunday April 13^{th .} Entry and practice

In contrast to Saturday, Sunday was cold, windy, dull and overcast with a threat of rain. The rain did not appear, but the name appearing on the top of the practice sheets once again was Terry Brown with a 55.981 second lap. 2^nd this time and the leading Class C runner was Peter Williams with a time of 57.447 secs which was about 3/10ths quicker than Mark Thomas. Clive Hayes got his car pointing towards the front end of the grid and was the last driver under the 1 minute barrier with 58.63. Dave Krayem was fifth and again the only non-Radical at the sharp end, with Jamie Lovell completing the top 6. Huw Williams was 7^th with Richard Rohzon extending the Radical sweep down to 8^th place. Fastest saloon this time was Rhys Lloyd, who hasn’t taken long to get used to this car racing lark, at least the practising! Rhys’s time of 66.47 secs was 2.5/10 ^ths faster than Rhodri Jenkins who is obviously considerably more experienced. However practice is one thing, racing is another. Cindy was 11^th and also likely to feature in any midfield dicing. Peter Salter was 12th with Mike Edgell and Mike Bevington following. This time Lee David and Ken Smith swapped places but with only ½ sec between them.

Race report  Round 2 – 14 laps - Pembrey Sunday 13/4/03. Dull, overcast and dry

The weather was a complete contrast to Saturday, but the rain which was forecast never arrived. However with a short programme in prospect the Welsh race followed the morning practice session, right after Truck practice!! However it did not seem as bad as it might have been with only Dave Kraymen and Cindy Pearce spinning, but both cases not truck related. Dave’s Royale Chevyy is obviously a handful but Cindy had her front tyre deflate again, which ruined the best overtake off the day, as she spun on the exit to Hatchets after making a really bold attempt to pass Rhodri on the brakes. Cindy had to give it best shortly after, with some new tyres first on the shopping list for the next round.

At the front of the grid, once again it was Terry with the better start and his second lights to flag victory of the weekend. Only this time he was made to work for it, initially by Peter Williams who settled quickly into 2^nd place, followed by Mark Thomas, Clive Hayes and Dave Krayem. In 6^th place Jamie Lovell was being harried by Huw Williams, with Richard Rohzon close behind. Rhodri Jenkins Honda Civic R headed the saloons, but with Cindys’ Global Light sandwiched between him and the Honda Civic V-tec of Rhys Lloyd. Peter Salter headed Mike Edgell by a narrow margin followed by Mike Bevington, Lee David and Ken Smith.

On lap 2 Peter Williams was keeping Terry on his toes, and Mark Thomas slipped by Clive for 3^rd place. Jamie Lovell was finding the tenacious Huw Williams right on his tail and Rhodri Jenkins was being harried by Cindys’ Global Light with Rhys in close behind. Peter Edgell found a way past Peter Salter and the battle continued for most of the race.

Mike Edgell - always a gent to race against, according to Peter Salter

There was definitely plenty to watch in this race and by lap 4 Terry was leading his pursuers through the back markers. On lap 5 Terry began to draw away from Peter and Mark made a big effort to close in. Peter Salter regained his place from Mike Edgell, by Mike was sticking to him like glue. Cindy was starting to put some real pressure on Rhodri with a couple of good goes at Hatchets and Dibeni "I was determined to have a go at Rhodri for as long as I could" The battles between Jamie Lovell and Huw and Peter and Mike were also worth watching, and    on lap 6 it was all action. Cindy dived past Rhodri on the brakes at Hatchets, and made it through, only to raise the dust with a big spin on the exit. "I could see Cindy flying past and I thought she’s going too fast, she’ll never make it" Rhodri said after. Cindy replied "I have made it all the way through it it wasn’t for that front tyre" Still it looked tremendous fun and livened up a chilly day. At the same time Huw made it past Jamie and Mark Thomas was closing on Peter Williams, trying to make a big pass at Spitfires. However a lap later it was all over for Peter as his car ground to a halt just before the pits "It was the fuse again. It blew in testing, but its’ been alright ever since. I was looking forward to battling with Mark" With Peter gone, gaps started to appear between the cars, especially after a big spin on the exit of Hatchets by Dave Krayem held up Jamie Lovell and allowed Huw Williams to escape, but Jamie had already done enough to take his class and the extra point for fastest lap. But that was not to say the pace was slackening, and Mark made a big effort in the closing laps to catch Terry, setting his fastest lap on lap 12, and closing to within 2.7 secs at the line. Mike Edgell also put on a spurt and was right on Peters’ bumper again as the chequered flag came out.

Mike Bevington was another to get in the swing late on, setting his fastest lap on lap 8, finishing ahead of Lee David with Ken Smith the last finisher.

So Terry has started 2003 as he finished 2002 with a further 2 pole positions and 2 dominant wins in dry conditions, but there are some signs that the opposition is getting closer. Modest as ever Terry said "It’s a good start but we’ll have to see how it goes" Big winner, points wise, over the weekend was Rhodri Jenkins with 2 class wins and 2 fastest laps from the well supported G class for Saloon cars, but there are signs that he will have plenty to keep him busy once Rhys Lloyd gets some more racing miles under his belt! Jamie Lovell also scored big points on the weekend and it will be interesting to see how the points pan out as the season progresses.

Rhodri - small saloon - big points!

Times and results http://www.mst-group.co.uk

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