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Round 4 Saturday 10th May Pembrey Entry & Practice It was one of those Pembrey days when the weather looked like it might play a part, but then didn’t. There was some early morning drizzle, but by practice time the track was dry, and by race time it was a nice sunny spring day. Leading the practice times again was Terry Brown on 56.422 secs. Sharing the front row with him was Peter Williams who was the fastest of the Class C Radicals with 57.824 secs, closely followed by Clive Hayes and Mark Thomas who were all within a second of Peters time. 5th and the final runner to lap in under a minute, was Dave Krayem who was giving his Stealth B6 it’s Pembrey debut. With a 6.2 litre Chevyy engine Stealth was perhaps the wrong name for Daves Black and Gold machine, because there was no disguising the fact that he was coming! When he opened the throttle you could hear him coming long before you could see him! Huw Williams and Jamie Lovell were 6th & 7th with 60.878 secs and 60.996 respectively, closely followed by newcomer Marcus Bicknell and his Mallock U2.
U2 can join in and have fun- just like Marcus Bicknell Richard Rhozon completed the Radical runners in 9th. 10th and first saloon was Rhodri Jenkins ,who was well pleased to get under 66 seconds for the first time with a time of 65.605 seconds. Rhys Lloyd was 11th with 66.749 secs. Peter Salter lead the runners in the 70 second bracket with 70.431 followed by Cindy Pearce, Mike Bevington, Lee David, with Tony Allitt and his Vauxhall Nova GTE as the final runner. The race – 12 laps – rolling start It was a nice sunny afternoon, so being last race of the day wasn’t much of a chore, and the Welsh Championship race was enough of an attraction to keep most of the spectators behind to watch. However whether it’s a standing or rolling start there doesn’t seem to anybody who can catch Terry napping at the start and he was once again first away and into the lead in his familiar fashion.
Terry - that was a close as they got Mark Thomas sloted into second place but as the pack streamed through there was plenty of action amongst the saloons as both Rhodri and Rhys went spinning off on the inside of Dibeni. Rhodri explained "It was unrelated, I was just trying too hard on cold tyres" However Peter Salter wasn’t complaining, as he sailed into the lead in the saloon car classes, whilst two of his main rivals starred in the first WRDA grass track championship race! With the championship points leader at the back of the pack and one of his main rivals at the front, it was looking bad for Rhodri, and later on things got even worse, before they got better! In the meantime it was looking good for Terry as he headed for another lights to flag victory. Behind it looked good for a time for Peter Williams as he slotted into 2nd place, ahead of his fellow class C runners Clive Hayes, and Mark Thomas. However it wasn't to last with Peter dropping out on lap 3 having sprayed Clives' car with a lot of hot oil. Whether it was the gearbox or engine, only time and a strip down would tell, but that was Peter out for the weekend! Mark then put a move on Clive and began to see if he could get within striking distance of the disappearing Terry Brown. On lap 3 there was drama at Hatchets as the recovering Honda Civic R of Rhodri Jenkins closed in on the Honda Civic V-tech of Rhys Lloyd. Rhys obviously felt he needed to make every effort to keep Rhodri at bay and left his braking as late as he could on the approach to Hatchets. But it was too late and resulted in a big, brake locking moment for our youngest driver. Rhodri knew that Rhys would run wide and leave the door open on the exit, and that’s what happened. However as Rhodri aimed his car up the inside and floored the throttle, Rhys’s car came round and ended up sideways in front of Rhodri who had no option but to T-bone him with a hefty thump! (Cue WRDA grass track race 2!) After several seconds floundering around on the inside of Hatchets, Rhys got going first. However with a big dent on his drivers side rear panel, and trim parts hanging off the other side, it was a only a matter of time before the black flag came out to end his race.
Rhodri eventually made it back on the track and took several laps to get in the groove and then set about hauling himself back up the order. In the meantime Peter Salter was sitting pretty in 9th place as the leading saloon, (having let Cindys’ Global light slip by early on) ahead of Mike Bevington, Tony Allitt and Lee David who were having a good battle. Lee was later denied a finish by a mix up between the finish line and paddock entry. "Terry was right behind me and took the chequered flag but instead of allowing me carry on to take the chequered flag myself the marshals put me back into the paddock" explained the unfortunate Lee. Also getting in the groove was Dave Krayem whose Stealth is fitted with tyres the size of road rollers! With tyres 18 inch wide on 24 diameter wheels, that’s a lot of rubber to get warm (stop sniggering now). "It takes 5 laps to get any grip" explained Dave who had the front door to 3rd place opened as Clive Hayes faded with electrical problems and low fuel pressure. Eventually Clive gave it best after 8 laps. Going the distance however, were the Huw Williams v Jamie Lovell and Richard Rhozon v Marcus Bicknell duels. At the end, less than a second separated Huw in 4th and Jamie ( 5th the last unlapped runner). Turning up the heat late on were Terry, Rhodri and Mike Bevington. Terry was trying to build a cushion before coming up to lap the traffic again, whilst Rhodri and Mike were involved in late race efforts to improve their position. Rhodri made a brave attempt to catch Peter Salter, but Peter had a 6 second cushion at the end, although Rhodri did pick up the point for the fastest lap. Lapping traffic involved in their own battles became a problem late on for Terry and this allowed Mark to within 3.5 seconds at the end. Terry’s progress proved a real benefit for Marcus Bicknell , who followed Terry through to take 6th place from Richard, who found himself in 7th, a lap ahead of Cindy Pearce, with Peter, Rhodri, Mike and Tony Allitt completing the finishers. Back in the paddock as Terry bathed in the glow of another victory, and Peter Salter wore a satisfied grin, Rhodri and Rhys got together to survey the damage. On the surface Rhys’ car showed the most damage with a hefty dent in the rear quarter and a damaged door, but whilst Rhodri’s Honda looked virtually undamaged on the surface, underneath the skin was almost certain to be another matter. Still, at least they were talking to each other, and both would be fit to drive another day. The next day, in fact, as this was one of those wonderful Pembrey double headers. Times and results http://www.mst-group.co.ukReport and pics by Robert. For more pics see the Gallery All reports and articles on this site are meantime to convey the fun and excitment of racing and shoud be read in that spirit |
