Round 11 - Mallory Park- Sunday 27th July

Terry Brown wins an away round - plenty of action all through the field

Practice and Entry

The Saturday journey up to Mallory Park for our annual "Summer" trip, was through torrential rain all the way! Having got to the circuit there was a good turnout of 14 cars for the WRDA/WSSCC race, and thankfully the weather on Sunday stayed dry all day. In qualifying Terry Brown took pole postition but was ahead of Peter Williams by the merest whisper - 46.485s v 46.737s. Behind these two was Dave Smith in his Mallock, followed by Richard Rozhon's Radical Clubsport. Richard had driven really well to be in front of the 2 more powerful Prosports, with Huw Williams ahead of newcomer Jeff Davies (welcome Jeff!). Behind these, there was the closest grouping of saloons for quite some time! Christian Evans followed his excellent Pembrey debut to be the leading saloon car on the grid in his Golf, qualifying in 53.061s. Behind Christian was Andy Williams in his Sierra in 54.456, with Rhodri Jenkins's Civic 2 thousandths(!) of a second behind. Lindsay Ward was making a welcome guest return to the Welsh series in his mighty 350bhp Lancia Thema 16V, and was less than a fifth of a second behind Rhodri, followed by Rhys Lloyds's Civic only half a second behind Lindsay! Behind these, Anthony Allitt and Lee David resumed their usual duel, with Anthony taking the honours this time, his Nova edging out Lee's Golf. Making a welcome appearance was Nigel Bowen in the ex-John Cleland Cavalier Touring Car, but driveshaft and gearbox problems unfortunately meant that Nigel could not get in a quick lap, and indeed the problems were too much to fix in time for the race. Still, we were set up for a very close race...

The Race

Terry got a really good start - in fact it was TOO good and he knew early on that he was going to get a 10 second penalty! That made him all the more determined to get a 10 second advantage to make things up, which he managed, in the process setting a fastest time of 45.415s. This left him with a full lap advantage over the field, partly due to Peter Williams having to pull out with what looked like major engine problems after 10 laps. Dave had a relatively quiet race to finish 2nd, with Richard grabbing 3rd place ahead of Huw Williams, Richard managing to finish despite a coming together at the exit to Gerards with Jeff Davies, which looked like a really hairy moment! Behind the Sports cars, the saloons had their own battle. Rhodri got a great start and got the jump on both Christian and Andy, both of whom seemed to suffer some wheelspin getting off the line. Christian then had a real lairy moment at the first corner, Gerards, where he was looking at the following cars through the side window of his VERY sideways Golf. Cold tyres were to blame! He managed to hold on to the car, and during the race there were a number of close moments between Christian and Lindsay, with Lindsay's power eventually getting him past Christian to finish 2nd saloon home. Rhodri was 1st saloon, making the most of his good start and the clear track ahead of him to stretch away from the dog-fights behind. Christian was 3rd saloon, followed by Andy Williams and Rhys Lloyd. Jeff had problems and limped in 10th, with Anthony driving really well to finish 11th, in front of Lee David, who as always gave an entertaining display of driving his Golf on a maximum of 3 wheels! So, a very good day out, and the points situation remains as close as ever at the top, with Terry and Rhodri leading the Sports and Saloon sections, with Rhodri a mere 2 points ahead in the overall Championship. Lots to play for in the remaining rounds at Mondello, Lydden Hill and Pembrey!

Race Result  http://www.mst-group.co.uk/result.asp?table=33033rc1wrd&round=mallorycars.gif