Pembrey Karting

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A bold experiment

Sunday – Practice and entry.

Jeff gives the Juno a shake down in the wet morning practice

The weather forecast was for early morning rain giving way to a sunny afternoon and this time the forecasters were right! The only real change from Saturday was Jeff Davies who was having a run out in the Juno SS3-V6, but it was Robert Oldershaw who splashed his way around the quickest to take pole from Jeff to make it an all Juno front row! Peter Williams, who seems to be a bit of a wet weather expert was 3^rd in his Radical from Steve Griffiths and his Jade, with Dave Krayem (Stealth) 5^th, Tom Richardson (Nemisis) 6^th . Alvin 7^th and Clive Hayes the last sportscar in 8^th. Andrew Williams, Ken Rattenbury, Doug Bowkett, Peter Lear, Stephen Pearcy, Mike Woods and Adrian Chapman 16^th. Lee David missed practice trying to fettle his drive shaft, but would join the race from the back of the grid.

The race(s) Race 1 Sportscars.15 mins + 1 Lap – Standing Start. Bright & Sunny

With plenty of time to spare in the race day programme, the organisers tried the experiment of running 2 races; one for the Sports Cars and one for the Saloons.

8 cars can make a good race but on this occasion Jeff Davies judged it right and was soon putting the Juno through it paces, setting his fastest lap in the later stages to win by over 25 seconds. Robert Oldershaw was 2^nd, after Steve Griffiths had spun on the kerbs and then retired, and Dave Krayem was 3^rd. Graham Cole and Clive both retired, giving Dave a nice lead in Class A. Tom Richardson and Peter Williams were close throughout and put on the best show. All in all it was a nice run for Jeff who confirmed "The car is lovely but it takes some time to get your head around it. It does a lot more than a Radical" It’s certainly an nice piece of kit and seems a very big and wide car.

The race( 2) The Saloons. 15 mins + 1 Lap – Standing Start. Bright & Sunny

Alvin (or Mr Burns as he has been cruelly dubbed by some) was due to take up Pole position, by mindful that we need to create a spectacle, he made good his promise of starting from the pitlane and gave him self a good handicap too, getting away well after Andrew Williams had lead away from the lights. Alvin took some time to warm up the car properly before starting to claw back some of the distance, but on the second lap Lee David, who was making his way up from the back too, lost it at Debeni and spun sideways across the track, leaving Stephen Pearcy no-where to go. Steve was powerless to avoid T-boning Lees’ car (fortunately in the passenger door), both cars suffering heavy damage. Steve’s car was out on the spot but Lee was able to get going again, but with a terrific dent in the door!

The race was red flagged to recover Steve’s car, eventually re-starting over 10 laps. Alvin was again playing to the gallery but taking no chances by blasting by past the pits, stalking Andrew and eventually taking the lead on lap 7. The midfield action was good until Doug Bowkett slowed dramatically, trying to keep going and only missing out on the finishers points by one lap having covered only 70% of the distance and not the 80% needed, bad luck! Andrew Williams again racked up the points, Ken didn’t spin, Adrian wasn’t lapped and that was about it .

Overall at the end of the day most of the drivers from both the Saloon and Sportscar camps agreed the idea had turned out to be a damp squib, the feeling being that there wasn’t enough cars on the track. Steve Griffiths said "We missed them, lapping the slower cars gives you a change to make a move on someone. It’s a Sports & Saloon Championship and needs to stay like that." For his part Ken Rattenbury also spoke up to say that it was a nice idea but it turned out to be wrong in practice. Sounds like "Cant live with them, Cant live without them!" on both sides.

By contrast last years experiment of running longer races turned into a fantastically tense encounter, although it must be pointed out that there was the extra tension of the battle between Christian Evans and Rhordi. (Both Christian and Rhodri were in attendance on the weekend, Rhodri looking fit and slim and both drivers promising to be out next year).

The next race is at Silverstone on Saturday with the final rounds at Pembrey on 15/16^th October and we have been asked to support the Pembrey Winter Series on 19/20^th of November. Reports will follow.