2009 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship

Race 3 Sunday 19^th April -15 mins + 1 lap

Martin has the pack on his tail

After a single pace lap the pack were off for what was supposed to be a 15 mins + 1 lap session, and once again Michael shot off like a Cork from a bottle, drawing away from the pursuers at about 1.5 secs per lap. He was about 20 seconds ahead when the chequered flag came out after 12 laps much to most peoples surprise, as we had only run for 12 mins and 30 seconds!

This was a shame as we started to get some real racing! Behind Michael and John Morris who finished in 2^nd place; Martin & Andy Williams were having a real dice with Andy putting Martin under some real pressure for the first 4 laps until a spin dropped him away.

However behind them Jeff Davies and Geraint Rees finally got it on, with the two Westfields inches apart for lap after lap, and actually side by side for several of them! Geraint eventually slipped by and then started to pull a small gap to Jeff to finish in 4^th place with Jeff 5^th.

Nick Jones had a fairly uneventful race after his sparring partner Lea Wood, who had made some lightening starts, decided to mix it with the big boys. This time however he tried to make a move on Martin Davies after the Triple Champions’ Sierra Sapphire had to take avoiding action to miss Glyyne; who had missed his braking point and went sliding up the inside of Hatchets and up the escape road! "It pays to be aware!"

However Lea found that Clios don’t bounce and he had to pull off with broken track-rod, whilst Martin was left to rue another piece of battle damage on his beloved machine.

Big Dice

Behind Nick, there was a humdinger of a battle with Paul Trowbridge, Andy Meyrick, Russell Haggerty & Glynne Jones in a race long pitched battle especially made to entertain the crowd as well as the drivers! Paul, Andy, Russell & Glynne swapped places at will, until Paul made a bid to break away with what he thought was 5 minutes left, only to find the chequered flag being waved at him! "That was a suprise! It was lucky I made a break when I did as I was going to leave it to the last lap as I thought we were going for the full 15 minutes!" Glynne remarked "That was the most fun I have had in a long time!" Indeed lets hope a few people who weren’t with us will realise there is still a lot of fun to be had.

So 3 races = 3 wins for Michael Riordan, yes the Welsh are noted for their hospitality, but lets hope someone can give him a real run for his money on May.  Michael describes his weekend

Do you want a good cure for the blues? Turn the tele off when the news comes on; and start fettling the car. Why not do a car share. Why not just do it!

Many thanks to Steve Williams & Chris Morris for their excellent photos

Results from TSL Timing