2012 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship

Round 4 - Pembrey August 5^th

 Race 2 – 15 mins + 1 lap- rolling start

Keith White puts the pressure on Martin Davies as Keith Butcher looks on (photo Steve Williams)

The track had dried over the lunch hour and the preceding races, and although the dark clouds were now over towards Pembrey village & Burry Port, it stayed dry on the track. With the finishing order of race 1 making up the grid for race 2, it was Martin who led the grid to the startline, with John Morris and Chris Evans starting from the back. Martin held the lead initially from Keith & Neill Watts who had Keith White in close company. With the bit between his teeth the red BMW soon moved into 2^nd place. Keith then made a bid for the lead on lap 3 and once through, was then able to build a lead which he had built up to 3.5 seconds over Martin by the end. Keith Butcher was holding down 3^rd but late in the race Neil Watts and Michael Cond closed in to make it an exciting dash for the line! Geraint Rees was 6^th, ahead of the fast rising John Morris. John made an ambitious move to pass Geraint around the inside of the paddock turn. Geraint, as is his right & privilege and without blocking anyone, held his ground. John, a former Grass-track Champion, then found himself running out of road, and went onto the grass. He ended up somewhere near the entry to the Rally Cross track, before gathering it up, to finish a lap down in 7^th place! Andy Williams, who was as high as 8^th, also tried it as a potential shortcut, but lost out to Mark Nicholson and Rhodri in the process, after Rhodri had overtaken the impressive newcomer Kevin Bird. Rhodri commented ' I got boxed in a little at start, and took along time to pass Kevin Bird's BMW130i, and was just catching class leading Mark Nicholson's Honda Integra on last lap. Still, 9th overall, 2nd in class, and class fastest lap. Great fun! Brilliant weekend! Everyone in Wales with a racing car should be out with us!' Rhodri has out a link on You tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhKP-nqAc7I&feature=plcp

Andy recovered to overtake Kevin. Mark, Rhodri. Andy & Kevin finishing 8/9/10 &11^th in that order. Mike Edgell was the last runner on 15 laps in 12^th place, and has now taken the lead in the championship due to his playing his joke card in race 1! This time Mike reversed the Class order with Roger Dowden who in 13^th lead the runners on 14 laps, Chris Morris and Kareem had a good dice for 14^th & 15^th. Andy Long. Andrew Meyrick, Dexter Crompton, Phil Bendall , Giles Beck and Chris Evans all did 14 laps. Huw Morgan was 22^nd , but Mellisa, in 23^rd,  won the battle of the Ladies again with Verity 24^th and last . There were no non-finishers.

After Keith White talking to the commentator explained, ‘I went for it up the inside of Martin and hoped he’d seen me there. He did try to get me back, but I was able to keep him behind, then when I got in front I could use all of the track and it was alright. Martins car has got more speed than me on the straights but this one goes around the corners great. We are in the middle of developing the suspension, trying something different, but every-time we tried this weekend it has rained, so we decided to bolt on some new rubber on it to try it and see if it worked. It was good!’  Later it seemed that the rain that missed us, fell on Pembrey Village and Burry Port, but this time without the dire consquences that befell Narberth.

The S4C (Welsh Language Channel) Ralio + cameras were there with us, so hopefully we will see some action on there soon. As always there was probably too much for one person to see and write down, so if you have any stories about your race (that we can print!) please let us know, via wrda@ntlworld.com

Times from www.tsl-timing.com

   2012 Overall & Class Points