2012 Welsh Sports &
Saloon Car Championship
Pembrey October 14th
- Round 6
-
15 minutes + 1 lap
Happy Champions!
2012 Joint Champions Mike and Martin with the Awards
presentation party, Marshals
Francesca
and Ruth
(Report & Photos by Rob Allender)
It might have been hard to better
Race 1, but Race 2 was almost as exciting but for slightly
different reasons.
Both Martin Davies and Mike Cond now had
the Overall title almost within their grasp. One slip or a
mechanical problem could have handed the title to the other. If
both slipped up, there were others were ready & waiting to claim
it for themselves, with Chris Morris, Phil Bendall and Mike
Edgell all within striking distance! Indeed it is a testament to
the Championships revival that there were so many possibilities.
There
was a long delay of almost 20 minutes,
after
the earlier Pick Up Trucks race, with plenty of
debris to “Pick Up”, especially at
Hatchets! Eventually they released the cars to the gird, with
the pace car leading the pack though the short circuit
cut-through at the end of the pit wall! Mike Cond found himself
dicing with the Track Sweeper, as it cut in from the right to
get back to its’ position.
Must have been interesting for him!
Glynne
Jones did a doughnut, maybe finding the lack of the BMWs’ front
splitter had changed the handling, or because of cold tyres, or
maybe just because he wanted to, you never know with Glynne!
However after the Green Flag lap,
when the lights changed,
it
was Martin Davies who took a lead he was never to lose. Keith
Butcher was his main challenger this time around, but he soon
had his hands full keeping Keith White at bay. This may have
relived some of the pressure on Martin, but it was never easy,
with the two Keiths’ less than a second away in the early laps.
Martin
eased himself a bit more of a lead on lap 5, by setting the
fastest lap of the race, but there was never more than 1.5
seconds between Martin and the Keiths’ until late in the race,
when he began to stroke away, to win by almost 4 seconds from
Keith Butcher in 2nd
place and Keith White 3rd.
Martins’ wife Sue was probably more relieved than anybody, as she had been almost beside herself,
virtually driving every lap with her husband, especially lapping
the back-markers.
She knew Martin could have taken it easy
but as she explained “He is a racer”
Behind the leaders it was for the
most part, a quieter race than race 1, with a few notable
exceptions.
Andy Williams pitted on lap 2 with a
mystery vibration, possibly clutch or gearbox related, making him
the days’ first retirement.
Michael Cond found himself with
Lofty Everill and Geraint Rees for company, after John Morris
faded to eventually finish in 8th place, behind rookie Dave Coe,
who was having another solid outing. Everill slipped by early on
but Mike was driving as hard as he could, banging in his fastest
lap late in the race, to seal another maximum points score.
Mike said later "I was driving as hard as I could. That was as
fast as the car would go this time."
However,
not having a quiet race was Rhodri Jenkins, (see his in-car on
Utube) who found himself
dicing with the red moto-Mini, driven this time by Papa
Lufferreli. Dad Fabio, was giving daughter Mellissa a few
benchmarks for 2013, and he was on the rise passing Rhodri on
lap 3. The two cars were then rarely more than a second apart,
except when the leaders came by, until the closing laps when
sadly Fabio became the days 2nd
and last retirement, with a blown engine.
Rhodri ran out into 9th
place, winning Class BS. Glynne Jones was 10th
being the first of the lapped runners,
and survived a close encounter with Keith White as he came past,
with barely a cigarette papers width between the cars! However
the skill of the drivers concerned meant that no paint was
swapped. Speaking to Glynne later Keith aplogised for the close
encounter, and Glynne replied "I'd seen Martin go past, and I
was just about to take my line, when I saw you out of the corner
of my eye, so I treid to ease back to give you some room!" Keith
thanked Glynne for his consideration.
Commenting on his Class
Championship win, a slightly surprised Rhodri said ”It feels
great! You’ve got to be in it to win it!”
In 11th
was Chris Morris who had a race long dice with Mike Edgell , who
finished 12th.
There being less than ½ second between them all the way through.
Finishing as last of the lapped runners, Mike had been worried
about the loss of his Oil cooler, hoping the weather did not get
too hot, but it didn’t seem to inhibit him. Chris ran out as
Class winner, and was awarded Driver of the Race for his
efforts. Mike again took fastest lap, and won Class AS, with
Roger Dowden who finished the first of the runners 2 laps down in 13th
place, ending up second in the class.
14th
was young Ellis Belton, proving the power of the Joker, by
finishing 2nd
behind Rhodri in Class BS. 2 laps down, Phil Bendall was 15th
and Class BT winner, from Andy Long 14th.
3 laps down
15th
was Huw Morgan with Giles Beck last of the runners in 18th
place.
Giles had been leading Huw early on but
a trip across the grass gave Huw the advantage which he held to
the end.
Afterwards Martin confirmed "Boy that was tough! I
had to work for that one, Keith pushed right to the end! I
just needed to do the same as this morning and a little bit
better. This just rounds off the season lovely. Its' nice to mix
it with the lightweight cars, I've got advantages as well, but
people may not expect to see a Seirra amongst that breed of car.
Keith Butcher kept me honest thoughout the race. I couldn't
afford to make a mistake"
Keith Butcher agreed confirming "That was a
brilliant race!" Keith White also confirmed "I was faster in
some parts than Keith, he was faster in others. It was a good
race, I enjoyed it"
Mike Cond said of his race "It was a bit frantic at
the first corner, I had to go onto the grass to avoid one of the
red cars! I was going as fast as I could but in the end I didn't
want to do anything stupid, really. It's been a great day,
especially after what happened on Friday, all things considered.
I can't fault the car but with a bit more driving skill and bit
better set up it might go a bit faster. I'm looking forward to
next year now."
So the 2012 Championship came to an end, and with
Martin & Mike both scoring the same points, by winning their
Class and setting the Class Fastest lap in each of the 6 races.
With the 2012 WSSCC Championship rules not allowing for a way of
breaking the tie, the 2012 Championship will be shared.
Many
people were already making plans for 2013. Dave Coe confirmed he
would be back, but this time with some slick tyres. Keith White
was planning a new body shape. Joint Champion Michael Cond
confirmed he would be looking to improve the handling of the
car, and also said 'I could also learn to drive better, so
perhaps Martin could give me few lessons, that should make me
quicker too' Martin for himself confirmed that he hopes to be
supporting his son Jason next year. 'I've said he can use my
engine, so I'll have a year on the spanners'
Next important date on the
calendar will be the WRDA AGM/Championship Conference when we
can run through the plans needed for 2013. One of the nicest
tasks of the day was to hand out cheques for the refunds due as
per Rhodris plan. Most people were pleased and shocked at the
amounts, and although the financial position may change in 2013
the principle should be the same. A few of the several comments
were, 'Are you sure?' 'I've never had this before'
Alan finds a way to make everyone smile
There are still some refunds to
be delivered, as and when Alan has finished his calculations,
but the sun set slowly on what had been remarkable year.
(Report & Photos by Rob Allender)
Final championship points
Final Class Points
Awards Gallery and
Champions Interveiws
If you have story on how your race or season has gone, please
let us know.
Times from
www.tsl-timing.com
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