Deja Vu as race 2 red flagged!

Race 2 15 minutes + 1 lap

Charge! - Race 2 - start 1

Thanks to Michelle of Purple M Photograpy for the photos https://www.facebook.com/PurpleMPhoto?fref=ts

The sun, or a watery version of it, came out for the final race of the 2014 season with Keith White, the 2014 Welsh Champion elect on pole. However although Keith had wrapped up the championship, 2^nd & 3^rd overall were still up for grabs as were a few of the Classes! Keith Butcher, having fixed the mainly superficial damage, joined Glynne Jones, Endaf Owens, & Neil Watts in starting from the back.  As Keith Whites’ BMW got around Hatchets, Neil Watts was on a charge and swung wide to tuck in, right across the path of Melissa who was minding her own business, trying to get around Hatchets.  Melissa had no real option other than to T bone Neil, and worse still, the little Moto Mini was then rammed in the back by Keith Butcher, who was unsighted!   Meliassa’s car ended up stuck between the 2 cars like in a vice! Neil got going to chase the pack, but Keiths’ Primera and Melissas’ car were stuck in the middle of the track! After trying to cover it with a double waved yellow, the red flag finally came out, giving a sense of Déjà vu! However this time the WSSCC Race wasn’t the last race, and there was plenty of time for a restart. Both Keith Butcher and Melissa got going again, Keiths ‘ Primera at a normal pace, Melissa a lot slower!

The restart

Race 2 restart.mpg

 At the restart, Keith, the 2014 Welsh Champion in waiting, took a lead he was never to loose, and he eased to a 12 second win over Ben Scrivens. Keith Butcher made his way up to finish 3^rd behind his old car! (There is a Quiz question in there somewhere!)

 However Endaf Owens was in 2^nd place early on, with Geraint Rees in hot pursuit! They were followed by Andy Williams, Jim Lyons and the rising Keith Butcher and Neil Watts! Things started to change on lap 3 as Keith Butcher and Neil passed Andy & Jim. However Jim wasn’t to go much further, as one of his Cv joints broke and gave him a nasty scare, as a front wheel drive car with a limited slip diff can be tricky when things let go!  ‘It was pretty frightening when it happened’ Jim Lyons despite his non finish, won Class BS.  Jims exit allowed Ken James to close up on Andy.

Meanwhile Endaf, Geraint & Neil Watts were giving a display of close driving, with some exciting side by side motoring! Showing the respect and skill that each of them has for the other, it was without major contact, with no pieces of flying bodywork to be picked up later! Geraint was not to be denied and he held off Neil to win the Class CS title and move into 3^rd place in the championship! ‘It was super’ Geraint said later. Endaf dropped away to finish 6^th, but took 2^nd place in Class D behind Keith.  Andy & Ken were 7^th & 8^th overall (and 3^rd & 4^th in Class CS as well). Ken was the last un-lapped runner! The contest for the points and places from 9^th to 15^th were as entertaining as ever! Glynne Jones fought his way up from the back of the grid to finish in 10^th, after working his way through the battle between Mike Edgell & Paul Flinders, who swapped & re-swapped places, before Mike was able to make a break! Paul then found himself with a revitalised Tyrone Lufferelli for company. Tyrones’ car had the benefit of the magic Lufferelli spanners in the lunch break as Dad, Fabio, got to work on the Peugeot and he was really flying!  Paul finished in 11^th and Tyrone 12^th.

The dice for 13^th, 14^th & 15^th was a real classic featuring Craig White (Peugeot 306), Damien Locotano (Westfield) who had found his feet, and Melissa Lufferelli. Melissa had started from the back, and was soon locked on to Damiens car and had a stab to taking 14^th before Damien drew away. Craig then closed on Tyrone Lufferelli and was only a couple of 10ths behind at the end! Melissa settled in for a run for the flag with a handling problem she thought was a slow puncture, but this allowed the Huw Morgan, Susanne Jones and Phil Bendall battle to close up! Susanne had also found her feet and was giving a good account of herself, sat between Huw & Phil and confirmed later ‘I’ve never had to do so much thinking before, trying to put pressure on Huw whilst making sure I was keeping Phil behind me!’ Melissa made it to the end and snatched the Class M trophy from under Michael Conds’ nose proving that the old maxim ‘To finish first, first finish’ has a ring of truth and is not just a cliché! Later Neil Watts popped down to apologise to Melissa for his first corner misdemeanour. Melissa had thought her car had a puncture, but dad Fabio soon found the problem, as the car had a broken rear wishbone! This was probably done in the first corner incident, but Melissas’ persistence had paid off by allowing her to take the Class M championship! Paul Flinders had scored enough points to be 2^nd in the overall standings, whilst Geraint Rees slipped into 3^rd place overall!

(Photo Left- Keith pick up his Class D winners trophy from Mike Skelton) Thanks to Michelle of Purple M Photograpy for the photo

 So Keith White driving his Class D BMW Z4 silhouette took the race win, and is the new 2014 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Champion!  Afterwards Keith said of his championship win ‘I really enjoyed it! It’s a good championship, a good bit of fun, everybody gets stuck in and has a laugh. I hope to bring a few more people over with me for next year!’

 See KeithsChampion Interview here

Race 1 15 minutes + 1 lap

Race 2 15 minutes + 1 lap