So the race for Round 6 closed off the afternoon and the
weekend, which already seen some mighty racing & drama,
and the drama kept on coming. Would Keith Whites’ crew
be able to fettle up a new gearstick, could Chris
Everills’ crew straighten up his front splitter, after
his off track moment at the end of race 1! Chris
confirmed “I heard the tyre go bang and after that you
are a passenger, so I just hoped there was enough grass
to stop on; before I hit the tyres!’ Fortunately there
was enough room, and his crew had only to remove the
grass clippings, and sort out the underbody with much
hammering and drilling! Michael Cond had the Luffarelli
family to thank for lending him their welding gear to
fix his mudguard bracket. It was really good of them to
help out a fellow Class M competitor who is Melissa main
class rival, but well in keeping with the fantastic
spirit there is within the championship! Especially so
when it was found that the chain breakage on Melissas’
car was the symptom of an underlying gearbox problem
that could not be fixed at the circuit! This left Tyrone
to uphold family honour, but more of that later. Roger
Dowden was also going to miss the race after finding a
melted piston was the reason his engine had started to
tighten up, on his almost vintage Davrian!
The race - 15 minutes plus 1
lap
There were still questions to be answered as the cars left
on the green flag, such as how far up could Chris Everill &
Mike Cond get, as both were starting from the back, and was
Chris’ rotten luck about to change! Also how long would it
take for Keith White to challenge for the lead and why did
the pace car do 2 laps?
On the front row were Westfield mates Geraint Rees and Neil
Watts, and there was lots of laughs as the Wessie mates
discussed tactics, like how much track they could take up if
they ran side by side for the whole 15 laps! Geraint was
under no real illusions, ‘Yes I’m on pole but I really don’t
know how to deal with that, but I am looking forward to it,
very much so! We’ll go for it but I expect the faster cars
will come through’.
As the lights changed Neil Watts pinched the lead on
the run down to Hatchets! Andy Williams was 3
rd
but Keith soon passed him, Geraint & Neil to take the lead
before the end of the first lap! A fast starting Jim Lyons
was 5
th early on, but was soon demoted as Chris
Everill and Mike Cond powered past! On lap 5 the order was
Keith White, Neil Watts and Chris Everill. Geraint was next,
followed closely by Mike Cond. By lap 6 Keith was lapping
the backmarkers, putting a lap on the warring pair of Dan
Burt and Huw Morgan, and at this stage Keith had almost a 10
second lead over Neil Watts! Neil had Chris Everill on his
tail and
Chris nipped past Neil into second
place as they came up on Tyrone Luffarelli.
Mike Cond’s car stopped dead just past the pit exit
and he pulled off to retire! So for the 2
nd race
in a row, there were no Class M finishers. This put Geraint
in a nice 4
th place as he was well clear of 5
th
place man Andy Williams.
Keith now had an 8 second lead over Chris Everill, but
something was wrong! Keiths’ pace started to slow and his
engine note had changed. It was clear he was not using full
revs! Just as it looked like the cards had fallen in favour
of the so far mightily unlucky Chris ‘Lofty’ Everill, his
Ginetta began to slow too, and then he too was out, this
time with a blown engine! ‘I may have over-revved it and a
valve hit a piston!’
Chris just had no luck at
all over the weekend, but hopes to be back in October
.
This left Keith and his dawlding BMW silhouette, with
a 10 second lead over Neil Watts with only about 3 laps to
go! However as Neil tried to respond, he ran wide, and this
let Geraint nip by into 2
nd place! Again
Geraints’ consistent pace began to draw him nearer the
leader. Neil Watts could sense the drama too and set his
fastest lap on lap 15 to close to within a second of Geraint
at the end! However this time there was to be no repeat
Westfeild win, as Keith managed to put Dan & Huw between him
and Geraint, to win by 5 seconds!
With that drama unfolding at the front, there was also drama
and fine driving throughout the feild! Andy Williams
established himself in 6th place early on, ahead of Jim
Lyons and Glynne Jones, all 3 at equal distances apart,
until Glynne passed Jim at about half distance, the trio
finishing in 4th, 5th and 6th places. Paul Flinders found
enough gears operating in his Toyota MR2 to settle into the
Class BT lead, but with Giles Beck & Tyrone Lufferelli on
his tail! Giles and the MFI BMW closed to within a second of
Paul at the end having set the fastest lap in BT in the
closing stages! Tyrone & his Peugeot was unable to quite
match the pace of Paul & Giles, but he still finished in 9th
place, 3rd in the class, the last of the runners on 14 laps.
He also picked up the 'Driver of the Race' award after his
efforts found favour with the marshals, who are always fine
judges of driving skill and endeavor!
Daniel Burt (Fiat Punto) & Huw Morgan (Honda Civic) were seldom more than
a couple of 10ths apart and finished in 10th & 11th places,
the last of the runners. Ken James took the start but
failed to complete a lap!
After the race Keith revealed the truly bizarre
reason for his lack of pace in the closing stages! ‘My
exhaust silencer fell off and without that there was no back
pressure and no power! Also I didn’t want to be
black-flagged, so I had to drive slowly to avoid making too
much noise!’
Later at the awards presentation,
Geraint jokingly thanked Neil Watts for moving over and
letting him through for the class win again!
So after a mega points scoring weekend, courtsey of some
much welcomed Class D opposition, Keith White currently
leads the points tally, having played his Joker card on
Saturday to maximum effect! However with Neil Watts in 2
nd
place & Paul Flinders 3
rd and both still to play
their jokers; Keith is far from home & dry.
Although if Chris Everill and/or Endaf Evans enter Class D
in October, that would give Keiths’ title hopes a big boost!
Afterward Keith confirmed ‘I will be going for the outright
title in October!’
Having seen him battle on against adversity to extract the
maximum he could from 2 difficult races, when he could have
easily thrown the towel in, no one can doubt his
determination to do just that!
2014 Welsh Championship
Overall Points +
Class
Points
Times & Result from
http://www.tsl-timing.com/barc/2014/143121wss.pdf
