2021 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship
The scene was set for yet another dramatic end to the Welsh Sports & Saloon car Championship! 2021 is the 30th running of the Championship, and with Double Points Joker cards still to be played by some drivers and also some drivers having to drop 2 scores , the title would be in doubt until the very last lap, and this could be one of those times when the title is decided by a single point! Depending on the results, it could be either Gareth John or Damian Longotano or Chris Everill or Colin Dunn. All 4 had a chance!
The entry and the Grid. We were running this time on the ’Clubmans’ circuit
Keith Butcher (Audi R8) took pole with a time of 1:05.353
as he returned to the series and annexed Pole from Chris Everill in a class D lock-out!
ROW 2 Deri DAVIES made up the Class D entry! Gareth JOHN took the Class BS pole
On ROW 3 was Wayne SPILLER (Class BS Maxda RX8) and Stephen GRAY (Best Guest -Honda Integra)
On ROW was Todd GARNER (Class BS Renault Clio) and Mike MANNING and his flame-spitting Class I –Ford Sierra RS500)
On ROW 5 was Damian ! Mark Williams didn’t even score a lap (Class CS Pole) and Mark WILLIAMS (Class BT Pole
On ROW 6 Roger DOWDEN had for Company Colin DUNN (Class BS)
On ROW 7 Mike COOK ( Class Cs)and Andrew 88 WILLIAMS (Class BS)
On ROW 8 was Alan SMITH BT Ford Ka and Verity BANKS Ford Focus (Class BS)
On the final row was Neil THOMAS MGB GT and Rodney TEAGUE who was suffering from fuel starvation on his Class Bt Renault Clio
There was a lot of head-scratching to find Damians lack of pace, but his hopes of retaining the overall championship had taken a dive as Lyn Morgan could not make it. and so Class CS was down to two cars only. Rodney Teague (part of Andy Williams bunch) found a leak in his petrol tank that a popular brand of epoxy glue looked to fix!
Race 1 (Round 9) 15 minutes Rolling Start
As the grid made their way to the start Keith Butcher took the lead, but Chris Everill looped around into a spin or 2 and retired to the pits after 2 laps! Mark Williams just didn’t get started, but Damian found some speed and pushed the Westfield into 2nd place, and was some 6+ seconds behind Keith after the 14 laps run in the 15 minutes race.
Deri Davies settled into 3rd with Gareth John into 4th place (winner in Class BS, with a joker) but behind them Todd Garner and Wayne Spiller put on a race long duel, with Wayne taking 5th by only 1.23 seconds from Todd in 6th. Stephen Gray was 7th but was very upset with the battle scars his previous pristine Honda Integra had picked up! However as Mike Manning was spinning here, there and everywhere, Stephen took the ‘Best Guest’ award. Mike finished 8th ! Mark Williams didn’t even score a lap but meanwhile Colin Dunn powered on to 9th and the Class BT win with a joker! Roger Dowden was 10th with Rodney Teague making it up to 11th from the back of the grid! Mike Cook was 12th in his BMW, with Andrew Williams 13th. Alan Smith had an excellent dice with Verity Banks and her Ford Focus. Verity did get past Alan, only for Alan to repass her. On the final lap Verity spun at Hatchets and although she got going again, she didn’t pass the finish line, so was posted as a DNF! Neil Thomas plugged on with his MGB Gt and was 15th. Aled Dark would drive the car in race 2.
So Keith took the race win. Colin Dunn scored well with 5 starters in his class, Gareth John scored good points with 3 starters in his class, whilst Damian Longotano had only one other starter, and Chris Everill scored nothing! Following the end of race One Keith found the Audi’s software was showing an unexpected warning, and he decided not to risk it and therefore decided to scratch from Race 2!
Race 2 (Round 10) 15 minutes Rolling Start
With Keith Butcher missing and Chris Everill starting from the back, Damian took the lead with Deri Davies 2nd (after a spin). However it was red flagged when Roger Dowdens car sprung a leak and started to pump its Oil onto the track!
Cue a clean-up by the hard -working marshals and a restart. Damian took the lead with Deri Davies 2nd Meanwhile Chris’ car (complete with rumbling Corvette v8 engine) was rising through the field. Also now at the back was Colin Dunn, who needed a bump -start to get going! Gareth John was 3rd until Mike Manning passed him. However Gareth hounded Mike all the way to the end! Wayne Spiller and Todd Garner again put on a show! In 8th Place Rod Teague also put in a show to win Class BT from Mark Williams. Mark, who also started form the back, was stalked by Colin Dunn who was less than a second behind! However annoyingly for Rod, Colin managed to take the point for the Class BT fastest lap by the narrowest of margins! Andrew Williams was 11th with Alan Smith 12th and Verity Banks 13th. Aled Dark completed the finishers in Neil Davies MGB. Neil says there are plans to fit a Mazda v6 into the car over the close season! Stephen Gray had departed early on and Mike Cook was a dnf while almost within sight of the Chequered Flag! So the 2021 season drew to a close and with such a tight finish again, it would take some checking and rechecking!
But we can now say well done to Gareth John who was the Overall winner by just one point over Damian Longotano with Colin Dunn 3rd also by 1 point
Results from Tsl https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2021/214021wss.pdf
