2005 Welsh Championship. Sunday 14^th August

Entry & Practice. Points leader Andy Williams sidelined after practice off! Graham Cole closes the gap!

In contrast to Saturday it was dry all day with some sun and some clouds, but no rain, which meant that Tony Allitt problems were unlikely to re-occur. There was much work to be done for some; Graham Cole had major gearbox problems to overcome whilst Peter Salter had a few panels to straighten. Graham showed he had sorted his problems by taking pole position on 55.857 banging in 20 laps to give the car a good workout. Dave Krayem was 2^nd with Peter Williams the fastest Radical in 3^rd place ahead of Clive Hayes, Richard Rozhon and Huw Williams. Visitor Gethin Jones was the fastest saloon in 7^th, whilst 8^th quickest and was points leader Andy Williams, whose meeting sadly ended soon after he set his time, in a bizarre accident. "I went off on the grass, but whilst I was trying to get back on the track the back end swung around and I broke the rear suspension on the raised part of the kerb!" This left Kenny Rattenbury in 9^th on his own as clutch/gearbox problems had sidelined Colin Chapman leaving Paul Trowbridge behind Ken on the grid but Matthew Perkins on row7 with 2 empty grid slots in front of him. Matthew was the fastest Rover ahead of Lee David, Anthony Allitt & Chris Davies. With Richard Hill (VW ) Stephen Pearcy, and Adrian Chapman made it 19 with Doug Bowkett set to join the race at the back.

The race. 15 mins + 1 lap. Standing Start.

Graham Cole wins - Dave Krayem & Peter Williams battle it out again.

Graham Cole’s main worry was in selecting first gear on the grid. "If it goes in I should be alright" When the lights went out Graham selected the right gear and was never headed, eventually wining by almost 10 seconds. Dave Krayem thundered into 2^nd place followed by a horde of Radicals who were involved in some major dicing. Lee David took an early spin but then settled down to pull back through the field as did Douglas Bowkett. Meanwhile at the front Peter Williams emerged from the Radical scrum to begin his long duel with Dave Krayem, while Clive Hayes spent the whole race under attack from first Richard and then Huw eventually taking 4^th by just under a second from Huw with Richard 6^th. Visiting driver Gethin Jones and his Renault Clio was 7th and first saloon and was highly complementary about the series. A late race spin by Ken Rattenbury was enough to let Paul Trowbridge through to claim 8^th, and a charging drive from Lee David took him to 10^th. After the usual incident packed race for the small saloons, Matthew Perkins headed Richard Hill, Chris Davies and Doug Bowkett; with Stephen Pearcy, Peter Salter, Anthony Allitt and Adrian Chapman completing the runners. Late in the race Peter Williams began to reel in Dave Krayems’ Stealth making a bid for 2^nd place, getting alongside at the Esses on the last lap! Dave held on to finish barely ½ second ahead.

All this let Graham Cole and his Jade draw away to a comfortable win and at the end Graham was understandably full of smiles "That was Ace! It feels great" Grahams wife summed up the situation "I told him, Just bring it home babe" He certainly did and with Andrew Williams scoring nil points it looks like the championship could be getting set for another close finish!