2005 Welsh Championship October 15th race report

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2002005 Welsh Sports & Saloon Car Championship

2005 Welsh Championship. Saturday 15th October - Entry & Practice  

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Close action - it got even closer later on as new boy Tony Michael leads from Richard, Peter & Mike

There was a distinct end of season feel about the weekend, which combined with the sad news about Nigel Hughes wife Melodie, could have put a real dampener on things, especially as the trucks started leaking oil which meant a full wash down for the track and big delay. However things started to pick up when Nigel himself paid us a visit and the sun shone brightly all day. The grid was smaller than we have been used to having lately but at least we got back to a combined practice and race, which seemed to the preferred option by all concerned. Graham Cole took pole in his Jade Trackstar. Tony Michael, yes I checked and it was him, was 2nd in the Green Goddess Nemesis RME-02. Peter Williams was 3rd with Richard (or should it be Fidel) Rhozon 4th, in their Radicals. Completing the Sportscars was newcomer Mike St Clair- Johnson with his Phantom Superpsorts car.    Champion Elect Andrew Williams was the fastest saloon closely followed by Paul Trowbridge and then Lee David in his new Honda CRX . "I got it off e-bay and it goes ok with the vtec in it!" The sunshine was warm enough to let Lee show off his Tarzan boy physique, although the drivers seat looked like you needed to be a contortionist to get in and out of it! Kenny Rattenbury was next just ahead Adrian Chapman, with Stephen Pearcy and his new shell (e-bay again) and Mike Woods making it 12 runners. However Steve was out early on with blown engine and Mike had a minor breakdown (electrics) and then a major spin, probably on the oil and ending up tee-boning Ken in the passenger door. There was plenty of panel bashing to do on Kens’ car and Mikes car looked pretty sad too. The major damage seemed to be to the windscreen and Mike set a new trend by running the first open Rover! Well open to the elements that is, after he took the front and rear screen out!

The race. 15 mins + 1 lap. Rolling Start.Tony Michael takes his first race win after a thrilling race. Adrian beats Lee.

It was a strange start with 2 pace car laps and a red flag before the action got away. It seems the Clerk of the Course didn’t like the way the grid was lining up, so sent them round for a second start. This time Graham failed to start when his drive shaft snapped, so the race was red flagged and re-started. Restart 3– 15 minuntes. At the restart Tony Michael took the lead from a fast starting Richard Rhozon, Peter Williams & Mike St Clair- Johnson. The sportscars drawing away from the saloons!  There was already a gap to a close group headed by Andrew Williams, closely followed by Paul Trowbridge and then Lee David in his new Honda CRX . Kenny Rattenbury, Adrian Chapman, and Mike Woods. Next lap around Lee was behind Adrian after a quick spin (cold tryes) and the resulting battle between them was one of the features of the race with Lee and Adrian swapping places all around track, with Adrian holding Lee off several times After Lee said "I was all over Adrian in the corners but he was too quick on the straight!" Adrian was delighted to get on over Lee.However it was the action at the front that was holding the attention. Peter soon got past Richard and began to close on Tony and took his chance to take the lead, but with plenty of traffic action coming up Peter was never able to build much of a lead. The 3 cars were running nose to tail and then in manoeuvre of the race all 3 got side by side and the exit to Debeni with Tony the meat in a Radical sandwich. With Tony and Peter opening the door Richard saw his chance and we now had a 3rd different leader to the race with Tony 2nd and Peter back to 3rd. Sadly it was not to last for Richard "I knew I couldn’t keep the lead long" and Tony was soon back in front with Peter passing Richard shortly after. Richard then began to fall back to Mike St Clair- Johnson as his fuel began to run low, but at least had the consolation of Driver of the Day. Peter tried his hardest to close the gap to the Nemesis but Tony was 1.5 seconds ahead to the line to take his first race win. "I really enjoyed that, although I did make it hard for myself at times"

Andrew and the rest had quiet races in contrast and although the Overall & Class winners awards have already been decided there is still plenty of 2nd and 3rd places still to be decided not to mention the odd race win.  Sunday – Practice and entry.

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New kid on the block - new face on the web! Tony accepts the laurels