Pembrey 21st May 2023
A small, select band of brothers (to misquote Shakespeare's King Henry V) We few, we happy few, we band of brothers, made it to Pembrey and although the grid was small, the racing was excellent!
Damian Longotano was on pole, whilst Nick Crompton gave his Class 3 Hayabusa engined Phoenix,, a run out, but was hampered by Clutch Slip. (unfortunately the Timekeepers confused Nicks name, with the car maker! Ie the car name was ‘A Stuart Taylor Phoenix’) Nick confirmed ‘Its like a round tube Fisher Fury type of car.’
On the 2nd row was the Mazda pair of Wayne Spiller and Craig Attard
On row 3 was the Clio park of Mark Williams and Andrew Williams, making it a Class 2 double row
In 7th place was Mike Cook who was also in Class 3
During the Lunch Hour the drivers gathered in the pit-lane, by the Pace/safety car, to pay respect to Blake Edwards, who passed away recently! In 1990 Blake was our 1st WSSCC champion and was our Pace/safety car driver for several years. Roger Dowden, while he is waiting for his engine to be fixed, stepped into the role.
Andrew Williams and Mike Cook both played their double points Joker Card for this race
Race One – 15 minutes – Rolling Start. As expected, Damian Longotano took an immediate lead.
After a lot of work between practice and the race, Nick Crompton gave it good try, but the slipping clutch only got worse, and after only 4 laps he was heading for the paddock! The waring Mazda pair were next up in 2nd & 3rd with Wayne Spiller holding a narrow lead from Craig Attard. However on lap 6 Damian dramatically slowed! He had lost the right front mudguard, and suspected the right front tyre might have slow puncture! Wayne Spiller was now leading the race, and pulled out a lead from Craig. Andrew Williams was 3rd as Mike Cook had Mark Williams bottled up, at least until Mikes heavy metal BMW started to eat his tyres, and Mark was then able to get through on lap 11! The questions still to be answered were, will Damian make it to the end, and could Mark Williams catch Andrew Williams? The answers were that, Damian didn’t make it to the end, as the tyre started to shred, but his efforts were worthy of ‘Driver of the Race’ award! Mark did pass Andrew in the late stages to finish 3rd overall! Craig made a determined effort to catch Wayne and set the Class 2 lap record to earn himself an extra point! However Wayne responded and was 1.75 seconds ahead at the end of the race! Nick Crompton set the Class 3 lap record on lap 2! Although the grid was small in number, the racing was excellent! Photo by Roger Dowden,
Race Two– 15 minutes – Rolling Start
With Nick Crompton missing with terminal problems with his car and Damian starting from the back of the grid, the start was taken Wayne Spiller from Craig Attard on the front row. Wayne lead for the first laps, but was then overtaken by Craig, just as Damian hove into view. Damian took time to play himself in, but was in the lead by lap 5. He then simply drove into the distance and set a series of fastest laps, setting the fastest lap of the race (59.982) on his penultimate lap, having completed 14 laps! Although being the only starter in his class, meant he wouldn’t get an extra point for the fastest lap, he will still score points in the ‘Colin Gundersen Trophy’ as well as leading the ‘Blake Edwards Trophy’ with 3 wins out of 4 races. Wayne Spiller being the other race winner! Whilst Damian was powering on his way, Craig was still leading Wayne! The crowd roared*. Or at least his family did! Craig held sway, until late in the race, he went a little wide a Hatchets Hairpin and in a shot, Wayne had re-taken the lead! Wayne pulled a little gap by setting the Class Two Fastest lap – 2 laps before the end! Damian, Wayne & Craig were all on 14 laps. Meanwhile Mark 180 Williams, Andrew 88 Williams and Mike Cook were on 13 laps. With Damian, Wayne and Mike Cook all setting Class Fastest laps! Craig Attard was given the ’Driver of the Race’ for his efforts. So now on to Thruxton and Silverstone before the final race of 2023 at Pembrey in October, however we will need a zoom conference soon as we need to explain why the club and Championship (Your Club and your Championship) need more entries especially at Pembrey. More details soon.
Pembrey results https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2023/232021wss.pdf
· BTW The Crowd Roars is a 1932 American drama about Club Racing in America starring James Cagney