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Pembrey

17/18 April 2004

Walton Wins From Wild Wills In Wet And Windy Wales

Race Report from Steve Pearce

So a brand new circuit for the CFFC.  Round 2 of the championship attracted an excellent entry of 18 - bearing in mind that its a long haul down to South Wales for most. Unfortunately we lost 2 of these during testing on Friday (Ian Millward's Dulon and Ian Mash's PRS) after an incident on dropped oil, together with some FF2000 cars. This allowed Ian M'ward to put the finishing touches to the Jamun, which needed quite a bit of work after Rockingham. So 16 cars headed out for a qualifying, in dry but cool conditions. Paul Walton again grabbed pole, from Simon Davey and Dave Lowe's still troubled Lotus (keeps cutting out). Anthony Wills and round 1 winner Dave Penlington (with handling problems) were next up. Jon Nash was performing in the ex-Peter Ecclestone Van Diemen, another immaculate VD (in URS colours) was in the hands of novice Rick Mowser, plus Doug Kibble in Mike Whitehead's Dulon MP17. Things seemed to go smoothly for most, but a number of drivers were learning the circuit during practice - so we had a few harmless spins.

The weather gradually got worse during the afternoon, it looked threatening before the off, and did rain a bit during the race (says he keeping dry). The first 2 rows got away cleanly, but there was chaos behind as 4 cars tangled heading in to the hairpin. Dave's Penlington and Malpas were out on the spot, Neil Marshall retired at the end of the first lap, while Jon Nash resumed (for some further spinning practice). This incident could have been quite nasty as 2 of the cars became airborne (Dave P and Neil Marshall) let's hope they can all be repaired before Brands. The first 3 cars soon

broke away - Paul Walton heading a battling Simon Davey and Ant Wills. Behind them Steve Bradley's Jamun headed class A as Dave's Lotus misbehaved again. But the action was at the front as Anthony W looked for any possible way around Simon's RF81 for 2nd place, this allowed Paul W to get away slightly. Eventually Anthony managed to find a way through at the hairpin, and set off in pursuit of the leader. Dave Lowe managed to wake his car up and get back in front of Steve Bradley who now had Colin Williams' PRS for company.

Simon Davey got back into 2nd place after a mistake from Wills, so the battle for 2nd resumed - this time Anthony got past with a superb move around the outside of Honda (the last corner), and again tried to get back on terms with Paul W, but time was running out. Despite closing visibly all the way around the last lap, his efforts failed by 0.15 second allowing Paul Walton take his first overall win. Simon was within a second in 3rd, with Dave winning class A after his earlier problems. Steve B wasn't far behind after a good showing in the Jamun, just ahead of Colin's PRS. The novice section was won by Oliver Robinson in a Royale RP26, after Rick Mowser lost some ground at the start. While Doug Kibble kept it on the island, and found another 2 secs per lap, to finish his first race.

All that remained was to discuss the first corner incident, pack things up, let Simon and Anthony discuss their race with the Clerk of the Course, and head for home in the rain.

 

Cobra Driver of the Day - Anthony Wills

First O/A Win - Paul Walton (long overdue, 9 hours on the way down)

First Novice - Oliver Robinson (+ best nosecone repair)

Most Spins - Jon Nash

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