'Drivers Perspective' report by Steve Pearce:

After a disappointing end to my race at Pembrey, I was looking forward to a nice steady race on local turf to see if I could manage to get a decent finish this year. I did not have time to do much since the last race as I'd been away (down under with work), so just the usual ratio changes, etc. With 24 cars out, on a short circuit, traffic was always going to be a problem, I managed to get some clear track early on, but then things got busy later, and the session was stopped after Dave Penlington and Simon Davey got together at the hairpin. I was quite pleased to get into the 50s, a useful gain over last time for me, so decided not to fiddle with the car too much before the race.

After what seemed like the longest hold on red ever, the start was clean and I spent the first lap in close company with Dave Lowe and Anthony Wills (a bit too close at the Esses apparently). The first 3 (Walton, Davey and Lowe) then got away slightly leaving Anthony and me dicing for 4th, with a another gaggle behind. The dice for the lead looked quite fierce, with some very unusual lines being taken - on the extreme right hand side of the road down the Stebbe straight as Paul defended from Simon and Dave, while the rest of us took the more usual left side of the road. Eventually this got out of hand with Simon ending up on to the grass, his car then started to spin to the left as we approached the Esses, giving Anthony and me a big problem. Anthony had very little time to do anything and unfortunately T boned Simon's car as it came back across the circuit, while I was lucky and just avoided being collected too. Not long after this, I came under pressure from Dave Gathercole, who tried to go down the outside of me into the hairpin as I moved to the left (not knowing he was there) which launched him over the top of me into a nasty looking landing. There were now several damaged cars around the circuit (there had also been an earlier incident coming out of the hairpin) and the race was red flagged. We returned to the grid, rather shaken by what we had just seen but were relieved that all drivers were OK (ish), to allow nerves to settle, and cars to be recovered.

After a lengthy clean up operation, and some hot and bothered engines on the grid, the race was restarted over the remaining 7 laps. The running order in race 1 set the grid, so it was Paul W and Dave L on the front row, with me (wondering if my rear suspension was OK) and Steve Hare on row 2. I made another good start and almost got inside Dave into Gerrards, but had to back out to avoid contact. Meanwhile Steve Hare also got off the line well, and calmly drove round the outside of all of us to grab the lead - nice move! Steve, Paul and Dave then disputed the lead, while I had Jon Davis go past me into the hairpin before having a 'tankslapper' at &Gerrards. I managed to avoid the wobbly black Hawke, but was now being bothered by 2 yellow cars (Dave Penlington and Colin Williams), soon things settled and I was able to set off after the first 3 who were still hard at it. Steve Hare took a well deserved win, with a clean, smooth and well controlled drive. Paul managed to keep Dave at bay for 2nd, I was a relieved 4th from Dave and Colin. There were only 14 finishers from 24 starters, so not a good day, especially with Snetterton in a few days time.

From my viewpoint, it seemed like a season's worth of incident in one day, there was obviously a lot of discussion in the paddock, and the stewards' room, after the race. Paul Walton was initially excluded (see E.5.1.8 in blue book), and then reinstated on appeal. There were too many damaged cars for comfort, and the general view is we need to do something to calm things down and improve standards to avoid more of the same in future (and see grids decline as a result). There is quite a lot of video footage, I've not seen any of it yet, but lets hope we can all learn from it.

Just in case you think I was lucky to avoid any damage myself, I was making my way home with car and trailer on the B582 near Enderby, when much to my surprise in the mirror I saw my spare nose cone sucked out of the cockpit, high into the air, before landing on the road. I pulled over as soon as I could, and ran back to recover it. Just before I got there two cars went straight over it and reduced it to lots of tiny little pieces. Oh dear. So remember, always keep your bits firmly strapped down, even if travelling a short distance.

SP