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Introduction
Pembrey circuit (Carmarthenshire) celebrated its first ever car meeting, organised by the BARC, on May 21st -1989. The circuit and its facilities since then have gone from strength to strength. Though many miles for a lot of the competitors to travel, the weekends event is well supported, with lots of MGs to be found in the paddock area. A few competitors chose to travel to the circuit on Friday (test day) to get some extra time on the circuit. This is especially useful for the novice drivers. All of Saturday was taken up with qualifying for the eleven races to be held on Sunday. The forecast for the weekend was a mixture of sun and possible thunderstorms. There was just the one thunderstorm, this was overnight on Saturday/Sunday and left the circuit damp. Circuit conditions offered mixed fortunes for the MGs who were to be the first race of the day on Sunday.
Qualifying/Practice - Class A
The qualifying session conditions were very good, the track was dry and hot.
The Qualifying session put Paul Naish out with what appeared to be a blown piston. This is Paul's second outing in this car, and the second failure he has suffered. There was much head scratching and deep thought about the cause. By a process of elimination the problem appears to be possibly some suspect fuel.
Lorraine Clark suffered another broken driveshaft, barely making it halfway round the first lap, she would be starting from the back of the grid.
Elsewhere Dave Amphletts' previous days testing paid off with a creditable 6th on the grid. Peter St. Barbe was 5th the grid (expecting as usual to make up some places in the race. Julie Clark and Nigel Woolcott filled the front row 1st and 2nd respectively. Third spot on the grid was occupied by Darryl Davis, with Gary Smith, who continues to impress with a fine fourth.
Class A Top Ten Qualifiers
1st Julie Clark 1:13.99 @70.84mph
2nd Nigel Woolcott 1:14.26 @70.58mph
3rd Darryl Davis 1:14.73 @70.14mph
4th Gary Smith 1:15.09 @69.80mph
5th Peter St.Barbe 1:15.81 @69.14mph
6th Dave Amphlett 1:16.34 @68.66mph
7th Mick Hopkins 1:16.36 @68.64mph
8th Chris Pollard 1:16.41 @68.59mph
9th Kelly Mercer1:16.87 @68.18mph
10th John Kimber 1:18.04 @67.16mph
Previous Lap record held by Peter St.Barbe MG Midget 1275cc 1:14.56 @70.30
Qualifying/Practice - Class B
It was early afternoon when the dozen or so Maestros went out onto the
circuit, who said it always rains in Wales? As last year it was a very
warm and sunny day!!
Practice saw the loss of front runner Dave Mellor, it was a long journey
to Pembrey to have the engine seize completely, and it was a very
disappointed Mellor who packed up early for the long drive back to
Essex..
Class B Top Ten Qualifiers
1st Darryl Davis 1:14.10 @70.73mph
2nd Nick Golhar 1:14.31 @70.53mph
3rd Andy Campbell 1:14.75 @70.12mph
4th James Perry 1:14.80 @70.07mph
5th John Lane 1:14.83 @70.04mph
6th Nick Evans 1:15.02 @69.86mph
7th Ian Evans 1:15.28 @69.62mph
8th Doug Cole 1:15.72 @69.22mph
9th David Mellor 1:16.62 @68.41mph
10th Martin Lovell 1:17.13 @67.95mph
Previous Lap record held by Andy Campbell MG Maestro 1600 1:13.05 @71.75
Race Class A
Competitors woke early Sunday morning to find that there had been some very heavy rain overnight. A scheduled early start (9.05am) combined with nil wind to dry the circuit, left a treacherously slippery surface!
First casualty of the day happened even before the parade lap. As the cars called forward onto the circuit from the collecting area, Nigel Woolcotts's MG Midget lurched forward and then stopped! Had he stalled? It turned out to be more serious - a broke driveshaft. His race had lasted all of five yards.
Julie Clark had earned herself another pole position, but at the start she found herself on some very damp tarmac, As the lights went green she got a bad start with both Darryl Davis and Gary Smith (in the Summit MG) pulling past her as she struggled for traction.
Chris Pollard too had a terrible start, with almost the whole field overtaking him before he could get away, leaving him far too much to do! In his haste to make lost places he spun at the hairpin, dropping him to last.
Lorraine Clark who had started from the back of the grid was making some progress. Peter St.Barbe, who had a spin, was now midfield fighting for position along side Lorraine Clark. As the two approached the hairpin on lap 7 there was an incident! Peter St.Barbe ended up on the grass and ran diagonally, (some 20yards perhaps) into the tyre wall and high speed. The was a huge impact, as it dug into the tyre it stood up on end, before crashing down again onto its wheels, no more than 2 seconds later, the car door swung open and Peter St.Barbe stepped out, shaken, but thankfully unhurt. The race was allowed to continue as PSB scrambled up onto the tyre wall to safety to survey his badly damaged race car.
Seconds later, Chris Pollard who had just seen a friend slam into the tyre wall, found himself with no brakes on the approach into the 'Dibeni' bend. As he tried to steer round the second part of the bend the car spun, eventually hitting the tyre wall backwards. enough was enough, his race was over.
Dave Amphlett, succeeded where others failed and managed to stay on track in his MGB. For the most of the race he battled with Mick Hopkins, who was in the second 'Summit MG' Midget . Hopkins was fourth while Amphlett managed to finish 5th.
Amphlett felt he could have finished a little higher up the pecking order had it not been for the waved yellow flags all over the place. He would've got past Mick Hopkins in fact as he was right alongside, with the car pulling well out of 'Honda' Amphlett saw the yellows and had to lift off.
Up at the front, Gary Smith was leading the race, he had sneaked passed Clark and Davis very early on looking very smooth and controlled. Smith seems to thrive with some moisture on the circuit.
As the final laps approached Smith came but under ever increasing pressure from Davis and Clark. Eventually, both got past, but it was still anybody's race, as the three cars, so close, went around the circuit almost as one!
As the front three cars came around the final bend, who was it to be? Could Clark or Smith snatch victory from the Pink MGF of Davis?
No! it was Moto-builds Darryl Davis taking the chequred flag just 0.35 of a second ahead of Julie Clark.
There is one more incident to report. Its was lap 8 of 12 when Jim Gotobed
came into the hairpin far too quickly and slammed into the back of Kelly Mercer, Kelly car immediately spun and the two MG Midgets collided again,
this time head on. With debris all over the hairpin Kelly managed to steer the car out of harms way, while Jim Gotobed continued for another couple of laps. Damage to his car was heavy, also it transpired after the race he had fractured his wrist.
Race Class B
After the drama of the earlier MG race, Class B was perhaps a little less fraught! But still a very good race. Just eleven cars started the race, with all eleven cars coming home after 12 fast and furious laps! Darryl Davis who had driven to victory earlier in the day, was keen earn some more silverware for the trophy cabinet. Davis won here last year also, and enjoys the Pembrey Circuit!
As already mentioned Dave Mellor had gone home thus leaving
the likes of Darryl Davis, , Nick Golhar, Andy Campbell and Nick Evans to fight it out at the front.
Unlike the class A race earlier in the day, the Class B boys had a dry circuit to race on, with the air warm and humid.Everyone seemed to get off to a good start, the No 75 car of Darryl Davis seemed very much on song and was first into the hairpin, closely
followed by Nick Golhar and Andy Campbell . This trio opened up a bit of a gap of about 3 seconds
Team mates Lane and Perry seemed to having their own private race.
Midfield, Nick Evans and Ian Evans too were having a great battle, with bumper to bumper racing.
Doug Cole was out on his own, his nearest competition being Martin Lovell who seemed well off the pace.
So no major incidents to report , though Darryl Davis & Nick Golhar did touch around the hairpin in the latter
stages, as the two battled for the lead. Davis seemed to have the better of Golhar until he had trouble with third gear, with Golhar seizing a golden opportunity he stormed past and happily accepted the chequered flag
Andy Campbell was always in there with a chance and seemed happy with third, after a good clean race.
Ian Evans came up trumps with the fastest lap, a real achievement in his
re-shelled race car. Evans had spent some 100 hours rebuilding his car
since it was severely damaged in an accident at the last round (Snetterton)
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