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 Introduction |
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Mention Wales and many people say dont go there is always rains, well nothing could be further from the truth. It was another fantastic weekend at the Pembrey circuit near Llenelli, in South Wales. Not only was the sunshine hot, the racing was hot too. The racing weekend for some was spread over two days with qualifying and practice on Saturday and racing on Sunday. For once the MGs were placed first and third in the race programme which for many meanta free afternoon to explore the locality or just watch the rest of the days racing. Kelly Mercer did not fall into either of these categories, major problems with the car forced her to attempt the almost immpossible and that was to return her very poorly MG Midget to her engineers workshops hundreds of miles away and then return sunday morning. A dissapointed Kelly telephoned her friends at the circuit early on sunday morning with the news that she would not make it back to the track, but the spirit she showed in trying is a great credit to her!! |
| Practice Session Class A |
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Quite an eventful 15 minute session. Kelly Mercer dropped out after just 5 laps with mechanical problems. The session lasted just 5 laps for Jules Swain also, she crashed out at the hairpin, with a fairly hefty impact into the tyre wall. Jules, well she walked away.. her MG Midget though suffered severe front end damage. Top qualifers Class A 1 Gary Smith 2 Peter St Barbe 3 David Amphlett 4 Lorraine Clark 5 Dave Rees 6 Paul Naish The Top 5 all qualified on the same second , the gap first to fifth was 0.913 sec. |
| Practice Session Classes B & F |
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No great surprise here, David Mellor in Class F remains the man to beat. The second placed car in Class F is that of Darryl Davis and was looking to beat Mellor in establishing a new track record for the Class, which was introduced at the start of this season. Top qualifers Class B & F 1 (F) David Mellor 2 (B) Nick Evans 3 (F) Darryl Davis 4 (B) Andy Campbell 5 (B) Nick Golhar 6 (F) Michael Weidner The Top 4 all qualified on the same second , the gap first to fourth was 0.961 sec. |
| Class A Race Result |
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Drama just seconds before the cars moved off to the startline, Lorraine Clark who had qualified fourth in her MG Midget came to an abrubt halt as the rotor arm decided to take early retirement!! The gap on the grid was to help Paul Naish to get a flyer! Peter St Barbe, the polesitter, not surprisingly made an excellent start and out dragged both Smith and Amphlett getting to the hairpin first! Dave Amphlett also made an excellent start getting past Gary Smith in the charge down to the hairpin but didn't defend well enough and let him back up on the inside.
The next couple of laps were a little fraught for most of the front runners. Paul Naish charging up the
inside of Amphlett locking up under braking forcing Dave Amphlett to concede the hairpin, then Naish was very honourable and let Amphlett past on the exit on the grounds that perhaps it was an unfair barge. Naish though did not
let up though and threatened once more at the Brooklands hairpin on the next lap. Through out the whole race the MGB and the MG Midget fought over second place. Amphlett (No.14) even got a nose in front for while only for Smith (No.30) to fight back
Afterwards Dave Amphlett said "Well I finally have got the whole car and engine package together after 2 years in the wilderness and hope to start shaking things up at the front over the next few races." Elsewhere Philip Waterman in the No.18 Midget came home with a few battle scars. Philip was involved in a couple incidents at the notorious 'Hatchetts Hairpin'
POS Driver Car Time Gap MPH 1. Peter St. Barbe MG Midget 12:40.448 68.92 2. Gary Smith MG Midget +3.525 68.61 3. David Amphlett MGB +3.812 68.58 4. Dave Rees MGB +18.428 67.29 5. Paul Naish MG Midget +18.663 67.27 6 Ian McCormack AHS +19.160 67.23 Fastest Lap: Peter St Barbe 1:14.689 @ 70.17mph |
| Classes B & F Race Result
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An incident packed race from a grid of about 20 cars. Into the first corner in was david Mellor closely followed by Darryl Davis who in turn had Nick Evans right on his rear bumper as the rounded the hairpin for the first time. Right behind Evans was Andy Campbell who in turn had a rear view mirror full of MG Maestros On lap 3 I think it was on the road race leader David Mellor was shown the 10 second penalty board! This apparently was for a 'jump start' . David was later to protest his innocence. Throughout the race though David stayed out in front where we saw a 1-2-3 of MGFs. Behind the MGFs the race order was begining to sort it self out, it looked like Campbell had got the better of Golhar, Evans and Naish, with Nick Golhar 'pushing' perhaps a little harder than the others. Andy Campbell, champion in 2000, was to throw it all away, when in an effort to shake off Paul Naish, he pushed too hard through 'Dibeni Bend' and got on the grass and in Andys own words "nearly lost it" So in the closing stage it was Paul Naish (No 59) who it was to be the victor of the Class B race, (fourth on the road) while Darryl Davis took Class F with Mick Weidner second and David Mellor relegated to third. Again the action is not alway right at the front, the middle order runners deserve a mention too. With Simon Byrne and Paul Roberts in seventh and eigth place having a great battle
POS Driver Car Time Gap MPH 1.Darryl Davis MGF 12:32.152 69.68 2 Michaell Weidner MGF +0.595 69.63 3 David Mellor MGF +9.456 68.82 4 Paul Naish MG Maestro +17.373 68.11 5 Nick Evans MG Maestro +18.013 68.05 6 Nick Golhar MG Maestro +18.612 68.00 Fastest laps Michael Weidner (F) 1:13.634 @ 71.18mph Andy Campbell (B) 1:14.931 @ 69.95mph |
Timing By MST
Photography by Kelvin Fagan, all images are copyright.
