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It rained steadily before the start of the second race on the terrific new Anglesey circuit, some people changed to a wet set-up while others didn't bother. Starting on the front row of the grid were Steve Cheetham and Alastair Kirkham, with Will Penrose and Graham Heard forced to start from the back. Many people made a mess of the start on the wet track, including pole-sitter Steve Cheetham, lots of wheelspin without much forward motion! This left Alastair Kirkham, with damage sustained during the first race, leading for the first few laps. During this time he came under pressure from Simon Regitz who actually managed to get his nose in front for a couple of corners before spinning off. On the 4th lap Will Penrose took the lead after a great charge up through the field. It was a lead he never looked like losing except for a wild trip across the dirt on the exit of turn one on the penultimate lap. Alastair Kirkham managed to hold onto second place, with Graham Heard completing the podium positions, and Steve Cheetham close behind in fourth.
Meanwhile further down the order the midfield battles were as hard fought as ever, with many position changes and spins. Drivers such as Alec Fraser, Richard Mowbray, Paul Finn and Matt Davies had particularly exciting races by all accounts. Steve Brown was having a good race until his rear hatch flew open following a spin, it smashed onto his roof breaking into pieces, resulting in him being black-flagged. Fortunately after a quick trip into the pits he was allowed to continue and finish his race.
To add to the already difficult conditions, several cones had been placed at certain points on the not quite finished circuit, because there were no kerbs. During the race some of these cones had been dragged into the middle of the track, causing the drivers to swerve in avoidence. All in all the 924 racers performed very well in really testing conditions on the twisty and technical new Anglesey circuit. I am sure the championship will look forward to visiting there again when the track is finished properly; it certainly produced good exciting racing.
Report by Alastair Kirkham #7. |
