I have probably been wetter at Silverstone than anywhere else I can think of, and I'm not just talking about Friday, October 1, the day of our qualifying for Round 13 of this year's Championship! Way back in 1974 a team of Alfasuds was taking part in the Birkett 6 Hour Relay under the title "Squadra Alfa". After two and a half hours there were so many cars littered around the circuit, including subsequent Alfa Champion Peter Cabrol's TZ, that the organisers decided to put out the red flag. As I was one of only two team managers still going out to the pit wall to put out signals to the drivers (who probably copuldn't see them anyway), I wasn't entirely disappointed. And then, because of the continuing heavy rain, the race was not re-started and the Alfa team were adjudged the winners. Even better! In 1978, the "Daily Express" International Trophy was run for F1 cars on March 19th. It snowed in qualifying and then race day (when 35,000spectators turned up) saw torrential rain. Alfa Romeo Dealer Team was racing in the Tricentrol Touring Car Championship that day, but what I most remember was going out to a small stand on the inside of Becketts and watching Niki Lauda skate off into the infield on the warm up lap for the feature race and come to a stop in the mud with his Brabham-Alfa. He sat on the car until a marshal came to carry him back to a piece of tarmac! The race, which was led at times by the likes of Mario Andretti and Hans Stuck, was eventually won by Keke Rosberg in a Theodore (only 5 of the 17 starters finished, the rest being mainly wrapped up in catch fencing) entered by Teddy Yip who had some association with that great Alfa character Mario Deliotti who was a dealer for the marque in Birmingham. There have been many a rain swept day in Northamptonshire since but at least in recent times I have been able to avoid sitting in a car to go home with water running out of my trousers!

Enough of past history though…….Britcar had once again invited us to be part of their prestigious 24 Hour support programme. This means qualifying on the Friday but such is the attraction of the event that we had been able to assemble a 34 car entry which might have been 35 had Nev Simpson not created something of a record by entering the day before and then withdrawing the same evening! Highlight of the entry was the return of Tim Lewis after his problems in qualifying at Brands. He had now gone back to the smaller supercharger he used last year and found that it was giving more power! This meant that, with any luck, we should see the long awaited battle with Neil Smith's 156. Chris Oxborough was having his first race since Snetterton in July with the Avon Racing prepared 75, also supercharged, while normally aspirated 75s in A1 would be in the hands of Keith Waite, Peter Sloan and Bryony Snowdon. Bryony was looking forward to her second outing in father Chris's 24v version. Chris himself was hoping to tie up Class A2 in the Championship with the Lahoma Engineers/John Sismey 33 16v but he was expecting strong opposition from Steve Dymoke in his NJS Racing prepared 156.

As Peter Sloan had moved into A1, John Griffiths seemed only to have the returning Anthony George and Kevin Reynolds in their 33 16v's for company but at the last moment an entry popped up for Emma Karwacki, she and Neil Smith having bought Paul Lund's 147 2 litre which had only been seen previously in the Dunlop Maxxsport championship. The intention is to convert it to Class E spec as soon as possible. Kevin Reynolds had bought Paul Legge's 33 shell and fitted his ex Nik Mantikas 16v engine. It was particularly pleasing to see Anthony George, the turnout of his cars always a credit to any championship. This would be his first appearance since an abortive one-off in 2007. Anthony's aim is to get a few races under his belt with the 33 before switching to the more daunting Class A1 156 that appeared on the BRSCC stand at the Autosport Show.

Class C was led by the two 3 litre GTVs of championship leader Chris Healey and Graham Seager, who had run so strongly at Oulton in the previous round, and Sarah Heels in her 147 GTA. Andy Robinson was having another outing in the Peak Alfa prepared 155 3 litre 12v which was brought along for him by Kevin Evans, the class being made up by Dave Messenger's smart Team Darnells 75. Class D has been a bit of a lame duck this year but some life has been injected by the arrival of Tony Herbert in the Bianco Auto Developments prepared ex James Burland 33 16v and the similar ex Mel Healey car of Paul Gillett running under the Spur Motorsport banner. The more experienced Steve Fletcher was perhaps the favourite in his 16v 33 but an exciting development was a move by Matt Abell from his 8v 33, the engine of which failed at Oulton, into the ex Lee Penn/Tim Perry 16v which he had rented from Paul Plant.

After Oulton, just 1 point separated Mel Healey and Andy Inman in Class E, and both were in touch with Chris Healey for the overall title. There had been a switcharound with the Bianco/Paul Plant 156s, Paul himself driving the ex Chris Finch car with Tim Perry taking over Paul's black car that had won at Oulton and, driven by Chris, finished 2nd twice at Brands, just to confuse everyone! Tim's drive was a "wedding present" from Paul which was a nice thought, Tim having been out of racing for a couple of seasons. A very interesting newcomer was the yellow 146 of old hand and Panel member Dave Thomas. Testing the car, Dave had gone to two extremes - Mallory Park and the Nurburgring's Noirdschleife!! A fellow yellow car was the familiar 145 of Martin Jones and it was good to see Phil Donaghy's 145 back, albeit not with Phil driving but one of his clients, Mick Donaghue. Last but not least in E, we had the 147 of Andrew Bramah.

Barry McMahon has joined his brothers Arthur and Roger on occasions both in Ireland and in the UK racing Fiat 1.8 Abarth Puntos and when Barry damaged his GTV at Brands he asked whether or not there was a chance they could join us at Silverstone. With 48 potential grid slots and nearly £8000 to find to pay for it, it seemed an obvious way to increase our numbers and our cash flow! Subsequently, the three McMahons would be joined by the two Pratt brothers, Nigel and Clive, in a "Fiat Invitation" class.

Returning to the weather, it was unpleasantly wet when we arrived at Silverstone in the middle of Friday and the situation was immediately made more stressful when we found that the area allocated to us in the paddock had been taken over by a motley collection of Porsches. Monopostos, Sports 2000s and VAG racers and their transport including two 40 ft long transporters. Only efforts by Britcar personnel and Silverstone security (who should perhaps have been present the day before) eventually started to make room and ease the situation but it would not be until post qualifying that we had anything approaching enough space.

As the car went out to qualify at 4.20, the track was still extremely wet and there were, as expected, plenty of spinners during the session. Bryony Snowdon, Tim Lewis and Andy Inman all spun on the start/finish straight but only Andy Inman hit anything there, his 156 sliding along the pitwall, badly tweaking his nearside rear quarter in the process. Worse, though, was a bizarre accident at the Abbey chicane where Chris Healey slid into the run-off on his 3rd lap and hit a raised manhole cover, the impact moving his engine backwards and upwards and cracking the gearbox casing. Steve Dymoke didn't complete a lap but that was the result of an electrical problem while John Griffiths alternator packed up, stopping him with no electrics on his 3rd lap, Kevin Reynolds joining him on the sidelines with a lack of fuel in the right place. A lap later, Anthony George suffered an early end to his return with a gearbox problem.

Everyone else ploughed on through the rain - Neil Smith and Tim Lewis completing 10 laps and ending just 1.048" apart. Neil in fact had set his best time on lap 2 with a 2'25.271" which was good enough for a satisfying pole. Tim was playing "catch up" throughout, eventually setting three laps in the 2'26s right at the end. Chris Snowdon would line up on the second row with the fastest of the Fiats, driven by Arthur McMahon. The little Fiats were particularly entertaining, going round in a closely matched group to end up with 4th to 8th fastest times, Arthur McMahon being followed by Barry, Clive Pratt, Roger McMahon and Nigel Pratt. Chris Oxborough was endeavouring to hold up Alfa honour behind the top three but couldn’t manage better than 9th quickest (but 3rd in A1) although, bearing in mind that a 75 in the wet is not the easiest proposition, this was a good result and would have been 4th overall if the Fiats hadn't been there.

Paul Plant was his usual quick self in the red 156, 10th quickest, with a time only 1.5" slower than Chris Oxborough but a surprise 11th fastest was Dave Thomas, the "soft" suspension currently fitted on the 146 aiding him hugely in the wet. 12th, and leading class C, was Graham Seager's GTV while 13th was a delighted Emma Karwacki who had a wide grin as she exited the 147 afterwards. Prior to his encounter with the pit wall, Andy Inman had set 3rd quickest time in E (14th overall) and this would give him a start position four rows ahead of Mel Healey who was uncomfortable in the conditions and would end behind class rivals Martin Jones and Tim Perry. Martin was another delighted with his performance being only two places behind his wife Sarah's 147 GTA while Sarah found herself headed by Andy Robinson's 155. Keith Waite was disappointed to be down in 19th position, having had a problem with wheel clearance using his "wets". Class D was headed by Steve Fletcher but Matt Abell was only 0.23" adrift, revelling in having four cylinders all working! Andrew Bramah and Mick Donaghue completed Class E, sandwiching Dave Messanger's 75.

There was much work to be done before the 12.55 start on Saturday. Andy Inman's 156 was going to be allowed to run without a rear screen but there was also a great deal of body tidying to do before the car would be accepted by the scrutineers. Anthony George and his team were hard at work on 33's gearbox and driveshafts while Paul Plant's 156 needed a new clutch. Gethin Llewellyn was dealing with the alternator problem on John Griffiths' 156 and Steve Dymoke was talking about wiring an extra battery into his 156. Keith and Tom Waite had been back to base for some new wheels to which Michelin kindly fitted his wet tyres. As race time approached there seemed to be much activity around Neil Smith's car, but Neil seemed unperturbed as he made last minute checks aided and abetted by Westley Evans Calmest of all seemed the Fiat camp, their cars nestling under the Aspin Group truck's canopy, slicks replacing the "wets" they had used in qualifying. Sadly, no plan to get Chris Healey out on the track - Ian Brookfield's 164 was talked about at one point - was deemed workable and so he would be a spectator but no doubt just as anxious to see how daughter Mel would get on.

Just before 1 o'clock the remaining 33 cars made their way to the grid. This time they were using the GP start line which is further towards Copse and it was going to be interesting to see how long it would take the cars that were out of position after qualifying to come through to their expected positions. Chris Oxborough had not helped his cause by spinning on the warm up lap. As the red lights went out it was the Fiat Punto of Arthur McMahon who made the best getaway but by the time the first four reached the Copse he had already been firmly pushed back to fourth and it wasn't long before we had the familiar sight of Tim Lewis leading an Alfa race again. Not that Neil Smith had any intention of letting him open up a gap, the two cars coming through Woodcote at the end of lap 1 just 0.878" apart. However, by then there was already drama down at Vale as Matt Abell had hit the high inside kerb and rolled his 33, ending upside down but quickly getting himself out of the car and into the hands of the running marshals. The Safety Car was immediately deployed in front of the leaders and we had a moment to look at the timing monitor to see how the order had been at the end of the lap (the view from the commentary box on top of Race Control is abysmal, so much of the live comment was coming from Marcus Simmons down at Stowe).

Chris Snowdon had come through in 3rd place, 6.7 seconds behind Neil and ahead of four Fiats (Arthur McMahon, Clive Pratt, Roger and Barry McMahon). Paul Plant had made one of his usual "switched on from the word go" starts and was lying 8th but aleady had Steve Dymoke on his tail, the A2 156 having overtaken no fewer than 24 cars on the first lap. Graham Seager was 9th, leading class C, and running ahead of Nigel Pratt, Sarah Heels, Anthony George, Andy Inman, Keith Waite, David Thomas and Andy Robinson. A second or so further back we had another group consisting of John Griffiths, Emma Karwacki, Mel Healey, Martin Jones and Dave Messenger with Mel anxious to make her way past Emma to go in pursuit of Andy Inman who was 4" up the road. But all this had to be put on hold for the moment as the turquoise Abell 33 and debris was cleared away and it was almost at the half way stage (after 2 laps two slow laps) before the Safety Car lights went out and racing could resume. There was to be some 11 minutes of frantic action.

As the leaders came onto the pit straight and past the timing line it was clear who had his re-start thinking cap on as Chris Snowdon made a play to lead into Copse. We knew it was only going to be a bit of grandstanding by Chris but it was fun for the few seconds it lasted. Tim Lewis wasted no time in re-asserting his authority and at the end of lap 4 the gap to Neil Smith was 2.2". Throughout a complete lap this would see-saw a bit, Neil commenting afterwards that the 156 was "awesome through the Maggotts/Becketts complex" but he would then lose out on the Hangar Straight. Chris Snowdon was holding on to his 3rd place, 8" adrift, but we almost immediately lost Steve Dymoke who spun into the gravel on the exit of Priory. He was pulled out by a large yellow "snatch" vehicle and allowed to continue - the marshals no doubt

practising for the 24 Hours - but he would re-start 2 laps in arrears. Arthur McMahon looked comfortable in 4th place ahead of brother Roger but Graham Seager was now the man on the move, ending lap 4 6th while Anthony George had passed Sarah Heels into 10th, heading Class B, and was on the tail of Paul Plant who was comfortably in charge of E. Anthony was now lapping faster than the cars immediately ahead of him and on lap 5 rushed past Paul and several Fiats to challenge Graham Seager. Also making progress were Keith Waite and John Griffiths who both ended the lap in front of Sarah Heels.

It was interesting at this point to keep an eye on what was happening slightly further back especially where it affected the championship battle. Mel Healey had finally managed to edge ahead of Emma Karwacki but at the end of lap 5 was still 6 seconds behind Andy Inman with Andy Robinson and David Thomas in the way. David was beginning to suffer from increasing amounts of understeer as his tyres went off and after disposing of Andy Robinson, Mel was able to cut the gap to David to just 2 seconds by the end of lap 6 but still having Andy 5 seconds ahead with the probability of 2 laps of the 3.16 mile Bridge circuit still to go.

At the front, Neil Smith was still trying but maybe a little too hard as he exited Copse at the start of lap 7. A huge broadside down the track  towards Maggotts lost him about 3.5" and from that point the chase was all over and Tim could relax . Still running third at the end of lap 6, Chris Snowdon's 33 was starting to sound very rough and by the end of lap 7 he had dropped back 7th and about to be passed by Anthony George who had moved ahead of Graham Seager. This meant that Arthur McMahon was now running 3rd overall.

Mel Healey must have received some divine inspiration as, having passed Dave Thomas, she chopped a second and a half off her previous best lap time. This was 0.8" quicker than Paul Plant's best of the day although he was running 20 seconds ahead of her on the road. This was enough, though, to give her a sporting chance of taking the vital class second away from Andy Inman as she was now right on his tail. Keith Waite had made his way through to 9th place by the end of lap 6 but had the faster 156 of John Griffiths in his mirrors while Steve Dymoke suddenly re-appeared in their midst, albeit 2 laps adrift.

Tim Lewis crossed the line to win his first race of the year and the "Alfa Romeo Centenary Trophy", 8.4" clear of Neil Smith. Arthur McMahon brought his Fiat home a relatively comfortable 3rd as Anthony George could not close the gap over the last couple of laps. After a very quick lap 6, John Griffiths managed to close up on Keith Waite as they entered the final lap, both of them disposing of Graham Seager and Barry McMahon. Roger McMahon, Clive Pratt, a lonely Sarah Heels (2nd in C) and Nigel Pratt were next home before we craned our necks to see whether Mel Healey had been able to pass Andy Inman - and indeed she had, a result that would move her into the overall championship lead, as well as in the class, a point ahead of father Chris and 4 points clear of Andy. After Dave Thomas and a dispirited Chris Oxborough had gone through, Chris Snowdon arrived going slowly down the pit lane. However, this allowed him to cross the timing line and win Class A2. Part of the exhaust had broken and Chris was receiving a face full of hot fumes and would have had to stop even if the flag had not come out. Others in trouble were daughter Bryony who went off on the inside at Copse, hitting the wall, although the damage was minimal while Emma Karwacki had boiling power steering fluid and slipped back on the final lap. Steve Fletcher was about to be lapped at the finish and was passed by the leaders and then directed into pit lane at the end of their slowing down lap but he too crossed the timing line to win Class D from Tony Herbert and Paul Gillett.

Tim Perry finished an excellent 19th (5th in E), Peter Sloan 20th (5th in A1), Dave Messenger a hard fought for 21st (3rd in C), 22nd Emma Karwacki and 23rd Andy Robinson who dropped several places after an incident on lap 6. Martin Jones had been well on the pace of the more powerful cars just ahead of him to finish 24th and 6th in E. After Steve Fletcher the other finishers were Andrew Bramah, Tony Herbert, Mick Donaghue, Paul Gillett, Kevin Reynolds and Steve Dymoke. That made 31 finishers from the 33 that were on the grid.

The prizes were presented to an enthusiastic gathering afterwards by Angela Dymoke. The MMC Motorsport Insurance Driver of the Day award went to Arthur McMahon for his efforts in the Fiat Punto Abarth. John Griffiths won the free entry draw.

The Championship goes to Donington and this year's Kevin Griffiths Trophy for another of those nail biting finishes. Chris Healey has rented Paul Plant's "red" 156 for the race, so all three in contention will be in Class E. It really will be the case of "may the best driver win!".

A final point, it was clear from the number of cars showing damage, both considerable and minor, that there had been far too much "contact" during the race. As Championship Co-ordinator I am concerned that although we have not had a poor record this season, we are still vulnerable to inconsiderate driving and lack of judgement when we have bigger fields and close competition between the classes where the characteristics of the competing cars may be very different. We hope that Donington will see a return to the "non contact" sport that all competitors really should appreciate, not just for themselves but for other drivers,  particularly where it helps to eliminate unnecessary bodywork repair costs. The Clerk of the Course will be watching!!

From a circuit where cars come round within a minute to one where the lap time is double that was the change of scene for round 12 of this year's championship. This took us from Kent to the less crowded surroundings of Cheshire. For the specatator, Oulton Park has distinct contrasts. You can get close to the cars at a corner like Lodge or you have the wider view from the bank at Cascades which also allows you look across at the drop from hilltop down to Knickbrook and then up Clay Hill towards the invisible Druids. The International circuit that we were using is 2.692 miles long with an average speed for our fastest cars of around 85 mph. In qualifying for last September's meeting, Tim Lewis had taken pole with a lap in 1'49.099".

The Championship situation after Brands Hatch had left Chris Healey with a 13 point advantage over Andy Inman who, in his turn, led Mel Healey by just a single point. However, both Chris and Mel needed to score in each of the remaining races while Andy still had a useful dropped score to throw away which could be worth a handy 12 points at the end of the day. Oulton produced our best entry of the year with a couple of notable additions. Autosport's Ben Anderson had been entered in Graham Heels' Class E 147, the first time we have seen his car this year and we were grateful for all the support from Alfashop, MMC, the BRSCC, Tyres Southshore, Bianco Auto Developments NJS Racing and Autolusso in getting it there, not to mention Graham's own generosity in making the car available to promote the championship. The other highlight was the first appearance of Louise West's superb looking yellow and black Class A2 33 16v with an engine put together by Peter and Louise with Charlotte Smith in her race engineer role as usual. Louise was going to be using this a test session, the car never having turned a wheel.

It was good to see Andy Page making a reappearance in his now almost venerable Giulietta Turbo, the car looking as though it had received some attention to the paintwork since we saw it at Combe earlier in the year. He was to be joined in A1 by Neil Smith, looking for his straight seventh win with his WTCC 156, and refugees from B, Peter Sloan in Ian Fisher's 156 2.5, Robin Eyre-Maunsell's 75 3 litre and Sam Laird's 75 3 litre that won at Oulton in May. Having missed Brands, Steve Dymoke was back with his 156 and was joined by Chris Snowdon in the Lahoma 33 in A2 while John Griffiths was the only runner in B this time with his familiar white 156. Graham Seager had returned in C to challenge Chris Healey, their GTVs joining Sarah Heels 147 GTA and Andy Robinson's 155. Matt Abell was the only Class D entry, confident that the 33's misfire had now been sorted.

Ben Anderson was looking at some strong competition in Class E, notably from regular winner Paul Plant who was back in the black 156 that had been driven by Chris Finch at Brands. Other 156s were in their hands of class regulars, Andy Inman, Mel Healey and Ray Foley while Andrew Bramah was out again his 147, the engine now rebuilt, and Martin Jones had the only 145 in the entry. Ben and Martin plus Sarah Heels had tested the day before, the 147 2 litre being diagnosed with a clutch that was at the end of its useful life  and which was changed by Harry White on the Friday evening before dark descended.

It was unfortunate that timetable pressures, following an unexpectedly large Formula Ford entry that required two races, meant that we had been requested to qualify with the Ford XR Championship. This was going to mean 41 cars on the track although the intention was that the Fords would start some 15 seconds behind the Alfas. In the end, some of them were slow filtering out of the assembly area and the quicker Alfas were some in amongst them.

Inevitably, it was going to be a question of either put in a quick lap early or be lucky in finding some space. For most people it was well into the session before their best times began to emerge. Neil Smith was being extremely careful given the potential speed differentials but still set some consistently quick laps mid session to grab pole with 1'53.107" although well off Tim Lewis's 2009 time. However, Neil was convinced that he could get into the 1'50s. There was confusion on the first lap when Peter Sloan put his car off the road, happily without damage, at Druids and there was confusion as Sam Laird and Andy Page slowed under yellows. Behind them a group of Fords slowed even more and Chris Snowdon found himself having a really scary moment as, not having seen the flags as he came up the hill, tried to slow, went off the track backwards and kissed the barrier, ending up facing the wrong way. Fortunately, damage was minimal and he was able to recover to the pits and then continue. By the end of the session, Andy Page, Chris Snowdon and Steve Dymoke had set the next best times to Neil, all under 2 minutes. They might have been joined by Sam Laird but he had a misunderstanding with a Ford on his sixth lap and unfortunately landed in the wall with enough damage to the 75 to leave him as an embarrassed non starter.

6th overall was John Griffiths, his Class B 156 just a second clear of the quickest Class C car which turned out to be Graham Seager's GTV, almost a second in front of Chris Healey on this occasion . Graham had set his time early on but Chris didn't manage to settle down until nearer the end of the 20 minute session. Sarah Heels was third in C, wishing she could have been closer to the GTVs and also having Paul Plant's Class E 156 alongside her. Robin Eyre-Maunsell was less happy this time with his 75 and was almost matched by the ever improving Andy Robinson.

Paul Plant's best lap time in E was a 2'06.337", 1.9" quicker than Ben Anderson who was  getting used to the 147 and was very happy to end quicker than class regulars Andy Inman and Mel Healey who remained closely matched as ever, as were Ray Foley and Martin Jones although Ray was disappointed not to be up with his usual rivals, his 156 seemingly not quite at its best. Andrew Bramah was running-in his engine while Louise West was all at sea with her 33. This was her first time on slicks and with what appeared to be a somewhat vicious limited slip she pronounced the car as "undrivable" as she set the slowest time in the session. Not having been able to set a timed lap, Peter Sloan was able to qualify with a lap before lunch and would start at the back of the grid.

In addition to Sam Laird, we also lost Matt Abell and Ray Foley after qualifying due to engine problems. Front disc changes seemed to be necessary on the Class C GTVs while Chris Snowdon was seen busily rebuilding the 33's front spoiler and taping up the torn rear bodywork. It was a relief to arrive in an assembly area that was minus Fords and they probably felt the same about us!

Oulton has a different arrangement to many circuits, in that the lap from the assembly area exit situated at the end of the pit road to the grid is also the green flag lap. Therefore it is all attention for the 5 second board and the lights when cars arrive for the start. Someone always gets lightly caught out, and this time it was Steve Dymoke (yellow flags began to wave) and Graham Seager who admits he "just didn't see the lights". The fraction of a second was enough to let Chris Healey assume the Class C lead while Sarah Heels was delayed in front of Ben Anderson who immediately dropped two places behind Andy Inman and Mel Healey. Meanwhile up at the front, Neil Smith had quickly assumed his usual position at the head of the field with Andy Page and Chris Snowdon closely matched behind and then a 3 second gap to Steve Dymoke at the end of lap 1.

John Griffiths and Chris Healey were closely matched but already 7 seconds behind and were being chased by Robin Eyre-Maunsell who had jumped ahead of the delayed Graham Seager while Paul Plant had made his usual flying start and was on the tail of the GTV although he knew he would quickly lose out to the 3 litre cars extra power. Andy Robinson had also got away well and was holding 3rd in C in front of Sarah Heels. Louise West had quickly come up from the back and was lying between Andy Inman and Mel Healey with Ben Anderson a frustrated 4th in E, 1.6" behind Mel. However, it looked as though Class E times were about all Louise could manage and this was going to have a major effect on the race as it developed.

Although Neil Smith went ahead on his own mission to break the Alfa lap record, there was an excellent battle behind Andy Page and Chris Snowdon in two cars that have very long championship histories but still give of their best. On laps 3 and 4 Chris got very close to the back of the Giulietta before dropping back fractionally on lap 5, anticipating another effort before the end of what should have been an 8 or 9 lap race. By the end of lap 3 John Griffiths had pulled away slightly from Chris Healey who had a 5 second advantage over class rival Graham Seager, with Robin Eyre-Maunsell in between them. Paul Plant was having a lonely race leading Class E while Andy Robinson, Sarah Heels and Louise West passed the pits all together with Andy Inman and Mel Healey close behind. Ben Anderson had moved to within a second of Mel and looked as if he would mount a challenge on the two Class E cars ahead.

Lap 4 at Knickerbrook was crucial to the race as Louise West's torque steer caught her out and the slightest of contacts with Andy Inman sent her sideways and then hard into the barrier. Mel Healey had been almost alongside Andy but didn't get involved was able to take advantage while Ben Anderson had avoided the mayhem and closed on the now 3rd in E Avon 156 as they surged towards Druids.

Untroubled by all this, Neil Smith finished lap 4, 20 seconds in front of Andy Page and Chris Snowdon, and it looked as they went down to Cascades as though Chris was preparing to mount an attack. Steve Dymoke was still 4th, a further 6" down. Chris Healey had closed on John Griffiths as he realised that Graham Seager was now running quicker and fancied another class win. On their own were Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Paul Plant with the next group headed by Andy Robinson.

Everyone knew where Louise West's car was under yellow flags and the race continued apace with particular attention on the efforts of Ben Anderson to wrest away at least a podium place from Andy Inman and/or Mel. Then it all changed as a safety car appeared, somewhat unexpectedly by that stage, from the pit road to pick up Neil Smith as he started his 7th lap. Everyone slowed accordingly around the track although Andy Robinson appeared not to see the "SC" boards and was reprimanded later by the Clerk of the Course. For those who were not lapped, the gap from front to back gradually decreased and everyone imagined that we would at least get a final "sprint" lap to settle the results. Especially hopeful was Ben Anderson who now felt he had a great opportunity. But it was not to be. The race disappointingly ran out for the first safety car finish that we can recall. Neil Smith had been hoping for a run at the overall race lap record before the finish but he was to be denied, his best of 1'50.589" just falling short of the 1'50.107" set by Tim Lewis last September as he fought off Adie Hawkins.

The top four remained Neil Smith, Andy Page, Chris Snowdon and Steve Dymoke (1st and 2nd in Class A2) with John Griffiths, the only Class B car,  5th overall leading home the Class C battle of Chris Healey and Graham Seager. However, Graham did take the race fastest lap (as well as class pole) from Chris, 2 points which could be crucial by the end of the season. Paul Plant was untroubled in Class E while Sarah Heels led home Mel Healey, Andy Inman and Ben Anderson after Andy Robinson had dropped back but would finish in front of Martin Jones, Andrew Bramah and Peter Sloan whose 156 2.5 just wouldn't run cleanly all race. Robin Eyre-Maunsell pulled into the pits at the very end and was not classified.

There was a feeling of anti-climax as everyone came back to the paddock and later we shared Louise West's sadness at the damage sustained by her 33 which had started the day being admired by so many people. Let's hope that she can resurrect the project before too long.

The trophies were presented by Linda Robinson and the MMC Motorsport Insurance Trophy was awarded to Andy Page. Andy had a double success after the original winner of the free entry, Steve Dymoke who already had one to use up, put his entry win back in to be drawn again.

Chris Healey came away from Oulton with his championship lead now 16 points from Mel who had reversed her one point disadvantage to a one point lead over Andy Inman after dropped scores had been deducted. Sarah Heels and John Griffiths shared 4th place from the fast closing Neil Smith.

Our thanks to the BRSCC North West section for an efficiently run meeting in nice end of summer conditions and we now move on to Silverstone for our visit to the Bridge GP circuit as part of the Britcar 24 Hours weekend on October 1st / 2nd.

I always like circuits where you can get really near to the action - at least you can if you know where to go. From a photographer's point of view that is important, unless you have one of those monster lenses beloved by professional sports image takers. Most spectators at Brands Hatch tend to gravitate towards Paddock but my favourite spot is on the inside of Druids hairpin. There is a pedestrian bridge over the track and you have access to the entry to the corner, the middle, exit and down the hill towards Graham Hill Bend and a major plus, there is no debris fencing. They did put some up for the visit by CART several years ago but it was subsequently removed. You can look down into the cars' cockpits and see the drivers eyes!! And despite only having 17 entries for our visit over the weekend August 21/22, the lap is so short that with a possible 20 laps completed in the qualifying session on the Saturday morning, that still meant over 300 photo opportunities.

Mind you, for at least one competitor, you had to be quick off the mark. It was great to see Tim Lewis out for his first championship race in the Alfasud Sprint, now with bigger supercharger as the old one had been over-speeding, but it lasted a mere 5 laps. Two weeks before, in a DDMS race at Snetterton, it had suffered a broken supercharger belt which had then mangled the cam belt. It looked as though it was a repeat performance. The only consolation was that Tim would have been on pole with a time of 50.655", quicker than Ian Stapleton's Alfa lap record. This was a time that Neil Smith, assisted for the weekend by ex 156 racer Westley Evans, couldn't match with his ex WTCC 156, but it wasn't for want of trying. As it was, his best lap in the new car (51.694") was a couple of seconds quicker than he had managed in the old car, now owned by Steve Dymoke. Steve was not at Brands, having opted to run his Alfasud and the 156 at Shelsley Walsh as part of the National AROC weekend.

Sam Laird had re-appeared for Brands, his last outing having been at Cadwell where the 75's engine had overheated after qualifying, leaving him a disappointed non starter. Avon had rebuilt the engine and it was going to be interesting to see how Sam's Class B car would compare with the similar A1 75 of Keith Waite who was having his first race since Snetterton in April. They would eventually share the second row, with Sam on 55.065", a second and a half quicker than Keith. The Class B cars on the third row, the 156 of John Griffiths and 75 3 litre of Peter Sloan were very evenly matched, John just heading Peter by .116" which promised a very close race later in the day. The complete four car Class C was covered by a mere 0.448" with Chris Healey's GTV on the class pole with 57.959", ahead of the 147 GTA of Sarah Heels (58.030"), Barry McMahon was a satisfied 3rd quickest (58.183"), his 24v engine having been rebuilt since its cam belt failure at Snetterton, with Ron Davidson 4th on 58.407". Chris Healey had an adventurous session with a dusty "off" at the bottom of Paddock and an as near as you can come to the gravel moment at the end of the 20 minutes at Druids. Ron Davidson might have been quicker but for some serious vibrations under braking indicating warped discs.

Class E was also a close contest. Chris Finch had borrowed Paul Plant's black 156 for the weekend just to compare it with his own red car and he would end 0.33" faster than championship challenger Andy Inman, with Mel Healey a further 0.3" back. It was good to see two 33 16v's back in action, both driven by newcomers to the championship. Tony Herbert used his racing  experience from several years ago and was the only one of three 33s present to break the minute with his ex James Burland car, although Matt Abell came close in his still misfiring 8v car. Paul Gilett had bought Mel Healey's 16v earlier in the year but Brands was his first outing and he was still learning all about the car and track and would line up at the back. Alongside Matt Abell was another driver new to Brands, Dave Messenger with his Class C 75 3 litre.

Neil Smith reckoned that the 75s would be quicker off the line than his 156 - well that proved right for all of 100 yards! Thereafter, Neil was in a class of his own at the front, although he did manage to inject some excitement into the proceedings with a spin coming out of Surtees on lap 2, his data analysis showing this to be at a cool 99 mph! Sam Laird was just near enough to threaten the lead but the 156 was quickly underway and crossed the line at the end of the lap still with a 1.37" advantage. Further back Sarah Heels had made a superb start and was lying 4th just behind Keith Waite and, crucially, in front of Chris Healey. John Griffiths was running 5th with the GTVs of Ron Davidson and Barry McMahon chasing him hard but Peter Sloan had had a poor first lap and was running behind the Class E 156s of Chris Finch and Andy Inman. The 33 8v of Matt Abell who had got away well and was ahead of Mel Healey''s 156 in addition to the two other Class D 33s. Chris was later to be given a 10 second penalty for creeping at the start.

Neil Smith was soon romping away from Sam Laird, lapping some 3 to 4 seconds quicker, and so the interest was quickly focussed on the battles behind. Chris Healey passed Sarah Heels on lap 2 and was running a second behind Keith Waite but John Griffiths was also making progress, passing both Sarah and then Chris into 5th place. The top four in Class C were covered by under 4 seconds with Ron Davidson, his brakes now working properly, keeping in front of Barry McMahon. Peter Sloan had now got into his stride and by the end of lap 4 was on Barry's tail, looking for a way past as they approached Surtees. However, it took him until lap 7 to split the two GTVs. Mel Healey had demoted Matt Abell on lap 2, but the 8v 33 was going well at this stage, holding a handy advantage over his nearest rival, Tony Herbert. Dave Messenger had pulled into the pits at the end of lap 5 to change a wheel, emerging just before the finish.

Peter Sloan finally managed to muscle his way past Barry McMahon on lap 7, quickly starting to close the gap to Ron Davidson while Sarah Heels was keeping the pressure on Chris Healey at the front of Class C. There was an entertaining battle going on between Chris Finch and Andy Inman but this was to come to an end on lap 10 when Andy pulled off at the bottom of Graham Hill with a smoky 156. This turned out to be a split pipe to the power steering which had already caused problems in qualifying. Mel Healey was now elevated to 2nd in E, although 4 seconds behind Chris but she was aware of his 10 second penalty and knew that all she had to do was to finish to claim the class win.

At the front Neil Smith was unobtrusively into lapping the field for the first time, so rapid was his progress. Sam Laird was already 35" behind with Keith Waite at this stage a lonely 3rd. However, John Griffiths was pushing along hard and had certainly not given up hope of catching the red and yellow 75. Peter Sloan passed Ron Davidson on lap 11 and was lapping quicker than Sarah Heels so that a change of place looked likely, Peter moving ahead 4 laps later which gave Chris Healey some small respite from the challenging 147 GTA. This didn't last long as Chris was himself passed by Peter a lap later. There was also a change of position a few seconds further back as Ron Davidson had a grassy moment and was passed by Barry McMahon in what was to be a pivotal move.

Lap 18, out of an eventual 23 by Neil Smith, was to provide Sarah Heels with an unusual moment in her racing career - a retirement!! As she went into Paddock she found a gearbox full of neutrals as the gearchange fell apart and she had no option but to pull off. Her frustration was increased when Chris Healey slid into the gravel at Druids on his final lap - his pit crew had already packed up to go back to the paddock and didn't notice his non arrival! This left a surprised Barry McMahon to take his second class C win of the year, 7 seconds clear of Ron Davidson. Neil Smith eventually brought his 156 home for its 5th win of the season, a full lap ahead of Sam Laird. John Griffths had managed to get ahead of Keith Waite on lap 17, but Keith had fought back to peg John's advantage at the flag to a mere 1.3". Peter Sloan was an excellent 5th overall, 3rd in B to Sam Laird and John Griffiths. Chris Finch came home 8th on the road but lost the Class E win to Mel Healey as a result of the 10" penalty. Sadly for Matt Abell, his misfire had returned but he had led Tony Herbert, the eventual class D winner, for 18 laps. Tony was delighted to take a win with his "comeback" drive while Paul Gillett was equally delighted to have reached the flag in third place. Clare Davidson kindly presented the trophies after the race, the MMC Motorsport Insurance Driver of the Day award for the Saturday race going to Peter Sloan.

Despite returning to base to see what could be done to get his Sprint's engine running again for Sunday, Tim Lewis did not appear as the damage needed somewhat more than an evening re-fettle! This left a disappointed Neil Smith who had been hoping for some competition although he felt that Tim's  car was probably capable of laps in the 49" region, something that he knew couldn't match. Keeping up that pace for a whole race was another matter though.

Overnight it had been decided that because of some eligibility niggles, Sam Laird's 75 would be moved into Class A1, leaving only John Griffiths and Peter Sloan in B. Ian Brookfield and the Spur team spent most of Sunday morning cleaning the accumulated gravel from around Chris Healey's GTV while Gethin Llewellyn had waved the magic wand over Sarah Heels' gearchange - so often the smallest of things that cause the problem. Dave Messenger had only intended to race on the Saturday but a late entry for Sunday only was Ray Foley who had just returned from holiday. He qualified before racing started at 10 a.m. Elibility Scrutineer John Monk was doing the rounds with his engine sealing paint, the GTVs of Chris Healey and Ron Davidson receiving the treatment as did Sarah Heels' 147. The 156's of Andy Inman and Mel Healey had previously been sealed. 

As the cars left the assembly area for Sunday's race, just before the lunch break, there was definite moisture in the air and those who had stayed on slicks faced the prospect of a tricky race. However, this didn't stop Neil Smith. A cautious start rapidly turned into another crushing display, lapping everybody during the next 21 laps with a quickest lap only half a second off his previous day's best (set on lap 4 before the track started to get wetter). Much of the interest was going to come from Saturday's non finishers - Chris Healey, Sarah Heels and Andy Inman, plus Ray Foley, who would all be starting from the back. Sam Laird had Keith Waite keeping him company behind Neil until Sam had worked out how to drive on slicks on a slippery but not wet track. Mel Healey and Matt Abell had both made amazing starts, Mel ending lap 1 in 6th place, just ahead of John Griffiths, with Matt 8th in front of Chris Finch and Tony Herbert and Peter Sloan.

By lap 3, things had started to sort themselves out a little, with John Griffiths ahead of Mel Healey and Peter Sloan in front of Chris Finch and Matt Abell while Chris Healey was up to 11th and closing on the white and green 33 ahead. With 5 laps completed, Chris's next target was daughter Mel and it took him until lap 8 to ease his way past, after which Mel never let him relax as Chris saw the Barry McMahon/ Ron Davidson duo ahead. Lying 4th and 5th at the end of the first lap, Barry and Ron were to have a fine scrap until Barry, having just been passed by John Griffiths, slid straight on at the top of Paddock and into retirement at the start of lap 10. This left Ron Davidson 5th overall, leading Class C with Peter Sloan's Class B 75 looking in his mirrors at the approaching Chris Healey. Sadly, Matt Abell's class leading run came to an end at the half way stage as he pulled into the pits with a return of the misfire, a poor reward for an excellent drive.

As the track became wetter and Neil Smith's lap times were in the 60 second range, Mel Healey took advantage of the 156 being easier to drive than her father's GTV and closed the gap which pushed Chris into getting past Peter Sloan and making a bid to close in on John Griffiths and Ron Davidson up ahead. This was all to be resolved over the final lap as Chris got ahead of Ron to claim the important class win and almost caught John Griffiths on the line, under a second separating the three cars, with Mel Healey just 1.8" behind Ron to take her best win so far in Class E. Ray Foley and Andy Inman had enjoyed a splendid battle, including a very squiggly moment for Ray on the outside of Surtees as he tried to pass Andy on lap 11, eventually making it stick to claim a satisfying class 3rd behind Chris Finch while Andy took some important points in 4th. Just ahead of Ray and Andy at the end was Sarah Heels who had kept her fellow back of the grid starters behind her in a steady drive to 3rd in class in conditions she doesn't enjoy although the track did dry slightly towards the end. After Matt Abell's retirement, Tony Herbert inherited the Class D win with Paul Gilett second having felt that he had improved his performance as the weekend went on.

Neil Smith (6 wins in the 156 now) was on the top step of the podium again alongside Sam Laird but, as a change from Saturday, they were joined by a hot looking Keith Waite in third place. Class wins had gone to John Griffiths, Chris Healey, Tony Herbert and Mel Healey. Carol Fisher and Alfashop's Philip Clay presented the trophies later, Mel Healey receiving the MMC Motorsport Driver of the Day Award. Tony Herbert's number came to the top in the free entry draw.

The ups and downs of a double header meeting, all to the dropped scores rule, can always produce changes in the points table. We ended the meeting with Chris Healey (172), eleven points ahead of Andy Inman (159) who now has Mel Healey just a single point behind. John Griffiths (145)  had overtaken Sarah Heels (143) for 4th while Neil Smith (113) had rushed up to 6th, albeit thirty points behind the 147 GTA with three races to go. Chris Snowdon leads Class A2 and Matt Abell Class D                                                                                          
The next round is at Oulton Park on 4th September.

It is quite a long time since we had championship races two weekends running but after the poor entry at Rockingham it was good to return to a fuller grid for Round 9 at Snetterton on 25th July. Dropped scores had already started to influence the top of the points table and although Andy Inman had taken the overall the lead on total points scored, the reality was that Chris Healey was still ahead after missing Rockingham and being able to discard a zero. Battle was joined for third place between Sarah Heels and Mel Healey.

After their 1-2 win at Rockingham, Neil Smith and Steve Dymoke had high hopes of repeating their success at Snetterton but this time they had to face the re-engined Lahoma 33 16v of April winner Chris Snowdon and the rapid 147 GTA of Alastair Iles, having only its second run of the year. However, the earlier race had also been at Snetterton and Alastair had chased Chris home on that occasion. It was expected that Neil's 156 would be by far the quickest car out there but he had never been very competitive with his old car on the Norfolk circuit and it was going to be interesting to see what Steve Dymoke could do with it. A1 was completed by Chris Oxborough and Bryony Snowdon. "Oxo" was also having his first outing since April in the Avon Racing prepared supercharged 75 3 litre although the car had been driven into 3rd place at Rockingham by Clive Hodgkin. Chris Snowdon's 18 year old daughter Bryony was entered in Chris's 75 3 litre 24v, perhaps not the easiest car with which to make your racing debut but, on the other hand, she was not having to face unrealistic expectations in a Class E car and had been able to test the 75 on several occasions.

John Griffiths returned after missing Rockingham, his Class B 156 having been the subject of a gearbox and diff rebuild, while the persistent misfire had also been sorted out. Just driving around the paddock it sounded much more purposeful. Robin Eyre-Maunsell was hoping to repeat his Anglesey and Rockingham successes while a newcomer to the championship, and Class B, was Mario Lavergata, one of the partners in Avanti Autos, Alfa specialists in Ipswich. He was driving a 33 8v that had seen service in years gone by in the hands of Jonathan Walter and John Norrington. After her storming drive in the last round, Sarah Heels would have liked more of the same at Snetterton with her 147 GTA but she knew she was up against the GTVs of Shaun Hazlewood and Chris Healey plus that of Ron Davidson, who always goes well on the Norfolk circuit, and the new, blue, Aspin Group car of Barry McMahon. While the GTV was being built, Barry had been away doing Fiat Challenge races with his two brothers, much enjoying the experience.

How times change! The only Class D car at Snetterton was the 33 of Leon Bailey whose last outing, on the same circuit, had seen a wheel flying off towards the spectator enclosure on the outside of Russell. However, Class E was stronger again, the 156s of Paul Plant, Mel Healey (with new clutch), Andy Inman and Chris Finch being joined by the 145 of Martin Jones and Andrew Bramah's 147.

Even before arriving at the circuit, Alastair Iles had had a minor panic, deciding that the state of his (Dunlop) tyres was not quite up to the job but fortunately Graham Heels was able to get the Michelin fitters, who were there for the Porsche Club GB Championship, to sort it out for him. Bryony Snowdon was looking extremely nervous, not moving down to the assembly area until Chris had led the way while there was some last minute work on the brakes of Paul Plant's 156. Dark clouds had made their occasional appearance during the morning but, unlike in April, never came to anything and the track was dry as the cars came out to qualify. Neil Smith wasted no time in putting himself at the top of the list, ending with a 1'17.444",  but it was Steve Dymoke who was rapidly into the "groove", reeling off a series of laps in the 1'21s and 1'22s with a best on his 9th lap of 1'20.591". Chris Snowdon was pushing hard and eventually beat that with a 1'19.592" while Alastair Iles popped up third quickest before the end with 1'20.236", demoting Steve Dymoke to fourth. Chris Oxborough was one of the most consistent drivers out there, nine of his fourteen laps being in the 1'24s with a quickest, half way through the session, in 1'23 346" to grab the inside of row three from Chris Healey's Class C leading GTV. In Class B, all John Griffiths' laps from his sixth to lap fourteen were all within 0.7" of each other but his best (1'25.175") was not quite quick enough to pip Robin Eyre-Maunsell's 1'25.084", leaving them occupying the fourth row.

A puff of smoke at Riches heralded the end of Shaun Hazlewood's day, a gearbox oil seal (probably) having failed but Ron Davidson was again going well, ending up 10th quickest well ahead of the new GTV of Barry McMahon. Barry was very happy with the handling of the car but felt he was down on power. The final car in C was Sarah Heels who we had expected to move further up the times but somehow it was just not happening for her and she was seen afterwards in deep discussion with brother Graham. In E, Paul Plant was leading the way. 0.7" quicker than Chris Finch with Andy Inman a comfortable third, with over half a second in hand over Mel Healey. Martin Jones is still feeling his way back into racing after his bout of chicken pox earlier in the year and his 145 was no match for the 156s here while Andrew Bramah had pulled off on the Revett Straight with strange noises coming from under the bonnet. Bryony Snowdon had seemed quite at ease with her 75 and had kept well out of everyone's way to complete her first qualifying session. Leon Bailey had suffered a puncture half way through the 20 minutes and Mario Lavergata had failed to complete a lap, pulling off after Sear with a blocked carburettor. Fortunately, he was able to do a couple of laps behind a Safety Car to qualify.

It was good to see a number of familiar faces around the paddock during the longish break before the race. James Ford was telling us that he had bought another 156 to turn into a new race car but the likelihood of seeing it this year was slim. Martin Parsons was seen chatting to old "team mate" from the Gatwick Alfa days, Ron Davidson (if you wondered who it was with Ron in the photograph). Martin had been competing in the previous day's Britcar race with Nick Gooch in a diesel BMW entered by Brunswick Motorsport. John Norrington was there to support Ipswich "local" Mario Lavergata while successful past 33 racer John Strickland had come along to help Leon Bailey.

It was nearly 4 o'clock before the 19 remaining Alfas came to the grid - missing were the GTV of Shaun Hazlewood and Andrew Bramah's 147. Neil Smith was cautious getting away as the red lights went out, Chris Snowdon and Alastair Iles making the best starts but by the time the cars appeared out of the Bombhole and into Coram, Neil Smith had already, as expected, established himself at the front of the field. Chris Snowdon crossed the line 2.2" adrift with Alastair Iles 3rd,  a second clear of Steve Dymoke. Chris Oxborough was an already lonely 5th, while Barry McMahon had got away well and was running just ahead of Chris Healey and in front of a closely knit bunch with Ron Davidson leading Robin Eyre-Maunsell, who had slipped past a "helpful" John Griffiths at Russell. Sarah Heels who seemed much more "on it" than in qualifying was sitting on the tail of this trio. Paul Plant and Leon Bailey had both gone straight on at Russell, which lost Paul the class E lead to Andy Inman and dropped Leon to the tail of the field and eventual retirement with a gearbox issue. Chris Finch completed the opening lap just ahead of Mel Healey while Martin Jones found himself with Bryony Snowdon on his tail in the powerful 75 3 litre.

There was no holding Neil Smith who set the next three flying laps in 1'16s - quicker than he had ever managed in his old 156 but perhaps not quite where the potential of the car lay. But then he didn't need to push as Chris Snowdon was already 13" adrift by the end of lap 4. The battle between Alastair Iles and Steve Dymoke was pretty intense, however, and would last the whole race although Steve didn't help his cause by overshooting his braking point at Russell on several occasions. Chris Oxborough still held his secure 5th place but it was still very tight behind him. Chris Healey had swapped paint with Barry McMahon at the Esses as he dived past on lap 2 but Barry had retired shortly afterwards when an alternator belt broke and found its way into the cambelt with predictable results. Ron Davidson was driving extremely well, holding on to 7th place ahead of Robin Eyre-Maunsell, a resurgent Sarah Heels and John Griffiths. Paul Plant had wasted no time in returning to the front of E, setting a new lap record in the process, and Andy Inman now had to watch in mirrors for Chris Finch and Mel Healey.

Chris Healey wasn't pulling away quickly from Ron Davidson but John Griffiths had achieved his aim of passing Robin Eyre-Maunsell for the Class B lead on lap 3. Chris  then had a dusty moment at the Bombhole on lap 4 dropping five places and delaying Ron Davidson who now found himself behind John and Robin although still ahead of Sarah - just! Paul Plant now led Class E by 4.5" from Andy Inman who had a 1.5" cushion to Chris Finch who had a similar gap between himself and Mel Healey. On lap 6, Chris Healey gathered himself up and rushed past Ron Davidson on the Revett Straight to regain the Class C lead while Sarah Heels was fancying her chances of passing Ron into Riches.

While all this was going on, Neil Smith had eased back into the 1'18s and by the end of lap 7 had already lapped Martin Jones, Bryony Snowdon and Mario Lavergata who retired a lap later. The gap to Chris Snowdon was now over 20 seconds while Steve Dymoke continued to chase Alastair Iles, although it was beginning to look as though Alastair had this under control. Further back, Ron Davidson and Sarah Heels were alternating quicker lap times while Mel Healey had eased onto the back of Chris Finch and, more than once, positioned herself to challenge.

Over the last 5 laps, Neil Smith had dropped his times by a further three seconds a lap as there was no point in straining the car. He would come home to his fourth win of  the year 37 seconds clear of the Lahoma 33 while another grassy moment at Russell had robbed Steve Dymoke of a realistic chance of taking away third place and he drifted back from Alastair over the final lap. Chris Oxborough came home 5th, although John Griffiths had closed the gap to 5.1 seconds by the finish. John, in his turn had pulled away from Robin Eyre-Maunsell. Chris Healey crossed the line only 2 seconds clear of Ron Davidson and reckoned he was lucky to get there at all. A hole in his gearbox casing was discovered after the race. Sarah Heels had eventually settled for 3rd in C, 7 seconds behind Ron but over the last few laps Class E leader Paul Plant was making a determined effort to catch her but she saw him coming and speeded up for her last 2 laps. Andy Inman drove a consistent race to emerge an untroubled 2nd in E but Chris Finch and Mel Healey battled through to the end, receiving plaudits from Autosports Ollie Timson,  just 0.66" dividing them as they crossed the line with Chris ahead. Martin Jones and a happy Bryony Snowdon were the final finishers. She was somewhat relieved to have got through it all but was already looking forward to her next opportunity to race.

There was some drama in the scrutineering bay afterwards when Chris Finch's 156 was found to be 6 kg underweight. It then emerged that the calibration certificate for the weighbridge had been "lost" by the circuit and the scrutineers were unable to issue paperwork to the Clerk of the Course which would have seen Chris excluded from the results and Mel Healey lifted to third place. Understandably, Mel was extremely upset by this, and although it appeared that there was nothing we could do on the day, we subsequently asked the BRSCC to put in a strong complaint to MotorsportVision, owners of the circuit. Since then, MSV have indicated that the certificate has now been found and they have expressed their regrets that its "absence" should have resulted in a race/championship result being affect. Nonetheless, it seems there is nothing further we can do which rather makes a mockery of the rule book!

Alfashop's Philip Clay presented the race trophies at the Prize Giving while John Griffiths receiving the MMC Motorsport Insurance Driver of the Day award from Angela Dymoke The free entry draw resulted in success this time for a delighted Steve Dymoke.

On the total overall points table, Chris Healey had reduced Andy Inman's lead to 5 points but was still ahead once dropped scores were taken into consideration. Sarah Heels was still ahead of Mel Healey before points were adjusted, a 22 point lead for Sarah becoming a 5 point lead for Mel!

The plan that resulted in race meetings on two successive weekends was an effort to safeguard the number of rounds in 2010 with the strong possibility, as it seemed back in November, that Donington would be out of action for the whole of the year. The offer of a grid at the Snetterton Britcar meeting was a "bird in the hand". A solution for Donington has meant that we should, after all, be racing there in the middle of October and we have ended up with one more round than we needed. Inevitably, some people were going to make a choice between Snetterton and Rockingham, with the latter being the loser. It was a case, then, of "we happy few" who assembled for round 9 on the "Rockingham Speedway" as part of the British GT/Formula 3 programme.

However, there were some plus points - for the first time this year we had the two Neil Smith prepared 156s on the same entry list and both duly appeared, making a fine sight in the paddock. Neil's car was his ex WTCC example that had already taken two easy wins at Anglesey three weeks before while his 2004/2008 Championship winning car was in the hands of its new owner, Steve Dymoke. So far, Steve had only managed two tests sessions, and 6 laps of qualifying at Cadwell before trouble intervened but both he and Neil were keeping their fingers hard crossed that all would be well. On arrival, Neil was pleased to find that he wasn't the sole entry in A1 as Clive Hodgkin was giving Chris Oxborough's supercharged 75 3 litre a run, using slicks on the car for the first time. Steve Dymoke was alone in A2 as was Robin Eyre-Maunsell in B, Robin hoping to continue his already successful season.

The strongest class was C despite the absence of all the GTVs apart from that of Graham Seager who was making his first appearance since Oulton in May. Chris Healey, Shaun Hazlewood, Barry McMahon and Ron Davidson had all opted to enter for Snetterton, Chris reckoning that work came first and that he could afford to use up one of his dropped scores. Sarah Heels arrived at Rockingham lying third overall and second in class with her 147 GTA but knowing that however good her result, that is where she would probably stay at the end of the meeting if Andy Inman had a good day. Dave Messenger was back with his smart 75 3 litre while the class was made up by Andy Robinson's ex Graham Seager/Roger Evans 155. Andy, having made his debut at Anglesey, was confident that he had now got over his first race fears and could give a good account of himself with advice from Roger and Kevin Evans to help him along. The only Class D car present was Matt Abell's 33 8v while E was unusually thin with only the 156s of Paul Plant, Andy Inman and Mel Healey. Paul's black car was making its first appearance, the old car that was crashed at Cadwell having been sent to the crusher. The only driver to test on the Friday was Andy Inman, benefitting from some Race Data analysis from an onboard camera offered by Paul Granger who will be out himself in his 2 litre GTV at Oulton in September.

Dark grey clouds had been lurking around Rockingham during the morning but the track was dry when qualifying got underway just after 12.00 pm. Neil Smith took a couple of laps to re-acquaint himself with his 156 but then flew round to set a best of 1'30.522" before a spattering of rain brought him into the pits to see if it would be shortlived and the track would dry out. Looking out of the commentary box window, the rain didn't look too bad but out in the midfield sections it was obviously worse and we soon had several cars pulling back into the paddock, including Steve Dymoke, Clive Hodgkin, Robin Eyre-Maunsell and Andy Inman. By that time, however, Steve was comfortably 2nd quickest and would share the front row with Neil Smith who did one more lap before the flag came out, the rain having stopped as soon as it had arrived. As at Snetterton in April the session had been spoilt by sudden rain although admittedly the level of water was somewhat less on this occasion - just enough to make it very slippery though.

Graham Seager and Sarah Heels had both stayed running, completing 12 laps each and sandwiching Clive Hodgkin, 3rd and 5th fastest respectively with Robin Eyre-Maunsell's best lap good enough for 6th. Paul Plant led Class E, despite the car appearing to be running hot as it made a precautionary pit stop. Paul was a second quicker than Andy Inman and well clear of Mel Healey on this occasion. Between Andy and Mel came the very evenly matched Dave Messenger and Andy Robinson. Final qualifier, but well in touch with the three cars ahead of him was Matt Abell's 33.

Interesting at these larger meetings are the sector times offered by TSL. Neil Smith had been some 3 seconds quicker than Steve Dymoke in the first sector, going from the start line to a third of the way round the circuit approaching Gracelands Bend. In the shorter second sector approaching Brook, the gap was a second, and from there to the finish line just 0.2". Neil's fastest sectors added together would have given him a best lap of 1'30.207" as against the 1'30.522" that he actually achieved. Steve's perfect lap would have gained him 0.7". Neil's only frustration was that he hadn't bettered the sub 1'30 lap he had achieved in qualifying last year. Looking further down the list, it was clear that Sarah Heels was quicker than Graham Seager in the first sector, very close in the second sector but 0.8" slower in the final sector.

Steve Dymoke reported that his 156 was suffering from a misfire but Neil Smith waved his magic wand (or replacement electrical bits!) and a run up and down the paddock approach produced a thumbs-up. Avon Racing came to the aid of Dave Messenger whose 75 had suffered the well known curse of a split propshaft doughnut. Matt Abell's windscreen wipers had packed up and Mel Healey had a small petrol leak to cure but otherwise it was case of general fettling before the late afternoon start.

The two factory liveried 156s made an impressive sight on the front row of the grid as they lined up for the 20 minute race on a now dry track. Behind them were Graham Seager and Clive Hodgkin, with Sarah Heels and Robin Eyre-Maunsell on row three. As the red lights went out, Neil Smith was cautious getting away and Clive Hodgkin reckoned he led the race for a few feet, before joining a wedge of four cars going into turn 1 as Steve Dymoke already appeared in trouble and Sarah Heels was on the inside attacking Graham Seager. Once in front, there was going to be no stopping Neil so all eyes were fixed on a quickly developing battle between Sarah Heels and Graham Seager for 3rd and 4th places and the Class C win which was to go on throughout the race, giving us some great entertainment and not a little nail biting! Steve Dymoke was dropping quickly down through the field, losing some 12 seconds to Neil on the first lap alone as he wrestled to find a solution to a return of the misfire. Somehow he did and by the end of lap 2 he had roared back to from 10th to 5th place! Paul Plant had made another of his electric starts and was ahead of Robin Eyre-Maunsell while Dave Messenger was also quick away leading Mel Healey who had, in her turn, got ahead of Andy Inman.

Sarah Heels managed to pull away slightly from Graham Seager on lap 2 and the situation would see-saw as one, then the other, put in a quicker lap. The 147 GTA looked better on the brakes into the crucial Dene hairpin at the end of the Oval section, added to which Sarah was positioning herself very carefully to withstand Graham's efforts to get past. By the end of the third lap, Neil Smith had built up a 15" lead over Clive Hodgkin but Steve Dymoke was now third and began eating his way into the 9 second gap to the white and green 75. Paul Plant was gamely holding on to the Heels/Seager battle, just a couple of seconds back but he was now having to keep his eyes on the rapidly approaching Robin Eyre-Maunsell.

For the next three laps Neil Smith started to push the WTCC 156 a bit more, all of them being sub 1'30" with a best of 1'29.415" which would become a new Alfa lap record. By the end of lap 6 his lead was over 40" while Steve Dymoke, having done a 1'33.546" in his older car was now right on Clive Hodgkin's tail as they passed the pits. Robin Eyre-Maunsell had managed to get past Paul Plant and was now closing in on Graham Seager which would start to complicate Graham's attempts to pass Sarah Heels.

Steve Dymoke had quickly taken over 2nd place from Clive Hodgkin but there was never a chance that he could do anything to close the gap on Neil and he now settled back to concentrate on getting to the finish. In any case, commentators (and most of those looking on!) were taking advantage of being able to see most of the lap and watching to see if Sarah Heels could hold on to take her first ever class win. By the end of lap 9, Robin Eyre-Maunsell had put his 75 between the 147 GTA and GTV, giving Sarah a small breather but a lap later Robin was ahead of the 147 as well, and battle was re-joined. A lap later, we almost missed Mel Healey coming in to the pits to retire with a broken clutch - a shame after a good race running 2nd in E. It would also use up her second dropped score in the Championship. Almost unnoticed had been the progress of Andy Robinson who had moved ahead of Dave Messenger, lapping consistently quicker than he had in qualifying.

Despite his overwhelming lead, Neil Smith had continued to lap very quickly and was closing in to lap second place man Steve Dymoke. At the end of the 13th and final lap this caught out the finish marshal who mistook Steve's 156 for Neil's which in the old days could have caused a problem as Steve and the rest of the field should have continued for another lap but were waved into parc ferme instead, the finishing order staying as it appeared. All eyes had remained on Sarah Heels' efforts to keep Graham Seager behind her but over those last couple of laps it was obviously becoming increasingly difficult. Unknown to us, she was suffering from fuel surge and trying to work out how she could position herself in the most defensive way. With just a lap and a half to go, to the disappointment of Sarah's growing fan club, Graham made his expected move and took away the class lead although the 147 was hanging on, crossing the line a mere 0.6" adrift.

The final order was, therefore, Neil Smith, Steve Dymoke, Clive Hodgkin, Robin Eyre-Maunsell, Graham Seager and Sarah Heels. Paul Plant returned to the Class E winner's circle, 7th overall and well clear of Andy Inman who now took over the overall championship lead from Chris Healey. 9th was Andy Robinson, the final finishers being Dave Messenger and Matt Abell who was only 2 seconds behind Dave at the end.

Once again it was interesting to look at the sector times with Steve Dymoke notably closer to Neil than in the truncated qualifying and the only driver whose actual fastest lap and perfect fastest lap were identical.  Neil's ideal fastest lap, taking all the sector's into consideration should have been a 1'29.119" as against the 1'29.415" that he actually achieved. Sarah Heels had the satisfaction of making fastest lap in C although her best was only faster than Graham Seager's in the middle section. And well done Andy Robinson whose ideal and actual fastest times were only separated by .074"

Emma Karwacki was there to watch Neil win and she joined Philip Clay from Alfashop to present the trophies afterwards. It came as no great surprise that Sarah Heels received the MMC Motorsport Insurance Driver of the Day award. The free entry draw was won by Dave Messenger after Paul Plant was disqualified for not having his entry in before the closing time the previous Monday.

Our thanks to SRO and the Midland Centre of the BRSCC for an enjoyable day, and we hope that we can produce a somewhat bigger grid for them when we join the British GT cars again at Donington in October.

Those who raced on the full circuit at the new Anglesey circuit back in September 2008 were greeted by a soaking wet track, low cloud and a flooded paddock. Thankfully this visit, on the excellent Coastal circuit that includes the “Corkscrew”, was rewarded with blue sky and sunshine for the weekend.

Championship leaders “the Healey’s” and Ray Foley had been testing at the circuit on Friday. Chris suffered some further driveshaft problems on his GTV and Mel only managed one session before she was sidelined with a brake master cylinder problem. Ray, who only raced on the wet Saturday in 2008 before handing over to son Steve on the Sunday, reported that the circuit felt very different in the dry!

All 14 cars made the start of qualifying although Neil Smith, fresh from a successful Wednesday morning test at Mallory Park, had a bit of a scare when cold tyres caught him out at the Corkscrew on lap 1. Neil re-joined but had managed to crack his front bumper during his “off”.

Being a new circuit to most it was not surprising that many posted their fastest lap towards the end of the session, despite the warm conditions. There were no reports of other major dramas although Mel was still suffering with some brake issues and Ian Brookfield, in his first outing in the 164 since the Silverstone GP round at the end of 2008, thought he had a problem with his steering but it turned out to be some issues with his tyres.

Robin Eyre-Maunsell’s tyre problem was that he had never driven on slicks before. Despite this Robin was very pleased to qualify 2nd to the very rapid Neil Smith, his ex-WTCC 156 at last running properly and lasting through the session. A sign of things to come we all hope!

John Griffiths was on good form to qualify just over a second behind Robin. Next up were the Spur cars of Chris Healey and Ian Brookfield followed by the Class E runners with Sarah Heels in her Class C 147 GTA and sole Class D runner Matt Abell in the mix.

At the back was racing newcomer Andrew Robinson in his ex-Roger Evans / Graham Seager Class C 155. This was Andrew’s first ever race and despite being last his lap timed were more than respectable.

Saturday’s race started in hot and sunny conditions. There was a minor panic in Neil’s ex-WTCC 156 as he stalled the engine just as the red lights came on. Quick work by Neil got the car re-started just in time for the lights to go out and for him to lead the pack of Alfas into the first corner. A poor start by John Griffiths meant that Ian Brookifield had to react quickly to avoid him and Sarah Heels got held up by the white 156 allowing many of the Class D and E field by.

John Griffiths limped round with what turned out to be a broken gear selector. An early retirement for “birthday boy” John had its benefits as John retired and headed for the bar!

Much of the excitement in the race came from the race long battle for second place that involved Robin Eyre-Maunsell, Ian Brookfield and Chris Healey.

A missed gear by Robin on the run up to Rocket enabled the other two to close in fast.  The places changed on numerous occasions before the inevitable coming together.  With the three of them coming to a halt at the slowest part of the track they all recovered to find themselves in the middle of the battle at the front of Class E. Ray Foley and Andy Inman took avoiding action, leaving Robin and Ian to resume their battle, with Chris just dropping back from the two of them for the remainder of the race.

In Class E Ray had managed to hold on to his lead from the start but Andy Inman chased him hard for the entire race – despite giving Ray a little rest when Andy was held up by the incident between Robin, Ian and Chris!

Mel Healey was never far behind the Class E leaders and by the end of the race Sarah Heels had recovered from her disrupted start to finish right with Mel in her Class C 147 GTA. Once Class D runner Matt Abell had pulled away the remaining Class E cars had a good close race throughout – with Keith Williams narrowly beating Martin Jones and Andrew Bramah. Andrew Robinson successfully completed his first ever race in the black Class C 155.

After the race Neil Smith reported that he’d really enjoyed the race and was relieved to finally see the chequered flag in the 156. He immediately set a target for Sunday – to go faster and break his newly set lap record!

Driver of the Day for Saturday went to Ian Brookfield for his performance in his Class A1 164.

The Bianco team (well just Harry actually this weekend) had an early start on Sunday as Harry set about rebuilding John Griffiths’ gearbox – thanks to Jess Evans after Kevin persuaded her to drive up to Anglesey with the parts!

Sunday was a bit cloudier, windier and cooler than Saturday but it remained dry and bright as all 14 cars assembled for the early afternoon race.

Neil had a slightly calmer start to the race and got away cleanly – as did the remainder of the grid.

Both Andy Inman and Mel had managed to get past Saturday’s Class E winner Ray Foley and fairly soon Sarah Heels had also found her way past Ray.

Up ahead Ian Brookfield managed to open up a bit of a lead on Robin Eyre-Maunsell whilst Chris Healey, no doubt with an eye on the Championship table, had a far less hectic race but still comfortably lead Class C.

A mistake by Andy Inman on lap 6 going into the left hander at Rocket saw him messing up his corner entry and presenting an opportunity to Mel. Mel turned into Rocket only for the recovering 156 of Andy Inman to head for the same piece of track with the inevitable result – heavy contact between the front left hand corner of Andy’s car and the rear right hand corner, and in particular the wheel, on Mel’s 156. Andy managed to continue despite the damage but Mel’s race was over.

All of this action brought Ray Foley back into second place in Class E but just as he set about chasing down Andy Inman a holed radiator put him out of the race and he parked up on the grass, keeping Mel company!

This allowed the Keith Williams, Martin Jones, Andrew Bramah battle, along with Matt Abell in the sole Class D 33 and John Griffiths in his now misfiring Class B 156 to have what would now be the main battle of the race. After 15 laps of racing they finished in that order with just 3 seconds covering all 3 cars. Keith was awarded with driver of the day after his excellent drive in Sunday’s race – Anglesey was his first race meeting of 2010.

The battle at the front of Class E resulted in a visit to the Clerk of the Course by Andy and Mel. After much discussion and the viewing of in-car videos etc the result was left unchanged.

Neil broke his day old lap record on the way to a second comfortable win. Chris Healey extended his overall championship lead by scoring the maximum points available to him. Andy Inman has now moved in to second in the Championship battle with Sarah and Mel back in third and fourth and currently separated by just a point.

Thanks to all the BRSCC team at Anglesey. We now have a couple of weeks off before a busy eight day period in July that will see races at Rockingham and Snetterton. Saturday July 17th is the day it all starts at Rockingham.

There are good days and bad days in motorsport and, as in life, it is often difficult to predict when either will occur. Over the weekend at Cadwell Park we had both but not perhaps in the circumstances we might have predicted. Saturday was a hot and dry day which appeared to have a detrimental affect on the performances of some cars and, more importantly perhaps, drivers but Sunday was dismal overcast and damp. Everyone drove with the conditions in mind and the cars reciprocated with total reliability!

The outcome produced back to back victories for Chris Snowdon in the Lahoma 33 but not without some opposition on Sunday in particular from Shaun Hazlewood and his GTV. Chris Healey went well enough to retain his Championship lead despite only three starters in his class while daughter Mel scored enough points to stay second despite a lack of power steering in Sunday's  race. Class E was highly competitive once again and wins were fairly shared between Ray Foley and Andy Inman. Highlights were the drives by Robin Eyre-Maunsell in the 75 3 litre he shares with Peter Sloan.

If anyone wants a challenge in their racing, they can hardly do better than Cadwell Park. Over its 2.17 miles, the track actually goes up and down hill, for goodness sake, and going off doesn't always land you harmlessly in a gravel trap. You may end up hard against a barrier, so it requires some circumspection. But if you are a genuine racer and you were offered Silverstone National or Cadwell Park, I know which I would choose! Sadly, though, we were missing a number of expected entries with the modified cars in various states of disrepair as has been the case for most of this season. However, you had to feel sorry for Neil Smith who had been waiting for some new pistons and rings to arrive so that his engine could be rebuilt. They arrived in time, only for the rings to be the wrong size despite being in the correctly marked box! Maximum frustration in Pershore……. On the plus side, Neil's championship winning 156 was ready for Steve Dymoke and he duly appeared on Friday afternoon to test it. The only worry was a gearbox or diff grumble over 6500 rpm but after a phone discussion with Neil, Steve decided to start qualifying on the Saturday morning.

Apart from the 156, running in A2, the fastest cars entered were going to be the Class B 75 3 litre of Sam Laird and the A2 Lahoma 33 16v to be driven by Snetterton winner Chris Snowdon. There had been a great deal of work on the suspension and steering geometry of the 33 since its last outing and Chris was eager to see if the car would now go where he wanted. Class B was strong here, as Sam Laird was joined by the 75 of Robin Eyre-Maunsell, Nev Simpson's Alfetta GT 2.5, John Griffiths' 156 and the smart black (ex Gareth Haywood) 156 2.5 now owned by Ian Fisher but to be driven by Peter Sloan on this occasion. Peter had tested at Silverstone in company with Ian and Clive Hodgkin and was looking forward to his first race in a front wheel drive car. John Griffiths was hoping to hold onto his third position in the overall championship points table.

A sad sign of the times was that Steve Fletcher's 33 16v was the only Class D entered but he was determined to have a good race with the Class E cars. Ray Foley and James Ford had both overcome their Oulton Park adventures, their 156s looking pristine again, Ray as the result of ministrations by Peak Alfa. They had Paul Plant's example, which needed more comprehensive surgery after its Tin Tops Brands accident, and the other 156s of Andy Inman and Mel Healey for company plus the newly re-liveried 147 of Andrew Bramah. Looks like a proper racing car now in its blue livery with yellow and silver stripes plus a large Alfa badge on the roof.

The 20 minute qualifying session had hardly got underway before red flags brought the action to a stop and, as the cars returned to the start/finish line, we looked anxiously to see who was missing. Half way round their second lap, it appeared that Paul Plant had suffered a mechanical breakage, probably a front wheel, and had slammed into the side of Nev Simpson's Alfetta GT. Both cars were very seriously damaged but happily both drivers emerged unhurt. After a 10 minute delay, qualifying resumed and straightaway it was a battle for pole between Chris Snowdon and Sam Laird. Chris looked safe half way through the session but a couple of quick laps by Sam wrested it the 75's way and it was only a final effort by Chris after a swift visit to the pits that left the red 33 on top of the timesheets. Afterwards Chris expressed himself very happy with the changes made since Snetterton. "It goes in a straight line now" he said afterwards.

Comfortably third quickest was Steve Dymoke (who had assumed the pseudonym of "Chris Dymond" on the list of times) and he was certain that he could have gone quicker. However on lap 6 the car was sliding about at Mansfield and Steve saw a trail of oil smoke, returning to the paddock immediately. It was clear that all was not well - oil spread liberally over parts of the engine - and that Steve's race weekend was probably over. The cause was later traced to a stripped oil pump drive, the casing also being split. Fourth fastest was the Class C GTV of Shaun Hazlewood, the new airflow meter seeming to have cured his problems at a stroke, but he was only a fraction quicker than the flying Robin Eyre-Maunsell's 75 which led class B from John Griffiths 156. There was an intense battle for the Class E pole between Ray Foley and James Ford, Ray grabbing it on his final lap by almost three quarters of a second. A surprised Peter Guy L'Amie was third quickest in the Avon renta' 156, heading both Andy Inman and Mel Healey although Mel's car had a number of niggling problems including the need for a new rear exhaust. Steve Fletcher had placed himself right in the middle of the Class E cars, so it was likely that he would  have some influence on the result as he fought for a good overall result. Third quickest in B and C respectively were Peter Sloan, settling in well with the 2.5 156, and Sarah Heels, feeling a little tentative with her 147 GTA, not having had the opportunity to test before the meeting. Championship leader Chris Healey had suffered a driveshaft problem, would qualify out of session and start from the back of the grid, not for the first time, just to give us some added excitement!

It was a surprise to see Sam Laird's 75 being towed back into the paddock. It transpired that it had overheated at the end of qualifying and he and the Avon team had to wait anxiously for it to cool down before they could top up the water system. This done, Clive Hodgkin attempted to start it but a fountain of water from the header tank indicated that its racing was over for the weekend. This left us with just 14 cars from the original 18 to start the first race. Particularly sad was the sight of Nev Simpson's and Paul Plant's cars, both dropped off in part of the scrutineering area that seems to be dedicated to the results of such accidents.

The grid hadn't been closed up after the withdrawal of Sam Laird and Steve Dymoke and so we had just Chris Snowdon on the front row and Shaun Hazlewood on the second. It was Shaun who made the best getaway and stay in front for half a lap before Chris Snowdon assumed the lead. Thereafter, a win for the 33 was not in question although a couple of slow laps by Chris gave Shaun some hope, as the GTV's deficit was suddenly halved to around ten seconds with 2 laps to go.

Robin Eyre-Maunsell quickly established himself in 3rd place, opening up a 4" lead over John Griffiths in the first two laps while Steve Fletcher had got himself ahead of the Class E battle. Ray Foley led here from Andy Inman and Mel Healey who had demoted James Ford to fourth and Peter L'Amie to fifth, under 3" covering all five cars which made a great sight as they arrived at the left hander before the Mountain. Chris Healey had already passed seven cars by the end of lap 1 and was in front of Steve Fletcher and chasing John Griffiths as they entered lap 3. It was on this lap that Ray Foley made an important move in his bid to win Class E as he passed Steve Fletcher - not without a small exchange of pain on the way! - although Ray almost threw it away later in the race with a bouncing moment on the exit of Barn. Steve, Andy Inman, James Ford and Mel Healey  then entertained us with a great battle, the quartet passing the line at the end of the 5th lap covered by just 1.6". Peter Sloan and Peter Guy L'Amie who had been running with them had a "Webber/Vettel" disagreement at the Mountain on lap 5 as a result of which Peter Guy stopped with a broken steering arm. Chris Healey had moved into 4th place by the end of lap 3 but didn't have the speed to close the gap to Robin Eyre-Maunsell.

On laps 6 and 7 James Ford and Mel Healey exchanged places back and forth, James then consolidating his 3rd in class by a few feet and it looked as this is how it might finish as they entered lap 11. Unfortunately, out at the end of the long uphill straight into Chris Curve Andy Inman ran wide onto the grass at which point he became a "passenger" coming back onto the track as James and Mel tried to hug the inside line. The contact between Andy and James threw the latter towards the barrier, the car rolling before stopping in a sorry mess from which James was recovered and taken to the medical centre for a checkover. Andy and Mel, both shaken by what had happened, carried on but the red flags were quickly out and the race result declared at the end of lap 10.

Chris Snowdon remained the clear overall winner, 8.6" ahead of Shaun Hazlewood who was delighted to have finished his first race since Castle Combe on Easter Monday, taking Class C in the process. Robin Eyre-Maunsell was a fine Class B winning  3rd, 7" clear of Chris Healey (2nd in C) while John Griffiths enjoyed his best race for some time to take 5th (2nd in B). The broad grin on Ray Foley's face said it all as he had dominated Class E from the start and Steve Fletcher had done well to keep Andy Inman and Mel Healey behind him. The final finishers were Sarah Heels, Andrew Bramah and Peter Sloan. After a short delay we were happy to see James Ford returning to the scrutineering bay to take a look at his battered 156 and he was still enthusiastic enough to come back for Sunday's race.

Shaun Hazlewood's partner, Jessica Warwick,  presented Saturday's awards, the MMC Motorsport Insurance Driver of the Day award going to Robin Eyre-Maunsell.

Where Saturday had been a glorious June day, Sunday morning saw the Lincolnshire Wolds in a less attractive light with low cloud, mist, light drizzle and always the threat of the very heavy rain that we had had during the night returning. The combination never made the track really wet, nor was it totally dry either. There had been a great deal of work in the Avon camp, straightening Andy Inman's 156 and fitting a new steering arm to Peter Guy L'Amie's car. The Spur team had returned in to find that, as Chris Healey put it, "the elves had been out in the night" as Mel's power steering pump was not functioning and she would be beefing up her muscles during the race.

The drizzle looked a little more serious as the cars formed up in the assembly area but there was no time for anyone on slicks to make a change which meant that Chris Snowdon, in particular, was going to have to be very careful as there would certainly be no grip on cold rubber. Away from the start, Shaun Hazlewood made another of his excellent getaways and Chris Snowdon had no initial answer. Chris Healey was another to make a good start, jumping ahead of Robin Eyre-Maunsell on lap 1 while in E, a determined Andy Inman having recovered from the Saturday incident got ahead of Ray Foley with Mel Healey in hot pursuit, having demoted Steve Fletcher's Class D 33.

At the end of lap 1 Shaun Hazlewood had already built himself a 7.5" lead which went to just over 9" by the end of lap 2. Shaun had begun to wonder if Chris Snowdon had a problem and admitted afterwards that maybe he didn't push as hard as he might have done at this point. Chris's is only problem was grip and as soon as he was able to get some temperature into the tyres, the chase was on. Nonetheless, it took him until the start of lap 6 to be in a position to pass which he did comfortably at the end of the pit straight. Thereafter, the two cars matched lap times, Chris 6" seconds off his dry pace while Shaun was only a second adrift by the end on his Toyo control tyres. The gap at the flag was just 2.99".

Meanwhile, Robin Eyre Maunsell was chasing Chris Healey extremely hard and the two would eventually cross the line a mere 0.62" apart. Andy Inman had continued to lead Class E but not by much, Ray Foley keeping him right on his toes and setting fastest class lap in the process. Here again the gap was close at the flag - half a second. Steve Fletcher had managed to moved ahead of a tiring Mel Healey and John Griffiths, on slicks, had drifted back behind a resurgent Peter Sloan. And not to be outdone, Sarah Heels, Peter Guy L'Amie and Andrew Bramah enjoyed a close contest, finishing the race in that order.

We were happy to have James Ford to present the trophies for Sunday's race. The MMC Motorsport Insurance Driver of the Day trophy went to Shaun Hazlewood and the free race entry draw was won by Steve Fletcher.

Rounds 5 & 6 will take place over the weekend June 26/27 on the Anglesey Coastal circuit.

Sam Laird returned to dominate Round 3 at Oulton in his Class B 75 but the Healey family continue to head the points table, with Chris now establishing a 2 point lead over Mel after his excellent 2nd overall and a win in Class C. The podium was completed by Nev Simpson's Alfetta GT despite a last minute challenge by Graham Seager's GTV.  Paul Plant took his second Class E win of the year but had to battle hard to keep Mel Healey behind him. Steve Fletcher headed Class D with his 33 16v.

Leaving Snetterton after Round 2, we had the highly unusual situation (perhaps unique in race championships) of father and daughter tied at the top of the points table. Mel Healey had won Class E, Chris had finished a very close 2nd in C. So would Oulton turn the tables one way or the other? Sadly, their nearest challenger, Chris Snowdon was unable to be there and it looked as there would only be one modified car, the ex Neil Smith 156 now owned by Steve Dymoke but with preparation still in Neil's capable hands. However, there were glum faces when we arrived at the circuit on the Friday afternoon. Steve had been testing and settling in well, only to miss a gear and send engine revs somewhere above 10,000 rpm. Bent valves and damaged pistons were suspected and the car was put back into its covered trailer to await another day.

This would leave the race to be decided between the Class B and C cars, led by the returning Sam Laird in the blue and white ex Julian Birley/Enzo Bucaglia Class B 75 now fitted with a 12v normally aspirated 3 litre engine to replace the 24v supercharged unit that had proved impossible to make reliable. Clive Hodgkin had carried out the work and was pleased with the results even before the car turned a wheel on the track although he had tested it (or " thrown it about like a hooligan", if he was to be believed!) at Bruntingthorpe. Opposition in B was going to come from Nev Simpson's Alfetta, the 156 of John Griffiths and the second Avon 75 driven by Peter Sloan. In Class C we had the GTVs of Shaun Hazlewood (a split pipe to the capillary oil pressure gauge that Shaun had fitted being the cause of the fire and smoke at Snetterton), Chris Healey and Graham Seager. Graham was making his first appearance with his GTV that had been rebuilt after its accident on the same circuit last September. Final Class C entry was the 147 GTA of Sarah Heels. Sarah and Chris Healey had both tested (as had Mel) on Friday, everyone complaining about running with the "mad" Caterhams who seemed to be racing already and which prevented the chance of doing any full laps without having to make way.

We had hoped that Leon Bailey would make a late entry in Class D but finally there were just two 33s - Steve Fletcher's 16v and the 8v of Matt Abell, the latter hoping that he had cured the misfire that plagued his Snetterton debut. The strongest class was E with seven cars led by the five 156s of Mel Healey, Paul Plant (in Chris Finch's car which he had borrowed for the day to help sort out the suspension), Ray Foley, Andy Inman and James Ford. Martin Jones was having his first race of the year in his unmissable yellow 145, as was Andrew Bramah in his Avon prepared 147.

Before qualifying even started there was a panic in the Spur Motorsport camp as it was discovered that Chris Healey's GTV had a split driveshaft gaiter. Quick work by Nick Daly and Mel's boyfriend, Brad, sorted out the problem in time but Chris thought he might have to restrict his number of laps. Standing out at Lodge, there was the aural delight of Sam Laird's V6 singing under the roadbridge, with a crisp change down before the corner and then accelerating through the bend and up Deer Leap. It soon became clear that despite his lack of recent track time, he was soon going quickly enough to challenge for pole although to begin with he and Shaun Hazlewood were within a second of each other. Sam's two final laps were under the 2 minute barrier which put him 2.7" clear of Shaun who would share the front row.

The other driver in contention was Nev Simpson but his Alfetta was smoking badly (oil from the engine breather going onto the exhaust) and he was given the black flag just as his times were starting to look interesting. Nonetheless, with oil leak hopefully cured, he would start from the second row with Graham Seager who had quickly got back on the pace. Chris Healey did just 5 laps before pulling in as a precaution and he and John Griffiths would share row three. Sarah Heels had achieved her first aim which was to be quicker than Class E cars but it still left her to be on row 4 with Paul Plant who reckoned the suspension set-up of his borrowed 156 was"rubbish". Ray Foley was content to end the session quicker than Mel Healey (who was complaining of a grabbing front brake), Andy Inman and James Ford. The rest of the grid was made up of Peter Sloan, Martin Jones, Steve Fletcher, Andrew Bramah and Matt Abell. Matt's misfire was still there, much to his disappointment, and more time had to be spent before the race with the carburettors in bits.

All 17 cars that had qualified made it to the grid for the 20 minute (10 lap) race and as the lights went out it was a determined Shaun Hazlewood who made the best getaway while Sam Laird was perhaps understandably tentative. However, half way round the first lap Sam was already ahead with Shaun hanging on as best he could so that they crossed the line just 0.62" apart. Behind everything was more or less in grid order with Nev Simpson third in front of the closely matched Graham Seager and Chris Healey. John Griffiths was initially going well in 6th place and Paul Plant had managed to get in front of Sarah Heels at Cascades, neatly placing her GTA between himself and class rival Mel Healey. However, on lap 2 Sarah asserted herself (aided by the extra power of her 3.2 litre V6) to get ahead, leaving Paul exposed to a determined attack from Mel. Ray Foley was holding on to 3rd place in E, Andy Inman and James Ford dropping back slightly while Steve Fletcher, running just ahead of Peter Sloan, was leading class D as Matt Abell's misfire persisted.

Sam Laird had pulled out a 4.7" lead over Shaun Hazlewood by the end of lap 3 but then had an off track moment on lap 4 which suddenly saw the gap down to 1.4" although Shaun was well aware that this was not a true reflection of a change of pace. Nonetheless, Sam was being careful not to do anything silly and the lap times remained fairly even and the gap under 3 seconds until, quite suddenly on lap 7, the black GTV just stopped on the far side of the circuit much to Shaun's disgust and disappointment, there being no obvious reason. Running 3rd up to lap 5 had been Nev Simpson, but his Alfetta was continuing to smoke (he had negotiated a two lap concession from the Clerk of the Course to see if the oil already on the exhaust burned off). He decided to back off slightly which allowed Chris Healey to assume 2nd overall when Shaun retired, Nev still keeping 3rd spot ahead of Graham Seager and Sarah Heels. Graham had at one point been passed by John  Griffiths but John was dropping back to join the Class E battles.

Paul Plant and Mel Healey were continuing their close contest and Mel did once get ahead of Paul briefly at Knickerbrook. She then tried to go down the inside into Old Hall but backed out of it as it clearly wasn't going to work. At the end of lap 7 a plume of smoke followed the shape of Ray Foley's 156 as it crested Dear Leap and pulled over to the pitwall side of the track. He had understeered onto the rough exiting Lodge, bouncing and nosediving on the way, splitting the pipework to his oil cooler. A lap later James Ford did almost the same thing on the exit of Cascades, as a result of which there was a fair amount of oil around the place and oil flags were out. Sarah Heels had slowed enough to allow Paul Plant and Mel Healey to close up and then had a big "really scary", this way and that moment  in which she (and Paul and Mel!) was convinced that the 147 was going to hit the barrier - hard. Somehow, luck was with her and she managed to gather it all up and, under the circumstances, wasn't too concerned that it had dropped her two places.

As the race ran to its conclusion, Sam Laird's lead was 14.9" over Chris Healey although Nev Simpson had been braver through the oil (his own breather problem seemed to have diminished) and had taken 4" out of the gap to Chris, dragging Graham Seager along with him. They would finish in that order. Mel Healey lost contact slightly with Paul Plant and concentrated on brining her 156 home in a secure 2nd place in E, 6th overall. Sarah Heels came home a shaking but undamaged 7th (3rd in C) still well clear of Class D winner Steve Fletcher who managed to pass Andy Inman (3rd in E), with another smoking 156, on the final lap. They were followed home by Martin Jones, John Griffiths, Andrew Bramah and Peter Sloan.

It was a delighted Sam Laird who was interviewed afterwards by commentator Mike Cookson with the equally happy Clive and Christine Hodgkin looking on. At the Prize giving later, the trophies were presented by Martin Jones' sister, Rachel. The MMC Motorsport Insurance Driver of the Day award went to Chris Healey and the free entry ping pong ball was that of……….Martin Jones. Now who says coincidences don't happen!

The Oulton result left the Healey family still leading the points table but with Chris now 2 points clear of Mel. Cadwell Park on June 5 / 6 is the first of three double header meetings of the year (Anglesey and Brands Hatch are the others) with a potential 44 points at stake in each class (number of starters permitting).

The first round of this year's Championship had produced an unexpected win for Shaun Hazlewood's GTV after a post safety car dash that had seen Chris Healey at the front of the field until the very last corner. What surprises might Snetterton have in store for us? One thing appeared certain, Neil Smith's Super 2000 would still be out of action but we had expected an entry from Tim Lewis's Alfasud Sprint. In the end that did not materialise. However, the Lahoma 33 16v would be there, Chris Snowdon switching from the 75 he drove at Castle Combe while there was a lot of interest surrounding Alastair Iles' 147 GTA, now running in class A1, which had tested satisfactorily ten days before. Despite no internal modifications, the GTA - running with inlet trumpets and a much revised engine management system courtesy of Adie Hawkins and Lee Penn - was said to produce some 300 bhp. Other A1 cars entered were the supercharged 75 3 litre of Chris Oxborough and the normally aspirated version of Keith Waite. In A2, Chris Snowdon was joined by Nick Anderson, the broken rotor arm that had caused his retirement 500 yards from the finish at Combe having been replaced - "I have brought along a couple of spares this time" said Nick before qualifying.

Nev Simpson was an absentee at Snetterton, leaving Class B to be fought out by the 156s of the brothers Griffiths - John and Bryn - and the Avon Racing 75 3 litre of Peter Sloan. The strongest class should have been C with four GTVs and the 147 GTA of Sarah Heels. Unfortunately, Ron Davidson had encountered some oil dropped by his "friend" Barry McMahon while they were testing at Brands a couple of days earlier,  Ron hitting the barrier and damaging the front of his GTV which left him as a non starter for Snetterton. Barry was able to repair his car - the old grey GTV as the new one being prepared by Peak Alfa was not ready - joining the similar cars of Combe heroes Shaun Hazlewood and Chris Healey.

For a while it looked as though Leon Bailey would be the only Class D entry (how times have changed!) but he was joined at the last moment by newcomer Matt Abell who has bought Tim Hayes old car. This now repainted in a fetching white, green and black colour scheme. Class E had one of its smallest entries for some time, with only the 156s of Mel Healey, Paul Plant, Andy Inman and James Ford. James's car had been quite badly damaged at Combe in the incident with Rob Buchelle's 33 but it appeared pristine one again, a tribute to his efforts "with a hammer" he said. Don't you believe it, the car looked rather better than that. As at Combe, Bryn Griffiths was again having problems with the noise meter, despite a revised exhaust, added to which the engine of the 156 refused to run cleanly. In the end his persistence paid off with the assistance of a constructive enviro marshal and he was cleared to race.

The original weather forecast had led us to expect a dry, if slightly overcast, day so it was with some surprise that we saw the approach of some grey cloud as the 19 car field prepared to leave the assembly area for what was to be an 18 minute session following a major loss of time at the end of Saturday. Shaun Hazlewood was on his first flying lap when it started to spit with rain and then, in no time at all, was pelting down, rendering the track almost undriveable for those on slicks. Bryn Griffiths was already in trouble, his bonnet flying off on the back straight.

Shaun Hazlewood's second lap was good enough to give him pole position, a full 5 seconds quicker than Chris Oxborough who was using some grooved Dunlops and 15 seconds (!) better than his third lap, so difficult had the conditions become. Inevitably there were several spinners, including Sarah Heels at Russell and Leon Bailey on the exit of Coram while Andy Inman went into the Esses slip road ("couldn't see a thing!") to be joined by Nick Anderson and Paul Plant. They all re-joined. The slick shod runners - Chris Snowdon, Alastair Iles, Nick Anderson John Griffiths and Keith Waite - all reckoned the three laps to qualify were enough.  This was particularly disappointing for Alastair as he was hoping for some more time in which to acclimatise himself to the extra performance of the 147 and the grip of racing rubber. Particularly impressive during the wettest part of the session was James Ford who was lapping consistently quicker than everyone else. His best lap was his sixth but because he had been learning the circuit early on it was only good enough for fourth in class.

A topsy-turvy grid was to be expected and that was indeed the result although both Nick Anderson and John Griffiths had managed to get themselves well to the fore, 5th and 6th fastest. Shaun Hazlewood and Chris Oxborough would make up the front row with Barry McMahon and Andy Inman congratulating themselves with second row grid slots. Paul Plant, Leon Bailey and Sarah Heels recorded the most laps (10) and were rewarded with 7th, 8th and 9th, Peter Sloan completing the top ten. Mel Healey and Chris Healey would start alongside each other on row 8 ahead of Keith Waite, James Ford, a misfiring Matt Abell, Chris Snowdon, Alastair Iles and Bryn Griffiths who had qualified behind a course car.

Part of the lunch interval was taken up by a two lap parade of Alfa Romeo road cars, topped and tailed by two Alfashop Fiat vans. This had been organised by Clare Horne of AROC's East Anglian Section.

Our race - reduced from 20 to 18 minutes - was set for mid afternoon. The good weather had returned during the late morning but it was now becoming grey again and we all feared the worst. However, we were lucky this time and the rain stayed away. There was drama as the flag was waved for the green flag lap, Shaun Hazlewood's GTV erupting in a cloud of dense smoke as the car caught fire with an underbonnet oil leak. Shaun pulled off rapidly half way to Riches as the cockpit also filled with smoke as the rest of the field passed by. A delayed start was decreed. Chris Healey had come into the pit road with an electrical problem but Ian Brookfield quickly assessed that there was still some water where water shouldn't have been and Chris was ready to start the GTV from the pit road.

When the race finally got underway a few minutes later it was Chris Oxborough and Barry McMahon who assumed the leading positions with Nick Anderson third, a couple of seconds back at the end of the first lap, ahead of John Griffiths and Sarah Heels. Chris Snowdon was already up to 6th while Alastair Iles was also making progress, crossing the line in 11th place and about to take 10th away from Mel Healey. Paul Plant had already taken the Class E lead from Andy Inman who was running in front of Leon Bailey's Class D 33.

During lap 2, Chris Oxborough continued to look strong at the front, dropping Barry McMahon and Nick Anderson. Chris Snowdon had moved up to 4th while there was now clear track between the 33 and Alastair Iles in 5th place, the 147 going strongly 3" back. John Griffiths was holding on to his Class B lead in 6th place but watching the advancing Paul Plant. Chris Healey had made good progress in pursuit of Sarah Heels and Leon Bailey but Mel was finding it harder going to catch Andy Inman as Keith Waite's 75 took her attention for a short while. Chris Snowdon moved up to 2nd place on the third lap, putting Nick Anderson and Barry McMahon between himself and Alastair Iles, with Chris Oxborough as the next target. By the end of lap 4 the red 33 was in the lead with the Avon Racing 75 only 1.25" behind with the Iles 147 GTA 3rd and closing in.

Nick Anderson had passed Barry McMahon on lap 3, Barry seeming to have a clear run to Class C honours while John Griffiths, Paul Plant and Chris Healey passed the line tied together but some 7 second adrift. The following lap Paul retired with a broken throttle connection, Keith Waite passed both Sarah Heels and John Griffiths, then Leon Bailey lost a wheel after hitting a kerbing hard with his 33 breaking a front hub, Sarah Heels narrowly missing getting involved.

By the end of lap 6, the halfway stage, Chris Snowdon had opened his lead over Alastair Iles to 4.1" but from that point on, Alastair was a man with a mission and was gradually eating away at the gap. By lap 9 it was down to 2.9", lap 10 2.7, Lap 11 2.5". Bryony, Chris Snowdon's daughter, was keeping Chris informed from the pit wall. On the final lap both drivers broke into the 1.19s for the first time and although Alastair set the fastest lap, it was Chris's race at the flag by 2.45". It was a relieved Chris Snowdon who explained to commentator Lewis Beales and delighted car owner John Sismey afterwards that he was hoping not to have to get into a wheel to wheel battle with Alastair as the 147 would probably have got the better of it.

Chris Oxborough had suffered an off track moment between Riches and Sear on lap 6, dropping behind Nick Anderson who would eventually finish 3rd with Chris 4th. An enthralling battle had eventually developed between Barry McMahon and the chasing Chris Healey. With three laps  to go they were separated by 2.6" but Chris was having to contend with Keith Waite's 75 who passed both GTVs into 5th place before the final lap, leaving the way clear for Chris to challenge Barry for the Class C win. It was going to be close but Barry just got to the flag first 0.2" ahead. Sarah Heels came home 7th overall and 3rd in class, just staving off Peter Sloan's Class B winning 75. Mel Healey had passed Andy Inman for the class E lead on lap 5 but it remained a close battle with James Ford right on their tail until the last couple of laps when he lost grip and brakes. Nonetheless he set a new class E lap record. Matt Abell misfired his way home to the Class D win while John Griffiths was adjudged to have taken 2nd in B after crossing the timing line in the pit road. Final finisher was Bryn Griffiths, the 156 continuing to suffer from poor pick-up out of the corners.

The overall and class trophies were presented later by Philip Clay from Alfashop and Jane Anderson while Andy Hancok from MMC handed the Driver of the Day award to Alastair Iles.

Once all the calculations had been made we had the intriguing championship situation of Chris and Mel Healey sharing the points lead with Chris Snowdon lying 3rd.

The next round is at Oulton Park (International circuit) on Saturday, May 15th.

For the past three years the Championship has opened its season with Britcar on the Silverstone International circuit . However, for 2010 their first meeting switched to Brands Hatch in mid March and we reckoned that this was just too early. Instead, Round 1 was therefore set for Castle Combe on Easter Monday, April 5. Even this seemed to be rushing up too quickly for some as the winter dragged on, but a few sunny days looked set to improve everyone's morale and the entry eventually started to take shape.

Alfashop remain our title sponsors for a fifth season while Toyo and Tyres (South Shore) are again providers of control tyres for the Production classes. A new associate sponsor is MMC Motorsport Insurance who are supporting the Driver of the Day award. It was good to see Jeremy Wales and Philip Clay making the journey from Norwich to enjoy the racing.

The worst kept secret of the winter was Neil Smith's acquisition of the ex Dave Pinkney 156 that we saw last September at Oulton Park. The history of the car goes back to the 2004 when it was raced by Gabriele Tarquini in the European Touring Car Championship under the Autodelta Squadra Corse banner (N.Technology under another name). Neil headed Class A1 for Combe where he was joined by Andy Page's Giulietta Turbo, the supercharged 75 12v of Chris Oxborough and Chris Snowdon in his further developed normally aspirated 75 24v. The only entry in A2 was Nick Anderson, the engine of his 33 8v having been rebuilt over the winter.

It was good to see Nev Simpson's Class B Alfetta GT 2.5 ready to race at the start of the season as he could well make a strong challenge in this year's title battle. In fact so well prepared and relaxed was he that he was able to take a week's holiday beforehand with Becki and son Scott. John Griffiths 156 was joined by the similar car of brother Bryn, this being another ex Dutch Challenge car, red and white this time. The class was completed by Peter Sloan in the 75 3 litre he shares with Robin Eyre-Maunsell, these cars now being allowed into Class B.

Class C looks as though it will be well supported from the start this year. Of particular interest was Sarah Heels' new 3.2 litre 147 GTA, prepared by Bianco Auto Developments, which looked extremely smart in its white and red colour scheme with reflective green Bianco lettering. Sarah and brother Graham had both driven the car in a test session at Silverstone ten days beforehand. Shaun Hazlewood and Chris Healey were both entered in their 3 litre GTVs, Chris's being the ex Kevin Evans example and the class was made up by Dave Messenger's 75 which had received a new engine and been smartened up during the winter. The three front wheel drive cars were fitted with the now permitted Q2 diff.

Sadly, Class D has suffered from the steady disappearance of the 33 and only two were entered for Combe. However, it was good to see the return of Leon Bailey with the ex Brian Thorp 8v car, still in its smart AHM colours of black and yellow. The second car was that of Rob Buchelle who had only managed one race in 2009.

Class E was made up entirely of 156s on this occasion. Paul Plant was back with the example that took him to 5 wins last year while Mel Healey had the ex Sarah Heels car, now resplendent in black and pink livery. Ray Foley, Chris Finch and Andy Inman were all entered in their usual cars while welcome newcomer was James Ford who had built up his own car over the past year. He was nearly unable to race after an excursion into the gravel while testing at Silverstone had broken the cambelt with the usual dire results. However an emergency rebuild at Bianco enabled James to make it to Combe for his debut.

A cloudy, dry and chilly morning greeted us for scrutineering and the first qualifying session of the year. Everyone was eager to see how Neil Smith's superbly presented new car performed but it all turned into a disappointing anti-climax. With just an out-lap completed Neil motored slowly into the pit area after suffering a loss of power. Investigation in the paddock revealed that it was not an easily fixed problem and Neil's race day was over almost as soon as it had begun. Later it was discovered that the cam belt had slipped which, as the engine had been checked over by a well known BTCC engine builder beforehand did not leave Neil very happy!

So, with the Super 2000 156 out of contention, it was left to Andy Page to dominate proceedings with a consistent set of laps, the fastest of which (1'16.398") was some 4.5 seconds clear of everyone else, although well off the lap record set by Tim Lewis in 2009. However, the next four cars were very evenly matched with Chris Healey grabbing a surprise front row slot, from Nev Simpson, Chris Oxborough and Shaun Hazlewood, all four lapping in the 1' 21s. Most surprised of all was Shaun Hazlewood who arrived at Combe convinced that he would lead class C once again, only to find himself nearly a second slower than Chris Healey who had caught and passed his rival during the 15 minute session, boosting his confidence for the race. Chris Snowdon should have been amongst the top six but was suffering a brake problem and only managed three laps to set 8th quickest time behind Paul Plant and Mel Healey. Nick Anderson seemed fairly pleased with his 33 but was still getting used to the car's bigger brakes in addition to running a the new engine. Making up the top 10 was Peter Sloan who had lapped the Class B 75 quicker than Robin Eyre-Maunsell's best last year.

Chris Finch looked competitive in his 156 and was to be elevated to class pole when the cars of Paul Plant and Mel Healey were found to be underweight after qualifying. The lack of "paperwork" and an out of time protest had meant that they could not be put to the back of field by the Clerk of Course but they eventually agreed voluntarily to start on the final row. Leon Bailey was the quicker of the two Class D cars ahead of Sarah Heels, Andy Inman, Ray Foley and Dave Messenger. James Ford seemed confident enough in his red 156 and headed Rob Buchelle and John Griffiths, John suffering lack from an old tyre fitted by mistake. Unluckiest of all was Bryn Griffiths whose car failed the noise test and despite five later attempts was unable to qualify.

Track conditions were unchanged as the remaining 19 cars came out to form the grid. Commentator Andy Blackman reported that Chris Snowdon was creeping but stopped and waited a fraction for the lights to change. Andy Page was away into lead, thinking that he would take it easy with such a wide margin between himself and the rest of the field. At Quarry, though, he found that he had two GTVs hard on his tail and needed to establish a gap, leaving it small enough to keep everyone entertained! In second and third places Chris Healey and Shaun Hazlewood were more interested in their battle for supremacy in C, Shaun finding that he had some real competition for a change. The three leaders ended the first lap just 1.023" apart with Nev Simpson a further 1.7" back ahead of Chris Snowdon, Nick Anderson and the flying Paul Plant. Paul had made one of his lightning getaways and had already passed 12 cars while Mel Healey had also made good progress from the back and was on the tail of Andy Inman for 3rd in class. Chris Finch and Leon Bailey were fighting away for 8th and 9th overall but Chris Oxborough, who had been hoping for a top five finish, had spun on the opening lap and was at the tail of the field. 

Andy Page was keeping himself just ahead of the warring GTVs who had pulled away from Nev Simpson and Chris Snowdon as they completed lap 2.  Paul Plant was all on his own with a big group just behind headed by Nick Anderson with Leon Bailey, Chris Finch, Dave Messenger, Mel Healey, Andy Inman and Peter Sloan all covered by just 3 seconds. Sarah Heels was further back than she had hoped to be with her 147 GTA, never managing to get onto her qualifying pace.

By lap 4, Andy Page had opened up a 3 second lead over Chris Healey, who continued to impress, and Shaun Hazlewood. Nev Simpson didn't seem to have an answer to the Class C cars at this stage and Chris Snowdon was very lonely in 5th place but 10 seconds clear of Paul Plant. Leon Bailey was driving a strong race, passing Nick Anderson who then had to contend with Chris Finch and the closing Mel Healey, despite her problems with a faulty airflow sensor.

By the end of lap 6, Andy Page had benefited from a slower lap by his rivals and was now 4.1" clear of Chris Healey who now had Shaun Hazlewood larger than ever in his mirrors. However, that was as far as Andy got, his gearbox giving up the ghost on the next lap and leaving the GTVs to fight it out for the lead. Nev Simpson had suddenly also come into contention and ended lap 7 a mere 1.5" behind Shaun Hazlewood, aided by the confusion following an incident between Rob Buchelle who spun on the far side of the circuit and James Ford whose 156 made contact with the 33 which was left partly blocking the track. It seemed to take some time for the Safety Car to be deployed but it was on track at the end of lap 8, picking up leader Chris Healey just after the pit exit. The order was now Chris Healey, Shaun Hazlewood, Nev Simpson, Chris Snowdon, Paul Plant, Leon Bailey, Mel Healey, Chris Finch and Dave Messenger making up the top 10. Both Rob Buchelle and James Ford were out of the race.

As the Safety Car pulled in after 2 laps , we were looking forward to what would probably be four more laps of intense racing. Shaun Hazlewood was tucked up even closer to Chris Healey as they completed lap 11 with Nev Simpson and Chris Snowdon in hot pursuit, the four cars covered by just 2 seconds. Paul Plant was 5th overall maintaining his Class E lead and Mel Healey had managed to pass Leon Bailey who was being given a hard time by Chris Finch. Chris Oxborough had worked his way back through the field so that he was just behind John Griffiths as the Safety Car came out and was ahead by the start of lap 12.

Nev Simpson had now really got the bit between his teeth and was pushing Chris Healey and Shaun Hazlewood very hard indeed, with Chris Snowdon a further second back in fourth. A lap later, Nev had inserted himself between the two GTVs and Chris Oxborough was ahead of Leon Bailey and chasing Chris Finch for 7th place. All looked set for a grandstand finish on the final lap - would Nev Simpson manage to grab the lead, could Shaun Hazlewood steal the Class win from Chris Healey? Lurking there was Chris Snowdon. That final 1.85 miles was fraught to say the least with Nev Simpson, Shaun and Chris Snowdon engaged in a tight battle that saw the Alfetta and 75 making contact and fishtailing down the road at Old Paddock, leaving an advantage to Shaun. It was the red GTV, though, that still seemed to have it all under control as they approached Camp but Chris Healey misjudged his entry, turned late, ran onto the grass on the exit of the corner and gave us all some heart stopping moments as he managed to find some grip at the last moment and slide back onto the track. By then, however, Shaun Hazlewood had muttered "thank you very much!" into his helmet and crossed the line for an excellent win, the first by a Production class car for many years. Chris Snowdon crossed the line second on the road but had been docked 10" for his jumped start, leaving him 5th which benefited Chris Healey who went across the line 4th but was elevated to a deserved 3rd by the timekeepers. Most of the congratulations (and commiserations) went to Chris afterwards as most people reckoned it was a win he had richly deserved. Shaun Hazlewood, for his part, was just happy to know that there would be some strong competition for him in C throughout the year. Nev Simpson was happy enough with his second place but Chris Snowdon was less than chuffed with his 10 second penalty and went to find the Clerk of the Course but without success.

The final few laps had seen Paul Plant consolidate his Class E lead, being placed 4th overall, with Mel Healey 2nd in E despite Chris Finch's last minute efforts to wrest it away from her. Chris Oxborough, John Griffiths and Leon Bailey were next home in front of Ray Foley, Andy Inman, Peter Sloan and Sarah Heels, all hoping for better days.

The trophies were presented later by Christina Holley and the first MMC Motorsport Insurance Driver of the Day award went to Mel Healey. Nick Anderson's "ping pong ball" was drawn for the first free entry voucher cheque of the year.

The next round is at Snetterton on Sunday, April 25