Win for Joss Ronchetti
Simon Taylor beaten by Lee Scott

As the season draws near its climax, so the excitement mounts. With just three rounds to go, the LMA Euro Saloons made a trip to Mallory Park. Another bumper entry saw 27 cars enter the race, with Stuart Jefcoate (Porsche 911) and Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus), making welcome returns as did ex-Auto Italia competitor Drummond Bone (Maserati Barchetta). Another new entrant keen to make a mark, and running a new marque to the series was Andy McLennan in a Suzuki Swift.

Qualifying
No major surprises in qualifying bar the pace of the Suzuki very-Swift which lined up 9th on the grid despite its little 1300cc engine. The top of the grid was dominated by the Class A cars with Mark Taylor (Honda Accord) leading from Joss Ronchetti (Sunbeam) and Drummond Bone (Maserati). Class B was led by Nicky Leventis hoping to repeat his win from last time out and Richard Buckley headed Class C in 5th overall. Interest in the lower classes was hotting up with 6 cars in Class D, headed by Andy McLennan's Suzuki from John Hammersley in the MG ZR. Championship leader Simon Taylor looked to have the measure of Lee Scott in Class E while Simon Jackson put his Class F Vauxhall Nova well up the field.

Race
The exit from the circuit just before the start line was a lot slower than is the norm, so the competitors had been asked to bunch up at Shaws and let the safety car get away, with the front runners controlling the pack to the start line. Somehow this didn't work as well as usual and the rear half of the grid got left well behind while the front half accelerated away.

The two at the front, Mark Taylor and Joss Ronchetti pulled quickly clear of the pack at a rate of 3 seconds a lap, but 5 laps in there was still less than half a second between them. The crowd were enthralled by the site of a 70s icon holding onto a 90s touring car. Further back, the attrition started early, with Andy McLennan and Trevor Nicosia (Lancia kappa) falling by the wayside one lap in. Drummond Bone joined them on the sidelines after an accident on lap 3.

Tony Soper was progressing up towards 3rd from his 6th place on the grid, qualifying having been marred by fuelling problems with the Alfa Romeo GTV. With so many cars out on a short track, there was much to see all the way round, even at the very back where Julian Brown (Fiat Punto) and Tim Morgan-Barrett (VW Golf) swapped places back and forth, their own duel being decided in Tim's favour by 13/100ths of a second. Chris Brogden (Fiat Uno) dropped out on lap 9 with differential problems and we temporarily lost Simon Jackson (Vauxhall Nova) who later returned to the race having found his wheel nuts working loose, all to no avail as he didn't complete enough laps to be classified.

As the front pair started lapping the back markers, so the Honda started to ease clear of the Sunbeam, at one point getting 5 seconds clear before being pulled back to 2 seconds. But on lap 19 we lost the Honda and Joss was able to ease off slightly and take the win from Tony Soper by 39 seconds. Nicky Leventis (BMW M3) got the better of Jason Holmes (Rover 220 Turbo) to take Class B and 3rd overall, with 4th going to Richard Buckley (Honda Integra) along with a Class C win comfortably from the Hondas of Nigel Ainge and Richard Perks. The early demise of the Suzuki left John Hammersley (MG ZR) a clear run to Class D honours, and Jim Mepham (VW Golf) took advantage of Simon Jackson's misfortune to win Class F, Alan Duly mopping up Class G in his Ford Fiesta.
The real surprise came in Class E where championship leader Simon Taylor (Honda Civic) lost ground from the start to Lee Scott (Ford Fiesta XR2i). Lee defended his position excellently throughout the entire race to cross the line half a second in front of Simon, thus robbing Simon of 2 valuable points. Simon still leads the championship from Richard Buckley, but the margin has dropped to 260-254 with Jason Holmes back in third on 192. Best 13 of 14 scores count at the end, Jason has already dropped points where Simon and Richard haven't - its not over yet.


Overall:
Winner: Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus), 2nd Tony Soper (Alfa Romeo GTV), 3rd Nicky Leventis (BMW M3), 4th Richard Buckley (Honda Integra), 5th Nigel Ainge (Honda Integra), 6th Richard Perks (Honda Civic)

Class Winners:
Class A Ronchetti, Class B Leventis, Class C Buckley, Class D John Hammersley (MG ZR160), Class E Lee Scott (Ford Fiesta), Class F Jim Mepham (VW Golf), Class G Alan Duly (Ford Fiesta)

Fastest lap: Mark Taylor 50.593 (93.02mph)

Photos courtesy of Doug Woodward

Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10