All photos courtesy of James Roberts

Just as in the previous race, the LMA Euro Saloon provided another excellent entry, it would have been a full grid of 34 cars but one driver pulled out late Friday night, so we saw 33 cars out in qualifying..

Again, just as at Oulton Park, the unseasonably warm weather continued to bless the series. Let us hope this is a good omen for the remainder of the season.

Qualifying
Timing glitches, with cars being "lost" from the times, or drivers appearing twice, meant that qualifying times were not released, and the best effort at timings was released only as a grid formation. This showed Pete Challis' Nissan Primera on pole (despite having spent the qualifying period bedding in new brake discs) and 1.5 seconds clear of second place man and class B leader Stephen Taylor in the supercharged Lotus Exige. Joss Ronchetti's Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was just 2/1000ths behind Taylor in 3rd place with Nick Williamson's Escort Cosworth in 4th. The remaining class A cars took the places down to 7th, the "best of the rest" and some 3 seconds further back, was Simon Taylor's Class D Honda Civic Type R again punching above weight and beating all the Class C cars and all but two of the Class B cars. Simon Parker headed Class C in 11th place in his Vauxhall Vectra, with Class E headed once again by Simon Jackson's Vauxhall Nova. A good day's qualifying for the Simons.

Race
After such a display in qualifying, it was hardly surprising Peter Challis elected to play his joker. The wisdom of which was already in question by turn one as Nick Williamson launched from 4th on the grid to the front. Taylor and Ronchetti also made good starts and as the leaders entered the infield section, Challis was already down to 4th. And then it got worse as Challis clipped a kerb and lost the back of the Primera, spinning off onto the grass. By the time he able to rejoin, he was back in last place of the 30 runners who made the start. And so started an epic climb back through the field which made it difficult for the crowd to know where to watch!

Up front, Nick Williamson was looking strong, but Joss Ronchetti was chasing him down relentlessly, with Stephen Taylor's Exige slowly gaining until it became a three way battle for the race. A few laps in, Williamson was visibly struggling, the Escort was suffering fuel pressure problems and was not pulling well out of the tight infield corners. Taylor had caught the front pair by now, and much swapping of places ensued before Williamson started to fall backwards. Challis was storming through the field, by the time he reached 4th place with a daring move between Richard Gould's Noble and Tony Soper's Harrier, he was still a good 9 seconds adrift of the lead. He was taking a second a lap off the leaders, would there be enough time. The last lap flag came out and Challis had moved onto the tale of Taylor's Exige, but the Exige seemed more nimble in the tighter turns. With just the final chicane leading back onto the oval to go, Ronchetti led from Taylor and Challis, with barely 3 lengths covering them. Then it all went wrong for Ronchetti who outbraked himself allowing his two pursuers through. Taylor went high, Challis stayed low in the drag to the line. Taylor triumphed by just a quarter of a second. Ronchetti recovered to bring the Sunbeam home in third two seconds later, but it was a race he should have won.

Gould and Soper had been swapping places all race, they eventually got past Williamson to finish 4th and 5th, John Hammersley also passed the ailing Escort late on to take 6th place. Simon Taylor had a relatively untroubled race and won Class D by 30 seconds from Jim Mepham while finishing in the same 8th place in which he qualified. Completing a good race for the Simons, Simon Parker took Class C honours, with Simon Jackson taking the Class E win.

New for this race, Mark Fish Motorsport announced a Renault Clio Cup challenge to run internally within Class B. The first race in this challenge was won by David Pierce from Anthony Allitt and Fergus Trenholme.

The championship moves on to Pembrey in two weeks time for the first of four double header races for this season. Simon Taylor now only jointly leads the championship with Peter Challis, both having 100% records so far and both having played their joker.

Result:
Winner: Steven Taylor (Lotus Exige), 2nd Peter Challis (Nissan Primera), 3rd Joss Ronchetti (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus), 4th Richard Gould (Noble M400), 5th Tony Soper (Harrier LR9), 6th John Hammersley (Vauxhall Cavalier), 7th Nick Williamson (Ford Escort Cosworth), 8th Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type R), 9th David Pierce (Renault Clio Cup), 10th Jim Mepham (Renault Megane)


Class Winners: Class A Challis, Class B Stephen Taylor, Class C Simon Parker (Vauxhall Vectra), Class D Simon Taylor (Honda Civic Type-R), Class E Simon Jackson (Vauxhall Nova)

Fastest lap: Challis 1:28.740 (79.1mph)

Next race: Pembrey 12/13th May

With support from Mark Fish Motorsport and Alpha Composites

Report by Trevor Nicosia, Car 10 ( www.nyssaracing.com )

Click here to see all of the photos from this weekend
 

Results

Click here to link to the full MST Timing results pdf of the meeting

Click here for the current championship points and standings