CNC Heads Sports/Saloon Car Championship – Anglesey - Rounds 3, 4 & 5

Over 30 cars were at Anglesey for the CNC Heads Sports Saloons, first triple header of the season.

Double Cadwell Park winner Andrew Southcott was a casualty before raceday arrived as his MG Midget Lenham had a wheel bearing failure in the pre-race test.

Former Champion Paul Rose was back for his first race in 18 months, and placed his Saker on pole by 1.976 secs. "I have got a damaged tendon in my right leg, so having to learn to left foot brake, but the car is reasonably good," he said.

Teammate Steve Harris shared the front row, "it was a bit chaotic in traffic, but OK after such a time out of the car," he added.

Simon Allaway was third best in his Lotus Esprit V8, but hadn't been feeling well and withdrew from the meeting, which promoted Arron Armiger's Vauxhall Tigra to head the second row. "I will see if I can get the start right though," he said. Roddie Paterson's Caterham C400 was alongside, "the misfire is cured but I had a sticking throttle cable," he explained.

It was almost three seconds gap before the next car, but then seven drivers were covered by just 0.197 secs, with Connor Modro's Ginetta G40 leading the line on his birthday. "I just went for it, but had a few near misses," he admitted. Jamie Cryer's Ginetta G20 had one problem, "no real grip," while Oliver Thomas' Subaru Impreza struggled for vision. "I had power steering fluid all over the screen, so couldn't see very well," he explained.

Similar to Cryer, Ian Bamber had grip issues with his Ginetta G20 too. "I had new tyres all round, but found the track very greasy and struggled at first to get up to speed," he said.

Rob Wakelin's Peugeot 205, rebuilt following Cadwell, rounded off the top 10, but was late out in the session. "It blew a water pipe off the manifold in practice, so missed the early laps," he explained.

Next up was Garry Wardle's Seat Cupra TCR. "I hadn't been out since October in the last round. It understeered with no real grip, but otherwise it felt fine," he confirmed.

Steven Parker was happy with his BMW Compact, "all good, I turned the revs down though, so less power on the straights," he said.

Rob Phillips' Honda Civic, Bob Buckby's Caterham and Dave Green's Honda Civic proved to be a match for each other, with just a fraction covering all three. "Apart from a crunchie fifth/sixth gear it's all working, best it's ever been," said Green. "Everything was OK I think," Buckby added.

Tim Foxlow's Escort had "a loose rear end, so hard to get the power on," while Julian Wood's Kia Optima had problems with a loose rear wheel. "I looked in my mirrors a lot, but just want to go the distance," he said.

Paul Goodlad's VW Scirocco, Duncan Aukland's Proton Putra and David Jones' Ford Focus rounded off the top 20. "No problems at all," said Goodlad, "only half a spin onto the pit straight," Aukland added, while Jones had a troubling misfire, "but only when I was flat out," he said.

Gary Warburton's Mini had "a bit of engine vibration from a loose engine mount," but Maddy Maguire was happy with MG ZR completing row 11. Peter Koukoulas' Toyota MR2 headed the next row, with Matt Jones' Focus sharing. "I had a loose front hub," said Jones.

The Class F quartet of Andy Bicknell and Harry Ormerod's BMW 116's, Helen Allen's Fiesta and Brian Allen's Ford Puma followed, with Graham Saul's road spec Mazda RX8 and Clive Dix's RX7 completing the qualifiers. "I had a misfire, I think it was a plug," said Dix.

But there was another casualty when Mark Primett was forced to withdraw his Banks Europa. "It did practice OK, but as I pulled out of assembly it clattered a lot, so I drove straight back in," he explained.

Race One

Rose was alone on the front row as Harris had opted for a pitlane start. But as the lights went out it was Paterson that briefly nosed ahead, before Rose shot by through Target. "Roddie gave me plenty of space and I had turned the boost down for the start and it seemed to get off the line better," said Rose.

Armiger took Cryer for third through Church, while Bamber and Thomas settled into the early top six. But there was already one casualty, with Matt Jones pulling off on lap one. "I just had no gears at the start," he explained.

Wardle was soon heading pitwards too, "the clutch was slipping at the first corner, so I came in after two laps," he said.

While Rose, Paterson and Armiger were soon in the clear, Cryer was able to consolidate fourth too, as a four-car battle for fifth intensified, with Thomas taking Bamber on lap three, as Modro and Wakelin stayed close.

A lap later Modro and Wakelin had ousted Bamber too, with Modro running nose to tail with Thomas, while Harris was charging through the field and was ninth after three laps.

Foxlow was in 10th heading another four-car train, from Buckby, Phillips and Parker, but they all moved up when Thomas retired on lap five. "The fan ate the radiator and there was coolant all over the engine," he explained.

Parker had managed to get ahead of Phillips and Buckby on consecutive laps, before trying to attack Foxlow for ninth through Church, but Green had now joined the train to make it five in a row.

"I hadn't got enough power for challenging Tim into the corners, so had to dive bomb him into the Banking Hairpin, " said Parker after finally getting by on lap six.

It was fairly straight forward at the front, with Rose finally taking the victory spoils by over 30 seconds. "I stuck with Paul for a couple of laps, but the car ran well so all good," said second placed Paterson.

Armiger retained third, but had Harris closing, after he had taken the rest of the field by half distance. "I made an acceptable start, had a bit of traffic and knew I was never going to catch the top two, but I kept looking in my mirrors for Steve," said Armiger.

Cryer had been well distanced from the top four after Harris got by on lap nine, but had to keep an eye on the closing Modro in the final laps. As they came through the Corkscrew for the final time, Modro made a dive for the inside at the final turn. "I had just been driving around and on the last lap he had caught me and I tried to box him in and thought I had it covered," Cryer admitted.

"I could see him and then got lucky with backmarkers, so had to try," Modro replied. But as he exited the final turn with a slide on, Cryer had enough momentum to hold his place by 0.456 secs.

Bamber and Wakelin shared a couple of mid race exchanges but Bamber kept enough in hand to retain seventh. "I had been quick off the mark but then a misfire developed and the cars I had passed all came back at me," Bamber explained. "I had to let Ian go as the temperature went too high," Wakelin replied.

Parker and Green finally sealed the final top 10 places, despite the latter having exited Church on the grass in one of his attempts to oust Foxlow, which he finally did on lap 11. "It's nice when the car is working, but when I went off I still changed up to sixth on the grass," said Green. Phillips had also tried to find a way through Foxlow's defence, which resulted in a touch at the Banking Hairpin on the final lap, with Phillips exiting on the grass.

So Foxlow managed to retain 11th, with Buckby recovering 12th as Philips rejoined. "I had a great race defending like mad, but then tyres were going off." Said Foxlow.

Riccy Walker's JCW Mini Cooper had missed qualifying after his extinguisher went off in scrutineering, but managed to work his way into 14th. "I enjoyed it and could see Tim's battle, but couldn't get to join it," he said.

David Jones was next home, from Goodlad, Warburton and Aukland, but in 19th place Dix had solved one problem and found another. "I think the gearbox has gone," he said.

Wood, Maguire and Koukoulas followed before the Class F battle. Bicknell had the measure of Ormerod, and Helen Allen headed husband Brian, with Saul's RX8 completing the finishers.

Race Two

Dix and Matt Jones were both missing from the grid and with Wood expiring on the green flag lap, the start was already delayed before Paterson then broke a driveshaft and was pushed into the pitlane.

With Wardle going for a pitlane start due to his clutch issues, 26 cars took the actual grid start. Into the Banking Hairpin for the first time it was Rose, from Armiger, Harris, Cryer, Bamber, Modro and Thomas.

The lead trio had already gone clear by the end of lap two, with Armiger just holding onto Rose, but Thomas got alongside Modro exiting Church on lap three and they both surged ahead of Bamber into Rocket.

Foxlow had moved up to eighth too at Wakelin's expense, with Parker trying to close from 10th.

Having shaken off Modro, Thomas had started to close on Cryer, but it took another couple of laps before he got through at Church. Wardle had also started to close and had Parker in his sights, as they all started to form a train behind Foxlow and Wakelin.

With Rose having gone clear, Harris had closed sufficiently on Armiger to challenge for second after eight laps, but it was the battle for eighth that was holding the attention, with Foxlow's increasingly wide Escort holding off the challenge behind, with Wardle having passed Parker too.

Into Rocket for the ninth time Armiger's defence was breached. "The car was alright but I was all over the place with the tyres, then got Arron amongst the backmarkers," said Harris, after exiting in second place.

"I had been surprised to stay with Paul as long as I did, and I got the fastest lap this car has ever done here," Armiger replied.

Rose had also backed off a little due to concerns with the headgasket, but still took the flag over 13 seconds clear of Harris. "I had turned the boost down and was short shifting, but otherwise it was plain sailing," he said.

Thomas had been able to consolidate fourth as Cryer and Modro duelled. Modro was through on the inside of Rocket on lap 11, but three laps later they changed back. From there Cryer reeled in Thomas again and was so close to having a last corner lunge at the Subaru, before settling for fifth. "I had some contact lapping and it knocked my steering out, but I did seriously think about having a go at that last corner," said Cryer.

"I was as late as I could be on the brakes, but those Ginetta's were on me," Thomas replied.

"I thought once I had got Jamie I would pull away, but then I got backmarkers ," Modro added.

Bamber had a solitary second half but retained a clear seventh. "Fantastic, I drove hard for the first five laps, then just made sure I maintained the class lead over Steven's BMW," he said.

Foxlow's defence for eighth had held firm until lap nine, when both Wardle and Parker broke through, but he was still holding off Wakelin, as Green and Phillips joined them.

Although Wardle had demoted Parker, he couldn't get away and they remained close to the flag for eighth and ninth places. "The clutch was spinning, I was pumping the brakes and the tyres had gone, so I couldn't shake him off," said Wardle. "I just stayed pinned to him once we had shaken off Tim and Rob," Parker replied.

Wakelin finally forced his way passed Foxlow to complete the top 10, with four laps remaining. "I just had to be brave to get through, he's so hard to pass," said Wakelin. "I had a decent start but was soon under pressure. Then my tyres went and I watched the line behind grow in my mirrors," Foxlow added, having been caught by Green and Phillips in the closing laps too.

"I tried to get Tim on the Banking but locked up," said Green. "I tried to get him into Target at the end but ended up on the grass," Phillips added. So it was Green 12th and Phillips 13th, followed by David Jones, Goodlad and Buckby.

"I could see them in front but couldn't get them," Goodlad. "A stall, then it wouldn't restart, then just hoped for the best," Buckby added.

Warburton, Maguire and Koukoulas were next home, ahead of the Class F lead duel. This time it went to Ormerod, with 0.365 secs in hand over Bicknell. "I tried to give him a hand," said Bicknell. "I just concentrated on holding him off," Ormerod replied.

Aukland fell back after losing his brakes, while Saul, Helen and Brian Allen and Wood completed the finishers, after Walker retired with a diff failure after 10 laps.

Race Three

Walker's Mini joined the non- starters in the final race of the weekend, but there were still 27 starters.

It was a blistering start from Thomas, as he split the front row Saker's to lead briefly. But Rose led onto the Banking and Harris was second by Church, while behind them Armiger shot passed Cryer, before taking third from Thomas into Rocket.

As Rose soon stretched the lead trio, Armiger was doing his best to stick with Harris, while the fast-starting Thomas started to come under pressure from Cryer.

Bamber was in sixth, with Modro hunting down Foxlow for seventh, with both Wakelin and Parker in the tow too. Modro was through at Rocket on lap four and Parker ousted Wakelin in the Corkscrew as Phillips began to close on them.

Thomas had managed to shake-off Cryer again and with Modro's progress taking him passed Bamber through School on lap seven, he began to close too. Rose's lead began to reduce and he was back in Harris' sights, but Wakelin's race was over when he slowed after seven laps.

There was just a lap to go when Rose peeled off into the pits, "the temperature went sky high, so I had to come in," he said. So Harris was the winner on the road, but he had earned a five second track limits penalty. "I think I did it several times, making sure I held Arron off. But I got held up in traffic and he closed up. I enjoyed it though," said Harris.

Armiger therefore was declared the winner, his maiden victory. "I just drove and hung on. But I didn't realise I had won as I got the Saker numbers mixed up and thought Paul had the penalty," he replied.

Cryer caught Thomas again during the second half of the race and took Modro with him, which for a while became a three-way fight. Modro had split the pair on lap 12, but Cryer retook him at the Corkscrew.

It went down to the last lap, with Cryer snatching third. "I backed off a bit too much, got my strategy all wrong and they were all over me," Thomas admitted. "I didn't expect to catch Oliver, then I couldn't get by at first, which allowed Connor to catch us," Cryer explained.

Modro retained fifth, "good battle with Oliver and Jamie, but I had a fuel surge on the last few laps and couldn't challenge," he said.

Bamber completed the top six and Foxlow's defence was robust again and this time succeeded in holding back a four-car train for seventh, from Wardle, Parker and Phillips. "My tyres were done and I got caught with backmarkers a few times through Church and lost my momentum," said Parker." I did what I had to do," Foxlow added.

"We made some changes and it was worse, it wouldn't go around corners," said Wardle. Both Buckby and Green had disappointing races. "No power at the start and it stalled again," said Buckby. "Understeer everywhere and no grip," added Green.

Warburton and Goodlad stayed fairly close for much of the race, while Aukland, Wood, Matt Jones and Koukoulas were next home. Bicknell held off Ormerod for his second Class F win of the weekend to complete the top 20.

Saul was next home and Helen Allen completed a hattrick of wins over Brian, while David Jones completed the finishers, using just fourth gear. "A gearbox mount had gone," he confirmed.

It's a first visit of the season to Oulton Park for the next round, on July 8th.

For all the results https://www.tsl-timing.com/file/?f=BARC/2023/232227nws.pdf

Published by Peter Scherer for BARC North Western, June 6th 2023