2010 Legends Cars Championship

Rounds 10 & 11, Pembrey 17^th/18^th August 2010

Next stop was Pembrey Circuit for Simon, Stephen & The Kärcher Handy Motorsport Team for round’s 10 and 11 of The 2010 CPC Legends Cars Championship. Pembrey, is almost universally liked and is a true drivers circuit. The demanding, tight and twisty 1.45 mile circuit features 2 hairpin bends, with the heavy braking areas leading into those hairpins at Hatchets and Brooklands which make these good places to see some great overtaking manoeuvres and then getting the power on as early as possible. Yet more close and exciting racing was on the cards for this weekend.

Round 10 Warm-Up

If ever you wanted proof that this years Legends is closer than ever before, this mornings warm-up is proof of that. The top 9 drivers on the timing sheets were all covered by just 9/10^ths of a second. Stephen & Simon were in 6^th & 7^th quickest, with #12 car of Stephen’s quickest lap was 1:08.590 & Simon’s #11cars quickest lap was 1:08.710. Warm-up done “Let’s Go Racing”.

Round 10 Heat 1

The sun was shining, the track was dry and anticipation was high. It was going to be difficult race as Simon was starting from the 7^th row & Stephen was off the back. As I have said before “sometimes in motorsport you find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time”, For Simon today was that day. On the first lap #53 Dominic Spurr who had started on the front row of the grid, went off the track and came back on the track straight into the side of Simon, with his steering totally wrecked he had no option than to pull off. A red flag followed as in the same incident #33 Chris Bell had ended on his roof. Stephen had made a great start until the red flag, the cars were reformed in their original positions, with the race being cut to just 6 laps this was going to be tough for Stephen, he stuck to the task for a very hard earned 7^th place.

Round 10 Heat 2

If you go off the back row in first heat then you go off the front row in the second heat. Stephen made the best of his front row start, he was leading the race by the second corner, the position he crossed the line in at the chequered flag. Stephen’s said “That was not easy I had to drive the wheels off the thing to stay in front of The Braces”. With so little time to repair his car from the damage it had encountered in heat 1, Simon was not 100% happy with it’s handling and had to be content with 10^th place.

Round 10 Final

Still not totally content with his car Simon just give it everything he could and led the race for the first 4 laps before eventually finishing in a very frustrated but hard earned 5^th place. Stephen was also not happy with the handling of his car, his lowest position finish of the season so far was 10^th. It looked like being a very busy evening for The Kärcher Handy Motorsport Team and it was they did not sit down for dinner & a well earned beer until 9 o’clock that evening.

Round 11 Warm-Up

If ever you wanted proof that this years Legends is closer than ever before, this mornings warm-up is proof of that. The top 9 drivers on the timing sheets were all covered by just 9/10^ths of a second. Stephen & Simon were in 6^th & 7^th quickest, with #12 car of Stephen’s quickest lap was 1:08.590 & Simon’s #11cars quickest lap was 1:08.710. Warm-up done “Let’s Go Racing”.

Round 11 Heat 1

Both Simon & Stephen seemed happier with their cars as they left the paddock. It was rows 2 & 4 for Simon & Stephen’s respective starts in this race. Stephen had a good clean getaway but had to try and catch #5 Higgins & #19 Davey who had made a break for it at the front and were working together in a bump draft to pull further away from the pack. For Simon it appeared to be a race of 2 halves “The car was OK for the 1^st half of the race but I was much happier with how it drove in the second half, I just want to get out there again now”. The race finished with Stephen in 3^rd & Simon in 7^th.

Round 11 Heat 2

Stephen started the race with his 2 main championship contenders #5 & #19 behind him and that’s where he would like to have kept them, he managed to keep #19 Davey one place behind him, but he was not so lucky with #5 Higgins who finished one place in front of Stephen’s 4^th position. With the racing being so close if you are starting from down the grid it can be very difficult to get through the pack, and so it proved in this heat for Simon, starting from the 7^th row, he stuck at his task for an eventual hard earned 9^th place.

Round 11 Final

I can’t say too much about the final, it should have been a 10 lap race and ended up as a 3 lap dash following a red flag during the 7^th lap. Simon’s weekend ended in the same frustrating way it started, struggling with the handling of the car he finished in 15^th. The weekend did however finish with some good news, Stephen finished joint 1^st overall for the day with #4 John Mickel and now tops the championship table by 45 points.

1.S.Treherne 5175

2.L.Davey 5130

3.J.J.Higgins 5095

Don’t forget you can keep up to date with the teams progress in The 2009 Legends Cars Championship on Sky TV, Motors TV and at http://www.legendsracinguk.com/ukhome.html