Radical Festival at Pembrey - 24 September 2007

Tim & Stuart Celebrate TBR's first podium Radical Festival at Pembrey
Biduro - Qualifying
Radical works engineer Rob Wheldon amazed with his instant handling of the Camarthenshire track, setting an dominant early pace. In only his 5th lap of the circuit in the dry, the youngster recorded a sub-lap record time of 56.3, initially four tenths clear of Jeremy Ferguson.

However, it was Ross Allen who eased his way up the leaderboard throughout the session. From an early position of only 7th, he was the only front runner to improve his pace in the last 10 minutes and on the final flying lap claimed his position on the front row, winding up just five hundredths of a second away from Wheldon with Newton 3rd & Ferguson 4th ahead of Robbie Watts, John Hewitt, Nick Adcock and Terrence Woodward.

Race 1
As the lights went green it was Ross Allen who made the best getaway to take a clear lead into Hatchetts Hairpin although slight creeping just before the lights went green gave him the attention of the Chief Marshall and a suspected jump start. Wheldon in turn made a sluggish start to drop to third and the biggest gain was from Robbie Watts who jumped from his 5th place grid slot to slot in behind Allen at Hatchetts Hairpin. Behind them Toby Newton was unlucky to be tipped into a spin by ambitious braking from Terrence Woodward (which later earned him a 10 second penalty) and dropped to the back of the field with Jeremy Ferguson also taking avoiding action onto the grass demoting him to 8th.

At the end of the first lap, it was Allen who led from Robbie Watts, Rob Wheldon, ahead of championship leader John Hewitt and Nick Adcock finally completing the first lap of a race! Wheldon soon welded himself to the back of Watts & made a clear pass at Hatchetts hairpin to take 2nd on lap 2 and behind him Adcock took a dive on Hewitt at the same place and the pair ran side by side through Spitfires with Adcock gaining the upper hand.

The front running order stayed the same - but only on the road - as Ross Allen was handed a 10 second jump start penalty effective immediately, dropping him from a clear lead to 4th place behind Watts. However, this didn't deter the former British Gearbox Karting Champion as he smashed the lap record and started slowly easing out the gap on the road to Wheldon, himself having created a good gap to Watts. Such was the pace of the leading pair that Allen soon found himself in 2nd position and it was a clear two horse race with Allen needing a 10 second lead on the road to take the timing screen lead back from Wheldon.

The main race at the halfway point was between Ferguson who was looking for a way past Woodward for 6th, who himself was catching Hewitt. As the trio ran nose to tail, Robbie Watts suddenly pulled off at Dibeni losing a clear 3rd place to driveshaft failure. Try as they may, neither Ferguson (who was struggling with understeer caused by a broken rear rollbar) could quite make get on terms with Woodward or Woodward on Hewitt, although he tried hard with a big effort at the hairpin on the penultimate lap, but locked up the fronts in the process, costing him time on the exit of the corner and Hewitt was clear again for a moment.

Meanwhile, Allen tried everything to pull out the gap required to take the lead from Wheldon, but Wheldon stemmed the tide and Allen finished just 4 seconds adrift at the flag. Nick Adcock ran a lonely race to finish a well deserved 3rd after Watts' retirement and despite a big slide at Honda coming onto the final lap, Hewitt held onto his 4th place to increase his overall points advantage over Toby Newton who charged back through the field to finish 7th behind Woodward & Ferguson.

"I prefer to win in a better way, but it was a good race" said a slightly bemused Wheldon after taking a while to soak in the fact that he'd won, despite having followed Allen on the track for the entire race & not seen the penalty board!

Race 2
A drying track greeted the SR4 drivers in the 2nd race, with a narrow dry line just beginning to appear although everyone decided to stick to wets.

The entertainment began even before the race did as poleman Rob Wheldon was a bit adventurous testing the grip levels & spun out of Hatchetts Hairpin on the green flag lap! He retook his grid position and at the lights, all the runners got away well at the start, but the advantage went to all drivers on the drier left hand side of the main straight - front row man Ross Allen getting to the hairpin first ahead of Wheldon, Toby Newton and Jeremy Ferguson. Almost the whole pack ran wide out of the Spitfire, being caught out on a big patch of oil laid by the previous Ginetta Junior race. Everyone just about kept it pointing straight...all apart from the Fire Tender who performed an impressive spin and received a large round of applause from the onlooking Biduro team crews!

Going into the second lap it was Ross Allen from Wheldon but the unfortunate Mitch Millett was left stranded on the racing line at Spitfires with transmission failure and a red flag was quickly shown and the car had to be lifted away.

The race was restarted on the running positions at the end of the first two laps, with Allen starting in Pole - this time on the wetter side of the track. It showed, as Wheldon rocketed away to take a clear lead into Hatchetts with Allen slotting into second ahead of Newton, Ferguson, John Hewitt & Nick Adcock. The Fire Tender was even more committed to the task the second time around, this time making it onto the grass at Spitfires (perhaps next time he can borrow an SR4...).

The order stayed the same with Wheldon & Allen breaking away & Allen shadowing the leader's every move. Coming onto the third lap he had a good run through Honda and dived down the inside at Hatchetts to take the lead. Wheldon fought back into Spitfires and they ran side by side into Dibeni where Wheldon eventually had to back out. Ross set about the task of pulling out the lead & by lap 5 it was up to 1 second, but Wheldon soon began trading fastest lap with him & the gap between them stayed constant.

Toby Newton ran third with Jeremy Ferguson chasing hard and behind them a close train began to form with John Hewitt at the front, followed by Jonathan White, Nick Adcock and Terrence Woodward. The battle was nip-and-tuck between the four of them with White looking the most threatening as he clambered all over Hewitt going into the 7th lap. He made a run down the back straight and nipped inside Hewitt at Honda and Hewitt thought about reprising into Hatchetts Hairpin, but with the championship position looking delicate he perhaps wisely stayed put.

Across the line it was Allen who finally took a win on the timing screens as well as the road by just over a second from Wheldon who just stole fastest lap. Toby Newton rounded out the top three followed by Ferguson who sounded more like he had a V8 strapped in the rear for the last two laps as he finished with a cracked exhaust. White was 5th ahead of Hewitt, Adcock and Woodward.

Words - Anthony Dunn

DUNLOP Radical Enduro, Pembrey, September 22/23.
Radical Enduros at PembreyIt was the pace of Derek Johnston/Stuart Moseley and the tactics of Richard Ince/Austin Kinsella at Pembrey, that made sure the fight for Enduro crown goes down to the wire at Brands Hatch, after victories were shared between the duos.

Moseley’s time of 58.944secs blitzed the rest to secure pole by over a second from Ince/Kinsella, with Jacob Greaves heading the fastest SR3 of Anthony Dunn/Barry Gates.

Race 1
As the lights went out Johnston led from pole, with Jacob Greaves ousting Ince from second through Dibeni. As the field continued on their opening lap, Austin Reynolds peeled off to the paddock with a broken driveshaft. James Swift, SR3 leader Barry Gates and Steve Jones completed the early top six, but through Honda for the second time Greaves darted ahead.

Steve Jones and Nick Dove both made it past Gates on the third lap, leaving his class leader open to attack from Ross Allen, Ben Jackson and James Harrison. But all four went off at Dibeni a lap later, “I fancied a bit of rallying after Ross caught my back,” said Gates. Jackson emerged as the class leader from Helen Ray, before Roger Bromiley and the recovering Harrison came by.

As the pitstops approached Swift surged past Johnston at Brooklands on lap 13, but lost out himself to Jones into Hatchets a lap later. Swift then went straight on at Hatchets and handed third back to Johnston who came under immediate pressure from Dove.

Greaves had over 20 seconds in hand and was one of the last to pit, but by the time Johnston went in he had slipped to fifth. “My main task was to keep Richard Ince behind me which I did,” said Johnston. The gap was about the same after the stops but Moseley had second within two laps of taking over and began lapping two seconds faster than Greaves.

Lap by lap the lead came down until Moseley scythed ahead led into Honda on the 35th lap. “I backed off as I saw Jacob reaching the backmarkers quickly, then caught him by surprise I think,” said Moseley. Greaves looked safe in second until he coasted into retirement with an alternator problem. “The engine had started to croke a few laps earlier then just went,” he explained. Kinsella moved up to second and was the only other unlapped runner. Roger Green had shadowed Phil Abbot for a few laps before easing past on the 29th lap, to earn the final podium place after Greaves’ demise.

Harrison dominated the second half in the SR3’s and snatched a late fourth from Abbott. Anthony Dunn managed to secure second in class after reeling in Phil Bailey quite early into his stint.  

Race 2
 A late tactical change saw Kinsella start rather than Ince, and had decisive result on the race. From the lights it was Kinsella from Greaves, Swift, Johnston, Green and Harrison, while Dove and Reynolds were among the first lap spinners at Hatchets.

Kinsella really pushed hard to build an ever increasing lead, as the rest settled in an early processional order. Swift started to press Greaves and Johnston then had Green on his tail, before Swift dropped back and Johnston latched onto Greaves. On laps six and seven Johnston spun at Hatchets and there was contact with Greaves.

Harrison took advantage and shot into third, as Greaves headed pitwards and Johnston came under pressure from Dove. “I picked up a puncture after the collision with Derek,” said Greaves. With the pitstop window about to open, Harrison was first in having come under pressure from the recovering Dove.

Ince emerged from his stop with a 40 secs lead, with Moseley down in fourth behind Stanley and Abbott. Into Honda for the 22nd time Moseley managed to take Abbott, before easing into second when Stanley went wide at Hatchets.

Although Ince’s lead was reducing, it was too little too late until a dramatic turnaround brought the safety car out after Bailey had expired at Hatchets. With time running out it became a three lap sprint from the green flag. Moseley had all but run out time, but it didn’t stop him pushing on. He started the last lap over four secs down but ended it only 0.591secs down on Ince. “I felt Stuart’s breath on the back of my neck on the last lap,” Ince reckoned. “I wouldn’t have caught him if the safety car hadn’t come out. So it’s fair he still won it,” Moseley replied.

Stanley regained third in the closing laps after Abbott pulled off at Brooklands. Harrison took another class win in fourth, with Reynolds/Nick Padmore recovering to complete the top five. Dunn/Gates were joined by Ray/Nigel Greensall to complete the SR3 podium.

Published by Peter Scherer for Radical Motorsport, September 24th, 2007


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