Classic Touring Car Racing Club, CTCRC, meeting at  Pembrey on 13 & 14 September 2008, organised by the BARC

Two Wins for Steve Primett clinches the Post Historic Championship for Steve Primett. Neil retired with engine problems in the Fiesta which makes Jim McLoughlin odds on to take the Group 1 Championship at Silverstone.

David Howard heads the Group 1 field on the first lap of the second race. (Picture by Alistair Bray)

Post Historic

Two wins for Steve Primett clinches the championship

Steve had to work hard to pass a flying Mark Osborne in the second race but he made it to clinch the championship for the second time with a race in hand.

Competitors arrived at Pembrey for this double header, with the probability that the championship would be decided between Steve Primett and Neil Bray. After weeks of bad weather, and flooding, it was bright and sunny for this late summer meeting.

Race 1

Neil had an excellent qualification session in his Capri and was alongside Steve, setting second fastest time, ahead of Len Allgood in his blue Escort RS2000. When the lights went out Neil had a good start and was side by side with Steve as they went into Hatchets Hairpin.  Unfortunately he was carrying a little to much speed, running wide and allowing Steve, Jason Christie and Mark Lucock past. Len didn't have a great start and slipped back to seventh behind Mark Osborne and James Christie.

Next time round it was Jason's turn to suffer at the hands of Hachetts, spinning and dropping back to sixth behind Len.  No sooner had Jason got going than Al Weyman coasted his Camaro off track at Hatchets as the fan belt had come off and sliced through the top hose.

Mark Osborne had car problems on Saturday and qualified well down the grid. The Dolomite was really on song for the race though and Mark made his way through the field, passing Neil and Mark Lucock to get up to second, although some nine seconds behind Steve who was in a strong first place. Neil was soon up to third when Mark (Lucock) lost his engine in a big way, with a rod poking through the sump. Then the field was down to five when the Christie brothers came together. Jason spinning in front of James, who was unable to avoid an impact which put both the Avenger and RS 2000 out of the meeting and possibly the rest of the season.

Tony Crates did not start after the head gasket failed on his Lotus Cortina Mk2 during qualifying.

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Race 2

There were only six starters for the second race, grided up according to each competitors second fastest lap in the first one.

This put Steve on pole again, with Neil alongside. Both Neil and Len made super starts, heading Steve around the Hatchets Hairpin. Steve managed to get past Len on the right left behind the pits but had Mark Osborne (fresh from winning the preceding pre=93 race in his Starion) right behind. mark managed to squeeze past on the second lap making the order Neil Bray (Capri), mark Osborne (Dolomite), Steve Primett (Escort RS2000), Al Weyman (Camaro), Len Allgood (Escort RS2000), Phil Waller (Avenger). Then Neil went wide and mark went past with Steve tucked behind him. The pair slowly pulled ahead of Neil but try as he may Steve could not pass the flying Dolomite as Mark kept a cool head.

Finally with a couple of laps to go Steve did a Valentino Rossi. Dropping back round the back of the circuit to take a fast and wide line through Honda, pulling alongside down the pit straight to go round Hatchers and Spitfire side by side. This put him on the inside around the long left-hander and he managed to get past into a lead he didn't loose, winning not just the race but putting him in an unassailable position in the championship. Neil finished a lowly third in front of a race long battle between Al Weyman and Len Allgood.

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Group 1

One win each for Jim McLoughlin and David Howard

David retired after being punted up the back by Mark Fowler in the first race handing overall victory to Jim McLoughlin. The second race was real thriller. David Howard won but the real battle was for second where Jim McLoughlin fought hard to win class B from Mark Fowler to put him odds on for the championship.

Like the Post Historic there was every possibility that the two races would decide the Group 1 championship. Although Neil Bray had more points than Jim McLoughlin he had more points to drop when the lowest two scores were taken into account Jim was two ahead. It wasn't just between these two as David Hickton, Roger Stanford and Brian Goodwin were waiting in the wings if the leaders were to fall by the wayside.

Race 1

The first Group 1 race was extended from 14 to 18 laps by the BARC in an attempt to compensate competitors for their limited track time at Oulton Park, where some drivers only got 4 laps before the red flag came out, following CTCRC Chairman Richard Langeveld loosing control of his car and slamming against the barriers in a solo accident.

Jim McLoughlin (Capri) got the jump on pole sitter David Howard (XJ12), but it wasn't long before David got the big cat into the lead. Jim followed just behind for a few laps, before making his move and regaining the lead. Mark Fowler and David Hickton were in close attendance. Mark was having to work hard to stay in front and the two swapped places several times.

About half way through the race Mark was ahead of David Hickton, when he tapped David Howard  up the back as they braked for the hairpin, sending the Jaguar straight on. This enabled Roger Stanford (BMW 2002) to overtake both of them. Jim now had a 2.5 second lead over David Hickton, who was followed by Roger Stanford, Mark Fowler and David Howard. Something clearly was wrong with David Howard's XJ12 as it was sounding really rough he pulled off.

There was quite a gap between the leading group and Tim Scott Andrews whose Rover Vitese soon retired with bottom end problems, elevating Matt Irons to fifth place with Neil just behind.

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Race 2

David Howard had discovered the problem was the impact from Mark's Capri pushing the exhaust forward and dislodging one of the inlet manifolds. This was soon fixed, more than Tim could do with his Rover where the damage was more serious. Mark had found his front end damage wasn't confined to the bodywork and had a slow radiator leak, resolved by topping it up in the assembly area and hoping for the best!

Dave Hickton was on pole for the second race, resulting from him having the best second fastest lap. However, it was Jim McLoughlin who took the initial lead, although he soon had to give best to David Howard who gradually extended his lead to 2.3 seconds by the flag. Jim maintained his second place for the whole race but it was hard work fending off Mark who was right on his tail and nearly came past so many times. This battle was only just in front of David Hickton and Roger Stanford, the first five being covered by only a few seconds at the end.

Neil had been resuming his battle with Matt Irons when he lost oil pressure and switched off before the engine was totally destroyed. Class rival Ken Selfe had similar problems in his ex-David Scriven XR3 so Pembrey was certainly hard on Group 1 engines, with three bottom ends destroyed.

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Pre 93

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