THE USA CONQUERS ANGLESEY


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Star spangled Kimberly! Photo: www.bournephotographic.co.uk


The stars and stripes were flying high over Wales on the weekend of 11/12thMay (metaphorically at least!) when Austin Kimberly from San Diego scored his first victory in Britain by leading from start to finish in the second of two rounds of the Avon Tyres National Formula Ford 1600 Post89 Championship at Anglesey Circuit.

Although his Cliff Dempsey tended Ray topped the lap charts throughout, by no means did Kimberly cruise to victory as he was being challenged for the entire 12 laps. Initially race 1 winner and Championship leader, David McArthur, was putting him under pressure but a gamble on new tyres wasn’t paying off for McArthur; this meant he headed high and wide the seventh time he tackled The Banking. Once on the grass the Van Diemen LA10 driver had a quick spin and would eventually come home fifth.

Skylar Robinson was then the one to put his countryman under pressure but he was unable to find a way by, however at least this meant America filled the top two steps of the podium.

In the Pre90 races Jaap Blijleven and Chris Hodgen took a win apiece. First time out Hodgen was frustrated when contact with Andrew Thomas sent him spinning down to tenth at Rocket on the opening lap. He made amends on Sunday with a blistering drive, which saw him lead home his Dutch rival.

No less than 4 categories of Caterhams (3 of which are once again sponsored by Avon Tyres this season) made the trip to North Wales and all had a healthy number of entries. Fastest of these two-seaters were the Bookatrack.com backed R300 Superlights. They had an exciting start to their opening event when some of the midfield pack discovered it wasn’t possible to take the first corner, Target, three-abreast. The mayhem that ensued left the cars of Flick Haigh and Robin Smith stranded on the track triggering the red flags.

The restart saw some fabulous slip-streaming battles with Ollie Taylor heading home a 6 car lead group. Taylor returned to the tarmac to do the double on Sunday.

Michael Gazda and Oliver Jarratt also enjoyed a great duel for honours in the opening Tracksport contest. Matt Dyer made it a threesome and his brief demotion of Gazda on the last lap allowed Jarratt to take the win as Gazda grabbed back the runner-up spot at the final corner. The exiled Austrian won the second Anglesey round relatively easily although conditions were treacherously slippery.

In the Caterham Supersports, poleman Mike Hart was involved in an altercation at Rocket while contesting second place on lap 4. The resulting spin left David Robinson with a comfortable race-winning advantage. Hart moved up from 6thon the race 2 grid to come home second, sandwiched between winner Craig Curry and Robinson. Meanwhile Stephen Nuttall did the double in Roadsports.

In two Advantage Motorsport XR Challenge thrashes on Sunday, Ralph Fernihough and Steve Poole respectively finished first and second… and then second and first! A partially reversed grid for their second outing followed by a red flag at half distance (when Ben Lamont spun and Chris Purcell skidded into the side of him at Target) failed to prevent them from getting to the front of the field.

Paul Sheard won all three rounds of the Mazda MX5 SuperCup although his nearest challenger, Matt Davies, seemed to find increasing amounts of pace as the weekend progressed.

Finally, a great deal of credit must go to the marshals and officials of the BRSCC’s North Western Centre who laid on very slickly run race meeting in very difficult weather conditions in which strong winds and heavy rain had to be contended with.

The full results can be viewed here: Anglesey Results

Dave Williams


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