The team arrived at the track ready and prepared for the Friday test. 4 of the 5 drivers getting a feel for MSV`s Donington before the weekend antics commenced.
Paul Thorpe made his debut with the team, Ian Gribben returned to build on his Silverstone performance, Pete Osgerby was back to keep up the chase for the Novice title and Jason Wood and Martin Rodgers were out to continue their fierce but friendly rivalry inside the mega competitive top 10. Family and friends accompanied us in what was to be another belting race weekend.
Raceday came on a classic autumn day, cool and crisp with enough sun to keep you happy and the threat of rain as likely as a sensible political debate. Jason was quickest out of the blocks in the top 5 early in the session. A motivated Martin and a resurgent Paul delivered late on to qualify 6th and 9th respectively. Jason a frustrated 12th with less than a second between him and 2nd place confirming the competitive nature of this championship, his discipline in driving the newly shaped chicane perhaps costing him. Pete qualified 19th from the 24 starters 1.5 seconds behind his title rival Kelsall in 17th. Ian rounded off the PDC drivers with 22nd.
Race 1 was an exciting affair throughout. “Wild Wood” (Video with thanks to Phil at Pescara Productions) making up for his qualifying frustrations by going sideways through the chicane hot on the tail of Martin. Martin wasn’t to be outdone this day and drove solidly to finish 9th, Jason 11th. Story of the race was team debutant Paul Thorpe who rolled back the years and showed some quality finishing up 5th by 1/1000th of a second to the excellent Ted Cooper. Pete Osgerby got the better of Richard Kelsall in 18th with Ian losing out to Kelsall on the last lap leaving too much room mistaking him for a front runner, despite that taking 3 seconds off his qualifying and showing some real competitive spirit to finish 20th. A special mention to friend of the team Stewart Place for his 1st win in the championship.
Race 2 was more of the same. Martin improved with a 7th place, Paul had to settle for 9th with Jason pushing on in 10th, Pete improved to 16th and Ian finished a career best 18th getting quicker all of the way through the race.