Fell and Reuben star
The racing was spectacular, however, and the track layout � and brilliant Welsh weather � proved highly popular. If it wasn�t such a hike, people would be racing there all the time.
Mark Fell underlined the talent he had showcased at Cadwell in the first rounds in April by beating Rueben off the line and staying ahead in Saturday�s 18-lap race, then Reuben staged another of his smooth Schumacher-style flag-to-flag domination jobs on Sunday as Fell chased him before dropping out with stub axle failure.
Race One
The smart (better heeled?) turned up to test on Friday, and to varying degrees most had at least started to tame their understeer by Saturday morning�s qualifying. Reuben stuck his high-nose Jedi on pole with 44.377s in only five laps, but Fell impressed by snatching the other front row slot on 44.464s. Father Malcolm�s painstaking suspension set-up work allied to Mark�s press-on style and a set of new Avons played key roles, but so did having the full compliment of gears after an engine change midway through Friday finally cured his Cadwell problem of lack of fifth and sixth.
Fellow Cadwell rookie David Roper continued to show well with third (45.235s) from David Scott, whose family-run DS Motorsport team is continuing to get to grips with its silver and red car (45.330s). Arri Media�s Adam Saward was fifth on 45.342s from Andy Roberts, who did well on his first visit (he missed Friday) to cope with a lot of understeer on his way to 45.596s. Luke Kidsley and Louis Hamilton-Smith were next, on 45.634s and 45.832s respectively. Tom Tremayne did a good job to put his blue and orange Restless Spirit Racing car ninth on 45.859s after missing Friday�s running. Mark Hosken patched up his car after disembowelling it running over a brick-sized rock thrown up by a wayward Kidsley during Friday�s testing. He managed 46.378s for 10th ahead of Welsh racer James Baker on 46.795s, Jodie Hemming on 47.518s and Scott Mansell (running just to get the final two signatures to upgrade to and international C licence in order to start racing the ex-Gary Ward Reynard in the EuroBoss series) on a deliberately leisurely 53.016s.
Reuben fluffed his start slightly, falling behind Roper as Fell sprinted into a lead he would never lose. It took the Rubery racer only a lap to pass the Scot, but Fell was in no mood to play second fiddle. Like Sebastien Bourdais and Giorgio Pantano in Spain�s F3000 event a week before, they ran nose to tail, Fell making sure his car was in just the right position everywhere on the track and never leaving Reuben an opportunity. But unlike Bourdais, there was no last minute offroad moment to spoil Fell�s display.
�Nigel popped his nose inside me a couple of times at Abbots,� he reported cheerfully, �but what was that going to do?� A cool character, this. They finished 0.843s apart after a terrific fight.
Behind them, Roper held on to third to the flag, attacking the circuit with his habitual gusto, while Roberts� pressure on Scott finally paid off at Abbots on lap 16 when the Heathfield student ran wide after missing a shift. Andy had taken fifth place from Saward on lap three when the latter�s engine momentarily hiccoughed (an intermittently recurrent problem that has defied detection for months). �Rather than block Andy I let him go,� Saward said, �but when the problem cleared almost immediately I wished I hadn�t!�
Roberts� F.A.S. Motorsport team had done a lot of set-up homework for the race which cured most of the white and blue car�s understeer, and he sliced six tenths off his morning time as a result.
Hamilton-Smith ran home seventh, followed by Kidsley, Hosken, Hemming and Baker. Tremayne was a very unhappy 12th, finding his car all but undriveable with terminal full-lock understeer everywhere. After making a slow start on the downhill grid and then outbraking Hosken to regain ninth place at the hairpin on lap one, he struggled until his car simply understeered straight off the track at School on lap 16 and dropped him behind all but Mansell.
Race Two
With similar weather on Sunday, albeit with more wind and cloud at times, the Honda racers had further opportunity to hone their set-ups with a second qualifying session in the morning. There were a few dusty moments, but by the end of the session Reuben was on pole again with a wonderful lap of 43.881s, and Fell had improved to 44.393s before packing up to save his rubber after seven laps. Scott made a jump up to third on 44.880s, looking ever more assured, Roberts was his usual smooth self on the way to 44.909s, while Roper made do with worn tyres for 44.956s and fifth place. Saward was sixth on 45.171s, with Tremayne seventh on 45.490. The latter was much happier with his car after dramatic set-up changes, but came to the conclusion that his front tyres were a race past their sell-by date.
Hamilton-Smith was annoyed by intermittent carb problems caused by the dirty nature of the track and had to be satisfied with 45.789s for eighth ahead of Baker, who was �dead chuffed� to lop a second off his time (45.844s) despite front tyres that were as bad as team-mate Tremayne�s.
Kidsley broke a driveshaft after doing 46.201s in 11 laps, and Hosken trimmed down a little to 46.260s for 11th ahead of Hemming. On new rubber one watch got her at a 44.9s, but either the timekeepers or the watch holder may have mixed up her car with Hamilton-Smith�s, as both retain their Votex colours. With good grace she took her lumps without creating a scene and accepted 46.326s, but it was interesting that the organisers subsequently asked everyone to add numerals to their rear wing endplates. Mansell couldn�t resist pushing a bit harder, but had his eyes on other horizons as he achieved 47.020s in eight laps to round out the grid.
This time Reuben made no mistake about the start and shot into an increasing lead over Fell and fast-starting Roberts, as Scott muffed it slightly and dropped to fifth behind Saward but kept ahead of Roper, Hamilton-Smith and Kidsley. Scott�s old TKM sparring partner Tremayne fared even worse, losing a place to Hamilton-Smith at Abbots when his engine coughed and bogged down and then getting caught out by cold tyres (for some reason the BRSCC denied the fastest cars on the track a proper warm-up lap and just gave them a grid formation lap from the assembly area prior to the off) and spun in the left-hander at Radar.
At the end of the first lap Reuben, Fell and Roberts were evenly spread out at the front, but Saward, Scott, Roper, Hamilton-Smith and Kidsley were nose to tail fighting for fourth place.
There was further drama on lap three when Hosken, holding ninth place, spun exiting School and scraped sideways on his undertray along the inside kerb. Hemming took avoiding action on the grass on the outside to get round the yellow Pristine Alloy Wheel Refurbishers car, raising a dust cloud into which Baker headed. Momentarily the Welsh student found himself about to t-bone Hosken before taking similar evasive action ��I was tempted to go for the inside but saw Mark beginning to roll backwards on to the track and decided that it was still better to go left. Actually, I seemed to have quite a bit of time, even though it must have looked spectacular.� Mansell also had to slow, which helped Tremayne as he recovered in last place. With a set of Hemming�s old Cadwell tyres on the front his car was finally oversteering the way he likes and he was lapping as fast as anyone but Reuben until his Abbots misfire returned after 12 laps. Scott pulled off the move of the race on Saward going into School on lap six, diving boldly down the inside with some superb Jo Siffert-style late braking and keeping it on the road despite the tightness of his entry line. That left Roper to close in on the silver car, but their battle for fifth came to grief at Radar on lap eight when Roper went for a gap that wasn�t there long enough. As Mario Andretti once said, �You see lots of gaps in racing; the trick is to find one big enough for your car.� This one wasn�t. The blue car crunched Saward�s left front wing, and as Saward�s left front wheel hit Roper�s sidepod, the rear end of Roper�s car twitched into Saward�s left rear wheel, bending the rim. The Londoner�s race was over, and he was not amused as he surveyed more than �500 worth of damage afterwards. �It�s not on,� he said quietly. �That was outrageous. The only way you can pass there is if the other guy wants you to.�
Roper, who naturally saw things differently, continued. His own suspension was damaged, but he actually closed on Scott as the race went on even though the steering was out of kilter. Despite his car�s slight incapacity neither Hamilton-Smith nor Kidsley (with intermittent carb problems and a slipping clutch respectively) could take advantage.
A lap later everyone bar Reuben moved up a place as Fell made a spectacular exit at School when the right front stub axle sheared. The Cumbrian spun harmlessly on to the grass on the outside of the first corner, but a sizeable dent had been made in his burgeoning championship challenge.
By this stage Tremayne had sliced ahead of Mansell, Hosken and Baker, even though he was hitting the rev limiter well before the end of the pit straight. Then he hunted Hemming down at the hairpin on lap 11. �I saw him coming,� Jodie said as she continued to battle understeer, �and all I could think of was, �he�s on my tyres!�� Shortly after Tremayne overtook she lost two laps when she slid off at the hairpin, letting the understeering Baker, Hosken and Mansell by.
So Reuben, fresh from finishing in the top eighth of the 32000 runners in the London Marathon (which he ran in aid of deaf children) continued his quest for the title with his third win in three races. Just to rub it in, he smashed the LM 3000-held lap record for the track with a best of 44.123s. Roberts, long due some good fortune, was second, just under 10s adrift, and Scott took his best-ever result ahead of Roper, Hamilton-Smith, Kidsley and the misfiring Tremayne.
The Formula Honda series might not get the publicity it deserves, and it was a long way for everyone who took advantage of the double points on offer in Wales, but the spectators enjoyed the races and the level of competition was again very close. Reuben was delighted with his 48-point haul, and Roper was pleased to hang on to second place overall, but the big movers were Scott, up to third, and Roberts, who leaped to fourth with 34 points for his weekend�s work. Not bad for a guy who didn�t even test on Friday�
RESULTS
(All drivers in 600cc Jedi Formula Hondas)
DRIVER DEFICIT CLASS GRID POSITION
RACE ONE
1 Mark Fell 0.00s 600 2
2 Nigel Reuben 0.843s 600 Pole
3 David Roper 9.694s 600 3
4 Andy Roberts 12.419s 600 6
5 David Scott 14.515s 600 4
6 Adam Saward 14.894s 600 5
7 L Hamilton-Smith 17.773 600 8
8 Luke Kidsley 19.846s 600 7
9 Mark Hosken 35.272s 600 10
10 Jodie Hemming 40.085s 600 12
11 James Baker 42.535s 600 11
12 Tom Tremayne 44.779s 600 9
13 Scott Mansell 1 lap 600 13
FASTEST LAP
Reuben, 44.374s on lap 16, 85.75mph, new record
RACE TWO
1 Nigel Reuben 0.00s 600 Pole
2 Andy Roberts 9.987s 600 4
3 David Scott 17.258s 600 3
4 David Roper 19.185s 600 5
5 L Hamilton-Smith 23.610s 600 8
6 Luke Kidsley 28.414s 600 10
7 Tom Tremayne 36.856s 600 7
8 James Baker 43.222s 600 9
9 Mark Hosken 1 lap 600 11
10 Scott Mansell 1 lap 600 13
11 Jodie Hemming 2 laps 600 12
RETIRED
Adam Saward, lap 8, accident damage 6
Mark Fell, lap 9, stub axle failure 2
FASTEST LAP
Reuben, 44.123s on lap 6, 86.24mph, new class and outright record
FORMULA HONDA CHAMPIONSHIP 2002 - POINTS STANDINGS
After rounds 3 and 4, Anglesey May 4/5 (Double points)
SCORING: 1st 12 pts; 2nd 10; 3rd 8; 4th 7; 5th 6; 6th 5; 7th 4; 8th 3; 9th 2
All other finishers 1 point; fastest lap 1 point
POS DRIVER POINTS
1 Nigel Reuben 74
2 David Roper 50
3 David Scott 39
4 Andy Roberts 37
5 Mark Fell 36
6 Adam Saward 25
7 Tom Tremayne 22
8 Luke Kidsley 21
9= Scott Mansell 10
9= Mark Hosken 10
9= James Baker 10
12 Jodie Hemming 06
13 Philip Churchman 05
14 Rob Hedley 03
15 Dean Kidsley 01
16 Robin Pritchett 01