Paul Sheard takes Round 3 at Snetterton
With Championship leaders Tom Roche and Charles Plumley away racing elsewhere this was the ideal opportunity for the chasing pack to close the gap on the leading two.
This was the first longer race of the season with a planned race time of 30 minutes.
As the time for qualifying approached the weather got decidedly worse with heavy rain falling as the cars came out.
Qualifying: Conditions Wet
With the rain pouring down the drivers came out to the wettest qualifying session of the season so far.
Right from the start of the session most of the drivers were lapping around the 1 minute 42 second mark and it was clear that most drivers were having difficulty keeping the car on the track.
Experienced Paul Sheard was one of only two drivers to dip below the 1 minute 40 second mark with Justin Newnam the other.
These two now made the front row of the grid with Brett Walter and Dean Parker making up the second row.
In view of the conditions there was no serious incident, however, the most spectacular one being from Jonathan Halliwell on the exit from Coram when he left the track spun three times before struggling to regain the circuit.
Grid Positions:
- Paul Sheard 1:39.502 Average speed 113.65 KPH
- Justin Newnam 1:39.9959 Average speed 113.13 KPH
- Brett Walter 1:40.300 Average speed 112.75 KPH
Race: Conditions Wet
From the start Justin Newnam got away the fastest in very wet conditions but by the end of lap one Paul Sheard was in front and pulling away from the field with Dean Parker and Justin Brett Walter and Matt Robinson in pursuit.
As the race progressed Paul continued to pull away from the following group until the race was red flagged after 14 minutes to allow for the tyre wall to be rebuilt after being hit.
As the drivers waited for the restart the rain started to ease and the race was shortened to 10 minutes after the break.
From the restart Paul Sheard took command with Andy Burge close behind followed by Richard Breland and Justin Newnam.
As the three leaders pulled away slowly Matt Robinson and Mark Pierpoint passed Justin pushing him down to sixth on the road by the end of lap 2 with young Brett Walter in the most unusual position of being next to last.
On lap three Joachim Ritter spun at the Bomb hole but continued now almost at the back of the field whilst the middle order of Jonathan Halliwell, Dean Parker and Mark Pierpoint were racing very close with Brett closing the gap slowly.
Up front Paul Sheard and Andy Burge continued to pull away but Paul was not having life as easy as in the restarted race with Andy continuing to push him hard.
As the final lap started Paul had enough in hand to fend off Andy both drivers producing their fastest lap with Richard Breland coming home a creditable third and Justin and Matt battling it out to the line with Matt just ahead.
James Maxfield had his best finish to date coming in eighth and Chris Lovett in his first season, whilst finishing last continues to pick up valuable experience.
Result:
- Paul Sheard 10:15.364 Average Speed 110.26 KPH
- Andy Burge 10:16.796 Average Speed 110.01 KPH
- Richard Breland 10:22.666 Average Speed 108.97 KPH
Fastest Lap Andy Burge 1:40.515 Average Speed 112.51 KPH
The next round will be at Brands Hatch on the weekend of 7/8 June this will be a double header with round 4 on Saturday and round 5 on Sunday.
Drivers Raffle
Winner of a set of Toyo Tyres was Andy Burge
Winner of a set of overalls was Brett Walter
B. Marsh