Track & Race Cars Magazine Mono Championship
Anglesey Ty Croes 19 April - 1000, 1400, 1800

Chris Speads to victory as Kat's tyres tire

Qualifying

Sunday was different to the Saturday race. In order to even out the grid numbers and reduce the traffic pressure on the Mono 1800/1400/1000s, the Mono 1600 entrants agreed to move into the 2 litre grid. (and thanks to them for doing so – even though it meant they had to leave for home much later in the day having started on Saturday as the sparrows were rising). Most people seemed to think this worked OK, and the Mono 1000/1400 competitors were really pleased with the easing of the traffic.

Qualifying saw Rupert Reader on track after his team had successfully fixed their Vauxhall Formula Junior 16v (one of several Mono 1800 cars entered in the Mono 2000 class) which had a wheel bearing disintegrate in Saturday practice, taking the disc with it. The fix involved an 8 hour round trip to the holder of the National Collection of Vauxhall Junior bits, Phil Anstruther in Bristol. The team definitely deserve the “Hard Triers Award” for getting the car back in action.

Kat Impey clearly wanted to put the pressure on Chris Woodhouse in qualifying, after such a good but ultimately fruitless challenge the previous day. However Chris slightly turned the tables by sitting a few cars lengths behind the pink rocketship for much of the session, and he took the pole by six tenths with a devastating lap of 1;04.956 after swapping pole with her several times. This might be the fastest lap ever done round the Anglesey Coastal circuit (we need to do some research to check). Chris’s Speads was really using its tyres well, but by contrast Kat felt her Jedi wasn’t as sharp as on the Saturday, it was already brewing an understeer problem which wouldn’t go away. Darren Freeman wasn’t quite on the same pace as these two, but he was still a very impressive third on the grid. In any case Darren was already on Cloud 9 – he’s an aerodynamicist at Red Bull Racing, and they had just won their first Grand Prix…”Weeee arrreee theeee Champeens!”.

Stephen Brooks was again looking very strong ahead of Peter Whitmore in the 1400s, and Peter Braggs was convincingly ahead of Michael Dale and Jim Timms. It was good to see Stuart Digby going well, apparently with no ill effects from his fright on Saturday after some careful repairs. Down the field Brian Jones certainly should get a perseverance award because he still couldn’t find what has caused a misfire on his Jedi since Snetterton, but was diligently learning the circuit anyway.

Race

The race saw Chris blast off the line into the lead, from Kat who was really hanging in close at first. Stephen Brooks got a good start into third overall from Freeman and Digby, and he again took the Mono 1400 class in some style. Pete Bragg took a Mono 1800 lead he never looked remotely like losing, but had fun racing with Peter Whitmore. Stuart Digby began to close on Freeman, and then Jim Timms put in a quite lovely pirouette on the pit straight, keeping his engine running as the pack scattered and avoided him. With Michael Dale in a good second in the Mono 1800s Bill Janson took over the third slot with Douglas McLay just behind. Suddenly Darren Freeman’s good weekend stuttered, as did the car, and he rolled to a stop safely off the main straight. As Kat Impey caught the Janson/McLay dispute, Bill span on the tight lefthander at the end of the straight, letting Douglas into third. Ironically Bill still picked up the Aztec Driver of the Day Award, rising from 14th to 10th, but Douglas was ultimately disappointed when the Mygale’s Zetec quit for no obvious reason and he was out. The good news was for Rupert Reader who then won a very well deserved Class Podium Place, a just reward for the team’s efforts.

As the race ran out Kat’s understeer bit badly, and she dropped back from the red Speads with the left front tyre completely grained up – it looked like a pad of ball bearings on the rubber – not nice at all. So Chris took his fourth win in a row. He and the team are looking really strong…