Anglesey Sprint Weekend - September 30th / October 1st 2023
The latest British Sprint Championship rounds were held at Anglesey Circuit for a double header sprint weekend organised by Longton and District Motor Club. Saturday was on the shorter National circuit and Sunday on the longer International circuit.
Report from John Loudon:
Optimism was high on Saturday morning after the great result the previous weekend at Blyton Park where I took my first run-off win. Practice was dry but then the weather forecast proved correct, and the rain descended for the rest of the day. Having been second fastest in practice in the dry, I put in a steady lap to qualify for the impending run off and get used to the wet track. For the runoff I took a bravery pill and exceeded my previous best wet time for the circuit by some margin, which rewarded me with a fine second place again against more powerful machinery. I repeated the procedure for the next qualification and run-off but alas this time around, I could only muster 6th place as the rest of the field got their games together and I could not find the grip I had previously found. The second place in the first run off gained me some valuable championship points as I aim to hang onto 4th place overall in the championship.
Sunday: Continued overnight rain and high winds brought a wet start to the day on Sunday for the longer International circuit event. A gradually drying track had most still on wet tyres for qualification. The track continued to dry until just before the run-off when the weather turned to a damp mizzle in the air and had most competitors changing back to wet tyres, myself included. It became quickly evident that this was a bad choice, and I could only manage 5th place, despite being close to the places immediately ahead. The sun then finally came out and the subsequent qualification run saw me on slick tyres for only the second time of the weekend. I managed to improve my position to 4th in the run-off. Several delays caused the meeting to be finished early and the qualification positions became the final run off positions for the day. A 4th and 5th place for the day was enough to gain me further valuable points to add to my season total and improve my chances of hanging on to 4th place overall in the championship.
The weekend finished with a 2nd fastest overall for Saturday and a 4th fastest overall for Sunday so a pleasing end result for the weekend. The little 1100cc Force TA racing car doing me proud yet again against more powerful cars.
The penultimate round of the championship is at Knockhill Racing Circuit on Sunday 8th October, followed by the final round at Castle Combe Circuit on Saturday 14th October.
A huge thanks to Laser Tools Racing for their continued support.
