Two second places for Paul Sheard at Anglesey

Bob Marsh - Last modified: 12th Aug 2008

This double header meeting was the first return to Anglesey since the circuit was changed and allowed different circuits to be used on Saturday and Sunday.

Qualifying Saturday: Conditions dry

On the shorter Coastal Circuit all the drivers were taking their time early on in the session trying to become accustomed to the new circuit layout with many finding they were drifting onto the grass on the exit of some of the corners.

Tom Roche again stamped his authority on the session and was obviously the man to beat with championship leader Paul Sheard chasing hard and Nick Wright putting in a fast last qualifying lap to take third fastest and a second row grid position.

Grid:

1 Tom Roche 1:24.237 Average speed 66.24 mph
2 Paul Sheard 1:24.654 Average speed 65.91 mph
3 Nick Wright 1:25.301 Average speed 65.41 mph
8 Joachim Ritter 1:26.253 Average speed 64.69 mph
9 Justin Newnam 1:26.800 Average speed 64.28 mph

Saturday race: Conditions dry

Straight from the start Tom Roche was away the quickest with Paul Sheard struggling to keep with him and by the end of the first lap had established a lead of over half a second with Matt Robinson in third place and a group of four cars grouped together filling places four to seven.

Lap two saw Tom continue to pull away and increase his lead by over a second over Paul and Matt but this lap also saw the end of the race for Justin Newnam who retired from the race with a damaged radiator.

The group consisting of Nick Wright, Jon Halliwell, Richard Breland and Joachim Ritter filling the next four places continued to have a close fought battle with all drivers trying to take advantage of any mistake made.

On lap four Joachim Ritter had moved up to fourth place ahead of Nick Wright and the chasing group and he started to establish a small gap on Nick.

This group continued over the next few laps to have a close race and were slowly closing the gap on Matt Robinson in third place and by lap eight were less than half a second behind whilst up front Tom was continuing to pull away from Paul and was now almost seven seconds ahead.

At the completion of the final lap Tom was a well deserved winner with Paul a lonely second place some ten seconds ahead of Matt Robinson who held on to third place with Joachim Ritter finishing in seventh position

Result:

1 Tom Roche 16:54.399 Average speed 66.00 mph
2 Paul Sheard 17:02.209 Average speed 65.50 mph
3 Matt Robinson 17:13.039 Average speed 64.81 mph
7 Joachim Ritter 17:17.537 Average speed 64.19 mph

DNF Justin Newnam

Fastest lap: Tom Roche 1:23.712 average speed 66.65 mph on lap 3

Qualifying Sunday: Conditions dry

The longer International Circuit was in use on the Sunday allowing higher speeds and new challenges to the drivers.

Drivers were still trying to establish the correct racing line and some of the corners were still causing issues.

Tom Roche was again the man in charge gaining his second pole position of the weekend with Jochim Ritter gaining his second grid front row of the season.

Grid:

1 Tom Roche 1:50.604 Average speed 68.35 mph
2 Joachim Ritter 1:51.728 Average speed 67.66 mph
3 Paul Sheard 1:52.045 Average speed 67.47 mph
6 Justin Newnam 1:52.451 Average speed 67.22 mph

Sunday race: Conditions dry

Again straight from the start it was Tom Roche who was away the quickest with Paul Sheard taking advantage of a missed gear change by Joachim Ritter to take up the chase in second place.

At the end of the first lap the front two were well away but as in the race the previous day the next group of four cars were providing the excitement for the crowd, the group consisting of Matt Robinson, Jon Halliwell, Justin Newnam and Richard Breland.

The group consistently changing order with again some excellent close racing and slowly catching third placed Joachim Ritter who was using the grass too much for the officials liking and was eventually ‘black flagged’ and disqualified.

Justin Newnam lost ground on lap eleven due to an error and taking out three cones on one corner.

Again Tom was pulling away and by the end of the race had established a lead of over 15 seconds on Paul Sheard in second and Richard Breland


Result:

1 Tom Roche 22:17.337 Average speed 67.83 mph
2 Paul Sheard 22:32.758 Average speed 67.06 mph
3 Richard Breland 22:38.917 Average speed 66.75 mph
6 Justin Newnam 22:52.826 Average speed 66.08 mph

Disqualified: Joachim Ritter

Fastest lap: Tom Roche 1:50.496 average speed 68.41 mph on lap 3

The result now leaves Paul two points behind Tom in the championship with five races to go in the season.

The next two rounds will be at Croft over the weekend of 30/31 August.

To complete the weekends racing Joachim Ritter had two excellent second places on Sunday in his Ginetta G50 making up for a disastrous time in qualifying on the Saturday when the car suffered rear suspension damage.