Two third places for Paul Sheard @ Silverstone

Bob Marsh - Last modified: 1st Apr 2009

On Saturday the first two rounds of the 2009 Ma5da MX5 Championship took place at Silverstone with the usual cold, wet and windy conditions the MX5’s seem to always have.

The number of cars starting out for qualifying was 37 with a high number of new drivers which was sure to make the 20 minute session interesting in the damp and very slippery conditions.

Paul was to take it steady for the first few laps to allow the track to show some signs of drying out and also to let the newcomers get used to the circuit.

As the session progressed his times came down with this fastest lap being achieved on lap 9, this was still almost1.4 seconds slower that Tom Roche who always excels in the wet.
Justin Newnam, James Maxfield and Mahinder Vaswani put in creditable performances and were in the bulk of the pack.

Qualifying:
1 Tom Roche
2 Paul Sheard
3 Jonathan Greensmith
11 Justin Newnam
17 James Maxfield
21 Mahinder Vaswani

Race 1: Conditions Cloudy/Drying:
With a field of this size it was always going to be a rush to the first corner to keep clear of the chasing bunch and stay out of trouble.
Paul was away will and up with Tom Roche and Jonathan Greensmith through Copse but by the end of the first lap was down to sixth place almost 3 seconds off the pace but well clear of Matt Robinson in seventh.
On lap two Paul moved ahead of Steve Greensmith in to fifth place but was still losing ground on Tom who excels in these conditions.
In the middle of the race the Safety Car was deployed due to an incident involving John Carrigan and was out on the circuit for two complete laps, once the racing picked up again Paul took advantage and got past Jonathan Greensmith into fourth place.
A spin by Scott Kirlew in the Complex allowed Paul to move into third and put some pressure on Rob Boston but with just two laps to go was unable to catch and pas Rob.
Tom Roche continued to lead the race, which he had done from the start, to win by almost three seconds.
Justin Newnam had a creditable race finishing in eleventh position with Mahinder Vaswani in eighteenth place and James Maxfield twenty fourth.

Result:
1 Tom Roche
2 Rob Boston
3 Paul Sheard
11 Justin Newnam
18 Mahinder Vaswani
25 James Maxfield
Fastest lap Scott Kirlew 1:45.654 Avg speed 76.63mph

Race Two: Conditions mixed
The grid made up of the second fastest times in qualifying which left Paul on the third row.
Everyone was away well but on the first hairpin bend Tom Roche left the circuit leaving Steve Greensmith in the lead for the first three laps with Paul back in fourth place.
Tom had by now regained his composure and was making his way steadily up the field and by the end of lap four had relegated Paul back to fifth.
On lap ten Paul and Rob Boston touched going through the complex with Steve Greensmith close by and at the end of lap ten Paul was still in fifth place.

The final lap saw Paul and Steve battle it out for third place with Rob Boston dropping back and at the chequered flag Paul coming home just third by less than 0.3 seconds.

Result:
1 Jonathan Greensmith
2 Tom Roche
3 Paul Sheard
12 Justin Newnam
23 Mahinder Vaswani
27 James Maxfield

Fastest Lap Rob Boston 1:54.384 Avg Speed 70.78mph
Overall a good day from the Sheard camp with Paul in joint third place in the championship.

The next round will be at Cadwell Park on Saturday April 18.

Paul and Joachim Ritter will be competing in the Ginetta G50 Cup at Brands Hatch over the weekend of 4/5 April. Please visit our Ginetta G50 Site here.