Two Podium Finishes for Paul Sheard at Anglesey

Bob Marsh - Last modified: 28th Jul 2009

The whole weekend was hot and sunny which was a pleasant change from the rain drenched Donington meeting a couple of weekend ago.

Qualifying:

There were 28 cars out for the qualifying session on the Saturday afternoon when the circuit was probably at its hottest with all but a handful of drivers putting in their fastest lap right at the start of the session.

Paul was struggling for pace against the leading three in the championship and by the end of the session was 1.7 seconds off the pace putting him in seventh place on the grid.

Race 1:

As the lights went out Tome Roche and Jonathan Greensmith were the quickest away and were soon establishing a commanding lead over the rest of the field. At the end of lap 1 Paul had to be content with fifth place just behind Steve Greensmith.

On lap two Paul managed to edge past Steve into fourth place but still loosing ground on the front three and by the end of lap 4 was just over 6 seconds adrift, however, on lap 5 the leaders had now bunched up with just over half a second separating them.

The gap between Paul and fifth placed Scott Kirlew was just over two and a half seconds with Scott not making any impression at all.

Up at the front Tom was still leading but now being hard pressed by Jonathan and Rob

At the start of the eleventh and final lap the gap was just over seven tenths of a second. Jonathan then challenged Tom for the lead but failed. Rob caught the pair of them; however, when both Jonathan and Rob came off the circuit at the same point there was contact rejoining which resulted in Jonathan sustaining front end damage and not being able to continue. Now well clear Tom just cruised home with Rob second and Paul third.

Results:

1 Tom Roche 20:26.982
2 Rob Boston 20:41.575
3 Paul Sheard 20:44.201

Fastest Lap: Jonathan Greensmith 1:50.237 (Lap Record)

Race 2:

Frantic work by Jonathan Greensmith and father Steve ensured that he was on the grid for the second race of the day.

The grid this time was made up of the second fastest in qualifying which had Paul in sixth place.

The question everyone was asking was would the work done to Jonathans and Robs cars slow them down in favour of Tom Roche.

From the start the question was answered as Jonathan and Rob left Tom in their wake with Paul back in fourth place just ahead of Steve Greensmith.

As in the first race the gap between Paul and the leaders grew each lap by a similar margin which resulted in Paul battling to keep ahead of Steve and Richard Breland who were both piling on the pressure.

Whilst the pressure was being applied Paul stayed calm and drove his own race reacting when required to the attempts to pass him.

By the middle of the race there was just over half a second between first and third in exactly the same order with Tom fleetingly gaining second place from Rob on lap six.

Paul was now under constant pressure from Steve Greensmith with less than a second between them.

As in the previous race disaster was to hit one of the leaders, this time it was Tom who following an “off” sustained damage and loss of power and was loosing ground and had to be satisfied with finishing in fifteenth place.

Jonathan Greensmith came home for a well deserved victory with Rob second and Paul in third just ahead of Steve Greensmith and Alyn Robson.

1 Jonathan Greensmith 20:29.429
2 Rob Boston 20:34.575
3 Paul Sheard 20:48.666

Fastest Lap: Jonathan Greensmith 1:50.921

Race 3:

The third and final race of the day had Paul on eighth place on the grid and was made up of the third fastest qualifying time.

Straight from the start it was the usual three out in front with Paul in sixth by the end of the first lap in a group of four cars with less than four tenths of a second between them.

The front three were now starting to pull away from the rest of the field and by the end of lap five it was Tom, Jonathan and Rob in that order at the head of the field. Paul was hanging on to his sixth place and Richard Breland was now starting to apply the pressure as this group started to bunch.

At the end of lap seven there was less than five seconds between fourth place and eleventh place and setting the scene for a grand finish to the race.

On lap nine Paul lost sixth place to Richard Breland who had been pressuring Paul for most of the \race.

As the race came to a conclusion Tom came home victorious with Jonathan and Rob in second and third place respectively, Paul had to be content on this occasion with seventh place.

1 Tom Roche 20:23.619
2 Jonathan Greensmith 20:26.893
3 Rob Boston 20:27.164

Fastest Lap: Rob Boston 1:50.252

There is now a break of four weeks before the next round which will be held at Mallory Park on the 26 July.