MaX5 Round 1 Donington Park

29th Apr 2007

Practice was exactly that, but a welcome bonus as this was not a guaranteed session before the day. The real business started during qualifying. Jonathan Greensmith took pole with a 128.770, he was followed by John Diffey (1:28.938), Jonathan Blake (129.120), Jeremy Clark (129.148) then Paul Sheard (129.159) … one thing was clear, the field was quick this year, and tightly packed … a good sign for a close race. The rest of the team were spread throughout the pack with a notable performance from James Maxfield, taking a significant chunk of time from his previous best … a tremendous achievement under pressure. Andy Boulton was immensely happy with a time of 1:31.354 and hoped to capitalise on this during the race.

The race: Paul Sheard didn’t get off the line quickly enough and came out of the first corner in 7th position. Sheard fought hard to make it back to 4th place by the end of lap one, 3rd by lap 3, then 2nd by lap 4. Diffey and Blake followed applying as much pressure as possible until the gap was extended as the race progressed. Greensmith led throughout but Sheard’s opportunity came when Greensmith made a mistake at the chicane, cutting straight across the grass. This wasn’t enough to allow Sheard to capitalise and his attack on Greensmith at Redgate left the door ajar for Diffey and Blake to fight back. Sheard was forced to defend for a time allowing Greensmith to hold the lead to the chequered flag.

There are always several battles raging at once and throughout the field in a MaX5 race, such is the nature of the Championship. Andy Boulton recalls the excitement as 35 cars ploughed towards and through the first corner where Steve Price left the track on the outside, only to return at the back of the pack. Price came back through the field passing a number of cars before leading Boulton. This didn’t last, Boulton got the run out of the Chicane and went round the outside of Price at Redgate. Both drivers then passed a number of cars on the run down to Craner via Hollywood. Price was half a car behind as the pair exited the Old Hairpin and began the run up the hill through Schwantz Curve, both carrying good momentum and ready to pass slower cars going into McCleans. Price then hit the back of Boulton before they reached the braking point, spinning him off the track into the gravel trap and ending his race. 'Bulldozer Price' did not survive other collisions and bowed out on lap 7.

The rest of the squad finished and all were happy with their performances, Newman – 20th, Taylor – 21st, Maxfield 30th.