MaX5 Pembrey Review

Thirteen cars headed down to the coast of south Wales which played host to the third round of the 2016 MaX5 season and as usual, the races would prove to be filled be with spectacular battles and entertainment.

The excitement started in qualifying when less than two seconds covered the top six, with pole position going to the new mark four MX-5 of Paul Roddison with a time of 1:07.931. Scotsman John Munro would qualify second and first of the mark threes, just over four tenths back from Roddison. Championship leader Nick Dunn would line up fourth, George Grant being the man to split Munro and Dunn, and they would be followed by Ian Loversidge, Chris Webster, Andrew Pretorius, Jeremy Shipley, Andrew Bayliss and Lee Hollin rounded out the top ten. Bayliss would be the pole sitter in the mark one class, his only rival being Tom Hotchkiss in thirteenth.

Race one saw John Munro make his intentions clear, he may of missed the opening rounds of the championship but the Scot is here to win. Munro absolutely dominated race one, coming home a full 4.873 seconds ahead of championship leader Dunn. The field ended up being split into several groups behind the leaders. Chris Webster and Ian Loversidge finished third and fourth, only three tenths separated them but the pair were almost 13 seconds behind Nick Dunn. Shipley, Pretorius and Hollin would be covered by just eight tenths of a second with George Grant a further four seconds back after his excellent third place starting position. Andrew Bayliss won the mark one class. These battles were incredibly tense and exciting but the most dramatic moment of the race was provided by Paul Roddison who speared his new mark four into the tyre barrier, virtually writing the car off, fortunately Roddison was unhurt.

At just eight laps long, there was no time to waste in race two and the battles were incredibly frenetic. This time it would be Nick Dunn who came out on top just over half a second clear of Munro with Chris Webster scoring another podium, a further six tenths back. Loversidge would again finish fourth and again was achingly close to the podium, less than three tenths back from Webster. Pretorius would again score a solid result in fifth with George Grant doing an excellent job to finish in the top six after finishing ninth in race one. Bayliss would once again win the mark one class, this time managing an outright top ten. With less than two and half seconds covering the top six, there's no denying that the racing is closer than ever in the MaX5 championship and all the drivers are right at the top of their game.

As an added incentive to travel down to south Wales, a bonus non-championship race was held. Unfortunately only seven cars would finish after others suffered problems. Ian Loversidge picked up damage to the front end of his car, Richard Smith blew a gearbox, Munro's great weekend would come to an end after contact and Bayliss would suffer damage to the left front wheel bearing. All of this allowed George Grant to take victory from Shipley and Pretorius with Hotchkiss winning the mark one class after Bayliss' problems.

All of this leaves Nick Dunn leading the championship on 294 points with second place Chris Webster now trailing by twenty six points. Ian Loversidge remains third on 244 with Grant, Hollin, Shipley and Pretorius covered by just six points. Andrew Bayliss now has a healthy thirty three point lead in the mark one class.

While it seems like Nick Dunn has a comfortable lead, he can't afford to relax heading into Mallory Park in two weeks, John Munro has arrived and the Scot is gunning for Dunn's lead.

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