The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Spalding racer Andy Molsom picked up a pair of second places and clocked the fastest lap in his class at Pembrey to stay second in the Caterham Graduates Racing Club championship.
Bright and sunny weather greeted Molsom in South Wales for what was the second race meeting of the new season.
Race one was on the traditional Pembrey layout, while the second saw the inaugural outing on the new extended circuit.
Molsom qualified second in his class for both races. Molsom’s class – the Super-Graduates – started among the faster cars from the Mega-Graduates class, which meant starting fifth and seventh on the road.
He made a great start in the first race, and moved into fourth on the road after the first corner. After making up another place before the last corner, Molsom spent the next two laps in third place on the road behind Briant, who leads the Super-Graduates championship.
Despite some jostling for position, Molsom finished the race in fourth place on the road, finishing behind Briant for second place in class.
The second race of the weekend saw the much-anticipted battle on the extended circuit.
With Molsom starting seventh on the road with three Mega-Graduate cars between Briant and himself, a good start was needed to ensure a lively race.
The South Holland speedster again got off the line well and by the end of the first lap saw himself in fifth place, directly behind Briant and challenging for the class win.
Numerous position changes over the 18-lap affair kept Molsom busy but, unfortunately, he couldn’t find a way past Briant.
The top five crossed the line within three seconds of each other, Molsom finishing fifth on the road, and second in class.
Molsom also achieved the fastest lap of the race for Super-Graduates class, giving him the first lap record for the new circuit.
“It was great to go back to Pembrey,” said Molsom. “Despite the long journey, it is a great little circuit.
“Running both circuit layouts was interesting and the new circuit is a different challenge to that of the old layout, incorporating a tight section instead of two high speed corners.
“To top the weekend off with a great battle for the class win and another lap record was excellent. We head off to Cadwell Park this weekend, where I will keep pushing hard.”
Molsom leaves Pembrey lying just four points behind series leader Briant with 11 races to go.
The Championship runs over eight weekends, with a European summer round at Zandvoort in Holland, finishing at Silverstone in October.
