And so to this meet, a replacement event for that originally scheduled for June at Cadwell Park. And almost to rub it in for our problems, a grid entry of 10 cars - at the Easter race at this same circuit we had the season's best turnout (17). Even the commentator was moved to mention the grid and expressed the hope that our series would not be one of those culled for next season. Qualifying was a tedious affair from a spectator point of view, or maybe my vantage point just before Camp wasn't the best place to watch from. With only 10 cars strung out on this long circuit and dicing for position not being quite the same as in a race, it seemed that the cars were just "going round", more than a few comings and goings in and out of the pits just adding to the perceived lack of cars on track. Unknown to me until later was that Neil Smith had been pulled in for excessive noise which meant a busy time for his team repacking the silencer box before the race.

The on track activity summed up how the race was likely to go - Tim Lewis seemed to have a comfortable measure over Andy Thompson at this circuit, Ted Reddick and Lindsay Ward were having a good tussle in the Ferrari 355C and the Lancia Thema Turbo, and although not in the same class, Westley Evans seemed to be able to stay near Neil Smith in his similar looking (although different class) Alfa Romeo 156.

Race time in the afternoon, almost perfect racing conditions in my book - cloudy, dry, and a temperature around 20 degrees. I had moved my vantage point over to just past Quarry, more to check out the close racing in the earlier races. From the start Neil Smith led from Tim Lewis coming into Quarry, the E class pairing of Emma Karwacki and Charles Cozens had already fallen to the back of the pack and were in close formation with Emma leading by millimetres. Looking across the track it seemed that Neil was caught and passed by Ted and Tim almost side by side and next time round into Quarry ted had the decisive lead in the Ferrari. Lindsay Ward was slowly making his way through the pack and moved up to 4th at one point having got passed Neil Smith before slowly dramatically and cruising round to finish 5th with turbo failure. Andy Thompson was having a lonely race in 3rd, out of touch with the two in front and a long way clear of the battle for 4th place. The only real excitement was at the back of the race with the battle between Emma and Charles. Emma led for the first two laps before Charles found a way past but he wasn't really able to pull away convincingly. A spanner in the works was provided when the lapping happened. Ted and Tim got by easily enough, but when Andy Thompson came through to lap Emma and Charles, Charles was held up sufficiently to allow Emma to repass him exiting Quarry. They continued in close harmony as Graham Scott joined in the battle, surprisingly far down the track due to stop-go penalty presumable applied for cutting the chicane too closely - there had been warnings to the drivers of all races about this.

It looked as though team tactics would have an outcome in the battle between Charles and Emma as Graham came past Charles and the opportunity to do the same to Emma and then slow her looked on. But team tactics can happen in strange ways, at this precise moment Neil Smith arrived on the scene to lap the back markers and Emma was able to get away from Graham and Charles, although Graham made a valiant effort on the last corner to get past her, but to no avail.

Two races left to go and its all over. Both Emma and Lindsay Ward played their jokers here, consolidating Lindsay's 2nd in class position (and bringing him into contention only 16 points behind Ted Reddick) and launching Emma up to 3rd in Class E. At the sharp end of the points table, things are really hotting up. Roger Donnan seems to have a comfortable lead over Tim Lewis, but Tim has yet to play his joker (double points) and one score will have to be dropped at the end of the season. Tim has a 2 point score to drop, Roger's lowest haul is 22. If both drivers take maximum points from the last 2 races, the overall championship position will be a tie! Westley Evans would be in the mix if someone else in Class D had bothered to turn up at Mallory Park last time out.

The Y10 will not be out at Snetterton, there just isn't time to get everything ready. Its possible that she might make Oulton Park for our last race, it would be nice to be there, but I've missed so many deadlines in the past, who knows? It is possible that we might get another outing at Snetterton though, two other drivers have offered the loan of spare cars - hopefully one of these will pan out, and even more hopefully I will keep away from the tyre walls!

Visit the Le Mans Motorsport site for details of the Le Mans Auto-Italia championship and standings so far.

Check out the current points standing.