Heavy rain was predicted for the Sunday, but in the end it never really happened, although it did rain for most of the day. It just wasn't heavy enough to make a real difference. Of course, when qualifying had occurred over 24 hours previously it had been bone dry, and it was Simon Clarke (replacing Cowling) who took pole for the 2nd race running. Ainslie Bousfield (replacing Panas) joined him on the front row, just 0.2 seconds behind. A further 0.3 seconds back was Phil Myatt (replacing Fritchley), who made his second return following the finger incident. Paton was getting better and better, lining up 4th, ahead of Graham, Robinson, Storey and Rundle. Row 5 was an all Hollis affair, with Matthew one hundredth of a second ahead of Richard.

Having noticed a bit too much camber on one of the rear wheels, Richard Hollis decided to re-bend the axle slightly. It was only upon attempting this several times that he figured out that something wasn’t right. A quick inspection under the car revealed the problem - a rear axle that was in two pieces!

A frantic search around the paddock located a welder, and the axle was duly joined back together. It was lucky that, for once, there was plenty of time before the race!

Whilst you could have been forgiven for describing the first race as reasonably straightforward, the second one was anything but! It all started at the first corner, as having made a good getaway, Clarke lost it on the exit of the first corner and spun across the pack to the inside. Richard Hollis had shot up to 4th from 10th by the same corner, and then carried on through the gravel trap, just managing to control the car as he rejoined. Matthew Hollis did exactly the same thing but also managed to continue. So at the end of the 1st lap, Myatt was leading from Robinson, Paton and R Hollis. Bousfield was down To 5th after a poor start, followed by Graham, Hopkins and M Hollis. Clarke was down to 12th, but on the back of the leading pack, so it was time for a recovery charge!

Into the first corner on lap 2, and Bousfield, R Hollis and Graham were side-by-­side, with Ainslie on the outside. Through the gravel he went - this was clearly not going to plan for the Gadget cars. The leaders were quickly becoming a trio of Myatt, Paton and Robinson, followed by a 6 car train of Graham, Clarke, Bousfield, Hopkins, R Hollis and Rundle. M Hollis was slowly dropping back into the clutches of Storey, who was being chased by Jaques, Martin Fox (replacing Michael Fox) and Davies. Fox was another one who had also been through the gravel at the first corner, which was quickly becoming a magnet for off-track excursions.

Halfway through, and the pairing of Clarke and Bousfield had broken clear of the chasing pack, in a bid to bridge the gap to the leaders. It was only 5 seconds, but they were all going at about same pace. Robinson made their lives a bit easier when he careered info the single stack of tyres at the penultimate corner. He managed to continue, but the front of his car had been seriously squashed, as he dropped behind Clarke and Bousfield. Almost simultaneously Hopkins pulled info the pits to retire, which left Graham on his own, and promoted the battling Rundle and R Hollis to 7th and 8th. Storey and M Hollis were similarly battling for 9th, followed by Jaques, Fox and a closing Davies.

Desperate to recover lost ground, Robinson went past Bousfield on the next lap, and then went past the apex of the first corner. In fact so did Bousfield, but it was Robinson who came off worse when upon rejoining he found himself on the marbles on the outside of turn 2, and skidded off info the barrier, making it a double non­-finish and a bit of a nightmare weekend for him. With all this action going on, it was easy to forget that there was a fight for the lead too! Myatt had led across the line on every lap, but his lead was never more than a second. If they started fighting too hard it would allow Clarke to catch them, who had got the gap down to less than 4 seconds at one stage. Out of the final corner, and it was Myatt in front, but Paton was right behind and as he drew alongside they crossed the line just 0.092 seconds apart. Clarke trailed home in 3rd, rueing his first corner mistake, having lost the championship lead to teammate Cowling (level on points, but by virtue of winning twice, Wayne has the upper hand).

Bousfield came home 4th, and wasn't far from being caught by Graham. R Hollis got the better of Rundle on the last lap, whilst M Hollis was level with Storey out of the final turn, but Mick had the greater acceleration and crossed the line first to take 8th. Jaques had had a pretty lonely race to finish 10th, whilst Davies managed to get past Fox on the last lap, who had never seemed to recover properly after his early off.

So with just the 24hr race remaining, the championship is a 3 horse race - Cowling and Clarke are level on points having shared the same results throughout the season, but Wayne is ahead with a better personal record. Fritchley is only 12 points behind, so every place will be crucial at Snetterton!

Qualifying:

Race: