Meeting cancellations heighten anticipation for Cwmdu.

The second round of the Kent Cams/Simpson Race Exhausts British Autograss Series at the Cwmdu Car Club’s Lyonshall venue will be a welcome fixture for many, after a long period of unrest since Scunthorpe.
The cancellation of the MAP Open this year for the second year running, together with a number of club meetings and national qualifiers being called off due to the weather, has meant that there has been significantly less action than usual in this mid-spring period. Of course, Severn Valley’s Summer Showdown became an excellent MAP substitute last season, but with the club having a break this year there was no repeat opportunity, which left a large gap in the calendar.
This has arguably created a greater level of anticipation and excitement ahead of this weekend, and heightened the expectation for a good meeting from the host club. The turnout of 500+ cars at the first round was incredibly encouraging, and there’s the potential for an even higher quality entry this time around with many more names added to the class lists. The venue is familiar to most, having remained unchanged over the years, which means an undulating loose surface – a marked contrast to the hard, polished track at Scunthorpe – which favours the intelligent driver; an organised venue with its familiar layout; a multitude of good opportunities for the photographers to record the action; and also an excellent view for spectators – as we have said before, the view from the top of the hill behind the start line is one of the best of any Autograss club in the country.
One of the lasting memories of the first round was Jonny Milner’s dominance in the class one final, which created lengthy discussion about the potential of the Toyota Yaris in the class. Whether Milner can repeat this performance will be intriguing to follow, not just at Cwmdu but as the year progresses.  Similarly impressive was Dek Traylor, making a rare appearance in class eight, and drove a brilliant race to keep Phil Cooper at bay. Traylor hasn’t registered for this year’s series, and was unsure whether Scunthorpe would be his only appearance due to work commitments. Now his entry has been confirmed for this weekend, it will be interesting to see how close he can get again to the top of one of the most competitive classes.
For comprehensive information on the event, visit http://cwmducarclub.co.uk/bas2014.htm, and don’t forget to tune in to BASfm on race days to hear the commentary: http://basautograss.co.uk/bas-fm. We’ll also be bringing you as much information as we can on our Twitter and Facebook pages to keep you up to date.