2004 Stock Hatch Round 8, Pembrey

Qualifying was dry in the first session, and wet after just a couple of laps in the second session. The fastest times had all been set in the first session, so the grid issued for the heat was up by splicing the two sessions together.

It was Ian Laughton that got to the hairpin first aided by his pole position and an empty second grid slot. Paul Sheehan came up from fourth to follow him round, and set about looking to take the lead for himself. 4 laps in, and things begin to change as Laughton starts to get clear, with Sheehan falling back into the clutches of Kirlew and Hemming. Laughton takes the win from Kirlew, Hemming, Sheehan, Foreman & Tibbs.

In the final, Paul Taylor took to the lead straight away, from Craig Shepherd, with Pete Morgan getting swamped. This time Taylor was not able to make one of his infamous breakaways, as he found himself defending hard from Shepherd and it was Shepherd who crossed the line first at the end of the lap as they diced side by side. Taylor took his lead back with a similar move at the end of lap 2, but again could not shake Shepherd loose. Shepherd retook the lead again, and Taylor found himself under pressure from Russell who made his move round the outside of Dibeni, leaving Taylor to now defend from Morgan who also tried the outside line round Dibeni but did not have the speed to make it stick. Shepherd took the win from Russel, Taylor, Morgan, Lewis & Roughton.

Day 2 I was at Pugfest, but I believe heat 1 went to Russell, Kingsnorth, Lewis, Taylor, Blumson. Heat 2 finished Shepherd, Pearson, Roughton, Rodway, Burgess. The final again went to Shepherd from Russell, Lewis, Taylor, Hemming and Hunt.