After five of the 12 rounds in the John Cooper Challenge, Mick Beauchamp heads the novice points from Rachel Owen and Tim Morgan. Run as a category within the championship's Club Class, the novice division rewards those drivers in their first season of motorsport.To be classified as a novice and be eligible for the end of season novice award, drivers must not have previously held a race licence. Although several of them have competed in other branches of the sport, none of them had raced before the start of this season.Having taken two maximum novice scores and two seconds in the five rounds to date, Beauchamp now heads Owen by five points. Although he has never previously held a race licence, the 55-year old company director from Basildon raced karts in the 1980s and has taken part in track days on two and four wheels. He currently lies ninth in the overall Club Class points.Despite an accident in round three at Donington Park in May, Owen is chasing Beauchamp for the novice crown and has created an excellent impression in her first season of motorsport. The 23-year old from North Wales is also being followed by a film crew from the S4C TV channel this year.Tim Morgan, a former off-road specialist and motorsport newcomers Nik Rochez and Sue Cox are all scoring consistently, while Ed Stark presently completes the novice points table. However, Ed has twice taken maximum scores and even won the Club Class outright at Wiscombe Park in April. Unfortunately, two non-finishes have blunted the challenge of the Oxford-based apprentice, but his speed suggests that he will be the big rival to Beauchamp over the second half of the season."Encouraging and supporting newcomers has always been a big part of Cooper's commitment to motorsport," says Mike Cooper. "I'm delighted that the novices of 2004 are going so well and I look forward to a close battle all the way to the final race of the season at Brands Hatch in October!"