The conditions for the second round of the Pace Ward MLR Sprint series could not have been more different to that of the first in terms of the weather, with bright sunshine greeting the competitors when they arrived for a day of competition at Snetterton on Sunday (1st May). But in terms of the Class D winner and the fastest time of the day, the outcome remained the same, with Anthony Lidster and his familiar red Evo VI showing that his pace in the season-opener at Pembrey and his 2015 title were no flash in the pan.

Whilst Alan Rochell convincingly won Class C in his Evo VI, Stephen Moore was another driver who endorsed his round-one performance with a hard-fought win in Class B - again, in an Evo VI. Whereas in Class A an impressive showing by the ‘on form’ Alex Bones in his Evo V, enabled him to keep the competition at bay all day.

Utilising the Norfolk circuit’s 100 configuration track layout, it was apparent during the morning’s three practice runs that the dry conditions were going to invoke some fiercely fought competition and the first of the eight competitive runs underlined that expectation, particularly in Classes D and B. Lidster was fastest out of the blocks, with Phil Reed in his Time Attack winning Evo VI just fractions of a second behind. Unfortunately, the much-anticipated three-way Class D battle didn’t materialise, when Gary Hayward withdrew his Evo VII following mechanical issues during practice.

Whilst Lidster maintained the top spot following run number two, Reed edged ahead by a miniscule 0.02secs in run three. However, his advantage was short lived, when a technical problem forced him to retire before run four. Now with the upper hand, Lidster went onto set a stunning 40.23 on his seventh run that, in the end, was enough to claim victory by 0.82secs.

With Rochell experiencing an unusually unchallenged run throughout the day to claim the Class C spoils, it was a very different story in Class B. For the first three runs it was Moore that held the advantage, but then on run four Nick Greenwood and his Evo VI managed to shave 0.23-seconds off the leading time. Not content with second spot, Moore struck back on run five, with the two drivers posting times that were just 0.01-seconds apart!

But it was run six that eventually sealed the deal for Moore, by going a further 0.11-seconds quicker. Although this still made it an extremely close battle, at this stage of the proceedings 11-hundreths felt like a significant margin. All the while, shadowing the two Class B drivers ahead of him was Rob Jane in his Evo X and, with only two-tenths separating him from Greenwood, he was always in the background and ready to pounce if the pair in front faltered.

At the start of the day, to all intents and purposes it looked as though Class A would develop into a similar scenario to that of Class B, but the ever-improving Bones had different ideas and set the bar high early on by posting a time that was more comparable to the Class B leaders. A consistent performance throughout his eight runs allowed Bones to claim the category for fast road cars by an eventual margin of nearly 2.5-seconds, ahead of his closest rival Ross Walker in an Evo IX.

Following the event, MLRSS organisers went on record to thank the Snetterton staff, marshals, recovery crews and medical teams, for their valuable support and for helping ensure the event ran so smoothly.

There’s now a six-week gap before the third round of this year’s Pace Ward MLR Sprint Series, which takes place at Castle Combe on 11th June.

Increasing the series’ profile this year is the addition of live commentary and video filming at every round that will be broadcast throughout the season on social media.

The six-round 2016 Pace Ward MLR Sprint Series is sponsored by: Pace Ward performance insurance, SuperPro suspension parts, AP Tuning, Ross Sport, Turbosmart and HKS Europe.

Round 2 Class WinnersClass Class sponsor Driver Car TimeA SuperPro Alex Bones Evo V 44.51B AP Tuning Stephen Moore Evo VI 44.06C Ross Sport Alan Rochell Evo VI 44.66D Turbosmart Anthony Lidster Evo VI 40.23