Another 5.30am start saw Karen and Richard arriving at Mallory Park around 7.30am with their friend Darren having met them en-route. It can be difficult to find paddock space at Mallory and this was the reason for getting there comparatively early. The car was unloaded and washed as Karen chatted to Sarah Wherry and the other drivers as they began to arrive.

With the scrutineering bay open, it was decided to get the car inspected early on in case of problems. Of course, there were none and the car was given a ticket allowing it to race. With that sorted, it was off to the cafeteria for a well deserved breakfast!


Image copyright Sarah Wherry, reproduced with kind permission
The qualifying session was supposed to begin at 10.40am, but things seemed to be running slightly ahead. Karen was escorted by Richard to the Assembly Area as early as possible to try and ensure she got out toward the front of the field and would enjoy some clear track straight away. As it turned out the officials let the cars onto the track out of their original order, and thus Karen was in the middle of things. Despite being on very worn Falken tyres, Karen managed a personal best time of 1:00.49 which saw her into 22nd position overall and 10th in class for the beginning of the race. However, given the previous incidents involving Arron Pullan #26, she was concerned he would be starting directly behind her…


Image copyright Simon Fidoe, reproduced with kind permission
The race began at about 2.45pm, and Karen was behind Rob Howes #7 and Sam Hare #62 on the grid. As the lights went out, Sam got ahead of Rob and Karen tried to follow. She had to go around Gerrards with Rob on her inside. Karen was now stuck behind the #44 Mk2 of Andy Woodvine and couldn’t quite get in front of Rob at the exit of Gerrards onto Stebbe straight.

Andy was slow through the Lake Esses and Karen was effectively boxed in. This allowed Adam Lockwood #51 and Paul Barker #16 to drive by. A queue of cars formed on the inside of Shaws hairpin and Steve Woolfe #88 drive past Karen on the outside. Roger Pullan #13 also managed to out drag her and pass her on the Devil’s Elbow. So that was easily four places lost within the first lap!

Karen was now chasing Roger but couldn’t seem to get close enough to make a move on him. On lap three, Sam Hare #62 pulled out of the way after Shaws hairpin on his way to retiring from the race. All the time, she was under pressure from Arron Pullan #26. On the fourth lap, Karen decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and when Arron tried an overtake at the Esses she decided not to fight him on the inside at the hairpin. She assumed that once again she’d probably be knocked out of the race and left with a hefty repair bill. As it was the last race of the season and her birthday she decided to let him through. Oddly, he did seem to have an interesting amount of straight line speed…

By lap seven, Karen was catching Roger again, whilst she was being hounded by Nigel Buttfield #34. On the next lap, everyone overtook an ailing Adam Lockwood in car #51 before the Lake Esses. The status-quo remained, with Karen chasing Roger and being chased by Nigel, until the final lap when Roger moved over too far for the lapping Mk2 of Steve Lumley #58 and got himself on the grass on the outside of Stebbe. He rejoined the circuit, and Karen would have overtaken him but for the fact she had seen Patrick Mortell #1 was already overtaking him on the other side. She therefore left Roger room, just in case he decided to go too far her way this time! Karen finished in 22nd overall ahead of Nigel and George Stoddart. She was 10th in class A for production Mk1’s.


Image copyright Simon Fidoe, reproduced with kind permission
All the cars were collected within scrutineering, where they were checked to see that their alloy wheels were of the size as stipulated in the technical regulations. There was also talk of the cars being weighed to ensure they were all over their minimum weights, but after a while it was decided that wasn't going to happen. We'd rather the opportunity had been used...

Mallory Park in-car video here

Karen was a little annoyed with herself for losing ground on the first lap which could have made things so different, but was happy to have completed the season with no further mishaps. She did manage to improve her personal best time during the race by 3/100th of a second to 1:00.46. It wasn’t too long before she was really hungry and looking forward to the end of season buffet provided by the MR2 Challenge organiser Steve Vince in the cafeteria. Some things never change!