Rodren Vella succeeded to maintain his championship lead at the Pembrey circuit in Wales last weekend (June 30/July 1), when he placed first in class and third overall in the first 12-lap race on Saturday and finished first in class and third overall again in the second 13-lap race on Sunday.

Rodren has accumulated 86 championship points over 6 races, gaining 13 points in each of the two races last weekend, made up of 12 points for the class win and an extra point for the fastest lap!

Racing his Honda Civic in the Royal Purple Hot Hatch Championship promoted by the 750 Motor Club of the United Kingdom, Rodren started the weekend well when he finished first in class and second overall in the qualifying session with a time of 1 minute 11.63 seconds in the 9th lap, just 0.46 seconds slower than Stephen Sawley of Class A, who claimed pole position. Rodren races in Class B for competition cars up to 200bhp per tonne.

Rodren is the joint leader of the championship with Michael Winkworth who races in Class C – up to 145bhp per tonne - with a Citroen Saxo VTR. Class A is for competition cars up to 260bhp per tonne. 

On Saturday, Rodren not only won his class but he also set a new lap record for Class B with a time of 1 minute 12.03 seconds at a speed of 74.47 miles per hour in the second lap of the race. 

As a result, Rodren inscribed his name in the list of lap records kept by the 750 Motor Club for the 1.46 miles long Pembrey circuit in Wales.

On Sunday, Rodren registered the fastest lap again in his class when he stopped the clock at 1 minute 12.07 seconds in the 5th lap of the 13-lap race. But this was 0.04 seconds short of the time he recorded the previous day, so he did not improve his lap record.

Considering the fact that this was the very first time that Rodren was racing at this circuit, his performance was quite astonishing.

Rodren’s performance caught the attention of the British media, and Ian Sowman contributed a feature on Rodren called “From Malta to Pembrey: Racing abroad” published by Club Autosport.

 

The next race is scheduled for 28 July at Cadwell Park.

Rodren wishes to thank all his sponsors - Express Trailers, Source-R Autostyling, AIM Enterprises, Pit Stop Service Complex, MZ Investment, Frankit Ltd, motorsmt, Vanstock, Wheelspin, Charlton Garage, Kuki Garage, TJ Engineering and SJN Photography – without whose assistance it would be difficult for him to compete successfully at this level.