The Schofield racing pairing of Allan “Scud” Schofield and Steve “Tarmac” Thomas   had a successful first outing in the new Eastern Airways backed National F1 Championship. The series started at the Pembrey circuit in Wales. Entries where in demand as 30 outfits fought for 28 grid slots. Qualifying was hectic, with the biggest grid seen in the UK for over 20 years, finding space for a clear lap was hard. The 20 minute session which was interrupted with a red flag after an outfit barrel rolled into the first corner.  Scud and Steve set a scorching pace straight from the off. Getting in a safe “banker” lap before the red flag halted proceedings. When the course opened again they flew round the circuit to set a fastest lap of 59.822 seconds, placing them in 3^rd place only 0.009 seconds behind the current world champions Ben and Tom Birchall. With only 1.3 seconds covering the top 10 runners and only 2 world champions ahead of them the scene was set for a dramatic weekend.