Fareham-based racing driver James Wren returned to action in the Castle Combe Formula Ford 1600 series on Monday, only his second race back following a string of accidents in 2003.

After a positive return to racing in 2004 at a sodden Silverstone earlier in the year, Wren was looking for the chance to race on a dry track, Castle Combe it later transpired had some surprises in store.

Qualifying threatened to continue the disappointing form that had made Wren's first race back a low-key affair. Still somewhat rusty and struggling for confidence under braking after a long winter away, James was only 17 th quickest in practice. The session dogged by fellow competitors leaking oil on almost the whole circuit. James it seemed was resigned to spending the race gaining valuable mileage in the midfield.

"This is not really where we wanted to be. The car setup was good we were trying something new, it was almost too positive. I was having some trouble with traffic, so I held back for a lap then went for it, then held back for a lap. This process would have continued until someone put the oil down. The circuit didn't really improve until the end of the session by then my confidence in the track had been sapped. At one point I even came into the pits to get the team to check all my tyres were properly inflated as the track was so slippery. With that in mind 17 th is really not so bad. "

The Combe series is the most competitive regional Formula Ford championship in the country by a long way, James was going to find it hard to make progress in such a close field. And with darkening skies above and weather reports predicting rain for the afternoon the chances for a dry day did not look good.

"It's looking like rain is likely at some stage this afternoon" James remarked . "Were going for the full dry setup at the moment, it's a bit of risk if it does start to rain, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

Wren's real aim was to finish, as the old adage goes, to finish first, first you have to finish. The recent bad luck of the 2003 season was the focus for the day, that and getting another solid finish to build on. This was clearly still playing on James' mind as he stepped into the British Racing Green Van Diemen for the race. The Formula Ford race was to begin with cold but dry conditions, the new for 2004 starting system at Castle Combe, five red lights as opposed to a single red and green light, caught a few competitors out.

"There were more than a few people jumping the start." James affirmed, "I suppose they are still learning with the new system."

A no nonsense start saw Wren making up places straight away. Lap two shined with potential, with a three abreast move around the outside at the fast bend Hammerdown.

"It was pretty tight, but we made up two places in one move. On the exit of Tower however I saw one of the cars we'd just passed making a dive for the inside into Bobbies chicane. I thought I felt a tap from behind as though our wheels had touched. It was then I decided to take to the escape road just in case."

This was an understandable reaction as this was the same spot and similar situation that had led to Wren's aerial roll at the last Castle Combe race. Still somewhat reluctant at this stage in his comeback to get involved in desperate manoeuvres, Wren quickly took to the escape road. The resulting time lost whilst on the escape road cost nearly ten places. Now there was some catching up to do, and Wren duly set about it.

"Catching the main group that had got past was not so hard, we even managed to dispatch one or two quite quickly. Then however the weather added an extra dimension! Drizzle always looks bad on a visor, but the track was still giving plenty of grip. Drivers were starting to react to what they 'thought' the conditions should be like and began to slow down slightly."

With the position Wren had recently lost now in sight, fate intervened.

"We were piling down to Tower, following a group of five cars. The two at the front of the group were getting into each other, they even managed to block the middle of the track. The three cars following all dived to the left and slowed each other down. We took a risk and went right, by the time we had arrived at the accident it had moved further left. In one fell swoop we had picked up five places." James Enthused.

"I could now see Wayne Poole again and catching the place we had just lost was on the cards."

It was at this point that the race had to be red flagged due to the incident now blocking the track at Tower. Unfortunately there was to be no restart and the race was declared as over by the officials. Wren was surprised however to be classified as 21st.

"We were surprised to be given 21 st , it seemed the red flag caused a count back of two laps, and the results had been declared on the lap we took to the escape road."

After a disappointing end to the day, the Dalmeny team were upbeat and talking of taking positives away from the race. Wren has again shown his ability to put in the fast laps and pass cars when the opportunity arises. More importantly, James had finished another race without any problems.