Krayem cranks it up for first win in the Stealth at Castle Combe (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Krayem cranks it up for first win in the Stealth at Castle Combe

A TETBURY driver has won his first race in the Stealth B6 car which clinched the Castle Combe GT championship in the 2000 and 20002 seasons.

And, naturally enough, David Krayem, who purchased the Stealth from its previously successful owner Bob Light at the end of the 2003 season, was thoroughly delighted take the victor's spoils in last week's Bank Holiday Monday meeting at the Wiltshire circuit.

For Krayem and his team, it was just reward in a season which has proved something of a learning curve thus far.

"At the beginning of the season," Krayem explains, "we had our fair share of teething problems.

'Nonetheless, in my five outings to date, I've managed to pick up a couple of third places and a second before my first win.

"Although I'm still trying to get to grips with the car, I'm currently in second position in Class A and fourth overall, so that's not too bad. And at 51, I've still got age on my side as Bob Light won his last championship when he was 61!"

"The new tyres we intended using in the last race gave us cause for concern and, in the end, we had to swap back to the old ones.

"But once I had got to the front, I had every intention of staying there, although I personally almost overheated in the car at one stage."

Krayem expects to have that particular problem rectified when he returns to his local racetrack over the weekend of June 19/20 for the John Guest Speedfit Castle Combe Speed Festival.

"It gets exceedingly hot in the cockpit with all the fireproof clobber you have to wear," said Krayem, "so I've bought myself a cool suit."

At the Speed Festival, Krayem, who operates on a shoestring budget, will be up against the big boys of the racing fraternity with seemingly unlimited resources.

Nonetheless, assisted by his capable team of Martin and Ben Scrivens and Dean Longhurst, he will be cranking up the 650bhp 6.6-litre Chevvy engine in the hope of giving the opposition a real run for their money.