High Wycombe race ace AJ Owen has seen two opposite ends of the spectrum in his last couple of races in his Honda Civic in the Pre-2003 Touring Car Championship.

After a hugely successful weekend at the iconic Brands Hatch, Owen came back to down to earth with a bump when he smashed his car into a wall during qualifying at the Castle Combe circuit in Wiltshire.
Recalling his dual victories at Brands Hatch, Owen told the Bucks Free Press it was not without its alarms either.

He said: “We had done some test runs at Silverstone to make the car tail-happy.

“That meant we had less control, but more speed. Around a track like Silverstone that’s fine as it is flat but Brands Hatch is a lot more different and it was certainly a bit hairy a couple of times.

“However, we got the two wins and the car was really fast over the weekend.

“I was a bit surprised considering how the car handled, but it was a gamble worth taking and a gamble which paid off.”

Unfortunately the following race, Owen had a high-speed crash at Castle Combe, which forced him into a different car in the actual event.

He added: “I hit a wall at 100mph which damaged the car due to a slow car in front of us which wouldn’t move out of the way.

“Fortunately, I didn’t hurt myself badly. It was just a slight injury to my shoulder, but we took the Holden Commodore with us and finished seventh despite fuel issues throughout.”

Next up is a trip to Silverstone in July, with a serious amount of work on his beloved Honda to be done.

He said: “It is just a case now of getting the car fixed and ready for Silverstone. 

“We will adopt the same set-up for Brands Hatch as it will suit the track.

“Once fixed, we will do some testing and hopefully be back in contention.”