WINTER WONDERLAND FOR DAVID McARTHUR

As the North Western Centre brought the BRSCC’s 2013 racing season to a close with their Anglesey Winter Meeting on 1^st December, David McArthur was in Wonderland when he won both the Moose and Bernard Baxter Trophies – a feat he also accomplished 12 months previously.

This time around the MedinaSport Van Diemen LA10 driver had to contend with Ian Gough in the Oldfield Motorsport Van Diemen RF92 plus his younger brother and team mate, Tom McArthur, in an identical car to his.

Tom, who has significantly improved as a driver during the course of this year, set a fastest time during qualifying that was less than 5 hundredths of a second away from preventing his sibling taking pole for the Moose Trophy. He then led the opening lap before being demoted by his brother and Gough as the 20 minute event unfolded. Gough briefly challenged for the win but decided to settle for second when the bolts securing his rear anti-rollbar fell off and left him with chronic understeer.

In the Bernard Baxter Trophy race, a start to forget saw D. McArthur down to third on the opening lap before he took second place from T. McArthur. Up front, leader Gough had no rear brakes after the failure of a seal in his rear master cylinder meaning he lost out to both McArthur boys when he ran wide at Rocket. He would later retire in the pits while T. McArthur relieved the pressure on his brother with a spin exiting the final corner. This was akin to a piece of stunt driving as he gyrated through a full 360 degrees and continued while losing little more than a second.

To cap a perfect day of competition for MedinaSport, the McArthur brothers in addition to Martin Short recorded a 1-2-3 finish – the second time the team had recorded a clean sweep of the podium this season. Furthermore, by earlier the setting fastest lap in the Moose Trophy, David McArthur had beaten the record for Anglesey’s Coastal Circuit previously held by Scott Malvern.

In the Winter Enduro, the Caterham Superlight R300 of Carl Woodwiss and Martin Webb came home a lap to the good ahead of a couple of MX5’s driven by Mark Litherland/Ben Short and the lone driver, Ben Hancy. The former pairing contrived to collide at the end of the first lap of the second Winter Sports, Saloons & Caterhams encounter… although they weren’t sharing the same car on this occasion! Short lost it exiting the final corner and was T-boned by his erstwhile co-driver. This restarted contest, just like the one which opened proceedings, was won by the Radical of Doug Carter.