BRSCC SOAKS UP THE SUN AT ANGLESEY
It’s safe to say that Anglesey Circuit in Wales provided the BRSCC with a real treat this past weekend, both in glorious sunshine that truly made it feel like summer was upon us, and on track with plenty of exciting racing both in the sprint action and the pair of Fun Cup Endurance races. Many of this weekend’s championships saw one driver or team dominate from start to finish, most of them beginning to reach the half-way stage of their campaigns.
Both of the three-hour Fun Cup Endurance Championship races produced plenty of fantastic entertainment regardless of each ending up with the same team on the top step of the podium. PLR Racing drew pole position for race one alongside championship leaders MJ Tech, with PLR initially getting the hole shot into the first corner as the lights went out before slipping to second at the Banking. An early safety car helped MJ Tech to pull away on restart, with UVio only needing 25 minutes to move up and relinquish JPR Team ACR of second place and set off after the lead. The top four all stopped right at the end of the first pit window, UVio closing the gap to MJ Tech on rejoin.
UVio took the lead as the top two diced for position in the second stint, both making their second stops early due to the race’s second safety car. After plenty of mid-pack jostling in stint three, an incident at Rocket produced another safety car period during a pit window in which UVio were shuffled back to fifth and then passed a charging Team Olympian/ GRD, while MJ Tech led from Signature RV and Axiametrics. It didn’t take long for Olympian to catch and pass MJ Tec for P1 shortly before the two hour mark.
Into the closing stages, Olympian/GRD had the race under control and the trio of Riley Philips, Simon Rudd and Chris Dovell claimed their first Fun Cup Endurance race win of the year, with UVio and MJ Tech enjoying an entertaining battle for second in the final minutes which went the way of UVio’s Farquini and Fabulous Randaccio. Will Abraham and Scott Jeffs had to settle for the final step on the podium in third.
Racing into the evening in race two, Morpheus Motorsport moved to the front after just two and half laps past pole sitters JPR Team ACR, before the #257 JPR Hire car engaged in a three way fight with Morpheus and Greenheath in the opening stint. It wasn’t long before UVio caught the trio and inserted themselves into the fight just before the first pit windows. Morpheus rose to the lead from Greenheath and UVio as a result, the latter moving to second and bringing MJ Tech with them to push Greenheath back to fourth.
Into the second half of the race, Greenheath were back leading from Morpheus before the latter dropped back and then ran wide exiting Church to let UVio back into second. The field bunched together again thanks to a car stopping at the final corner bringing the safety car out just before half distance, with another called mid way through the pit window. The restart kicked off an incredibly frenetic and entertaining sequence of battles and passes including UVio, MJ Tech and Olympian tangling at the Banking, and an outrageous three wide pass from the lead by Riley Philips to give Olympian the lead on the approach to Rocket.
Morpheus dropped out of contention with damage to the left front, and the subsequent pit window shuffled Olympian/GRD up to the lead with Greenheath, UVio, Signature RV and Seed Data in the top five, and the final pit stops ensured the fight for second place stayed closed. Olympian continued to reel off the laps until the flag, emphatically completing the double victor, while UVio drove well to keep second and hold off Greenheath on the podium in third.
The top step of the GAZ Shocks Mazda MX-5 Championship was owned all weekend in Wales by one man – Jack Noller. Despite taking pole in qualifying, Noller couldn’t hold the lead on the opening lap of race one with Adam Sparrow and Thomas Langford finding a way past to create that weekend’s leading group. The top three ran together with Sparrow leading, but he was passed by Noller at Rocket in the second half of the race who then drove on to take the first win of the season. A three wide moment on the final lap ended with Sparrow taking second ahead of Langford and Will Chadwick, with Luke Pullen completing the top five.
Sparrow got the jump beginning race two to lead Noller from the off, but Jack made sure he kept the pressure on Adam throughout the first half of the race to try and force a mistake or passing opportunity. The Go4It Racing driver finally found a way past heading into the final five minutes, but ended up trading the lead back and forth with Sparrow which only brought Langford into the mix too. A last lap attempt into Rocket was the perfect chance for Noller to steal the lead back and pick up his second win of the weekend, relegating Sparrow to hold off second from Langford with Pullen and Thomas completing the top five.
Yet again Sparrow beat Noller to the first corner as the third race got underway, but threw it away on lap two running deep into Rocket. Not only did Noller again take the lead, but he then proceeded to dominate the remainder of the 20 minutes, untouchable out in front and consistently extending the gap. By the flag, he was just shy of 17 seconds as he completed an emphatic hat-trick of wins and left second place downwards to fight it out amongst themselves. After a constant flurry of passes between the group, the rest of the podium ended up with the same two names – Langford second and Sparrow third, with Chadwick and Pullen completing the top five.
For the one and only time in 2024, the Downforce Radio Mazda MX-5 Clubman Championship competed across both days in the sole triple header on the calendar at Anglesey, with points leader Paul Bateman hoping to further extend his lead. As it happened, it was in fact Jonny Greensmith who ended up topping the field in all three races. Bateman did lead the opening moments of race one before capitulating to Greensmith and Jack Warry to end it third, as he joined the top two in driving away out in front. As Greensmith tried to creep away in the lead, Bateman stayed with him and kept pressure on until the end but had to settle for second as Jonny took the win. Warry completed the podium in third from Alex Kattoulas and Martin Tolley in the top five.
Race two on Sunday played out just as race one did – Bateman leading from pole again, before Greensmith swept past at the Rocket complex to take over in front. The lead group now had Martin Tolley along with Warry joining Bateman and Greensmith, but Tolley would drop back and out of the race with a problem midway through. It got interesting for P2 between Bateman and Warry as the pair touched a couple of times in their scraps but carried on without hard to take the podium spots, but post race Warry was promoted to second after Bateman received a time penalty for unfairly gaining an advantage. As for Greensmith, his winning margin was just over four seconds while Beau Parry and Kattoulas complete the top five.
In race three, Warry took his turn to lead from the outside of the front row but yet again Greensmith’s run on the back straight towards Rocket was more than enough to head the pack once more. The same top three retained their grid on the podium spots, but it was Warry that put Greensmith under pressure this time in a bid to take his second win in as many meetings. Jonny’s pace was a little too quick, however, and he calmly drove on to wrap up an excellent clean sweep with Warry second and Bateman a more distant third this time; Kattoulas and Parry again made up the top five.
Tom Griffths set a fine time in qualifying for the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 SuperCup to start race one from the front on Saturday, but he ended up losing out to both Patrick Fletcher and Aidan Hills on the opening lap to slip back to third. Hills ended up pursuing Fletcher throughout the remainder of the race, sticking on his tail all the way to the end. Hills gave Fletcher a tap in the tail at Rocket on the final lap, but hung back to settle for second as “Patch” claimed another victory in Pro class, with Griffiths third ahead of Wiggin and Oliver Allwood. Ollie Hall took the honours in Club class from Wilbur Tiley and Aimee Watts.
Griffiths tried to steal the lead from Fletcher beginning race two, and did so after fending off Hills in third while pressuring P1 for the opening few laps. A move inside at Rocket put Griffiths in front and he held the place heading into the closing stages, but sadly he was forced out with a couple of laps left due to mechanical issues. Thus it was Fletcher and Hills alone again battling for the lead and the latter finally managed to make a move stick at Rocket to take the win. Behind the top two, Wiggin, Nic Grindrod and Jack Sycamore completed the Pro top five, while Wilbur Tiley was Club class victory from Hall and Kalsi.
From the partially reversed top ten grid, Oliver Allwood led a lap of race three before succumbing to the usual suspects as Wiggin led Fletcher and Hills. Fletcher worked his way to the lead as Wiggin defended from Griffiths and Hills, the former having charged through from the back to the grid to an excellent third. From here, the race was somewhat straightforward as Fletcher collected his second win of the event from Hills and Griffiths on the Pro Class podium, with Wiggin and Sycamore in the class top five and Hall victorious in Club ahead of Tiley and Kalsi.
Over the course of the trio of Nankang Tyre BMW Compact Cup races at Anglesey, a different race winner was found in each. Joe Doble and Steven Dailly would go into combat early on in race one with the former managing to find a way past the five time champion and attempt to create a gap. Doble took a few tenths a lap out of P2 over the course of the race, taking his third win of the season just over three seconds clear of Dailly while Connor Grady held back Mike Doible to take third and Adam Wright finished fifth.
Roles were reversed in race two with Dailly leading from lights out and having to keep Doble at arms length behind him for virtually the entire race. Despite sitting on the rear bumper of the car in front, Dailly was able to take his first Compact Cup win since returning to the grid last time out at Croft, with Doble settling for second. As for third, Mike Doble and Grady swapped places this time with Mike making it a family affair on the podium and Gordon Macmillan taking fifth behind them.
An intriguing front row of Richard Sutherland and 2023 champion Gareth Claydon put the former into the lead while Grady first took second place a few corners in before snatching the lead into Turn One as lap two began. Macmillan and Dailly were quick to carve through and challenge Sutherland for position, both picking him off in quick succession and settling into the podium places. Some fast laps in clear air helped Dailly to pull himself into Grady’s bumper by the final lap, but Connor held on to take his first Compact Cup win in only his third weekend. Behind Dailly in second and Macmillan in third, Sutherland and Claydon completed the top five.
Anglesey was also a happy hunting ground for Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge championship leader Mike Blackburn as he continued his dominance of this year’s field. The first race required two starts after the first was red flagged on the opening lap due to an incident at The Hairpin on the International loop. When restarted, Blackburn resisted initial attention from Sam Watkins before extending a lead that he would never lose, taking the victory five seconds clear in the end. Watkins was second, while Liam Browning took third post-race after exclusions for drivers overtaking under a red flag promoted him up a place. Dan Wyke and Mark Blunt rounded off the top five finishers.
More of the same occurred in race two with Blackburn holding position from pole with Watkins doing his utmost to stay on his tail, with an early safety car called for Max Buxton’s car stopped on circuit with suspension damage. Racing resumed with just under five minutes to go, and Blackburn picked up where he left off and was again victorious, leading him Watkins in second and a delighted Dan Wyke taking his first podium finish with third place ahead of Browning and Blunt.
At the end of the weekend’s timetable, a special 40-minute Summer Celebration Race took place featuring Mazda MX-5s, Fiesta ST150s and BMW Compact Cup cars that had across the event with a mandatory pit-stop for added strategy. Bruce Robinson and Ollie Hall shared the race winning Mazda MX-5 Mk3 to win outright and their class, with Liam Browning best of the Fiesta ST150s, Barney Lower the top BMW Compact and Russell Halley taking the Mazda MX-5 Mk1 class.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
