BRSCC RACERS DICE AMONG THE DUNES AT ZANDVOORT FOR EUROFEST
A sweltering sojourn in the Netherlands was what awaited all those making the pilgrimage to Circuit Park Zandvoort for another annual BRSCC Eurofest Weekend, with a fantastic mixture of sprint and endurance racing in store for all those competing. The weather just about stayed perfect from start to finish with nothing but warm sunshine and blue skies bathing the circuit across both days.
Taking part in something of an endurance double-header, the fantastic Fun Cup Championship took to the track for the first of two 3 hour races on Saturday. Even though the MAK Racing team, race winners from Oulton Park, picked out pole position from the random draw for Race 1, they couldn’t hold on to their advantage. Instead, it was Marcus Clutton and Peter Belshaw in the #251 Sheradize UK car that would climb from 18th on the grid to take the win, ahead of Henry Dawes & Chris Hart for Track Torque 2 Rent Domino’s in 2nd place and Ellis Hadley and Andre Gies completed the podium in 3rd in the JPR GT Radial car. In Sunday’s race, Sheradize UK had to start at the back of the grid thanks to their win on Saturday, but that didn’t stop them charging through to the lead and eventually taking the double with consummate ease. Belshaw and Clutton ended up almost 45 seconds ahead of Team Racelogic piloted by Julian Thomas, David Denyer and Jon Tomlinson. Taking third would be the Team Viking car co-driven by Mark Holme and Nick Nunn.
Alongside Fun Cup came the ever competitive and entertaining paddock from Caterham Motorsport, with four of their five championship from their roster making the trip out to the Dutch coast. The Draper Tools Caterham Roadsport Championship gave all of the graduates from last year’s Caterham Academy their first taste of European competition in their relatively fledgling racing careers. Daniel French lived up to his status as last year’s Academy Green Group champion by breaking the deadlock of wins between himself and points leader James Murphy. French managed to beat Murphy to the flag in Race 1 by 0.8 seconds with Tom Allen clinching a hard earned 3rd place after fending off both Neil Fraser and Matt Sheppard. Murphy and French would again take to the podium in the second race, but neither of them would stand on the top step. Instead it was Dan Halstead who would go on to steal victory in something of a photo finish. Murphy and French took 2nd and 3rd, but the margin between all three was just 0.101 seconds at the flag. Tom Allen just missed out on a podium in 4th, just over a tenth back.
Jamie Falvey was nothing short of dominant in qualifying for the ALACO Motorsport Logistics Caterham Seven 270R Championship, as he took pole by a staggering 1.6 seconds. He would then have to fend off a racy James Wingfield to take the victory, and he did so by over 4 tenths of a second at the line with Jay McCormack fighting his way through the field to collect the final podium place in 3rd. Not content with settling for 2nd place, Wingfield struck back in the second race and in another photo finish he beat Falvey to the line by another narrow margin – just 0.045 seconds! Pete Walters, the Roadsport champion from last season, took the final podium spot in 3rd ahead of McCormack and Gary Smith.
There was only one man that owned the top step in the Santander Caterham Seven 310R Championship, and that was Chris Hutchinson. Having streaked to pole position by almost a quarter of a second, Hutchinson then had to endure the attentions of both Lee Bristow and Christian Szaruta and despite heavy pressure all the way throughout Race 1, he was able to come out on top of yet another nail-biting final sprint to the flag. Hutchinson somehow held on to pick up the win from Bristow by just 0.014 seconds, with Szaruta ensuring the winning margin between all three cars on the podium was no more than 0.064 seconds – unfathomably close! Not content with just the one victory, Hutchinson attempted to escape the pack in the second race but couldn’t do it without Szaruta for company. In another unbelieveably finite margin at the end of the race, Hutchinson held on to do the double and deny Szaruta by 0.054 seconds on this occasion. It’s safe to say the man they affectionately dub “Cheesy” will have had the biggest smile on his face all weekend!
Despite leading the standings in the Avon Tyres Caterham Seven 420R Championship and taking pole position, defending champion Danny Winstanley wasn’t able to convert it into a victory in either race. Instead, much like in the 310Rs, it would be one man that would do the double and that was former Supersport champion William Smith. In Race 1, he was able to withstand any and all pressure applied by Winstanley and went on to take the win by just over 0.5 seconds with Sean Byrne completing the podium in 3rd. For Race 2, Smith had more to deal with as both Sean and John Byrne were on his tail along with Winstanley. However, this wouldn’t stop him as Smith did the double and won ahead of Sean Byrne and Winstanley.
For the full breakdown of the results from Zandvoort, you can find them here – ZANDVOORT RESULTS.
Scott Woodwiss
