BRSCC BRAVES THE ELEMENTS AT SILVERSTONE
Drivers had to brave the elements as Silverstone’s National circuit was drenched with rain showers across both days of competition this past weekend, as the BRSCC descended for its penultimate visit of the season with the Midlands Centre. While the sun did make an appearance briefly on Saturday, umbrellas and windscreen wipers were required for the majority of the on-track action.
Saturday’s main event saw an incredible 4 hour spectacle from the FunCup Championship, which started in the dry, but had to endure multiple rain showers throughout. In the opening stages, the Trumans pair of Jonathan Hoad and Colin Kingsnorth was able to pull out a lead in the first stint, but in the first round of stops they dropped to 5th. Incredibly despite starting at the back of the grid, the Zandvoort double header winning pair of Marcus Clutton and Peter Belshaw brought the Sheradize UK car into the lead from CCS Media and JPR Uvio. An unbelievable piece of good fortune thanks to both a safety car and well timed pit work gave Sheradize UK a lap lead over the entire field for a while, before a right rear axle problem forced them into the pits and tumbling down the order.
By this point, the JPR Uvio car of Farquini Deott and Fabio Randaccio had moved into the lead but had to absorb pressure from both their 2017 title rivals Henry Dawes and Chris Hart in the Track Torque 2 Rent Dominos car and the incredibly quick Team 7 Fun:Bikes 2 car of brothers Chris and Ed Bridle with Chris Dovell. However, a rapid middle stint from former champions Team Racelogic pushed them into the lead with an hour to go. A practically perfect last pitstop helped them maintain their sizeable lead and for the first time since Brands Hatch in 2015, Team Racelogic were FunCup race winners again, thanks to Julian Thomas, David Denyer and Jon Tomlinson. The Bridle brothers and Dovell brought Team 7 Fun:Bikes 2 their best ever result in an emotional 2nd place, while series stalwarts Neil Plimmer and Tim Wheeldon gave Team Honeywell its 56th podium finish since it began in the championship by coming home 3rd.
The Mazda MX-5 Championship had to tackle arguably the worst of the weather conditions all weekend, although Saturday’s running was relatively brighter all round. John Langridge led from pole in the opening Group A race, but would have to settle for 2nd place at the end of a frantic first race that saw the top 5 covered by less than a second at the flag. Samuel Smith took the race win, ahead of Langridge with Brian Trott taking 3rd and the fastest lap, coming home ahead of Mike Comber and defending champion Blackwell-Chambers. The second race swung in the favour of Blackwell-Chambers, as he used the adverse conditions to his advantage and managed to pick up win #5 of the season. Trott was able to close him down in the second half of the race and could have won given one more lap, but had to settle for 2nd place, while Langridge took another podium finish with 3rd.
The final Group A encounter would end up with Smith taking his second win of the weekend, although he had to catch and pass Blackwell-Chambers in order to do so with the pair enjoying their own private battle for victory in the end. Brian Trott became embroiled in a multi-car fight for the final podium place, but was eventually able to pull away and secure an unchallenged 3rd place.
All three Group B races managed to produce a different race winner in each. Jon Pethick was able to drive away from all his and come through from 3rd on the grid to take his first ever MX-5 race win, followed home by Callum Greatrex and a superb 3rd place podium finish for Jake Styles. Despite a practice crash on Friday leaving him with work to do to get his car ready in time to race, Paul Tucker picked up the win in the second Group B race ahead of Adam Craig and former Formula 2 racer Hector Hurst. In the final Group B race, it would be returnee Scott Leach who managed to overcome the damp conditions to take victory from Oliver Graham and Oliver Robinson.
The trio of Mazda MX-5 Super Series races produced three different race winners amongst the biggest entry the series has accommodated to date with 21 cars. Jake Bailey was able to hold off the attentions of Ben Short in the first race, which started in damp conditions but dried up by the chequered flag. Joshua Jackson had to settle for 3rd place after opting for a full wet set up, but with both of Sunday’s races affected by rain, he was back in business. That said, Short made sure he made up for missing out on victory the first time by winning Race 2 from Jackson and Bailey. The result for Race 3 unfortunately had to be settled in the stewards’ room, as despite Bailey picking up his second win of the weekend on the road, he was handed a time penalty for contact Short, demoting him to 4th and leaving Jackson to inherit the win from Sam Bailey and Short.
A number of regular National Championship runners made an appearance in the pair of Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford Championship races, as the series featured in the first of two “away day” meetings this season. National title contender Michael Eastwell turned out to be the class of the field as he braved the wet conditions in a red-flagged Race 1 to take his first ever Formula Ford race win, followed home by Matt Rivett and Jonathan Browne. Eastwell completed the double in the second race with Rivett again taking second, and although Nico Gruber picked up the final podium place in 3rd on the road, after the race he was disqualified for driving standards, leaving teammate Browne to pick up his second podium finish instead. There was no stopping runaway Pre 90 winner Jaap Blijleven as the reigning category champion was dominant in both races to pick up the win both times.
Former Alfa Romeo Championship winner Graham Seager reminded everyone why he was once #1 in both of their races on Sunday as the championship returned to the National circuit. Seager won the first race in his Modified Class Alfa Romeo GTV, followed by Power Trophy leader Scott Austin who survived a wild first lap spin at Brooklands to charge back through to 2nd overall and the class win. Chris McFie’s potent little FIAT Punto Abarth took the final overall podium place, while Tom Hill headed the Twin Spark Cup result from Kristian Leith and Ricardo Losseli. Seager would go on to do it again later that afternoon, with Austin once again in 2nd place followed by Ray Foley. Tom Hill would also head home the same top 3 on the Twin Spark podium too.
A mammoth grid of over 35 cars took to the track for the pair of Track Attack Race Club races encompassing the Nippon Challenge, Tricolore Trophy and Multi Marques. On both occasions, it would be Castle Combe Saloon regular Will Di Claudio who showed his premise in the little Peugeot 106, although he did well to keep Chris Bassett’s Peugeot 205 GTi at back at the end of the first race, with Rich Hockley’s Honda Civic Type R finishing 3rd. Hockley went one better in the second race, as he charged through to finish just 1.5 seconds behind winner Di Claudio, while Russell Thomson took his Renault Clio to 3rd place behind them.
You can find a full breakdown of the results from Silverstone here – SILVERSTONE RESULTS.
Scott Woodwiss
