BRSCC ENJOYS A RED HOT DAY’S RACING AT OULTON
On a blazing hot day in Cheshire, the BRSCC produced another superb day of club racing at Oulton Park on the full International circuit as championship battles crossed over the halfway stage of their campaigns. With a mix of single seaters, spec series and multi-class racing – from Formula Fords to Mazda MX-5s, Fiestas and the Production Cup – the on-track action matched the scorching weather!
The Kent Models Mazda MX-5 Championship headed to Oulton Park to find out if there was anyone that could knock points leader Ali Bray off the top step of the podium, having taken all twelve wins in 2025 so far.
This trend looked set to continue after Bray took pole in qualifying, and from the front row, he led the pack from the start of race one with initial pressure from both Steve Foden and Adam Sparrow in the opening minutes. However, despite initial attempts to pass, the second and third placed men settled into a battle of their own, allowing Bray to edge clear by a few car lengths..
By the time their scrap had settled down, Bray was already a couple of seconds up the road, and was able to take the chequered flag and his 13th win of the season as a result. For second place, Sparrow made a late challenge at Lodge corner on the final lap, but Foden held his line and the position to take runner up spot with Sparrow completing the podium. Thomas Walker was best of the rookie drivers with fourth place ahead of Adam Craig in fifth.
Bray then resisted another Turn 1 challenge from Foden in race two, again holding him off and bunching up the lead group and allowing Sparrow to squeeze past Foden briefly. Steve managed to quickly repass, but again this battling allowed Bray to get away up the road. Despite Foden trying to break away and chase after him, Ali had the race under control again and made it 14 wins from 14 at the flag. Foden took another P2 while Sparrow retired on the final lap, losing him critical points. Therefore, Thomas Walker beat Adam Craig to the final podium spot with Neil Chisnall completing the top five.
The Clapham North Mazda MX-5 Clubman Championship has a title battle that’s heating up at the top and Oulton Park continued to add to that with a pair of races full of action. Jordan Pimley ended up best of the title contenders in qualifying with pole position, while Jack Warry couldn’t better seventh fastest and Jonny Greensmith was down in 11th.
Pimley got away cleanly to lead race one from the outset, chased by Paul Simard and Jake Paice in the opening couple of laps. Then the race was neutralised behind the safety car after Lyr Jacobs and Joshua Peyro tangled at Shell Oils Hairpin. The clear up took the remaining duration of the race and thus finished under yellows, with Pimley claiming the win from Simard in second place ahead of Paice, Harry Deane and Martin Tolley in the top five.
Race two began in near identical fashion as Pimley again got a great launch and quickly gapped the rest of the pack. Simard made a pass for second on Jake Paice for second early on with James Seale following him past shortly after, all three part of a large group chasing Pimley that included Greensmith and Warry in the fight too. Greensmith managed to get to third briefly before a tangle with Seale at Old Hall pushed him down the order, and amongst it all Warry was caught up and forced to retire, the championship leader recording a DNF. Simard took second ahead with Paice also retaining third, followed by guest Seale, and Deane in fifth.
In incredibly warm temperatures, the Clapham North Mazda MX-5 SuperCup managed to beat the heat in an exciting pair of races that saw twists in both the Pro and Club class title fights, as the second half of the season began on a hot Summer’s day in July.
Both making more cameo appearances this season, Jack Harding and defending champion Aidan Hills locked out the front row for race one, leaving the likes of Ollie Hall and Will Blackwell-Chambers to line up behind them. Immediately, the front row pair, Blackwell-Chambers and Thomas Langford created a breakaway leading quartet and ended up dicing with each other, Hills and Harding trading the lead at the front. At one stage, Harding was shuffled back to third when both Hills and then Blackwell-Chambers squeezed past, but a mistake at Knickerbrook moments later put Harding back in the lead. The safety car was then called shortly after, when Am points leader Sam Middleton ended up in the barriers, marking his first major mistake this season.
The race order remained as it was to the flag, and while Hills was initially promoted to the win due to a track limits penalty for Harding, the penalty was rescinded post race and Harding was reinstated as victor. Blackwell-Chambers took third ahead of Langford and young guest driver Cian Geraghty, while Middleton’s retirement gave Max Brown a Club class win ahead of Jim Barratt and Charlie Todd.
Harding got the jump again for race two, but a stack up at Knickerbrook following a side by side with Hills changed the complexion of the lead group slightly. Blackwell-Chambers ended up fading back a little, leaving Pro points leader Ollie Hall to tussle with Langford for third. Ahead of them, Hills took the lead just past half distance and continued in front to the flag to win, with Harding just holding off Langford for second and Hall picking up fourth ahead of a distant Blackwell-Chambers. Max Brown took another Club class win, followed by Charlie Todd and guest driver Eric Boulton.
Basking in the summer sunshine at Oulton Park – a historic home for this championship – the Geoff Page Engineering Super Classic Pre ‘99 Formula Ford Championship enjoyed another pair of excellent races, with drama hitting in the closing stages of race one.
Front row men Tom Hawkins and Oliver Roberts drag raced to the first corner, with Hawkins getting himself in front. For the majority of the race, it was these two that set the pace with Andrew Schofield running a distant third behind them. Schofield had a spin at Druids with just over five minutes to go, and then Stones also spun at Island Bend, giving Nigel Dolan third in their place.
Then Hawkins’ car ground to a halt at Brittens Chicane from the lead before moments later it was Roberts that was out at Cascades, all in a matter of moments. Dolan went on to take a surprise win ahead of Schofield and Stones on the podium, followed by an excellent fourth overall for Grace Parkington, and Neil Hunt in fifth. Dolan (SCA), Schofield (SCB) and Parkington (SCC) were all class winners respectively too.
While Roberts’ car was done for the day, thankfully Hawkins was able to get back out for race two and wasted no time in carving his way through the field in the opening laps. Dolan lost the lead to Schofield at the front of the field on the opening lap while Hawkins moved up to seventh by the end of lap one. Quickly picking off the cars in front of him one by one, the lead was his with less than six minutes to go with a move on Schofield.
Running away with it to the flag, Hawkins completed an excellent “back to front” performanceto win overall and take SCA class honours, with SCB winner Schofield holding second, followed by Matthew Chisholm in third, Nigel Dolan in fourth and Colin Williams in third. Along with Hawkins and Schofield, Williams also won his class in SCC.
The latest rounds of the Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge at Oulton Park saw some of the championship’s young guns shine throughout the day, starting in qualifying with returning guest Ethan Rogers picking up pole position ahead of George Foxlow, Dillon Davis and Robbie Harrison. One notable absence was championship leader Max Buxton who was not present at Oulton Park, with SBR team boss Sam Beckett taking over the car in another guest entry.
Rogers held on to the lead ahead of Foxlow from the start, while defending champion Michael Blackburn got a fast getaway to climb to third in the opening corners. This trio plus Dillon Davis would pull away in the leading group, leaving Sam Watkins and Beckett to scrap over the final top five spot a few seconds back. The quartet would remain as they were for the remainder of the race with Rogers taking the win on his Fiesta return ahead of Foxlow, who claimed maximum championship points in second due to Rogers’ guest status. Blackburn claimed a valuable third ahead of Davis, while a scuffle between Watkins, Beckett and Sophie Kinghorn on the penultimate lap ended up with Watkins in fifth, while Kinghorn was pitched into the gravel at Lodge.
Rogers got the jump on the field again as race two started with with Foxlow and Davis close behind. Davis picked up a track limits penalty halfway through, while an issue for Blackburn saw him drop out in the closing stages too. All the way through this, Rogers soaked up pressure from the chasing pair, completing his cameo appearance in the championship with another victory. Foxlow and Davis made up the podium spots, followed by Watkins and Beckett in the top five.
Another colourful, variety-packed field took to the track in the latest Fix A Wheel Production Cup rounds at Oulton Park, which again included entries from the new Silverlake DS3 Cup and also the first official appearance for the Mazda MX-5 Mk4 Trophy.
Race one required two starts, after the first saw pole sitter Johnathan Mee’s Lotus fail to get away from the line when the lights went out, before Jas Sapra’s BMW skated off the road at Shell Oils Hairpin forcing the red flag. In a stroke of luck for Mee, he was able to start from pole again on take two, and this time launched cleanly to slot in behind early leader Tim Evans in his Audi TT. Before long, the Lotus caught and passed Evans’ Audi as its pace began to fade, driving on to claim victory at the flag. Evans still took second ahead of fellow TT driver Paul Hoggins, followed by the Renault Clios of Colin Dunn and David Mycock.
Theo Longman took the DS3 Cup win after Aaron Chalk was demoted thanks to a penalty, with Jared Coulson picking up third place. Ben Taylor was a dominant MX-5 Mk4 Trophy winner, clear ahead of Alex Wilkinson-Hughes and Bruce Robinson.
Race two initially played out much like race one had – Evans leading the way from the front row, Mee giving chase and the Lotus eventually finding a way past to hit the front. However, this time it was mechanical issues for Evans that forced him out late in the race, allowing Mee’s Lotus to drive on to another comfortable win. The Honda Civic of Lewis Barker held off Robert Buckland’s Clio to take second overall, with Dunn and Hoggins rounding out the top five.
Aaron Chalk was delighted to take (and this time keep) his first Silverlake DS3 Cup win ahead of Longman and Coulson, while Taylor again claimed MX-5 Mk4 honours from Wilkinson-Hughes and Robinson.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
