BRSCC HAS FUN IN THE SUN (AND RAIN) AT ANGLESEY
The BRSCC spent two fantastic days racing on the Welsh coast as the Anglesey Circuit in North Wales played host to a mix of Mazda MX-5s, Formula Fords, CityCars, Modified Fords and not one but two FunCup Endurance races across the weekend, with one even starting in the twilight of Saturday evening and ending in the cover of darkness!
FUN CUP ENDURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP
Heading to the coast of Anglesey, Team Olympian had the early advantage in the Fun Cup Endurance Championship after winning the opening two races of the season at Brands Hatch and Snetterton and landed in Wales with the points lead in a bid to defend it in the proceeding pair of three hour encounters coming up on the Saturday.
After topping night practice on Friday and then going fastest in qualifying (the times in the session not setting the grid and instead drawn by random ballot), Olympian began the first race of the weekend from the back of the grid due to their Snetterton victory last time out. Up front were Signature Motorhomes on pole alongside GT Radial on the front row, while regular front runners up and down the order included Team Greenheath in 3rd, Viking/Ursus Capital in 7th, UVio/ Hofmann’s Motorsport in 10th and PLR Racing in 14th.
GT Radial did a fine job of holding onto the lead for the opening nine laps of the first race on Saturday afternoon, but to little surprise they were quickly caught and passed by a charging UVio/ Hoffman’s who only needed three laps to rise to 2nd and another six to eventually catch and pass GT Radial for the lead. Incredibly, there was little that anyone could seemingly do to stop them from dominating the race, despite the best efforts of Viking/Ursus Capital, Olympian, MJ Tec and co truing to close them down.
At the one hour mark, UVio led by 14 seconds from MJ Tec and Axiametrics/ GRD Racing, while points leaders Olympian were initially struggling back in 14th and making little progress in the early stages. By the time the second hour was complete, Olympian had found a wicked turn of pace and paired with some slick pit work and a couple of safety cars to aid their cause, they were up to 2nd behind UVio with an hour left to run.
It looked as though Olympian could have had a chance to catch and battle UVio for victory, but their hopes were shattered when Riley Phillips tried to leave their last pitstop and subsequently their driveshaft suffered the same fate. Out on the spot, this left UVio’s pairing of “Farquini” and Fabio Randaccio to run home unfazed to take their first win of the season, followed by MJ Tec in 2nd place driven by Scott Jeffs and Greg Evans and the Axiametrics/ GRD trio of Chris Weatherill, Neil Burroughs and Simon Rudd rounding off the podium.
As the sun began to set for Fun Cup’s second race of the day, GT Radial were gain drawn onto the front row but this time on pole, with the easy2reach team alongside them for company and race one winners UVio at the back as per the rules. Again, GT Radial initially had the lead, but only for a lap as they were quickly passed on Lap 2 by PLR Racing who established a small gap. However, as in race one and in their usual fashion, UVio only needed ten laps to rise from the back, up into 2nd and to then pass PLR for the lead.
In what turned out to be a completely safety car-free race, it was down to pure pace and pit stop strategy to try and decide which way this encounter would swing. The first hour passed with no drama and UVio holding a comfortable 20 second lead from Greenheath, Viking/ Ursus Capital, PLR and Olympian, the latter having started a little faster than the earlier race and were now breaching the top five. Intriguingly, both UVio and Olympian elected to double fuel during the second hour in a bid to try and get to the end without having to fuel again.
This meant the drivers had to make the difference and with a switch around in their driver order, Riley Phillips was being strategically placed in order to get the maximum amount of pace from their stints at the end. With Phillips in the car in the final stint, the task was on for Olympian to reduce the lead that UVio had and while Riley did push hard to lap quicker and bring it down, in the end they were only able to reduce it to 14 seconds as “Farquini” and Fabio did the double in Wales. Olympian’s 2nd place helped their points scoring no end courtesy of Riley Phillips, Kristian Rose and Chris Dovell, with Viking/Ursus Capital rounding off the top three thanks to Mark Holme and Colin Kingsnorth.
GAZ SHOCKS MAZDA MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP
As the GAZ Shocks Mazda MX-5 Championship headed to Anglesey to reach the halfway stage in its 2023 season, the man everyone was trying to catch in terms of form was Steve Foden, who had been near unstoppable in the opening three meetings and had won vastly more races than anyone else to this point heading to Wales. A fast lap in qualifying helped him secure pole position by almost half a second from local favourite Jason Greatrex, who was looking in great form at his home circuit with 2nd quickest.
Foden wasted no time in jumping into the lead from pole in Race 1, quickly pulling out a one second lead by the end of the opening lap and continuing to extend that margin by at least four tenths each time past the pits. It was only in the final minutes of the race that Foden eased his pace slightly to maintain the gap to the pack behind, ensuring that he kept them at a safe distance to preserve his lead and the victory. Foden picked up where he’d left off in qualifying with the first win of the weekend, while Greatrex managed a comfortable drive to 2nd place some six seconds behind Foden. As for third place, Ted Bradbury also kept a firm grasp on the final podium spot as he ended up almost ten seconds back from the win but still far enough ahead to also remain unchallenged. Adam Sparrow and former championship leader Thomas Langford completed the top five.
Sparrow appeared to be the most alert of all the drivers on Sunday morning as he lept from 4th on the grid starting race two to the lead, which he held on to for the first seven laps. A poor start from Foden had left him slipping back to 5th and leaving him with work to do to get back to the front of the field, but it didn’t take him long to climb back up to 2nd place. Before long, Foden was past Sparrow and into the lead and quickly lost P2 to Greatrex in the process.
Unlike race one the day before, Greatrex had the pace to keep with him for the remainder of the race. Jason ensured he kept Foden honest all the way to the chequered flag, the race finishing with the same 1-2 as Saturday with Sparrow taking 3rd this time followed by Bradbury in a distant 4th and Langford again wrapping up the top five.
Weather conditions changed for the third race of the weekend as earlier rain had saturated the circuit, meaning setup changes for the teams ahead of the off. As in Race 2, pole man Foden was not the one to lead the opening lap as a fast start from Bradbury helped him push his way to the front with Greatrex and Foden quickly giving chase. Greatrex dropped to 4th by the end of lap two as Sparrow began to make his moves, setting off after the top two as Foden set about finding a way past Bradbury to take the lead.
He did so on Lap 4, but by this time Sparrow had caught the pair and turned the lead battle into a trio up front. What followed for the rest of the race was some superb back and forth battling between the three drivers, all of them vying for position on every lap as Sparrow and Bradbury did their utmost to unseat Foden from the lead. On more than one occasion, they came very close but ultimately Foden did enough to defend and hold on as he completed another hat-trick of victories. In the end, Sparrow picked up 2nd this time with Bradbury settling for 3rd, while Luke Pullen ended the weekend with P4 and Langford once again took another 5th place.
DOWNFORCE RADIO MAZDA MX-5 CLUBMAN CHAMPIONSHIP
Unlike the rest of the 2023 calendar which typically sees all of the session take place across a single day, the Downforce Radio Mazda MX-5 Clubman Championship ran a slightly different format for their trip to the Welsh coast and the magnificent Anglesey Circuit, as they would contest three races instead of the regular two and have track action split across both days. This would help the driver and teams fully enjoy the weekend as well as aid them with better logistics to compete also.
Championship leader Matthew Fletcher ensured he carried on his great momentum straight off the bat with pole position in qualifying, only just beating Jon Pethick to top time by over a tenth of a second, while a rather intriguing second row saw Beau Parry with one of his best qualifying performances put him 3rd fastest ahead of returning guest driver Jonny Greensmith in P4.
It quickly became apparent that Fletcher, Pethick and Parry were going to be the class of the field all weekend as they quickly established a leading trio from the outset of Race 1. Fletcher initially led from pole but briefly lost the lead for a lap when Pethick found a way past on Lap 3, but just a lap later Fletcher was back in front and fending off both challengers for the remainder of the race. Despite constant pressure from the two cars behind him, Fletcher was able to hold them back and take the first victory of the weekend with Pethick in 2nd and Parry in 3rd, while Greensmith and Jordan Pimley completed the top five.
Pethick did his best to usurp Fletcher once again in Sunday’s first race, managing to beat him to the lead beginning race two and even managing to quickly build a gap of almost a second within two laps. Fletcher didn’t take much longer to fully get up to speed and by the end of Lap 5 he was back out in front, with the same trio of Fletcher, Pethick and Parry commanding the top three. There was plenty of pace for Fletcher to hold his lead all the way to the flag and take win number two of the weekend, once again followed by Pethick and Parry in 2nd and 3rd while Jack Warry charged his way to 4th some twelve seconds off the podium and Jordan Pimley completed the top five places.
Once again, Pethick got the better jump away from the lights in Race 3 and this time held his lead for a lap longer than he had earlier in the second race, maintaining it for three laps but with Fletcher much closer than before. Picking up the lead again on Lap 4, Fletcher ended up having a more comfortable race than before and while he was under pressure for a couple of laps after passing Pethick, both Pethick and Parry ended up scrapping with each other which collectively lost them time to a closing Jordan Pimley.
Fletcher completed an excellent hat-trick in fine style, taking race three with his biggest winning margin of the weekend at almost three seconds while Pethick also rounded off a trio of 2nd places behind him. However, on the last lap Parry was denied another 3rd place as Pimley ensured he was on his toes and pounced to snatch the final podium place to take home some silverware from the meeting. Parry duly took P4 as Warry picked up another top five finish with 5th.
CLAPHAM NORTH MOT MAZDA MX-5 SUPERCUP
As the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 SuperCup reached the half way stage of the 2023 season as it headed to Anglesey in Wales, many were wondering if the run of form that Aidan Hills was currently on at the head of the Pro Class could be halted. Heading to the fourth meeting of the season with a lead of just over 100 points (before dropped scores come into play), many of his main rivals had ambitions of denying him more race wins.
Aidan couldn’t claim pole in qualifying as that accolade went to Patrick Fletcher, who seemed in fine form all weekend from the very beginning. Hills was still 2nd quickest to take the front row for race one, with Sam Heading, Leigh Britten and James Blake-Baldwin completing the top five starters.
Race 1 of the weekend ended up becoming something of a formality for Fletcher as despite some early pressure from first Heading and then Hills to steadily edge away out in front as the race progressed. Just after half distance, Fletcher was out in front by more than two seconds and leaving Hills to fend off both James Cossins and Will Blackwell-Chambers to remain in 2nd place. Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t unseat him and Hills picked up runner up spot behind winner Fletcher. Cossins and Blackwell-Chambers picked up 3rd and 4th respectively, with Leigh Britten completing the top five.
In the Club class, Robert Way made a strong start by catching and then passing class pole sitter Kamal Kalsi to lead the class and take the first win of the weekend. Kalsi picked up 2nd place ahead of Bruce Robinson in 3rd.
Sunday’s first race saw a sudden change in the weather conditions prior to the race start, as a rain shower forced most of the teams to scramble in the assembly area to make setup changes to be able to remain competitive. Incredibly, Fletcher’s car proved to be quick no matter the conditions and again maintained P1 from the start. Even though Hills tried to stay with him, a fast starting Ali Bray quickly despatched him and set off after Fletcher, trying to use the wet conditions to his full advantage.
Fletcher’s pace allowed him to hold Bray back anywhere between 1.6 to 2.6 seconds out in front, but late in the race the steady rain that had been falling suddenly intensified which began to turn the tide in Bray’s favour. As hard as he dared push in the adverse conditions, Fletcher had enough in reserve to keep him at bay and take his second victory of the weekend. Bray was still pleased with a strong 2nd place, while Sam Heading picked up his first SuperCup podium with a very impressive drive to 3rd in Pro Class, ahead of James Blake Baldwin and Aidan Hills.
As for Club class, Clive Powles bounced back from disqualification in the first race to charge through and take 13th overall as well as the Club victory, followed by Kamal Kalsi in 2nd place and Bruce Robinson completing the top three in class.
By the time the third race rolled around later that day, the saturated circuit had almost practically dried up completely, and with the top six reversed from race two thanks to the random draw, Leigh Britten was placed on pole alongside Tom Griffiths. Britten made the most of starting in P1 and retained the place for the first two laps, but repeating his fast start from the earlier race Bray was quickly on Leigh’s tail and passed him a lap later. Ali could only hold onto the lead for another four laps before Britten took it back again.
It looked as though Leigh was potentially on his way to a first SuperCup win outright, however his car sadly had other ideas as it cried enough with two laps to go, forcing him to retire to his bitter disappointment. Now unchallenged out in front, Bray reeled off the final couple of laps to claim his first win of the season, doing so with a clear 2.6 second gap back to Sam Heading who again scored another podium with 2nd place. Fletcher rounded off the top three, ahead of James Cossins and Tom Griffiths in the top five.
Over in Club Class, it was another win from class pole for Clive Powles as he finished one place better overall this time in 12th, followed by Robert Way who had much better luck in 2nd this time and Kalsi who completed the podium once more.
NANKANG TYRE CITYCAR CUP & STUDENT MOTORSPORT CHALLENGE
The Nankang Tyre CityCar Cup & Student Motorsport Challenge headed to the Welsh coast and Anglesey Circuit with an incredibly healthy and well-supported grid for their third weekend of racing this season. No less than 31 cars made the trip to the north of Wales, including a record number of teams in the Student Motorsport Challenge with ten taking part, the first time the Challenge had seen their entries break into double figures.
Having won all but one of the races run prior to Anglesey, it seemed as though there was no let up in the incredible form of Elliot Lettis, and this was further confirmed with pole position in qualifying. This was only by the smallest of margins from Stuart Bliss, with runaway SMC driver Richard Jepp third fastest from Christopher Mackenzie and the returning Richard Bliss, the 2022 championship back as a guest and lining up 5th for the first race.
Lettis did what he does best from the beginning of Race, managing to extend a lead of 1.7 seconds by the end of the first lap while a fast starting Richard Bliss saw him leap up to 2nd ahead of brother Stuart and Jepp. Even though Stuart was quick to repass Richard before the end of lap 2, by this point Lettis had tacked another second onto his lead and was essentially out of reach to the rest. From here, the race out in front was fairly straightforward, with Lettis reeling off the laps to pick up another victory with Stuart Bliss in 2nd and Richard Jepp 3rd overall.
Jepp, of course, was also top once again of the Student Motorsport Challenge ranks as he kept up his 100% win record for the season to date for Team Northbrook Racing, while Jack Wheeler took 2nd for East Surrey College behind him. Celebrations were also reserved for 3rd place where Liam Browning helped Boston College take an exceptional first podium in their debut race.
Race 2 saw two attempts to get racing underway after the first was red flagged due to an incident exiting the first corner. Once both cars involved were recovered and the track cleaned up, Lettis once again got the jump from pole, took the lead and would never lose it from lights to flag. Stuart Bliss again did his best to keep the #3 ahead of him in his sights and in range, but Elliot’s pace just seemed too good and again he eeked away by a few tenths per lap to eventually win again, even surviving what had become damp and increasingly slippery. Bliss was 4.1 seconds back this time in 2nd, while a great scrap for 3rd between Jepp and Richard Snuggs saw Richard come out on top, to take a very popular and long awaited first podium.
Once again, Jepp gave Team Northbrook Racing yet another win in the Student Motorsport Challege on this occasion, with Wheeler again taking 2nd for East Surrey College and a superb 3rd for Matthew Prance delivered a podium finish for Barracksport.
Now fully dry once again after rain showers had come and gone, the random top ten draw for Race 3 placed Adam Reynolds on pole alongside Christopher Mackenzie, with Lettis shuffled back to 6th and a new task of getting to the front from the third row. Incredibly his first lap charge only got him as far as 2nd, as Reynolds did a superb job of keeping Elliot at bay for three laps before he squeezed past. Once in front, there was no stopping or catching Lettis, as he once again proved to be the class of the field and completed the triple with relative ease from that point onwards.
As for 2nd and 3rd, Reynolds did an incredible job keeping Stuart Bliss back for as long as possible before he made the move with two laps to go. Now back to 3rd with Bliss driving on to P2, Reynolds had to drive his heart out to stay in position, and that he did – Adam took the flag to score his first CityCar Cup podium, an achievement that left him overcome with emotion in the car in parc ferme post race!
However, there was also another significant event that occurred behind the top three – in the Student Motorsport Challenge, the Team Northbrook Racing win streak had been broken! After being tagged into a spin on the second lap and then spending the rest of the race recovering with slightly damaged rear suspension, Richard Jepp had to settle for 20th overall and 7th in the Challenge. This left Jack Wheeler to take East Surrey College’s first win of the year, followed by Arthur Simondet for Queen Ethelburga’s in 2nd place and another 3rd for Barracksport’s Matthew Prance.
SUPER CLASSIC PRE ‘99 FORMULA FORD CHAMPIONSHIP
Just over 20 cars made the trip to the north of Wales for the next rounds in the Super Classic Pre ‘99 Formula Ford Championship at Anglesey, one of the more regular venues for the series formerly known as Northern Formula Ford and one that was typically expected to produce an excellent entry and equally exciting racing.
Race 1 began on a soaking wet circuit after mid afternoon rain showers had changed the weather conditions from practice and qualifying significantly. James Tucker had put his Swift on pole ahead of the Van Diemens of John Murphy and Richard Higgins, with Paul Mason’s Swift making up the second row from Garath Buckingham in 5th, also in a Van Diemen. Straight away, it looked as though Tucker had thrown away his chances of the win as he skated off onto the wet grass at The Banking, dropping to 5th place at the end of Lap 1.
Amazingly by the time Lap 2 was concluded, Tucker had quickly despatched Buckingham, Mason, Higgins and Murphy to leapfrog his way into the lead – a position that he wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the race. In fact, his pace in the wet was so superior that by the time he took the chequered flag, Tucker had pulled out a gap of 19 seconds in a truly dominant drive. Garath Buckingham took 2nd overall ahead of Higgins in 3rd, followed by Mason and Andrew Schofield completing the top five.
Tucker and Buckingham were both winners in Super Classic A and Super Classic B respectively in that first race, with Scott Guthrie picked up the honours in Super Classic C and John Roberts was top of Super Classic D on this occasion.
Thankfully for many drivers, the weather and track conditions had both improved substantially by the time the second race was ready to roll. A great start from Richard Higgins helped him into the lead for the opening four laps, but with Tucker on his tail throughout it seemed as though it was only a matter of time before he made it past. Higgins also dropped back to 6th after a mishap, leaving Murphy to move up to 2nd and Mason into 3rd overall.
Tucker once again had enough to pull away and comfortably complete the double, securing his second win of the day from Mason in 2nd, Higgins in 3rd, Murphy in 4th who was given a time penalty after deemed responsible for a collision earlier in the race, and Buckingham completing the top five. Super Classic A cars filled out the top four places with Tucker of course taking class victory, while Buckingham was Super Classic B winner, Scott Guthrie again took Super Classic C and John Roberts was again Super Classic D victor.
MODIFIED FORD SERIES
Hot off the back of their European adventure to Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium, the Modified Ford Series took themselves on another trip as they headed to Anglesey in Wales once again with an attractive looking entry of over 20 cars, including many regulars who enjoy competing in the series and even a couple of cars present from the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship too. This weekend of Modified Ford Series was also sponsored by MTS Motorsport.
Piers Grange put his Ford Escort Mk2 on pole alongside the Sierra Sapphire Cosworth of David Matthias, while Ashley Shelswell lined up in 3rd in his Sierra XR4i on the second row with David Guthrie’s Fiesta and then Paul Nevill’s Escort Mk2 RS2000. Grange’s confidence behind the wheel of his Escort was clear as he instantly took the lead and didn’t look back from there. A straightforward lights to flag victory for Grange saw him win by 3.5 seconds, followed by Shelswell in 2nd, Matthias in 3rd, Guthrie in 4th and Kester Cook finishing up the top five.
The second race played out very much like the first – Grange started from pole, led every single lap unchallenged and got the job done completing his second race in as many races on this weekend. Shelswell was also in fine form again picking up 2nd place, while for 3rd place it had initially looked as though Matthias would be in line to finishing there once again. Unfortunately, his car expired after three laps promoting Paul Nevill up to 3rd, which he would hold until the end for a well deserved podium.
A drying track after earlier rain greeted the drivers for Race 3, where Guthrie got the best start of them all and led the opening two laps before Shelswell took over in front but had to make the best of it before he was inevitably challenged by Grange. Indeed, Lap 7 saw the Escort find its way past the Sierra and from there it was straightforward once more. A hat-trick of wins completed by Grange by the Welsh coast was a fine weekend’s work, with Shelswell and Guthrie again taking up the podium places in 2nd and 3rd respectively.
Scott Woodwiss
