BRSCC MAKES FINAL HIGH SPEED TRIP TO ROCKINGHAM

This weekend’s race meeting is tinged with some sadness, as it marks the end of an era. With the recent news that Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, Northamptonshire has gone through a change of ownership, all circuit activity will cease at the end of the year. So, unfortunately, this will be our last ever visit to the venue which has hosted race events in the UK since it opened in 2001. Still, we’re determined to make sure this weekend is as memorable as possible and hopefully this weekend’s racing will go some way to do just that.

The largest entry of the weekend comes from the Mazda MX-5 Championship, with the penultimate meeting of the season bringing a tight battle at the top of the points table. Mike Comber Racing teammates Will Blackwell-Chambers and Samuel Smith are merely separated by just four points with the defending champion bidding to hold on to his lead and the #1 on the door. Last time out at Anglesey, Smith braved the Welsh coast to collect a hat-trick of victories and keep the pressure on WB-C with 6 races still left to run. The AB Motorsport trio of Brian Trott, Oliver Allwood and John Langridge will be keeping both of them honest all the way to the end, whilst other drivers to be in the mix include Jason Greatrex, Charlie Burge, Stephen Foden and Martin Tolley, who also leads the Masters contest. Six races will accommodate the 40+ car entry here, with Groups A and B racing each getting a trio of races.

Their compatriots in the Mazda MX-5 Super Series may not have any points or a championship to fight for, but the silverware and bragging rights to go with it will certainly focus everyone’s minds on the task ahead. So far this season, the highest number of race wins has been taken by Joshua Jackson, although last time neither he nor main rival Jake Bailey took a winner’s trophy home. Instead, all three went the way of 2015 BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Mk1 champion Brian Chandler, making a one off appearance in Patrick Collins’ car. With Patrick back in the driving seat for this occasion and both Jackson and Jake Bailey entered, they’ll all do battle against Jake’s father Sam Bailey, Stuart Symonds, Jeremy Crook, Richard Breland and Alec Livesley to name a few.

The Alfa Romeo Championship is also heading towards the closing stages of the 2018 season and there’s still class and overall titles to be settled with four rounds left heading into this weekend. The overall wins are likely to come from one of the three Power Trophy cars on the grid with defending class champ Paul Webster making a return to do battle with Scott Austin and Robin Eyre-Maunsell. It’s a closer affair over in the Twin Spark Cup, as regular frontrunners Tom Hill, Andy Hancock, Richard Ford and Dave Messenger can all be counted on as potential winners too.

To add an extra element to proceedings, the Golfmech Global GT Lights make another trip across the Irish Sea into mainland England. The Global Lights cars started life as their own championship here in the UK, but most have since found their way to Ireland where there’s nothing but fierce competition and rivalry in every single race. While it may be the smallest entry of the weekend, one thing is for certain – numbers don’t matter when the quality of the racing these guys produce is so good!

Scott Woodwiss