BRSCC MAKES IT MARK AT MALLORY PARK ON CMMC WEEKEND
Competing as part of the Classic & Modern Motorsport Club’s race meeting at Mallory Park, four BRSCC formulae were out in force over the course of that weekend for their latest rounds of 2025. Given the quartet that turned out, it’s safe to say that the Club brought a very distinct Ford flavour to proceedings, with Fiestas, Modified Fords and Formula Fords all competing on the short and fast Leicestershire speedbowl.
The BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship made only its first ever visit to the Mallory Park circuit, with the young racing stars of the future only on their second outing of the season. Oliver Heron grabbed the lead from the start of race one as the pack charged away, he and Archie Davies tried to make an early getaway in the opening laps, shortly joined by Dara McInerney in a lead trio. A hard charging Jack Burgess also made it into the lead group before long, and it was this quartet that duked it out for most of the race. After a failed attempt by Burgess to take the lead at Shaws Hairpin on the final lap, Davies came through to clinch his first FJC win, with Burgess second ahead of McInerney, Merritt and Heron in the top five.
Burgess almost claimed the lead on the opening lap of race two from Davies, but managed it with a bold pass on the grass into Gerard’s Bend on lap three, leading a six-pack also consisting of Heron, Merritt, FJC Scholarship winner Lewis Islin and McInerney. Once in front, Burgess would be untroubled until the chequered flag to win on the road, but he would be penalised one place post-race for gaining an unfair advantage. All of the action ended up behind Burgess, with Davies and Heron tangling on the exit of Shaws Hairpin at one point putting both of them out of contention.
In the end, it was Merritt that would be given the win post race, his first in Fiesta Juniors, with Burgess demoted to second ahead of McInerney, Islin and Lewis Doble.
A busy grid was present for the latest rounds of the Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge as it descended on Mallory Park. Max Buxton continued his good form in qualifying by taking pole position for race one, but his weekend then took a nosedive after he was tipped across the front of the pack and into the barrier, forcing a red flag. Dillon Davis led the way on the restarted race after lunch, chased by Sam Watkins, George Foxlow and defending champion Mike Blackburn in the early going. However, an off for Mac Macarthy ended the race prematurely after just three laps, giving Davis the win from Watkins, Foxlow, Blackburn, and a repaired Max Busxton who made it into the top five.
Blackburn managed to grab a brilliant start to race two to lead the opening lap, but found himself losing it to Foxlow before the end of lap two before running off the road at Gerards and way down the order. What followed was an intense three car fight between Foxlow, Watkins and Davis for victory, dicing back and forth lap after lap with the Buxton and Sophie Kinghorn also in pursuit too. Davis briefly escaped in the lead, but come the final laps, Watkins had reeled him in, caught up and stole victory at Shaws Hairpin on the final lap. Watkins took the flag first from Davis, with Buxton third ahead of an excellent fourth for Sophie Kinghorn and fifth for Foxlow.
With Mallory Park a circuit that’s usually guaranteed to produce close wheel to wheel racing, exactly that was expected from the pair of races for the Geoff Page Engineering Super Classic Pre ‘99 Formula Ford Championship. Race one was barely seconds old before a number of cars ended up tangling on the pit straight, forcing a restart after a short while. When back underway, Tom Hawkins led the pack from start to finish with a commanding drive out front, leading every single lap and ending up winning just shy of 14 seconds out in front, ahead of fellow Super Classic A runners Nigel Dolan and Neil Hunt. Oliver Chapman and Mathew Smith also won Super Classic C and B classes respectively.
Race two later in the afternoon ended up becoming a very similar story, with Hawkins again on pole, leading for the entire race and unchallenged out in front all the way to the chequered flag. He won overall and in Super Classic A again by just over eight seconds in the end, but all the action ended up being behind him. Oliver Roberts held second for most of the race, but a hard-charging Ben Powney had to come from deep in the field to challenge him for the overall position. Despite taking it briefly, Roberts got back in front and took 2nd outright and the Super Classic B win, from Powney, Stones and Super Classic C winner Chapman.
With such a large entry and four races in total, the Modified Ford Series were certainly a regular sight on track over the Mallory Park weekend with an incredible array of Fords within their paddock. Unfortunately, race one barely completed a lap before it had to be called, after a sizeable shunt for Todd Garner at Devils Elbow required barrier repairs, meaning Tom Ovenden was declared winner in his Escort Mk1 RSR. Lea Wood’s RSR was second from Dave Matthias’ Sierra, Paul Nevill’s Escort RS2000 and Josh Payton’s Cortina.
Thankfully, race two went without drama and Ovenden was able to really stretch his legs with a winning margin of 27 seconds over Wood in second place, while Payton was able to move his Cortina up to third this time ahead of Matthias and Nevill, the same five drivers in the top five once again. For race three, Wood took his turn on the top step this time after Ovenden retired late in the race, with Payton in second from Nevill, Tyler England’s Mk4 Fiesta and Matthias in fifth, before several key non-starters helped England
Written by Scott Woodwiss
