BRSCC & TCR UK WEATHERS THE RAIN AT CROFT
Wet weather characterised the latest TCR UK race weekend for the British Racing & Sports Car Club at Croft in North Yorkshire, both in the main trio of touring car races and the stacked support timetable across both days. Championship battles took more twists and turns as many series in attendance pressed on into the second half of their seasons.
There was drama before the first wheel was even turned in the TCR UK Touring Car Championship, when points leader Adam Shepherd was unable to run on Saturday due to mechanical issues and was forced to miss race one. This gave a massive opportunity to defending champion Carl Boardley and Callum Newsham to take a big step forward themselves, which both gladly took. Brad Hutchison led the opening race initially but was closed down by a rapid Newsham, who hounded him for several laps in the bid to force a mistake. Eventually, a pass at Sunny In/Out put Callum in front, leading to his second win of the season with Hutchison bagging P2 and Boardley P3, with Darron Lewis and Steven Laidlaw completing the top five.
Shepherd was able to start both of Sunday’s races albeit from the back, but he would hit issues early in race two which put him out of contention. The Honda of Brad Thurston led initially, but it didn’t take long for Boardley to press his way through the field, and while he was able to create a gap of a few seconds, this was closed down by the chasing pack led for a while by Darron Lewis. In the final minutes, Hutchison and Newsham both moved their way past Lewis onto the podium for second and third, but couldn’t dethrone Boardley from P1 for his second win of the year; Lewis and Sam Laidlaw rounding off the top five.
With no let up in the weather, Newsham started race three from pole and was lucky not to throw it away in the gravel at the first corner, but he quickly settled down into a lead he wouldn’t lose leaving Hutchison to deal with Boardley who in turn then had to defend from a fast starting Shepherd from the back of the grid. Through a short safety car, the top four stayed status quo and Newsham charged to a second win of the weekend, with Hutchison in a distant second and Boardley only just keeping Shepherd at bay for third. Darron Lewis was fifth.
The Milltek Sport Civic Cup managed both of their races at Croft after missing out on one at Oulton Park due to timetable constraints, and championship leader Max Edmundson made the most of his pole position to lead the opening lap by 2.9 seconds, but then spun exiting the Esses on lap two. This forced a race long fight back to eventually retake the lead and win after the race was red flagged with a couple of minutes to go. Edmundson incredibly took the win on countback as he led an AREA Motorsport clean sweep of the first six places, with Josh Files, Liam McGill, Harvey Caton, Lewis Kent and Sam Kirkpatrick.
Alistair Camp got the better start from the front row of the partially reversed top ten grid and led the opening lap from Will Redford, Kent and Dave Marshall. The adverse weather conditions caused some drivers to slide off the road in the opening corners, forcing an early safety car, and on the restart a soaking wet track would again catch drivers out including championship leader Edmundson. After several cars ended up off the road, the decision was taken to red flag the race, with the countback result giving Camp the win from Kent, Files, Marshall and McGill.
The trio of BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship races provided some excellent entertainment too despite the less than ideal conditions at times. Archie Davies took a superb first pole position but stalled on the line allowing front row mate Hodgkiss to lead from the outset, before getting out of shape at Clervaux let Jenson O’Neill-Going through. A short safety car kept the leading group bunched but the race was eventually prematurely ended after two cars ended up in the gravel at Clervaux. O’Neill-Going was declared the winner ahead of Hodgkiss, Tommy Harfield, Finn Leslie and Thomas Merritt.
O’Neill-Going led most of the way in the second race, helped by a mid-race safety car and Hodgkiss retiring after tangling with Alfie Garford at the final hairpin. On the restart after the safety car, Harfield was on his toes and dived inside at Tower to snatch the lead, which he would hold to take his first Fiesta Junior win in fine style. Leslie would also muscle his way past before the flag for second and drop O’Neill-Going to third, ahead of Davies and Ben Doughty.
Harfield aimed to repeat his winning ways in race three, which began under the safety car due to the weather conditions. He was hounded all race by Leslie who tried every way possible to pass but found no way through, forced to settle for second as Harfield won for the second time. It would end up as the same podium as race two with O’Neill-Going taking third from Jenson Mason and Davies.
In what’s quickly becoming a battle of youth versus experience in the AIRTEC Motorsport Fiesta ST240 Championship, experience would rule the day as two of the championship’s elder statesmen would share a win each. Alastair Kellett sprinted from pole in race one into a lead he would never lose, the championship leader completing a lights to flag run in a dominant display. Simon Horrobin and John Cooper completed the podium behind him followed by Am class winner Daniel Lewis and Joseph Knight.
Kellett quickly tried the same disappearing act starting race two and initially succeeded, but was caught by a charging Horrobin in just a few laps, who got as far as third before a safety car and the took second from Cooper not long after the restart. Once he’d caught up to Kellett in front, a mishap at Tower was all the incentive he needed to slip by, driving onto the last lap and the chequered flag to take his second win of the season. Kellett stayed in second ahead of an excellent third for Lucas Hayden, followed by Gary Miller and Am class winner Henry Howarth.
A pair of races for the Audi TT Cup Racing Championship produced a long awaited first pair of wins for Bradley Burns who had been threatening since the start of the season. Burns overcame the initial challenge from Carl Swift into the first corner in race one and set about dominating from the front, unphased even by a late safety car with a third of the race still to run. Unchallenged on restart, Burns took the flag first ahead of Swift, Matt Luff, Paul Luti and Will Stacey in the top five.
Race two played out in very much the same fashion, Burns leading from pole but this time not feeling the pressure so much from the cars behind. Consistently lapping quicker than the rest of the pack lap after lap, Burns secured an easy double victory across both races, with a winning margin of just over eight seconds on this occasion ahead of Luff, Swift, Stacey and Luti. Luff had run in third place for most of the race chasing Swift but was able to take second with an outside pass into Clervaux in the closing minutes.
Croft also signalled the next stop in the BRSCC’s Mazda MX-5 paddock with all three championships beginning the second half of their respective seasons. The GAZ Shocks Mazda MX-5 Championship points leader Thomas Langford was absent due to work commitments, giving his main rivals a big chance to take a large chunk of points out of his advantage. Luke Pullen initially converted his pole for race one to the lead, but consistent pressure from Adam Sparrow eventually dived inside at Tower on the penultimate lap to finally take a first win of the season, while Ewan Thomas took his first podium finish with third ahead of Levi Aisbett and Neil Chisnall.
Race two was a simpler affair for Pullen, leading through an early safety car and quickly escaping on restart to leave his rivals to battle over second place downwards. Pullen took his third win of the season, while the scrap behind him was all action with William Chadwick eventually taking his first MX-5 podium ahead of Thomas, Aisbett and Noller.
Chadwick then made his strongest bid for a maiden win in race three, beating pole man Pullen off the line and leading on the road from start to finish. Adam Sparrow went with him for most of the race and followed Chadwick across the line at the flag, but a five second penalty for track limits demoted him to third and promoted Sparrow to the win ahead of Pullen. Noller and Aisbett completed the top five.
Saturday provided another opportunity for the in-form Jonathan Greensmith to extend his win streak to five across both of the Downforce Radio Mazda MX-5 Clubman Championship, but in the opening minutes of race one he had to wrestle the lead away from Paul Bateman, the points leader getting the better jump. Once ahead, Greensmith continued to lead until the flag to take win number four from Bateman, while Jordan Head initially lost his third place after a ten second penalty, which was then rescinded to keep him ahead of Rob Greensmith and Simon Waterfall.
A better start to race two ensured Jonny didn’t lose the lead and was aided by a mid-race safety car for a handful of drivers off the road in the tricky conditions. On the short one lap restart, Greensmith kept his cool to take his fifth win in a row, while Bateman and Jack Warry drag raced to the line for second place which ended in favour of Bateman. The top five was completed by Russell Halley and Dugald Macgregor.
The beginning of race one for the Clapham North MOT Mazda MX-5 SuperCup wound back the years as Jack Harding leapt to P1 and ended up leading for most of the race. During this time, the scrap for an eventual third place at one point saw Joe Wiggin tapped into a spin and out of the race at the Hairpin by Alex Stott, while ahead Aidan Hills caught and then passed Harding exiting Hawthorn to claim victory. Harding settled for P2 ahead of Griffiths, James Cossins and Patrick Fletcher in Pro class, while Ollie Hall clinched Club class honours from Wilbur Tiley and Aimee Watts.
Fletcher made the most of Sunday’s wet conditions to lead and command race two from the front, leaving the rest of the field in his wake initially while Harding had to find a way past Jack Brewer for second. Even though Harding was less than two seconds behind at the flag, he was unable to unseat Fletcher from the top spot, while Brewer was delighted with his first SuperCup podium in third ahead of Hills and Cossins. Tiley was Club winner from Jim Barratt and Alex Jones.
Race two saw Cossins lead a race for the first time in 2024 after a tough start to the season, but Fletcher relieved him of P1 after two laps. The order remained status quo at the front with Fletcher claiming his second win of the weekend from Harding, with Wiggin taking the final podium from Hills and Cossins. Tiley claimed his second Club class victory of the meeting too and finished a superb sixth overall, ahead of Hall and Watts.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
