CHAMPIONS CROWNED AT DONINGTON

James Blake-Baldwin has been the class of the MX-5 Mk1 field this season. Photo: Jon Elsey

As expected, James Blake-Baldwin completed his season’s quest with the minimum of fuss at Donington Park over the weekend, taking two wins to confirm him as the 2014 BRSCC Mazda MX-5 champion.

As he has done all season, Alan Henderson fought him every step of the way, finishing second to James in two races before concluding the year on a high, winning the last race of the campaign. Thus Alan deservedly finished as the Championship runner-up, just twenty-six points adrift of James’ tally. The victors in the three Mk1 B group races were Darron Lewis, Simon Baldwin, and Cardiff’s Jason Greatrex.

Abbie Eaton endured a tortuous but in the end euphoric weekend as for the second year running the BRSCC MX-5 SuperCup had the closest of possible finishes. Despite posting two non-finishes, Abbie beat Tom Roche to the title by a single point when the Welshman was unable to secure the two race wins he needed. Lancaster Liam Murphy was the surprise star of the weekend taking two wins, his first in the SuperCup.

Wins in the Toyo Tires Porsche Championship for Ed Hayes, Richard Avery and Adam Southgate were not enough to stop Sheffield’s Jonathan Greensmith from taking the title. P2 in each of the first two races meant that Jonathan just needed to finish the final race of the season to take the keenly contested championship, which he did coming seventh. Hayes also scored a two P3 finishes and Southgate was third in the first race. Gary Duckman finished his first season in the championship on a high, taking second in the final race.

Jamie White won the Super Mighty Minis Championship for a second successive year holding off Elliot Stafford. The two protagonists were first and second in the opening race with Mark Burnett third. Elliot got the better of his rival in the second outing beating him to the final podium spot but it was too little too late as Neven Kirkpatrick and Scot Kendall took the top honours.

A race win for Paul Inch made for a nail-biting conclusion to the Mighty Minis Championship. The maximum haul from the first race moved the Plymouth racer to within a point of leader Ian Slark, who could only finish fifth behind Damien Harrington, Brayden Fletcher & Ade Tuckley. However, Slark produced the goods when it mattered in the second race to clinch the title, courtesy of only his second ever Mighty Minis race win. Harrington was again second and Ade Tuckley moved up a place to third.

Martyn Walsh was the toast of the Teekay Production GTi paddock winning both races. The first came at the expense of the 2014 GTi champion Simon Hill, with Josh Smith, who is coincidentally the OSS champion, third. Smith went one better in the second race with Wimbourne's Nick Porter in third. Two Class B wins for Craig Roberts retained him the title he won a year ago.

The OSS season was long since settled so both of the weekends races were 'Trophy' ones. Mike Jenvey scored a commanding victory in Saturday's race, bringing his Jenvey-Gunn TS6 home fifteen seconds ahead of Duncan Williams, who was a further six seconds clear of third placed man Simon Tilling. Sunday's race saw Excool boss Duncan Williams move up a space to take victory in his Juno ahead of the Radicals of Jon-Paul Ivey and Tim Grey.

The half-hour HRDC Allstars race produced a very comfortable win for Mike Whitaker in his 1965 TVR Griffith. Matt Nicol-Jones was the next best in his 1962 Jaguar E-Type. John Spiers made it a good race for TVR enthusiasts, taking third also in a Griffith.

The HRDC Touring Greats encounter was fiercely contested over its forty-five minute duration. When the chequered flag fell it was the father and son pairing of Mike and recently deposed BTCC champion, Andrew Jordan, who took the win less than half a second ahead of Mark Dainell. The top two were both campaigning Austin A40s, while third place went to a 1958 Mk1 Jaguar, piloted by Richard Butterfield and Rob Gravett.

For all the results, qualifying times and lap analysis go DONINGTON RESULTS