CROFT DELIVERS A BRSCC SPECTACULAR IN YORKSHIRE
Venturing to North Yorkshire this past weekend, the BRSCC headed to the fast and flat Croft Circuit for another two days of entertaining club motorsport. There were certainly plenty of memorable moments and sublime racing, as five championships and series brought the action all weekend.
Saturday was headlined by a double header of races for the Fun Cup Endurance Championship, with a one hour “sprint” followed by the longer three hour “feature” race. The random draw threw out Hi-Peak Racing on pole alongside former champs GCI Racing, but neither led into Clervaux first time as Morpheus Motorsport immediately jumped into the lead with UVio/ Hoffman’s and GCI on their tail initially. UVio wasted no time in leading, but they barely had a chance to try and pull away when the safety car was briefly called for Skull Club Racing stuck in the gravel at turn one. On the restart, the leading trio became a seven car train, with Oulton Park winners MJ Tec, 2023 champions Team Olympian, Red River Sport and Vapeclub with EDF all joining in.
Some frantic battles at the head of the field were interrupted when Axiametrics found the gravel at Clervaux next, just as the first pit window opened. With the first stops complete, a leading quartet emerged with Morpheus leading UVio, MJ Tec and Olympian all together. MJ Tec made the most of the stint to pass UVio and then dice with Morpheus for the lead before the second pit window closed. When both pitted on subsequent laps, MJ Tec took the lead when Morpheus exited their stop, and Scott Jeffs and Will Abraham went on to clinch their second win in as many races. Morpheus took second courtesy of Ted Bradbury and Neil Burroughs with UVio third with “Farquini” and Fabulous Randaccio.
Skull Club were drawn on pole for the three hour feature, but lost out to front row mates GCI Racing who leapt to the lead before EDF quickly took their turn in front shortly after. As the top two circulated in front, race one front runners MJ Tec and Morpheus circulated together as they climbed through the field in the first stint, with MJ Tec taking the lead just before they pitted as the first window ended and the the safety car was called for Red River Sport’s engine failure. Morpheus stopped from fourth and rejoined in third.
A lengthy clear up of fluid around the circuit lasted the entire second stint, the race restarting as the next pit window opened. Morpheus and MJ Tec ran away in front with the former moving from third to first in a couple of laps on the restart, then pitting together with MJ Tec not taking fuel and leading while Morpheus slipped down the top ten. Over the next couple of stints, Morpheus steadily picked their way back up the order as MJ Tec continued to lead from UVio, GCI and Olympian.
Morpheus rose to fourth after their penultimate pit stop, and in the final window they managed to exit their final stop just a few seconds behind the leader a lap after MJ Tec had made theirs. The final 15 minutes was all about the chase for the flag as Morpheus hunted down MJ Tec for the win, the two cars nose to tail with five minutes to go. With an inside dive at the hairpin that spooked the leader, Morpheus took P1 with just two laps to and defended until the flag to clinch the first Fun Cup Endurance win for Bradbury and Burroughs. Jeffs and Abraham settled for second for MJ Tec, while Olympian stole third at Clervaux on the final lap from UVio to give them the final spot on the podium. Anglesey now awaits for another pair of races, this time three hours each, next month in June.
Saturday also saw the first two races of the weekend for the Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge, fresh off the back of a trio of opening races of the year at Brands Hatch a few weeks prior. An increased entry of 24 cars was present, including BRSCC’s own head of formulae development Greg Graham making his championship debut.
Dan Robinson couldn’t convert pole to the lead as Mike Blackburn took the lead with Jamie Lewthwaite also P2 ahead of Robinson, the pair battling over runner up spot as they tried to keep up with Blackburn in front. The pack closed back up under a brief safety car midway through, giving Robinson the chance to attack for the lead, but had to settle for second best as Blackburn took his third win of the year while Lewthwaite picked up a first podium.
Brake pressure problems forced Robinson to be pushed off the race two grid and start from pit lane, leaving Blackburn with a clear run from pole to lead the way. Dobson chased him for the lead from the outset and kept up his pursuit for the entire 15 minutes, but just wasn’t close enough to make a pass as Blackburn took his second win of the weekend, leaving Dobson second. Third changed hands in the final couple of laps when Lewthwaite dropped back behind Mark Blunt, who took his first podium fo the year.
Sam Watkins got the better of Thomas Ikin from the front row of race three and held the lead through a safety car called on lap one. On restart, Watkins had to bat away Ikin’s advances, as Thomas kept him honest all the way to the flag. Just as he did at Brands Hatch, Watkins was the race three winner with Ikin settled for second and Blunt claiming another podium with his second third place of the weekend.
Action aplenty was provided by the triple header of races from the Nankang Tyre BMW Compact Cup, which included five time former champion Steven Dailly back amongst its ranks. 2023 champion Gareth Claydon took the lead from the front row in race one, coping with pressure from Gordon Macmillan either side of a lengthy safety car appearance before Oulton Park double winner Joe Doble tried his hand. Both cars tangled at the Esses on the penultimate lap, parting the way for Macmillan to clinch his first Compact Cup win ahead of Connor Grady and Max Noble.
Macmillan held firm to lead race two from the outset, this time chased all the way by Claydon throughout the race and despite getting close, couldn’t put himself into striking range to make a move. His charge ran out of steam just a couple of corners from the end when damage to the right front wheel forced him to pull up at The Complex. Macmillan drove on to pick up his second win, while Max Noble survived a massive moment at Barcroft to take second ahead of Grady.
It was race three that ended up producing the most entertaining race of the triple header with a partially reversed front half of the grid. Mike Doble, Alex Read and Pete Smith initially had the race under control, Doble leading before Read took over, but all three were eventually caught by Macmillan and Dailly, kicking off a thrilling scrap between the top five cars. They battled back and forth for the remaining laps, and after the chequered flag flew and post-race judicials were completed, Macmillan completed his hat-trick ahead of Read and Doble.
Sunday saw more endurance from the PBS Brakes SuperSport Endurance Cup for two hours of pit-stop racing once again featuring a collective of BMWs at the head of the field once more. Pole went to the Pro-A leading 1 Series of Kier McConomy and Bart Horsten and they led from the outset as BMWs filled out six of the first seven places in the opening stages, with the invitation Morgan of Tony Kiss and Ben Gillias for company.
The 1 Series temporarily traded the lead through the first stops with the Mark Lee/ Richard Evans BMW M3, before that car had to pit with mechanical issues that took it out of contention. After a strange moment that saw the leader mistakenly pit thinking they’d been handed a penalty and a subsequent safety car for a car stranded at pit entry, the remaining minutes and pit stops were reeled off effortlessly as McConomy and Horsten clinched their third outright victory of the season in a row.
Along with the McConomy & Horsten 1 Series in Pro-A, other class wins also went the way of Julian McBride’s BMW M3 (Pro-B), Paul & Wendy Ellis-Smith’s MINI Cooper (Pro-C), Paul Hinson’s BMW E36 Comapct (Clubman-A), George Grant & Rob Boston’s Mazda MX-5 Mk3 SuperCup (Clubman-B) and Adam Read & David Drinkwater’s BMW E36 Compact (Clubman-C).
The mixed and varied grid in the BRSCC Evolution Trophy produced a fine pair of races too at Croft. Adam Marshall was the main to beat in the entire field as he put in two excellent drives to be first past the flag each time and win the Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup in his VW Golf. Paul Hoggins was a comfortable second place in both encounters, while third in category was split between Carey Lewis’ Mk5 Golf in race one and Donald Dewar’s Mk1 Golf in race two.
The Finsport Renault Cup was dominated on both occasions by the Renault Clio 172 Cup of Tony Hunter, first past the post both times including taking the flag third overall in race two. An up and down day for Richard Clarke saw him take second both times, recovering from a spin in race one, while mechanical issues hampered Graeme Farrington in both. There was also a lone BRSCC BMW 1 Series SuperCup car with Mike Collinge at the wheel, taking his first drives in the car and completing both trouble free.
You can find the TSL live timing results HERE and replays of both Saturday and Sunday live streams HERE and HERE.
Written by Scott Woodwiss
