DOUG DIGS FOR GOLD AT ANGLESEY


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Carter's Radical was resplendent all day in the Winter sunshine on the Welsh coast – Photo: Rachel Bourne

While storms battered most of the UK, Anglesey Circuit was bathed in Winter sunshine on Sunday, 20th November as the BRSCC’s North Western Centre staged its final race meeting of the season.

The tone for the brace of Winter Sports & Saloon events was set during qualifying when the Radical PR9 driven by Doug Carter took pole position by an unbelievable 5 second margin. Each time the red lights went out this competitor, who is usually seen in the Excool OSS Championship, took the chequered flag having lapped everyone else.

From fourth on the grid, Darelle Wilson ran second in his VW Scirocco during the initial stages of the opener but he would later retire with a damaged car. Before he disappeared from the lap charts, Charlie Fagg and Danny Carroll had demoted Wilson in their Seat Leon Supercopa and Roadsport Caterham respectively to finish second and third.

The podium places were the same at the end of the second race although the Subaru Impreza of Oliver Thomas had been ever present in Carroll’s mirrors.

No one could predict who would win the two Winter Formula Ford 1600 thrashes as the first 5 cars qualified within a second of each other. At the start of the first encounter, Josh Smith in the Myerscough College Van Diemen JL13 converted pole into the lead. He looked odds on to take the win as he pulled away from David McArthur in the B-M Racing Van Diemen LA10 who was having to fend off Jake Byrne’s Ray GR13 in the early stages but the casing on Smith’s differential failed causing all drive to be lost. With Byrne also a retirement due to brake failure by this stage, McArthur took the victory once the Safety Car had pulled in after Smith’s car was moved out of the way.

McArthur was unable to do the double. Despite being the first to reach Target from pole position for race 2, by the end of the opening lap he had been demoted by Matt Cowley in his Van Diemen JL13. Despite trying everything he knew, McArthur couldn’t get back ahead and had to settle for second. He did have the consolation of winning the Brian Linley Trophy which was awarded according to the aggregate result of the two races. With he and Cowley both taking a win and a second place, McArthur was awarded the silverware thanks to setting the quicker fastest lap.

In the Pre90 Class, no one could match the pace of Ivor Mairs’ Mondiale 84S and he returned to Ireland with the Bernard Baxter and Moose Trophies in his luggage. With Jaap Blijleven absent, Mairs was also able to clinch the 2016 Pre90 Star of Anglesey Championship as Cowley took the Post89 Class.

The Irish Global GT Lights came under starter’s orders 3 times. Unfortunately, one of their competitors, Mark “Bernie” Braden, fell ill during testing and was unable to compete, the BRSCC send him our best wishes for his recovery.

The first encounter of the day took place on a cold circuit and this resulted in many drivers being caught out by a lack of heat in their tyres on the first lap with the leading trio of Conor Farrell, Max Drennan and James Thompson spinning off exiting Church Corner and then Michael Conway gyrated at Rocket. John Conway took over the lead and held off the fast recovering Max Drennan to win by 0.13 secs as Conor Farrell and Anthony Thompson followed them home. This was John’s first victory for some time.

When they returned to the tarmac the drivers took a more cautious approach until their tyres reached the required temperature. Conor Farrell, James Thompson and Max Drennan all were ahead at various points and, indeed, they were swapping places multiple times on some laps. The contest was finally settled with the first 3 covered by less than half a second. Drennan took the honours from Farrell with M. Connor grabbing third on the penultimate lap when James Thompson misjudged the Corkscrew.

The final outing of a great Global GT Light season was probably the best race of the meeting with four drivers competing for the lead from the off. Michael Conway got a great start but fell back to fourth as the lead changed constantly throughout the race. At one point four cars were side by side heading up the hill towards Rocket! When the chequered flag came out, the top three – Max Drennan, Conor Farrell and Michael Conway – were covered by 0.4 secs after the quartet became a trio due to James Thompson encountering a technical problem on the last lap.

Finally, the BRSCC’s North Western Centre would like to thank all the officials and marshals for enabling all our race meetings to take place in 2016.

You can view the full results at ANGLESEY RESULTS

Dave Williams / Zak Munawer / Michael Conway


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