EYES DOWN FOR DONINGTON


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One win at Donington will seal the Mazda title for Tom Roche. Photo: Jon Elsey

Barely a weekend goes by without our Midland Centre in action, and this weekend is no different as they are at Donington Park for a two-day meeting, featuring 17 races plus a Time Attack Final.

Today’s race action starts with a 30-minute race in the BIGprofile SRCC Sports 2000 Duratec Championship. The title fight has become a three-way battle between Robert Oldershaw (Gunn TS11), Patrick Sherrington (MCR) and Craig Mitchell (Lola T87/90) so today’s and tomorrow’s race is sure to be competitive.

Following immediately on from the SRCC Duratecs is their sister series, the BIGprofile SRCC Sports 2000 Pinto Championship. If anything, the Pintos are even more keenly contested than the Duratecs – just 2 points separate the top four drivers, Richard Cooke, Mike Fry, Mike Johns and Colin Feyerabend. Johns is also involved in a tussle for the Historic crown, which is shaping up as straight shoot-out between him and Clive Steeper.

Adding some variety to the timetable today is the Time Attack Championship. Originating in Japan, Time Attack is the art of registering the quickest lap-time on circuit using a production-based car with no power or upgrade limitations.

The theme of big powerful cars continues with the BRSCC OSS Championship, who will be out for the last race of today, the first of three races at Donington over the weekend. So far this season the Class B cars have dominated, with some fantastic racing between the three Juno’s of Duncan Williams, Craig Fleming, Championship leader Darren Luke and the Chiron of Doug Hart.

Nicholas Bowers, Andrew Foley and David Ellesley arrive at Donington separated by just seven points at the top of the table in Class C of the Vortex backed Ford Fiesta Championship. With a massive 32 points up for grabs, this weekend’s double-header will go a long way to deciding which of the trio comes out on top.

The Class B (Zetec) battle in the Fiesta Championship is equally tight. Ken Bateman has a slender 2-point advantage over Andrew Mollison but Keith Chapman can’t yet be discounted. In the Si Class (A), there is a very good chance that Ian Scruton will come away from Donington tomorrow evening with the 2013 Class trophy firmly in his possession. David Abbott secured that honour in Class D (Zetec S) sometime ago but will welcome the extra competition offered by Al Daly and James Appleby.

Another strong grid of 38 competitors is here at Donington to compete in the penultimate event for the BRSCC Mazda MX5 Championship. With every driver (bar Ed Gay) in the top 10 places in attendance, there should be plenty of thrills and spills. Tom Roche will all but seal his championship title with a win in either race tomorrow, but his nemesis throughout the season, James Blake-Baldwin, will try his damnedest to make sure he has to wait just a little longer.

The Alfashop Alfa Romeo Championship will join the fray tomorrow with a very impressive turnout of 23 cars, especially as it’s a 'done deal' as far as the overall winner is concerned, with Roger Evans already confirmed as retaining the title he won last year. However, there are still battles aplenty through the classes, particularly in Class E, which will field almost half of the grid. Watch out also for the fight for third overall where Darelle Wilson, Ray Foley and Graham Seager are battling it out for the final spot on the 2013 podium.

Finally, the meeting will come to a close late tomorrow afternoon with a 20-minute Pre 91 Alfa Romeo Trophy race.

For the timetable, entry lists & Final Instructions visit DONINGTON RACE WEEKEND


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