MALLORY MELODRAMAS FOR ALFA TITLE CONTENDERS
The much-loved Mallory Park circuit in Leicestershire received a visit from our BRSCC Midlands Centre on Sunday for one of the few 4-wheeled events taking place at the venue this year, and it didn’t disappoint. Plenty of action and drama took place as one championship saw its title battle completely turned on its head come close of play.
Dave Messenger took the spoils in what turned out to be an eventful day for the Alfa Romeo Championship – Photo: Paul Stone
The championship in question was the BRSCC Alfa Romeo Championship, which saw most of the leading contenders for the overall and Twin Spark Cup crowns hit strife. Reigning BRSCC Fiesta champion Alastair Kellett stuck his Modified class 156 on pole alongside classmate Graham Seager, but while Seager went on to win overall from Kellett 2nd and Power Trophy’s Paul Webster in 3rd, the talking points were behind them in the Twin Spark contingent.
An incident at the hairpin between Andrew Bourke and Michael Tydeman saw the former left with a car too damaged to continue the rest of the day, while the latter was excluded after deemed responsible. As a result, Dave Messenger picked up the class win from reigning champion Tom Hill and returnee Roger Evans. Kellett was able to drive unchallenged in Race 2 after Seager’s car failed to make it back out, leaving him to win with ease from Power Trophy’s Webster and Dave Messenger taking another Twin Spark victory.
HRDC certainly made the most of Mallory’s unique layout and nature as both of their races put on quite a show for the spectators. In the Allstars/ Academy/ A-Series Challenge race, it was left to Mike Jordan (father of former BTCC champion Andrew, also in attendance) to head the field. Mike and his Austin “GT40” partook in a race long duel with Julian Crossley’s rapid little Austin Mini Cooper S, providing an enjoyable battle throughout the 30-minute encounter.
Despite Crossley managing to keep the gap to the lead to less than a second all the way from start to finish, he ultimately couldn’t overhaul Jordan as he crossed the line to take the victory, despite relentless pressure from the Mini behind. Thomas Grindall brought his MG W&P GT home in 3rd place overall behind them.
Over in the HRDC Coys Trophy, there was the emergence of a brand new celebrity racing star. Andrew Jordan, as mentioned above, took to the wheel of his Lotus Cortina Mk1 alongside Take That band member Howard Donald. Between the pair of them, the #77 Cortina would race away from the rest of the field with relative ease, ending up more than a lap ahead of the second placed car by the time they took the chequered flag after 45 minutes. Alistair Dyson’s solo effort helped make it a Lotus Cortina 1-2, with Marc Gordon taking his Jaguar XK150 FHC to the final podium spot.
The Track Attack Race Club brought its MR2 Classic Race Series out to play, coupled with a small selection of cars from the fledgeling 206 GTi Production Cup for good measure. Race 1 saw an entertaining dice between Arron Pullan and Adam Lockwood, but despite an early exchange of places and a brief safety car intervening around the halfway point, Pullan couldn’t be toppled. He went on to win ahead of Lockwood by just over half a second, with Dave Messenger completing the podium.
The second race saw the same top two on the podium, except this time Pullan was able to create a far more substantial gap to Lockwood. His winning margin by the flag was over 12 seconds with Daniel Bryant taking 3rd place. The 206 GTi Cup runners were topped by Paul Rice and Jason Jesse in both races respectively, the pair taking a win each.
The largest entry of the day was reserved for the mixed races of the Nippon Challenge and Tricolore Trophy with invited Multi Marques class cars. Incredibly, it would be a Multi Marques car that would win Race 1 from pole, as Simon Ward took his mighty Vauxhall Astra GTE to a lights-to-flag win ahead of Tony Hunter and Robert Buckland in a pair of Renault Clios from the Tricolore ranks. As for the Nippon runners, first past the post for their entry would be Kevin Middleton’s Subaru Impreza in the Super GT class. Ward would go on to double up on overall victories in Race 2 with the aforementioned Astra GTE, while 2nd place was taken on this occasion Andrew Mitchell’s Peugeot 205 GTi with Hunter’s Renault Clio in 3rd. Top Nippon honours once again went to Middleton’s Impreza.
You can find the full breakdown of the day’s race results here – MALLORY PARK RESULTS.