MAZDAS AND FORMULA FORDS TO HEADLINE MEGA ANGLESEY WEEKEND
As frequent visitors to the North West of the country and the motorsport delights it offers, we always love making a trip to what is arguably the most picturesque circuit in Britain – Anglesey Circuit in North Wales. Fresh from the news that the venue has received approval to improve the facilities to boost tourism and increase its stature within the industry, we’re taking a selection of our best supported championships onto the International circuit for two days of racing by the coast courtesy of the BRSCC North Western Centre.
As is usually the case when it comes to entry numbers, the series that tops the table this weekend will be the BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship with 50 cars expected to make the journey. It’s been almost a month since the previous rounds at Cadwell Park where double defending champion Will Blackwell-Chambers and John Langridge picked up more wins towards their respective tallies, as they continue to mark themselves out as the key men in the race for the title. They’re sure to be kept honest all weekend by the likes of Adam Bessell, Jason Greatrex, Joe Wiggin, Steve Foden and Jack Brewer, while the entry also sees Scott Mansell make his MX-5 racing debut having boasted previous experience racing Radicals and a Benetton F1 car. Expect him to possibly cause one or two surprises, along with AB Motorsport boss Ali Bray and a couple of new rookies in the line up too.
This weekend sees something of a Mazda extravaganza as all three competitions feature on the same timetable, as the paddock pays tribute to this year’s 30th anniversary of the iconic small Japanese sportscar. Alongside the regular Mk1s, both Mk3 MX-5 contests will run together on the same track with the MX-5 SuperCup and MX-5 Super Series both lining up on one grid, effectively meaning two races at once. In the SuperCup, there’s not much that separates Luke Herbert, Aidan Hills and Jack Harding, the championship’s very own “Triple H”. All three drivers have two wins each, claiming one apiece over both of the two completed weekends. Expect this trio to dominate proceedings, with the likes of James Blake-Baldwin, Steve Roberts, Patrick Fletcher and even Paul Sheard giving chase all weekend.
The Super Series should just as competitive as there’s no Brian Chandler on the entry list on this occasion, at the time of writing. James Kell, a race winner from Brands Hatch, is back after a mixed weekend in his last appearance back at Pembrey. Top drivers such as Joe Marshall, Simon Fleet an Xavier Brooke should also be in contention to come out on top against their rivals, while North Wales sees a welcome return to the grid for Simon Orange and a new addition in experienced hot hatch racer and Praga test driver Natalie Brookes, making her long awaited debut in the series this weekend. Regular faces like Matt Pickford, Russ Lindsay, Liz Walton, Darren Kell and co will also be present.
Also heading to Anglesey will be both of the BRSCC’s ever popular Formula Ford competitions. The Avon Tyres National Formula Ford Championship has incredibly seen five different winners from the first five races at Snetterton and Oulton Park. Out of those opening rounds, Scotsman Rosss Martin leads the way for Team Dolan, with Cliff Dempsey Racing’s American hotshot Spike Kohlbecker some ten points back in 2nd place from Neil Maclennan of Kevin Mills Racing and Kohlbecker’s CDF teammates Jonathan Browne and James Clarke. With all of them claiming a win each, don’t be surprised to see any of the setting the pace all weekend. Other who should be strong in the Pro Class include Jamie Sharp, Michael Macpherson, Morgan Quinn, a returning Jamie Thorburn and double F1 eSports champion Brendon Leigh.
Their counterparts in the Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford Championship make their first trip to Anglesey this season, after already competing at Oulton Park and Mallory Park this year so far. The McArthur brothers Tom and David should be favourites in the mix for overall honours as well as Class P for the most contemporary cars in the entry. Championship leader Nigel Dolan isn’t present at the time of writing, however Jack Wolfenden, Pascal Monbaron and newcomer Abby Munro will be sure to give them competition. There should also be a fascinating contest amongst the three Super Classic classes with Andrew Ian Schofield, Juiceie Brucieie and Richard Ketterman the main names to watch out for.
The rest of the timetable is filled out with some awesome one-make tin-top championships. The first of which appears on Sunday with the Disklok Civic Cup charging back into action. This series is a dedicated battleground for the iconic Honda Civic Type R hot hatchback which provides some incredible touring car style action. Former champ Lee Deegan is leading the way in the points standings despite each of the four races seeing a different race winner. Along with Lee, Daniel Reason, Daniel Hobson and Alistair Camp have all stood on the top step of the podium too with 15 points separating them. All of them are sure to be at the sharp end of the field along with Brice Winfield, Ben Sharpe, Jason Ballantyne and David Buky for company.
Moving from Japanese to German machinery, this season has been superb so far for the Teekay Couplings Production GTi Championship for another legendary fast hatchback, the Volkswagen Golf GTi. This series provides separate categories for the Mk2 and Mk5 variants with both racing on track at the same time. So far, Simon Hill is already beginning to run away with the Mk5 points lead with an advantage of 25 points over defending champ James Colbourne, who has clinched three 2nd place finishes. James Howlison, Simon Vercoe, Adam Hance and Martyn Walsh are sure to be up at the front with them, while the Mk2 contest is sure to be a battle between last year’s champ Tim Hartland, former double champ Chris Webb, race winner Pete Milne and former 8V class frontrunner Matthew Eccles.
Finally, another regional championship springs back into action with the ever popular Hyperdrive ST-XR Challenge. This championship is reserved for a variety of Ford XR models including Fiesta XR2s and Escort XR3is, as well as the Fiesta Si and Fiesta ST150 that was added to the ranks last year. In Class A for the XR2s, this season has mainly been about three man – Adam Brown, Greg Speight and William Heslop. All of them lie in that order in the standings with more battles sure to be had between them, while Group B for the Escort XR3is should be a four-way dance between Jason Hennefer, Lewis & Ryan Bowron and Michael Blackburn. Also look out for John Spencer in Class C, Mark Golding and Matthew Spencer in the ST150s in Class D and Nick Naylor and Andy Mellor in Class E for XR2s without limited slip differentials.
Scott Woodwiss
