OULTON PARK SET TO WELCOME MX-5s, FORMULA FORDS & XRs
Once again, Oulton Park in Cheshire plays host to another one day meeting courtesy of the BRSCC North Western Centre where the paddock is dominated by Mazda MX-5s with a little local flavour to proceedings also added into the mix, courtesy of two regional championships.
The BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship marches on through its second half of the season off the back of a weekend at Snetterton that produces many interesting results. Championship leader Will Blackwell-Chambers didn’t stand on the podium on that occasion, while key rival John Langridge took home a trio of silverware to close the gap in the race for the title. As for the spoils of victory that weekend, they went to Joe Wiggin who found a pace breakthrough and won all three races with the fastest lap in each to boot. This was significant as it now marks out Wiggin as a potential title contender and the calendar moves on to circuits that Joe enjoys, so perhaps Saturday’s racing could change the direction of the championship momentum further in his direction. Those sure to be chasing the top three down include Adam Bessell, Oliver Allwood, Ben Short, Steve Foden, Jason Greatrex, Jack Brewer and the returning pair of Brian Trott and Matt Luff.
Another healthy entry also populates the grid for the Mazda MX-5 Super Series, which has so far produced a staggering eight different winners this season. A handful of them are back on the grid this weekend with James and Darren Kell, and Joe Marshall all entered on this occasion. SuperCup regular Garry Townsend and regular Super Series front runners Alex Miller, Matt Pickford, Simon Fleet, Simon Orange and Patrick Collins will all be keen to fight it out for the podium places, plus be sure to cheer on the quartet of fast females in the entry with Liz Walton, Natalie Brookes, Jude Worley and Christina Holley all ready to line up as well, the latter making her Mk3 MX-5 debut after a handful of races at the wheel of a Mk1.
Single seater action is added to the bill in the form of the Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford Championship, where Jack Wolfenden and Nigel Dolan are ready to carry on their battle for the Post 98 class title with the former holding a slender six point lead. The McArthur brothers David and Tom will be hoping for more battles similar to those they enjoyed last time at Anglesey, while Matthew Chisholm and former National runner Davide Meloni are also present on the grid to mix things up a little more. In the Super Classic classes, Andrew Schofield leads the way overall from Juiceie Bruceie with Nick Barnes trying to give chase, and watch out for defending Northern champion Alaric Gordon who makes a return to the grid sporting the coveted #1 on his Swift.
Finally, there’s a fantastic title battle taking place amongst the front runners in the Hyperdrive ST-XR Challenge, with Class A contenders Adam Brown, Greg Speight and William Heslop in the hunt for the title and the top two just separated by one point. Another excellent field of cars lines up for this regional saloon car championship dedicated to a variety of Ford’s well-renowned XR models from the 1980s onwards. Class B will see points leader Jason Hennefer face off against the Bowrons and Peter Futers, Mark Noble and John Spencer line up for Class C and Christopher Rowlands will be keen to increase his Class D lead in the Fiesta STs with Matthew Spencer and Paul Brettell chasing him down. Newcomer Robert Ottewill makes his ST-XR debut too in Class E for non-LSD equipped Fiesta XR2s.
Scott Woodwiss
