ST-XR CHALLENGE LOADS UP FOR AWAY DAY TRIP TO SILVERSTONE

It’s been over a month since the last rounds of the Hyperdrive ST-XR Challenge at Cadwell Park, as thanks to the unfortunate cancellation of Anglesey meeting last month, the drivers have had to wait a little longer to get back out on track. Thankfully, that time has now come as they head for their “away” round of the season at the Home of British Motorsport and the Silverstone National circuit. There’s not only an overall championship to fight for, but class titles are also up for grabs too and that should make the competition pretty intense. As we did at Cadwell Park, our grid will be joined by the competitors from the BRSCC Fiesta Championship racing with MRF Tyres, meaning it’s going to be a busy track out there!

So far in both the overall and Class D ranks for the Mk6 Fiesta ST150s, the main battle has been between two men – William Heslop and Mark Robinson. Between them, they’ve clinched all five race wins, but by courtesy of winning three to Robinson’s two, it’s Heslop that leads the standings by two points from his main rival. Oulton Park and Cadwell Park have both been tricky, technical, winding courses that are all about handling, but now they face Silverstone’s National circuit which is primarily all about power and straight-line speed. If these two still can’t be separated, we’re sure that they’ll be dicing and battling back and forth in both races and putting on a fantastic race.

Others in Class D will be doing their best to keep up with them and possibly spoil the party. The Tensport Performance pair of Sam Beckett and Chris Grimes, who sit 3rd and 4th respectively in the points standings, have certainly been adapting to their new paddock quickly and have already established themselves as regular front runners. Both have already had their moments in being able to keep up with Heslop and Robinson and they will be hoping that they can be able to make a further step forward this weekend and make it more than just a one-on-one contest for the lead. The 5th placed man in points, Chris Rowlands, has elected not to make the trip to the Midlands on this occasion, which will give a great chance for Tony Mumford to climb a place or two in the points, along with Matthew Spencer, Adam Bissell, Justin Roberts, Alec Townley, Ron Loffstadt, Paul McHugh and John Spencer. Two drivers also make their first appearances of the season this weekend, with Michael Blackburn making a welcome championship return and moving up from his regular Class B Escort XR3i, while Luke Woodward is set to make his ST-XR Challenge debut and race with us for the very first time.

Class A for the Ford Fiesta XR2s looks set to be a three-way competition this weekend between Matthew Morton, Paul Green and Michael Rudge. With Rudge missing Cadwell, he has some ground to make up in the points this weekend, while further up the class table, Morton has a chance to further extend his lead at the top while Green will be looking to grab all the points he can to keep in touch as much as possible and move up to 2nd place behind him. Meanwhile, in Class B for the Escort XR3is, Jason Hennefer once again has a playmate for company as Chris Jones is back to go wheel to wheel with him once again. The pair shared honours at Oulton Park, but Cadwell saw Jason going solo in the class but finishing all three races and even giving some of the Class D runners a run for their money. Knowing how quick both Jason and Chris are, they could well be able to cause some trouble amongst the Fiesta ST150s once again.

Scott Woodwiss