THE CELTIC FRINGE
This weekend’s two day BRSCC North Western Centre meeting definitely has a ‘Celtic’ feel to it with drivers travelling from both Ireland and Scotland to Anglesey, which was once a stronghold of Celtic druids.
However, there will be an Anglo-Saxon influence provided by the competitors of the CFT Services Ford XR Challenge, which will see Chris Flynn, the Managing Director of CFT, out racing for the first time since last August at Oulton Park. Craig Brookfield is currently the man to watch in the XR2 class having won both races at Donington at the beginning of the month. The 28-year-old from Nantwich has been in spectacular form in what is fast becoming a very impressive debut season.
In the XR3i category, the smart money will be on Anglesey instructor John-Ifan Jones who knows the Trac Mon circuit like the back of his hand, and took a class win at Donington. However, Terry Kellaher and Peter Futers, who both made the Donington podium, will challenge him strongly.
Scotland will be represented by the Scottish Legends Car Championships, which makes its second visit of the month to a BRSCC North Western Centre meeting, having raced at Oulton Park on the 2ndJune. Championship leader Ross Marshall won the Oulton Final, closely followed home by Carol Brown and David Hunter. All three will line-up on a strong grid to renew the battle on Saturday.
Our friends from across the Irish Sea provide the rest of the weekend’s schedule, with four different championships in action. Robert Butler’s Honda Integra is the firm favourite in the Yokohama Irish Touring Car Championship, having scored back-to-back victories at the Mondello meeting. However, the ITCC is anything but predictable and has produced ten separate winners, across the Touring & Super Touring classes, from the six rounds so far.
Jackie Cochrane is leading the HRCA ‘Impact Metals Ireland’ Championship in his Class 2 Sunbeam Tiger, by the small margin of six points from Wolfgang Schnittger’s MG Midget. However, the real battle will be in Group C where Matt Dunne, Vinny O’Reilly and Pete Murray are all evenly matched.
The Reeltech Irish Global GT Lights have also had a very competitive season so far with three different winners returned from the four races. “Mad Max” Peter Drennan is the man with two wins to his name but the other race winners, Alan Byrne and Sean Doyle, sit first and second in the points table.
The Dunlop Irish Abarth Championship, which will run together with the Ford XR’s, is developing into something of a two-horse race with Alastair Kellett and Gary Miller separated by just two points. Reigning champion Barry-John McHenry is some way back but will be determined turn the corner in what has been a disappointing season so far.
The timetable, entry lists and Final Instructions for the Anglesey meeting can be found here: http://www.brscc.co.uk/ANGLESEY—BRSCC-RACE-WEEKEND-01-11-95
