The BRSCC’s North Western Centre enjoyed an “away fixture” when they took charge of the Clapham North Summer Race Weekend at Cadwell Park on 9th & 10th August.
Fix A Wheel Production Cup
At the end of qualifying for the Fix A Wheel Production Cup, just 0.033 secs separated the BMW Compact of Adam Read from Morgan Wroot’s Audi TT. In the first leg of their Triple Header, Read was the early leader. Wroot couldn’t keep pace with him due to a split seal on his turbo and finished fourth. Meanwhile, Rich Hockley (Honda Civic) was putting Read under enormous pressure and eventually took a decisive lead when he carried more speed out of Barn Corner. Finishing third was Tim Evans in another Audi TT.
Next time out, a failure in his ABS braking system caused Evans to spin. This promoted Wroot to third. He then overtook Read for second which became first when the engine in Hockley’s Honda started to sound sick and he dropped to third.
The third escapade went to Hockley from Read and Rob Buckland (Renault Clio) after Wroot retired with a blown turbo and Evans did not start due to his brake issue.
Henry Swanson was the only entry in the Silverlake DS3 Cup and recorded a trio of finishes.
Kent Models Mazda MX5 Championship
Ali Bray continued his outstanding season in the Kent Models Mazda MX5 Championship. Another 3 victories this weekend took his total to 17 from 17 races this year. He left everyone in his wake every time he went out on the track with 8.458 seconds being his smallest winning margin.
Behind Bray, there was some fantastically close racing taking place. Steve Foden and Luke Pullen always managed to get on to the podium either side of Bray. Pullen was runner-up in the first encounter with Foden occupying that position in the other two.
Hickford Construction MG Metro Cup & Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup
The Hickford Construction MG Metro Cup & Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup series shared track time for their Double Header. They had a race each day. On Saturday, Paul Hoggins (Audi TT) took the lead from row 2 and had the straight-line speed to keep the Golf GTi of Simon Tomlinson at bay until lap 6 when there was a change in position which meant victory went to Tomlinson. Ken Lark was third in his VW Corrado.
During Sunday’s battle between Hoggins and Tomlinson, the Audi was leading down Park Straight when a slight technical issue developed. Hoggins could feel the car slowing and moved off the racing line. However, because Tomlinson could see he was gaining on Hoggins (but would have had no one way of knowing why) he also pulled off the racing line to overtake. This put them on course for a sadly inevitable collision which sent them into the tyre wall, bringing out the red flags. Tim Evans (Audi TT) won the restart from Luke Shaw’s Scirocco and the Audi A3 of Paul Dunningham.
In the Metro Cup, Jack Ashton made it 6 wins out of the 6 races he has entered this season after taking a brace at this meeting.
Clapham North MOT Mazda MX5 Clubman Championship
The Clapham North MOT Mazda MX5 Clubman Championship contenders had 2 races on Saturday. In the first of these, Jordan Pimley started from pole but on the first lap Jonny Greensmith ploughed into him at Park Corner when his brakes failed due to pad knock-off. This meant Pimley had to come back up the order from twelfth position. He finished fourth as Jake Paice took the win from Matt Flowers and Martin Tolley.
Their second outing was twice red flagged due to first lap incidents. When the drivers finally made it to the chequered flag, Pimley took a narrow victory from Paice with Tolley third.
Modified Ford Series
Although Dave Cockell only had a 2.3 litre Escort, its turbo meant he had the power to beat the 7 litre Falcon of Andy Robinson both times the cars in the Modified Ford Series took to the tarmac. Simon Light’s 5 litre Capri was looking likely to take a brace of third places when he retired from the second encounter. He reported that this was due to the “diff making horrible noises”! This meant James Allen’s Focus RS completed the podium on this occasion.
Darlington & District Motor Club’s Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship
After driveshaft failure on his Eclipse during qualifying for the 2 Darlington & District Motor Club’s Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship races, Paul Collingwood spectacularly battled through from 24th on the grid to finish second in Saturday’s encounter, 4 secs behind the mighty Holden Commodore of Andy Wilson and ahead of Mike Cutt in his BMW M3. The winning Aussie V8 wasn’t as mighty as it could have been because, due to a failed spark plug, it was only running on 7 cylinders.
The plug was replaced in time for Wilson to line up on Sunday’s grid with his engine running on full song but on the second lap he lost 2 cylinders and so, not wanting to continue on just 6 cylinders, he retired. This meant Cutt took the spoils ahead of Daniel Kell’s Sierra Cosworth 4×4 and Damien McKay (Westfield). Collingwood once again started from the back, finishing fifth.
MG Cockshoot Cup
David Morrison and Keith Egar finish first and second in their MG Midgets in both of the MG Cockshoot Cup races. The MGF of Chris Greenbank was running third in the opening contest but retired with an overheating engine, handing the position to Peter Bramble’s MGB. The car of Greenbank was repaired when the MG drivers returned to the tarmac and came through from the back of the grid to claim the final step on the podium.
Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge
George Foxlow is rapidly becoming the man to beat in the Vinyl Detail Fiesta ST150 Challenge, having twice finished runner-up to guest driver Ethan Rogers last time out at Oulton Park. He completed a hat-trick of wins at Cadwell Park.
Sam Watkins and Michael Blackburn finished second and third in race 1 with their positions reversed next time out. The final outing for these Mk6 Fiestas featured a partially reversed grid but Watkins was absent due to a blown head gasket. He was disappointed as he always enjoys it when the grid gets reversed.
Sophie Kinghorn had started the third encounter from pole and held the lead for much of the contest. When Blackburn’s attempt to pass her with 3 laps to go failed, he dropped to third behind Foxlow. Then, on the final circuit, both Foxlow and Blackburn overtook Kinghorn demoting her to the final step of the podium.
Clapham North Mazda MX5 SuperCup Championship
Will Blackwell-Chambers won both rounds of the Clapham North Mazda MX5 SuperCup Championship at Cadwell Park. Ollie Hall and Tom Langford finished second & third and then third & second.
Due to an incident at the entrance to the circuit which required the attendance of the circuit’s medical resources, the final race of the weekend – due to be the third MX5 SuperCup encounter – did not take place.
Thank you!
The BRSCC would like to thank all marshals and officials for their support at this meeting especially those who attended the incident at the entrance to Cadwell Park on Sunday afternoon.
Dave Williams