The BRSCC’s North Western Centre were in action for the second time in a week when they took charge using Oulton Park’s Island configuration on 14th June having staged a meeting Anglesey the weekend before.
Silverlake C1 Endurance Series
Who would win the 3 hour Silverlake C1 Endurance race was anyone’s guess heading into the final hour as various pit stop strategies unfolded. Red Sky Racing were leading for a long time but they were the last to make the first of their compulsory visits to the pits.
Once all the front-runners had made their stops less than 30 minutes remained and Alpha Trojan were leading Trojan Motorsport – both teams were supported by BPC Motorsport. The second placed car had the most pace and reduced the gap to nothing but with a quarter of an hour remaining, they had to hold their fire as the Safety Car took to the track because a car needed recovering from the gravel at Druids.
When the race went back to green, 5 minutes remained and within 2 corners Trojan Motorsport had taken the lead at Cascades. But 3 circuits later, on the last lap, Alpha Trojan repeated the same move at the same corner… and then it started raining – heavily! It was a thrilling climax to the race as the Alpha Trojan car remained on the black stuff to take the win.
Melboard Racing were the early leaders and finished third.
Hickford Construction MG Metro Cup & Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup
The Hickford Construction MG Metro Cup and Ricci Concept Classic VW Cup shared track time. Tim Evans was fastest in qualifying but his Audi TT refused to start when he was due to go and take his place on the grid. This left the way clear for Paul Hoggins to take the win in his similar car ahead of the SEAT Leon of Tony Hunter and Dawn Butcher in her Mk5 Golf.
As the starting order was determined by the earlier results, Evans started the second encounter from fourteenth on the grid and zoomed through to take a comfortable victory from Hoggins and Hunter.
Jack Ashton took the honours in the MG Metro Cup on both outings.
Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship
There were a couple of series making guest appearances on the programme one of which was the Darlington & District Motor Club’s Northern Saloon & Sports Car Championship.
At the front of the Saloon & Sports Car field ran Matty Cobb’s VW Beetle and the Eclipse SL1 of Paul Collingwood. Cobb came out on top in race 1 as Collingwood remained in his slipstream throughout. The Caterham of Bill Addison was third.
Later in the day, Collingwood was leading Cobb when he coasted to a halt. Addison was another retirement and so Cobb won from Scott Hubel’s Peugeot and the Westfield of Damien McKay.
SEAT SuperCup Ireland
The other guest category was the SEAT SuperCup which usually races in Ireland. It featured 2016 Formula Ford Festival winner, Niall Murray, who was making a guest appearance. He qualified on pole and won the opener from David Maguire Jnr and Max Turley. This race had to be restarted when the drivers who had started on row 2, David Maguire Snr and Rod McGovern, collided at the first corner.
Their second encounter featured a reversed grid. Adrian McNally enjoyed 5 laps in the lead – for 3 of those he had Murray large in his mirrors. When McNally asked too much of his rear tyres and nearly spun at Hislops, Murray was able to carry more speed through Knickerbrook and take the lead up Clay Hill. Behind McNally, Paul Parr was classified third.
Thank you!
The BRSCC would like to thank all the marshals and officials who enabled the meeting to run so smoothly.
Dave Williams