British Racing & Sports Car Club
Race
REPORT
BRSCC MAZDA MX-5 CHAMPIONSHIP
2016
SILVERSTONE
October 15th/16th, 2016 | Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Words Scott Woodwiss Pictures Jonathan Elsey
Silverstone
Ali Bray shone on his BRSCC Mazda
debut by claiming pole position.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
S
O, this was it - after 7 gruelling
race weekends including a trip
across the Channel to continental
Europe, through 16 tough and
exciting races, the 2016 BRSCC
Mazda MX-5 Championship all came
down to the final 3 races of the season.
Blendini Motorsport’s Tom Roche headed
to the Silverstone International circuit
in Northamptonshire with at least a 70
point advantage over his rivals in the
championship and a maximum of 306
points on offer from the triple header that
lay ahead over the weekend. No doubt
his closest competitors such as Simon
Baldwin, Michael Fisk and Oliver Allwood
would be doing everything in their power
to try and at least halt his celebrations
prematurely.
A bumper entry of 47 cars would take
to the track including some new and
returning faces. Newcomers included
former Ford Fiesta champion John
Langridge in his first race in a rear wheel
drive car, Patrick Lay, Adrian and Charlie
Burge and Sam Tatler, someone who
was no stranger to racing a Mk1 MX-5.
Returnees came in the shape of Ben
Hancy, Aaron Mason, Jack Warry and
Courtney Milnes. Another interesting
addition to the grid would be AB
Motorsport team boss Ali Bray, keen to
show his abilities behind the wheel of one
of his own machines and even become the
proverbial cat amongst the championship
contending pigeons.
Qualifying
T
■■ Tom Roche had three lap times disallowed for exceeding track limits in Qualifying 1.
2
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
HE first group’s session
turned out to be something
of a formality for Roche as
once more he ended it fastest,
however it didn’t go 100%
smoothly. After exploring the track limits
one too many times, Roche ended up
having 3 times disallowed for straying over
the white line too much.
Even so, his best time was still two
tenths quicker than Stuart Symonds,
carrying on from Rockingham as the
chosen driver in the Club 100 car. Clive
Powles was only another 3 tenths back
with 3rd fastest while the ever improving
Jake Bailey was making sure he was ending
his first season strong with 4th quickest
from Paul Tucker 5th, Simon Goddard 6th
and William Stephenson 7th, although
the latter was another driver to have a lap
disallowed for the same reason as Roche.
Kevin Brent took 8th quickest time,
Richard Collins also had exceeded track
limits to lose a lap and wind up 9th, while
Jack Brewer could do no better than the
bottom of the top 10 in Group 1.
For Group 2, the result came as
something of a small surprise - come the
end of the session Ali Bray had posted the
fastest time of anyone across qualifying
including, incredibly, Tom Roche!
James Harris was also a man who had
returned and brought pace with him in
2nd fastest ahead of Bray’s teammates in
Michael Fisk and Oliver Allwood, although
Fisk was yet another man to lose a time for
track limits.
Simon Baldwin couldn’t better 5th
quickest ahead of Paul Maguire and an
impressive showing from Sam Tatler with
7th, ahead of Joshua Jackson in 8th, John
Langridge managing a very respectable 9th
fastest and Paul Bateman winding up 10th.
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
■■ Above: James Harris and Simon Baldwin set the second and fifth quickest times in session 2.
■■ Below Left: A fourth row start for Oliver Allwood while Clive Powles (below right) went one better.
Qualifying 1 results
GROUP A
GROUP B
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
3
Silverstone
Stuart Symonds narrowly
missed out on a front
row start.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Qualifying 2 results
GROUP A
GROUP B
■■ Paul Maguire and Joshua Jackson.
4
■■ Michael Fisk drifts on to Hangar Straight.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
■■ Jake Bailey pursued by Paul Tucker.
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
■■ Ali Bray hops over the kerbs to try and gain an advantage over Tom Roche during the opening lap.
Race 1A
S
O, as the times shook out for the
grid for the first Group A race, it
was indeed Ali Bray lining up on
pole position as he occupied the
space that his front row partner
Tom Roche could usually be found. James
Harris and Stuart Symonds formed the
2nd row ahead of Michael Fisk and Clive
Powles, with Oliver Allwood forced to
start from 7th place on Row 4 next to Jake
Bailey in 8th. Simon Baldwin and Paul
Tucker were the two men who would make
up the top 10 as the start loomed.
Getting away from the line, Roche picked
up the better start from the outside of the
front row and held the lead into the first
corner of Abbey, yet by the time the he
made it towards the right hander turning
onto the Hangar Straight, Bray was back
alongside on his left and attacking for
■■ Simon Baldwin and Simon Goddard battle for position.
1st. For a moment the pair made contact
just before they hit the brakes, putting
Roche out of shape which compromised
his corner speed. By the end of Hangar
straight, it was in fact Michael Fisk who led
as he’d powered past both men in front of
him with Bray also following his teammate
through around the outside at Stowe. With
Symonds also throwing himself into the
mix and attacking Bray and Roche on the
inside at Vale and Club, it left Fisk to lead
an AB Motorsport 1-2-3 across the line with
Roche looking on in 4th.
James Harris and Simon Baldwin would
also try their luck at pushing Roche even
further down the order to as low as 6th on
Lap 2, but the #125 made sure he wouldn’t
stay there for long as he made his way
back past Baldwin by Stowe on the same
lap before taking Harris into Village on the
next one.
Now back into 4th, Roche set about his
next target in Ali Bray and making sure
no time was wasted he only had to wait
until the braking zone for Vale to pounce,
pushing him back onto the podium in 3rd
by the completion of Lap 4.
Stuart Symonds made it easy for Roche
to gain yet another place after a mishap on
Lap 5 would see him drop all the way down
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
5
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Jack Brewer takes to the kerbs in an attempt to
pass Adam Craig. While Richard Collins,
Sam Bailey and Paul Bateman look on.
to 11th place and outside the top 10, where
he would then continue to struggle further
before contact with Jake Bailey at Stowe
on Lap 8 sent the #14 spinning and further
down the pack.
Meanwhile, Roche was quick to make
sure that Michael Fisk would once again
be denied his first MX-5 victory as he
hunted the #8 down until Lap 11, where he
would complete the same pass he made on
Harris several laps earlier to take his now
more familiar place in the lead. For the
remaining 4 laps of the race (15 in total),
this is where he would stay despite a late
challenge from Fisk right at the end, as he
took the chequered flag with a magnificent
display of driving through the top 10 to
rack up win #15 for his 2016 Mk1 tally.
Fisk did have to settle for 2nd place
once again but had looked as impressive
as ever whilst leading for over 2/3rds race
distance virtually unchallenged, but the
same couldn’t be said over 3rd place. Ali
Bray had to deal with an advancing James
■■ Clive Powles, Paul Tucker and Stuart Symonds get up close and personal at The Link.
6
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
Harris shortly after being passed by Roche
before both Simon Baldwin and Oliver
Allwood threw themselves into the mix to
make it more interesting.
Eventually the quartet would be all
together with Baldwin passing Bray onto
the Hangar straight on Lap 13, but seconds
afterwards Bray was keeping his foot in to
Baldwin’s inside with two wheels on the
grass on the run to Stowe. Harris fought
his way past for 4th at Baldwin’s expense
before a spin at Vale put the #48 out of
contention with his title hopes starting to
fade.
Eventually it was Oliver Allwood who
was classified as the final man on the
podium after Bray was handed a 5 second
penalty for track limits which dropped him
behind his fellow AB Motorsport driver to
4th.
Simon Goddard was able to complete
a fairly quiet race in 5th ahead of the
recovering Simon Baldwin who had to
settle for 6th. James Harris was also given
a time penalty with 1 second added on
to his race time following a Clerk of the
Course Decision which left him 7th, with
championship regulars Clive Powles and
Paul Tucker coming in behind in 8th and
9th. The final top 10 spot was taken by
Sam Tatler, enjoying his first BRSCC MX-5
experience and taking a 10th place for his
efforts on his initial outing.
Silverstone
Michael Fisk takes the early lead.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Driver tracker
GRID POSITION
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
LAP 1 LAP 2 LAP 3 LAP 4 LAP 5 LAP 6 LAP 7 LAP 8 LAP 9 LAP 10 LAP 11 LAP 12 LAP 13 LAP 14 LAP 15
FINISHING POSITION
1 Tom ROCHE (+1)
2 Michael FISK (+3)
3 Ali BRAY (-2)*
4 Oliver ALLWOOD (+3)
5 Simon GODDARD (+6)
6 James HARRIS (-3)*
7 Simon BALDWIN (+3)
8 Clive POWLES (-2)
9 Stuart SYMONDS (-5) *
10 Paul TUCKER (-)
11 Sam TATLER (+1)
12 Paul MAGUIRE (+6)
13 John LANGRIDGE (+3)
14 Jake BAILEY (-6)
15 William STEPHENSON (-2)
16 Joshua JACKSON (-2)*
17 Kevin BRENT (-2)
18 Adam CRAIG (+3)*
19 Jack BREWER (+1)
20 Sam BAILEY (+3)
21 Paul BATEMAN (-2)
22 Richard COLLINS (-5)
23 Patrick COLLINS (-1)
Ali BRAY
Tom ROCHE
James HARRIS
Stuart SYMONDS
Michael FISK
Clive POWLES
Oliver ALLWOOD
Jake BAILEY
Simon BALDWIN
Paul TUCKER
Simon GODDARD
Sam TATLER
William STEPHENSON
Joshua JACKSON
Kevin BRENT
John LANGRIDGE
Richard COLLINS
Paul MAGUIRE
Paul BATEMAN
Jack BREWER
Adam CRAIG
Patrick COLLINS
Sam BAILEY
*Driver later received time penalty which may have resulted in them falling down the results order.
■■ Paul Bateman chased by Sam Bailey.
■■ John Langridge impressed in his first MX-5 race.
■■ Kevin Brent with Jack Brewer hounding him.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
7
Silverstone
Sam Tatler and Paul Maguire run nose-to-tail
in their quest for a top ten finish.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Race 1A results
RELEGATED
Oliver Allwood claimed the
final podium position.
8
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
Silverstone
Patrick Lay marked his first outing
in an MX-5 with a victory.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Race 1B
T
HERE was another first for
the Mk1 Championship as for
the initial Group B race of the
weekend, Courtney Milnes
became the first female Mk1
driver to start a race from pole position,
with Martyn Canning lined up alongside
on the front row for company. A fine effort
from Michael Close gave him 3rd on the
grid next to Patrick Lay on Row 2, ahead of
Matt Pickford in 5th and debutant Charlie
Burge in 6th.
The returning Jack Warry settled for
lining up 7th with Scott Ferguson on the
4th row, with Darren Stapleton and Bryn
Griffiths round out the top 10 ahead of
■■ Courtney Milnes launches herself off the sausage kerb at the Link..
Michael Lawson and Ivan Leary.
From the front row pair, it was Canning
who made the better getaway as he took
the lead from polesitter Milnes, Close and
the fast starting duo of Burge and Warry.
While Canning would indeed make sure he
would be the one to lead the opening lap,
both Milnes and the charging Warry had
other ideas. As the three cars headed into
Stowe three abreast, Warry and Canning
made contact leaving both cars frantically
fighting for control on the outside of the
corner.
This left Milnes, who had opted to stay
clear of the drama unfolding in front of
her, to take the lead and start to build a
gap which at one point would reach over 4
seconds to 2nd place.
Warry’s fun didn’t stop there as on Lap
3 he found himself launching over the
inner orange kerbs on the exit of Village
allowing both Canning and Patrick Lay to
push him down to 4th. Canning, however,
wasn’t destined to finish this race as sadly
his encounter came to an end on Lap 6.
Caught on the outside of a 3-way duel
with Michael Close and Darren Stapleton,
Canning was edged off inadvertently
by Stapleton at Stowe, leaving the #291
beached in the gravel with a less than ideal
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
9
Silverstone
The pack of Mazdas swarm out
of Stowe towards Vale.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Ivan Leary.
Russ Lindsay.
start to his weekend.
During this time, Patrick Lay had taken
up the role of silent assassin as over the
course of the next couple of laps he began
to eat away at Milnes’ lead advantage at
the rate of at least half a second a lap. By
Lap 10, it was down to less than a second
and two laps later he elected to make
his move around the outside of Stowe to
snatch the lead.
Milnes tried desperately to defend
immediately into the next corner but only
found herself locking her brakes and just
hitting the edge of the gravel trap, forcing
her to reverse and rejoin back down in 4th
place.
From there, Lay drove as if he’d been in
the championship for ages despite this
only being his first outing the Mk1 MX-5s.
He would eventually take the chequered
flag by just over a second as Jack Warry
reeled the new Blendini driver in all the
way to the end to complete an excellent
2nd place on his return encounter.
After plenty of battles in and around
the top 5 behind the leaders, it would
eventually be Charlie Burge who would
clinch 3rd place ahead of Darren Stapleton
and the recovering Courtney Milnes.
Bryn Griffiths headed an almighty
battling pack contesting 6th with Andrew
Adams, Michael Close and Ben Hancy
crossing the line behind him, while Simon
Orange came home 3 seconds back in 10th.
Charlie Burge and Michael Close go
doorhandle-to- doorhandle
around Stowe.
10
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Jack Warry, Martyn Canning and Courtney Milnes turn
into Stowe corner three abreast on the opening lap.
Driver tracker
GRID POSITION
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
LAP 1 LAP 2 LAP 3 LAP 4 LAP 5 LAP 6 LAP 7 LAP 8 LAP 9 LAP 10 LAP 11 LAP 12 LAP 13 LAP 14 LAP 15
Courtney MILNES
Martyn CANNING
Michael CLOSE
Patrick LAY
Matt PICKFORD
Charlie BURGE
Jack WARRY
Scott FERGUSON
Darren STAPLETON
Bryn GRIFFITHS
Michael LAWSON
Ivan LEARY
Aaron MASON
Simon ORANGE
Oliver ROBINSON
Ben HANCY
Nick RILEY
Anthony HUTCHINS
Simon WOODS
Clive CHISNALL
Russ LINDSAY
Paul AUSTIN
James LOVE
Andrew ADAMS
Scott Ferguson, Anthony Hutchins prepare to turn left at The Link
followed by Nick Riley Clive Chisnall and Paul Austin.
FINISHING POSITION
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Patrick LAY (+3)
Jack WARRY (+5)
Charlie BURGE (+3)
Darren STAPLETON (+5)
Courtney MILNES (-4)
Bryn GRIFFITHS (+4)
Andrew ADAMS (+17)
Michael CLOSE (-5)
Ben HANCY (+7)
Simon ORANGE (+4)
Scott FERGUSON (-3)
Oliver ROBINSON (+3)*
Simon WOODS (+7)
Ivan LEARY (-2)
Anthony HUTCHINS (+4)
Michael LAWSON (-5)
Nick RILEY (-)
Matt PICKFORD (-13)
Paul AUSTIN (+5)
Clive CHISNALL (-)*
James LOVE (+2)
Russ LINDSAY (-1)
Aaron MASON (-10)
Martyn CANNING (-22)
*Driver later excluded from results.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
11
Silverstone
Darren Stapleton is shadowed
by Jack Warry and Mike Close.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Race 1B results
PROMOTED
12
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Tom Roche leads Michael Fisk, Simon Goddard and
the rest of the pack into Abbey corner at the start of Race 2A.
Race 2A
B
Y the time the first of Sunday’s
races came around for Group
A, the heavens had opened and
heavy rain had saturated the
track significantly. Thankfully
the rain had stopped when the cars came
to form up on the grid for the start but
with a lot of standing water on the track it
was going to make conditions very tricky.
Tom Roche was back in his familiar
pole position slot with Michael Fisk again
taking up a place beside him on the front
row. Oliver Allwood and Ali Bray made
sure of an AB Motorsport 2nd row lockout
from the two Simons, Goddard and
Baldwin, on Row 3. James Harris would
start 7th alongside Clive Powles in 8th
ahead of Paul Tucker and Sam Tatler. The
next highest rookie in the field was John
Langridge as the former Fiesta champion
lined up 13th behind Paul Maguire and
Stuart Symonds.
Initially Roche didn’t get away so well
allowing Fisk and Bray to obtain better
Simon Goddard ahead of Kevin Brent,
with Sam Tatler and Will Stephenson
appearing from the gloom behind.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
13
Silverstone
Patrick Lay heads
John Langridge.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
James Harris outbrakes
Simon Baldwin.
■■ Jack Brewer.
■■ Tom Roche and Michael Fisk.
Stuart Symonds and Sam Tatler.
14
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
starts, but in the second phase Roche
was able to maintain the lead as the pack
splashed their way into Abbey for the
first time. The wall of spray from the
cars closely packed together meant that
visibility was almost at a minimum for
most drivers unless they were at the head
of the field. Bray’s wider line out of Abbey
gave him more grip to amble past Roche
before they reached Village, but as both
took the wider line through the corner
Fisk elected to stay tight in an attempt to
gain an advantage. Baldwin then dared to
put a wheel inside Fisk onto the Hangar
straight which in turn forced the #8 to
think twice about his apex. This slightly
compromised his exit speed and gave
Baldwin the inside line onto the straight.
Bray led the charge into Stowe as cars
behind him spread out to find track
position and visibility with everyone
sticking to the “karting” line on the
outside for better grip. However, Bray’s
moment in the spotlight was short lived
– trying to slow down for Vale, he was
unable to scrub off enough speed and
ended up sliding straight through the
standing water on the tarmac run-off and
deep into the gravel. Spinning his wheels
would only see him sink further, leaving
him stranded and out of the race before
the end of Lap 1.
With the conditions still as bad as when
they’d started, Roche did what he’d always
done and started to pull away in the lead
from Fisk and Baldwin with Tucker and
Powles completing the top 5. The main
area of interest, however was in the lower
half of the top 10 where there were battles
aplenty amongst the spray. James Harris
was able to pick off both Oliver Allwood
and Clive Powles on Lap 2 to move into
5th place, but the former would start to
fall into the clutches of the pursuing cars
behind him. A moment exiting the final
corner at the end of the lap allowed Jake
Bailey to slip through into 7th, but further
round the lap Allwood retook the #14 to
regain the place. The pair of them quickly
pulled away, leaving a fantastic 5 car battle
to reign over the lower end of the top 10
places.
This group consisted of Simon Goddard,
Kevin Brent, Stuart Symonds, William
Stephenson and Sam Tatler, with the first
two kicking the festivities off when Brent
passed Goddard into Abbey at the start of
lap 6 with a little light door rubbing. Just
behind, Symonds and Stephenson were
going side to side for almost half a lap with
Stephenson’s nose fractionally in front
the entire time and Tatler watching on
with great interest. Immediately, Symonds
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Kevin Brent with Simon Goddard,
Stuart Symonds and Sam
Tatler behind.
Clive Powles and Oli
ver Allwood.
began focusing his attentions on Goddard
and thought about a move outside of
Stowe but to no avail. Tatler then threw
himself straight into the mix with an
impressive outside move through Club
to slither past Stephenson
and set about attacking
Stephenson straight away.
Whilst all this was going on,
leader Roche was once again
doing as he pleased in the lead.
With Fisk unable to close in to less than 3.5
seconds by the flag, it would be #16 for the
Blendini man as he drifted his way across
the line to win in fine style. Fisk would
indeed take another 2nd place ahead of
Simon Baldwin, who resisted a mid-race
attack from James Harris to stand on the
final podium step. Harris’ efforts were
good enough for 4th after an aggressive
opening couple of laps helped him up the
order, ahead of Paul Tucker whose efforts
were helping him finish the season strong
with 5th place. Oliver Allwood took 6th
place from Clive Powles, while William
Stephenson would end up as the winner
of the duels throughout the second half
of the race to clinch 9th ahead of Kevin
Brent.
Michael Fisk splashes his
way to second place.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
15
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
A positive BRSCC Mazda debut
for Sam Tatler.
Driver tracker
GRID POSITION
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
LAP 1
LAP 2
LAP 3
LAP 4
LAP 5
LAP 6
Tom ROCHE
Michael FISK
Oliver ALLWOOD
Ali BRAY
Simon GODDARD
Simon BALDWIN
James HARRIS
Clive POWLES
Paul TUCKER
Sam TATLER
Paul MAGUIRE
Stuart SYMONDS
John LANGRIDGE
Jake BAILEY
William STEPHENSON
Kevin BRENT
Jack BREWER
Sam BAILEY
Patrick LAY
Jack WARRY
Darren STAPLETON
Bryn GRIFFITHS
Paul Maguire, Sam Bailey
and Jack Brewer.
16
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
LAP 7 LAP 8
LAP 9 LAP 10 LAP 11
LAP 12 LAP 13
FINISHING POSITION
1 Tom ROCHE (-)
2 Michael FISK (-)
3 James HARRIS (+4)
4 Simon BALDWIN (+2)
5 Paul TUCKER (+4)
6 Oliver ALLWOOD (-3)
7 Clive POWLES (+1)
8 Jake BAILEY (+6)
9 William STEPHENSON (+6)
10 Kevin BRENT (+6)
11 Stuart SYMONDS (+1)
12 Jack BREWER (+5)
13 Sam TATLER (-3)
14 Paul MAGUIRE (-3)
15 Sam BAILEY (+3)
16 Simon GODDARD (-11)
17 Patrick LAY (+2)
18 John LANGRIDGE (-5)
19 Jack WARRY (+1)
20 Darren STAPLETON (+1)
21 Bryn GRIFFITHS (+1)
22 Ali BRAY (-18)
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Clive Powles and Oliver
Allwood dispute sixth place.
Race 2A results
RELEGATED
Ali Bray (right) would end his
race in the Vale gravel trap.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
17
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Richard Collins on his
way to victory.
Race 2B
T
HANKFULLY the appearance of
the sun, along with the running
of other races that weekend
in between, had helped the
track dry out a little more by
the time the second Group B race rolled
around. Joshua Jackson held pole position
with Paul Bateman alongside him ahead
of Richard Collins and Adam Craig on Row
2 and Patrick Collins and Bryn Griffiths
on Row 3. Andrew Adams would have to
settle with starting 7th next to Michael
Close on the 4th row with Ben Hancy and
Simon Orange completing the top 10.
Jackson caught the best start of everyone
and had a clear advantage as he turned
into Abbey for the first time with Richard
Collins already trying to give chase in 2nd
and his namesake Patrick in 3rd. By the
time the pack turned onto the Hangar
Straight for the first time, the top 3 were
already trying to make a break leaving
Adam Craig to find off the rest of the top
10 for the remainder of the opening lap.
Amongst them, Michael Close was trying
to make moves as he lined up Orange
to the inside of Stowe to steal 5th, but
oversteer on the exit put paid to that
attempt.
Ben Hancy would also fall foul of the
tricky conditions moments later after a
18
spin at Vale pushed him way down the
order.
Jackson’s lead would only last for just
over two laps as Richard Collins made
sure of reeling him in and applying the
pressure. An attempted pass into Village
on Lap 3 didn’t stick and running wide
onto the Hangar Straight only just about
helped him hold on. However, the better
grip on the outside of Stowe was enough
■■ Michael Close just missed out on a top ten finish..
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
to finally make it stick and the #5 was
able to hit the front. From there the race
pretty much stabilized and the order
stayed as it was. While Richard Collins
wasn’t streaking away as the conditions
improved lap on lap, he was still edging
away from Jackson by a couple of tenths a
lap. Behind the leading pair Paul Bateman
was maintaining 3rd after starting on the
front row of the grid and after dropping to
Silverstone
Paul Austin leads Ivan Leary, Nick Riley,
Aaron Mason, Russ Lindsay, Oliver
Robinson, Martyn Canning and James
Love onto Hangar Straight.
5th on the opening lap, he’d found a way
past both Patrick Collins and Adam Craig
to move into the podium positions.
As it was, this is how the top 3 would
remain come the end of the race. Richard
Collins would cross the line to claim
another Group B victory in 2016 followed
home by Jackson in 2nd some 3 seconds
further back. Bateman’s race ended up
being a rather lonely one to 3rd after his
progress on Lap 2 and was 5 seconds
behind Jackson by the time he took the
flag. A last gasp scrap for 4th between
Adam Craig and Simon Orange went right
down to the wire as the pair finished just
two tenths apart from each other, despite
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Craig being able to maintain a comfortable
advantage for most of the race right until
the final lap. Patrick Collins was forced to
make do with 6th position, but did enjoy
a brief battle with Andrew Adams midway
through the race. Adams made a move
stick into Stowe down the inside on Lap
8, but just moments later the Go4It driver
locked up on the wet surface and spun out
onto the tarmac run-off.
He would rejoin moments later after
losing a further place to Aaron Mason,
which is the order they would finish in the
end. Oliver Robinson took an improved
9th place while the recovering Ben Hancy
salvaged a top 10 after his first lap spin.
Anthony Hutchins leads Ivan Leary.
Simon Orange and Simon
Woods battle it out.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
19
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Joshua Jackson lost out
to Richard Collins.
Driver tracker
GRID POSITION
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
LAP 1
LAP 2
LAP 3
LAP 4
LAP 5
LAP 6
LAP 7
LAP 8
LAP 9
LAP 10
LAP 11
*Driver later received time penalty which may have resulted in them falling down the results order.
■■ Ben Hancy.
20
LAP 12
FINISHING POSITION
1 Richard COLLINS (+2)
2 Joshua JACKSON (-1)
3 Paul BATEMAN (-1)
4 Adam CRAIG (-)
5 Simon ORANGE (+4)
6 Patrick COLLINS (-1)
7 Aaron MASON (+13)
8 Andrew ADAMS (-2)
9 Oliver ROBINSON (+15)
10 Ben HANCY (-2)
11 Michael CLOSE (-4)
12 Scott FERGUSON (-2)*
13 Anthony HUTCHINS (-)
14 Ivan LEARY (-2)
15 Martyn CANNING (+6)
16 Paul AUSTIN (+1)
17 Clive CHISNALL (+6)
18 Michael LAWSON (-4)
19 Nick RILEY (-4)
20 Simon WOODS (-9)
21 Matt PICKFORD (-5)
22 Adrian BURGE (-)
23 James LOVE (-5)
24 Russ LINDSAY (-5)
Joshua JACKSON
Paul BATEMAN
Richard COLLINS
Adam CRAIG
Patrick COLLINS
Andrew ADAMS
Michael CLOSE
Ben HANCY
Simon ORANGE
Scott FERGUSON
Simon WOODS
Ivan LEARY
Anthony HUTCHINS
Michael LAWSON
Nick RILEY
Matt PICKFORD
Paul AUSTIN
James LOVE
Russ LINDSAY
Aaron MASON
Martyn CANNING
Adrian BURGE
Clive CHISNALL
Oliver ROBINSON
■■ Paul Bateman on his way to third position.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
■■ Adam Craig.
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Patrick Collins just missed out
on promotion to Race 3A.
Race 2B results
PROMOTED
■■ Aaron Mason.
■■ Matt Pickford.
■■ Simon Woods.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
21
Silverstone
Tom Roche comes under pressure
from Michael Fisk, Oliver Allwood,
Simon Baldwin and James Harris.
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Race 3A
I
T all came down to this – the final
20 minute encounter for Group A to
decide once and for all who would
be the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Champion.
The track had dried even further
and was in substantially better condition
however one or two damp patches were
still present as the cars formed up on the
grid for what would be their last race of
the year. Tom Roche hoped that he could
secure the title starting once again from
pole with Michael Fisk taking another
front row slot alongside him. James Harris
and Simon Baldwin made up Row 2 ahead
of Paul Tucker and Oliver Allwood on
Row 3 and Clive Powles and Jake Bailey
on Row 4. William Stephenson and Kevin
Brent would finish the top 10, while Ali
Bray was not present on the grid due to his
DNF in the previous Group A race, leaving
him to end his day in Group B later in the
afternoon.
As the lights went out for the final time,
it was Fisk that yet again had the better
start than pole man Roche and indeed
lead the 22 strong field through Abbey for
the first time once more. Roche held the
inside for 2nd from Baldwin through the
right-hander, while further in the pack,
several cars ran wide to avoid contact with
each other with Kevin Brent coming off
22
worst of all and just anchoring up before
the gravel trap caught him out. Just behind
the top 3, Tucker had made a blinding
start up to 4th spot ahead of the duelling
pair of Harris and Bailey, the former trying
to pass the latter into the right hander
onto the Hangar Straight. As Bailey held
the outside line, the momentum gained
helped him catch a tow from Tucker
and then slot through the open gap to
take 4th with Harris following suit in the
slipstream before Stowe. However, none
of them expected Clive Powles to surprise
them all and throw one up the inside at
the end of the straight leaving him to go
wheel to wheel with Bailey on the exit.
Eventually, Bailey’s luck would run out as
after some frantic scrapping through the
next two corners, the #14 dropped a wheel
on the exit curb of Club and was somehow
■■ Jake Bailey has his mirrors full exiting Stowe corner.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
avoided by everyone as he recovered from
the resulting spin. All this action and this
was only Lap 1!
The lead trio of Fisk, Roche and Baldwin
had already dropped the rest of the field
by the mid-point of Lap 2 with the leading
#8 with a familiar sight of the green
Blendini machine in his rear view mirrors.
Indeed, exiting Club for the second
time Roche had him on the ropes as the
completed Lap 2 and with the inside for
Abbey it seemed easy pickings for the #125
to get it done. Fisk held on as hard has he
could but into Village, Roche took the line
and track position with Baldwin quickly
attempting follow suit. Fisk was in no
way interested and held on down Hangar
Straight but Stowe would see Baldwin
complete his pass with Allwood also into
the mix on the completion of Lap 3.
With Harris also joining the group to
make it a leading quintet, it was beginning
to look like the win could just about go
anyone’s way. Fisk repassed Baldwin into
the complex at the start of Lap 4 and by
Stowe corner was back alongside Roche on
the outside for the lead. Bravely hanging
on, Fisk somehow took the inside for Vale
and repassed for 1st momentarily before
Roche found the undercut and was back
in front by Abbey as they began Lap 5. By
this point, it was action stations with all 5
cars locked in one of the fiercest battles of
the season in front of an enthralled crowd
of spectators.
Harris passed Allwood for 4th into
Vale before they began Lap 6 when
then seemed to signal a moment of
calm between the top 5 drivers as the
race continued to progress. There was
no further action of note until the
penultimate lap, which would see Fisk
made another move into Village to take
the lead from Roche, but now it was
Allwood that had climbed back up to 3rd
at the expense of both Harris and Baldwin
as the #63 looked on. Onto the Hangar
Straight, Fisk did everything he could to
defend from the mob behind him, but
Roche ended up leading both Allwood and
Baldwin in a 3-car draft down the inside
and past Fisk to push him off the podium
entirely. Allwood was now 2nd and had
designs on the lead into Vale with Baldwin
to his outside, but still Roche refused to
give way.
As the 5 car tussle powered on to their
final lap of the season, Roche and Allwood
had now broken away leaving Baldwin,
Fisk and Harris to fight over the final
podium place. In what seemed a fitting
scenario, the two drivers that had battled
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Eventual race winner heads James
Harris, Clive Powles, Paul Tucker
and Stuart Symonds.
Simon Orange leads Paul Bateman and Jack Brewer.
■■ Sam Bailey and Courtney Milnes.
■■ Paul Tucker turns into Vale.
Richard Collins and Adam Craig.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
23
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
so hard at the first meeting at Snetterton
were now doing exactly the same at the
final venue of 2016 with just one more tour
of the Silverstone International circuit left
to run.
Allwood remained as close as he could
through the complex and onto the Hangar
Straight, knowing that he needed to find a
way past in the remaining corners. On the
run up to Vale, Allwood threw caution to
the wind and tried an audacious outside
pass into the left-hander – and
incredibly it worked! Roche was
now on the outside into Club
leaving the door open for Allwood
to get by. Roche hung on for dear
life through the final two apexes but
despite his best efforts, he would be
denied a 17th win. For the first time
in 2016, someone had beaten Tom
Roche on track minus penalties or
DNF – Allwood had done it!
To confirm, Allwood had stolen
victory at the death by 0.032
seconds from Roche with Baldwin
coming out on top of the 3-way
dance for 3rd behind them with Fisk
and Harris taking 4th and 5th. The top 5
crossed the line only separated by just
under 1.5 seconds showing just how
close they’d been for almost the entire
■■ Above, Kevin Brent battles with Will Stephenson, Patrick Lay and Jack Brewer. (Left) Simon
Baldwin hounds Tom Roche and Michael Fisk.
race. In their own private battle for 6th,
Sam Tatler impressed many to hold off
Simon Goddard in the end by a couple of
tenths, whilst 8th place was taken by the
resurgent Jake Bailey who seemed to drive
the race of his life after his opening lap
spin.
Paul Tucker’s form in the early part of
the race appeared to have faded as he
couldn’t better 9th by the end, with Stuart
Symonds down in 10th after being handed
a 5 second penalty for track limits.
However, all of this was overshadowed
by one major fact – Tom Roche had
completed his objective and after winning
16 out of the 19 Group A races, was finally
confirmed as the 2016 BRSCC Mazda MX-5
Champion!
Driver tracker
GRID POSITION
LAP 1 LAP 2 LAP 3 LAP 4 LAP 5 LAP 6 LAP 7 LAP 8 LAP 9 LAP 10 LAP 11 LAP 12 LAP 13 LAP 14 LAP 15
1 Tom ROCHE
2 Michael FISK
3 James HARRIS
4 Simon BALDWIN
5 Paul TUCKER
6 Oliver ALLWOOD
7 Clive POWLES
8 Jake BAILEY
9 William STEPHENSON
10 Kevin BRENT
11 Stuart SYMONDS
12 Jack BREWER
13 Sam TATLER
14 Paul MAGUIRE
15 Sam BAILEY
16 Simon GODDARD
17 Patrick LAY
18 Richard COLLINS
19 Joshua JACKSON
20 Paul BATEMAN
21 Adam CRAIG
22 Simon ORANGE
23 Courtney MILNES
*Driver later received time penalty which may have resulted in them falling down the results order.
24
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
FINISHING POSITION
1 Oliver ALLWOOD (+5)
2 Tom ROCHE (-1)
3 Simon BALDWIN (+1)
4 Michael FISK (-2)
5 James HARRIS (-2)
6 Stuart SYMONDS (+5)*
7 Sam TATLER (+6)
8 Simon GODDARD (+8)
9 Jake BAILEY (-1)
10 Paul TUCKER (-5)
11 Clive POWLES (-4)
12 Richard COLLINS (+6)
13 Joshua JACKSON (+6)
14 Adam CRAIG (+8)
15 Patrick LAY (+2)
16 Courtney MILNES (+7)
17 Paul BATEMAN (+3)
18 Jack BREWER (-6)
19 Kevin BRENT (-9)
20 William STEPHENSON (-11)
21 Sam BAILEY (-6)
22 Simon ORANGE (-)*
23 Paul MAGUIRE (-9)
Will Stephenson and Patrick Lay head this titanic
eight-car scrap into the Vale chicane.
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Race 3A results
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
25
Silverstone
AB Motorsport frontman Ali Bray capped
off his BRSCC Mazda debut with
a comfortable victory in Race 3B
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Race 3B
T
HE title may have been
decided, but the racing wasn’t
quite over just yet. There was
still once more race left to go
for Group B with one or two
drivers out of place and set to make things
a little more interesting.
The circuit was now bone dry with John
Langridge finding himself in a surprise
pole position alongside Jack Warry who
was also coming full circle after starting
his first race of the season from the front
row back at Snetterton in April. Darren
Stapleton started 3rd next to Bryn Griffiths
on the second row from Ali Bray, who
admittedly was being seen as a favourite
to win, and Patrick Collins on Row 3.
Aaron Mason and Andrew Adams lined up
on Row 4 with Oliver Robinson and Ben
Hancy completing the top 10.
Warry, Griffiths and Bray all managed
great starts to form the top 3 entering
Abbey for the first time with Patrick
Collins and Langridge slotting in behind
them. By the time they’d dealt with the
Hanger Straight for the first time Bray had
managed to get around Griffiths for 2nd
and was setting off after Warry in the lead,
while behind them it was action stations
for 4th place downwards. Langridge
held it, but the likes of Andrew Adams,
Aaron Mason, Patrick Collins and more
26
were breathing down his neck but for the
moment John was holding on nicely in
what was his first race weekend in a rear
wheel drive car. One driver that wouldn’t
end the first lap the way he’d have
preferred to was Darren Stapleton who
wound up facing the wrong way exiting
the first part of Club and right down to the
back of the field.
Into the second lap, Griffiths was back
past Bray into Abbey with Langridge
forming a rear guard action in 4th from
the train forming behind them. But by
the time they all reached Stowe again the
order had changed once more. Over the
next couple of laps Bray and Langridge had
slipped past into 2nd and 3rd respectively
and pulled a gap to leave Griffiths to deal
with Andrew Adams in his defence of
4th. This eventually came to nothing on
Lap 4 into Vale as Adams also made his
move to put Griffiths back to 5th position.
■■ A strong drive from Charlie Burge saw the rookie racer gain an impressive 16 places.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
On the same lap Bray had caught and
passed Warry to take the lead as many
had suspected he would, leaving him out
in front while Langridge did his best to
close in. It wouldn’t long before the #7 had
caught Warry and after some back and
forth passing, on Lap 9 the former Fiesta
champion dived up the inside at Village to
make it an AB Motorsport 1-2.
Langridge held on for a couple of laps
before Warry came back at him, prompting
more dicing between the pair of them.
Warry would eventually retake 2nd
place for good with Langridge dropping
back somewhat in the closing stages
to consolidate 3rd, with no real threat
from any of the drivers behind to worry
about. As it was, Ali Bray was able to take
home some silverware of his own on this
occasion as he rounded off the final laps
to take his first win of 2016 in his only
appearance in one of his self-prepared
cars. Warry did incredibly well to finish
his comeback and indeed debut season in
the Championship with a 2nd place while
the aforementioned Langridge did go on
to take 3rd. Patrick Collins had his work
cut out to fight his way up from as low
as 7th at one point to eventually become
involved in a mid-race tussle with Andrew
Adams to take 4th on Lap 13 and stay
there until the flag with Adams remaining
behind in 5th. Michael Close would have
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
■■ Former Ford Fiesta champion John Langridge claimed third position.
been pleased to take an improved 6th
place ahead of Simon Woods in 7th, while
Charlie Burge could take away positives
from the weekend with an 8th place for his
troubles. Ivan Leary was lower than he’d
have liked in 9th position with Ben Hancy
the last man to complete the top 10.
So, there we are – 2016 is done and
dusted and from the first time the lights
went out back at Snetterton in April it
looked as though this year’s Championship
was only ever going to be about one man,
one car and one number – Tom Roche and
his mean, green Blendini machine of #125.
With 16 wins, a 2nd and a 3rd to his name
in the races he finished, Roche’s ability is
now unquestionable.
There now remains an important
question – just who will be the one to
step up in 2017 in a bid to claim the #1 for
his own. Is it going to be three times the
charm for Simon Baldwin? Can Michael
Fisk finally get that first win under his
belt? Will the lessons of the Global MX-5
Cup Invitational at Laguna Seca help put
Ollie Allwood as the favourite? Is there
someone else that will cause a surprise
and end up going for the title? Or, dare we
say it – will Roche be back for another year
of domination?
Driver tracker
GRID POSITION
LAP 1 LAP 2 LAP 3 LAP 4 LAP 5 LAP 6 LAP 7 LAP 8 LAP 9 LAP 10 LAP 11 LAP 12 LAP 13 LAP 14 LAP 15
FINISHING POSITION
1 John LANGRIDGE
1 Ali BRAY (+4)
2 Jack WARRY
2 Jack WARRY (-)
3 Darren STAPLETON
3 John LANGRIDGE (-2)
4 Bryn GRIFFITHS
4 Patrick COLLINS (+2)
5 Ali BRAY
5 Andrew ADAMS (+3)
6 Patrick COLLINS
6 Michael CLOSE (+5)
7 Aaron MASON
7 Simon WOODS (+13)
8 Andrew ADAMS
8 Charlie BURGE (+16)
9 Oliver ROBINSON
9 Martyn CANNING (+6)*
10 Ben HANCY
10 Ivan LEARY (+4)
11 Michael CLOSE
11 Ben HANCY (-1)
12 Scott FERGUSON
12 Bryn GRIFFITHS (-6)
13 Anthony HUTCHINS
13 Anthony HUTCHINS (-)
14 Ivan LEARY
14 Russ LINDSAY (+9)
15 Martyn CANNING
15 Darren STAPLETON (-12)
16 Paul AUSTIN
16 Michael LAWSON (+2)
17 Clive CHISNALL
17 Aaron MASON (-10)
18 Michael LAWSON
18 Matt PICKFORD (+3)
19 Nick RILEY
19 Oliver ROBINSON (-10)**
20 Simon WOODS
20 Clive CHISNALL (-3)
21 Matt PICKFORD
21 Scott FERGUSON (-9)
22 James LOVE
22 James LOVE (-)
23 Russ LINDSAY
23 Nick RILEY (-4)
24 Charlie BURGE
24 Paul AUSTIN (-8)
*Driver later received time penalty which may have resulted in them falling down the results order. **Driver excluded from results.
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
27
Silverstone
Rounds 17, 18 & 19
Race 3B results
28
BRSCC Mazda MX-5 Championship Season Review 2016
Jack Warry claimed the
runner’s-up silverware.