Set against the majestic backdrop of Snowdon, with the azure Atlantic Ocean lapping its fringes over a stunning sunny 750 Motor Club weekend, endurance races for historic and modern cars contrasted with short sprints in showcasing Anglesey Circuit at its sublime best. Saturday’s 90-minute GT & Sports Car Cup race for pre-1966 machinery was characterised by Jaguar E-type charges by Nigel Greensall and Ben Mitchell that downed the venomous Cobras.
In its 20th season, the GT & Sports Car Cup’s Welsh debut was memorable. Strategic calls and good fortune found Chris ‘Lord Borneo’ Clarkson in David Smithies’ Daytona Cobra coupe a lap ahead of the Jags and the Shelby Cobra ‘Hairy Canary’ of Nick Sleep/Alex Montgomery after the race was stopped with Alice Locke’s ex-John Fitzpatrick Mini Broadspeed GTS fastback inverted on the grass at Peel having lost its left-rear wheel.
Finishing double-stinting Canadian Read Gomm and Scot John Clark’s Jaguars like the wind over the remaining half hour, Greensall and Mitchell unlapped themselves. To first-time victor Gomm’s delight, Greensall took the chequer 50 seconds clear, while Sleep blasted past Smithies for third and V8 honours. The Minshaw brothers landed category wins. Jon fought his early E-type roadster past a trio of battling Healey 3000s before installing Ben Cussons, then wrested GT3 back from Bill and Jack Rawles’ grasp. In GT2, Jason anchored Mark Hope’s MGB after the Lotus Elites faded.
Saturday’s 45-minute Roadsports championship round was for some a dress rehearsal for Sunday’s longer Club Enduro battle. Alan Henderson’s Lotus Elise led well, but in vain, for partner Daniel Jude clipped Jack Hounsham’s Ginetta G40 GT5 at Banking on his out-lap, eliminating both. Luke Woodhouse’s slinky Area Motorsport VW Golf Mk8 ran out a narrow victor over Will Puttergill/Chris Nylan’s Audi RS3 TCR. Paul Simmerson’s Porsche Cayman GT4 RS pipped Chris Bialan’s SEAT Cupra TCR for third. Oliver Harris (German Motorwerks BMW M2 CSR) and Wayne Lawson (Audi) completed the top six.
In tight class contests, dad and lad Liam and Max Crilly (BMW Z4 Coupe) beat Yan Whittaker/Mark Eynott (Cayman) by 10s, double Mazda RX-8 driver Luke Beardmore’s margin over Ben Macauley’s Elise.
Mason and Bialan broke clear of the Club Enduro masses
Photo by: Steve Jones
Boasting quality in depth, the 29-car Club Enduro grid was a feast for the senses as Simon Mason’s metronomic opening stint paved the way for a gripping 6s victory after two hours. From co-driver James Pickford’s pole, Lawson launched his hand-controlled Audi boldly into Target and for two laps the tangerine machine presided over a VAG display with Puttergill’s kingfisher blue version, Mason in Bialan’s SEAT, Scott Parkin’s bellowing Darkside Developments diesel Audi TT and Woodhouse in Rob Baker’s VW Golf GTI TCR filling his mirrors.
Mason hurtled to the front on lap three, with Parkin going after him. Woodhouse jostled into an increasingly secure third as Lawson held Harris’s BMW, Puttergill and Simmerson’s Porsche at bay for 40 minutes. There was excitement when Richard Hammond’s MX-5 went for a grassy twizzle out of Church – perfect TV fodder – then a safety car interlude when Senna Osman’s glorious BMW E30 M3 fizzled out at Rocket. Parkin pitted before the hiatus, but Mason, Woodhouse, Harris and Lawson continued.
Leader Mason relayed Bialan after 70 minutes, setting Baker – already in the Golf for three laps, having patiently remained stationary for an extra 30s of ‘previous success ballast’ – the task of reeling Jack Collins (in the Harris BMW) and him in. Collins closed to within six seconds of Bialan, but Baker clawed back most of his deficit, grabbing second in the Corkscrew six laps from home. Bialan was too experienced to squander his lead, however.
Behind chasers Baker and Collins, Pickford usurped Nylan in Puttergill’s sister Audi and was catching them all. Joe Williams (SEAT) also passed Nylan for a meritorious fifth. Ninth overall, lad and dad Ben and Lee Brookes topped class B in their Elise. Despite a brush with Lawson during busy lappery at Target, which spun the yellow car, Canadian/Italian BMW 328 duo Jonathan Hayes/Paul Subbiani won C again.
David Winter (Racekits Merlin) became the fifth different 750 Formula winner in five rounds – fortuitously, with a broken brake disc – after gearbox drive belt failure stopped defending champion Bill Cowley’s wonderful Cowley MkIV and David Reid’s HRD overheated with a split radiator on Saturday. Reid’s day came when a broken battery strap thwarted runaway leader Cowley on Sunday. “We’ve not finished here since 2017,” grimaced dad Nige, whose father Bill built the icon in 1969.
Competitors from Switzerland and France’s Alsace region bolstered the Historic 750 Formula pot pourri, but Ian Elliott prevailed twice in his unique Jomo-Reliant. His job was eased in the finale when Jo Zosso’s stalled DNC was pushed from pole, but Sam Wright challenged in his ex-John Village V2.
Osbaldeston spun out of the opener but later overcame false start penalty to win
Photo by: Steve Jones
Noah Osbaldeston spun on his own water at Rocket, collecting Dan Clowes in Saturday’s Sports 1000 round. Damage to the interlocked Mittell-Suzukis was minimal, but red flags flew. From the restart, Bovey Tracey garage owner Carl Austen coolly repelled Clowes for his second win in the ex-Paul Rogers Spire-Honda. Jonathan McGill (Spire) was overjoyed with third. Osbaldeston landed a 10s penalty for creeping at Sunday’s start, but the Suffolk teenager negated it, by a second, to win from Clowes and Austen.
From a capacity Suzuki Swift Sport field, Louis Woodward (twice) and points leader James Saggers emerged victorious. Matthew Weymouth, Michael Sanford and Jake Spencer weren’t far adrift. Saggers’ recovery from the back to 10th in the finale, having been cannoned off under braking for the Banking on lap one, was impressive. Jack Wood was the novice standout.
Andrew Thorpe’s Citroen AX’s agility was rewarded in Sunday morning’s Classic Stock Hatch opener, after promising youngster Jake Wood (Vauxhall Nova) was meatballed for a leaking fuel filler. Pete Morgan (Ford Fiesta XR2) and Ted Cooper (Nova) ran Thorpe closest. Wood outgunned Thorpe later, but Ewan Lince (Nova) regained third when Morgan was penalised a place for contact.
Darren Ransom beat Chris Lawrence in the Clio races, chased by Pete O’Connor and Joshua North respectively. Mark Witherington beat Greg Hill on Saturday in the 182 split, but 1970s Supersaloon hero Mick’s lad staved off Taylor Norton on Sunday to maintain his points lead. Leon Morrell led his troops to a clean sweep in Saturday’s Radical Club Challenges.
Morrell’s squad is riding the crest of a Radical Club Challenge wave
Photo by: Steve Jones
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– The Autosport.com Team
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