Image courtesy of Jon Elsey
The SuperCup cars looked blindingly fast in Wiltshire!
The BRSCC MX-5 SuperCup moved on to Castle Combe for the late May Bank Holiday race day, where a single day meeting would mean a packed schedule for the drivers but plenty of on track action for the many spectators that the Wiltshire circuit always attracts.
The weather forecast for the day looked good, warm temperatures and sunshine, perfect track conditions for fast times and close racing. With testing only available on awkward days prior to the bank holiday meeting, some teams had enjoyed up to 5 days camped out at the circuit! For those unable to do this, a 20 minute practice session first thing in the morning was the ideal opportunity to learn the circuit and fine tune set-up…
Practice
The first session of the day got underway at 8.30am and the 29 drivers poured out onto the circuit. A number of returning faces made their first appearance in 2015, Paul Sheard and Anthony Nield in the Paul Sheard Autos cars plus Ben Constanduros, a former guest driver, in the Orange Blendini Motorsport car.
As the session progressed the lap times began to tumble, the recently resurfaced track and opened up chicanes meaning the SuperCup cars looked impressively quick through Combes fast final corner. It was Liam Murphy followed by James Blake Baldwin, two drivers who have not had the easiest start to the season, who topped the time sheets ahead of Simon Goddard 3rd fastest.
4th was rookie driver John Munro who set an impressive time before running wide at the notorious Camp corner and hitting the tyres heavily , the car pirouetting down the start finish straight, instantly bringing out the red flags. With the tight timetable for the day there was no time to restart the session.
Surprisingly far down the time sheets were championship leaders JJ Clements and Alan Henderson, both spending time in the pits during the practice session.
Qualifying
Prior to qualifying was the drivers briefing in the BRSCC Mazda hospitality awning where the clerk of the course Glynn warned the drivers that exceeding track limits at the two chicanes would result in lap times being disallowed and penalties during the races.
At 10.50am the drivers headed out onto the circuit once again in warm, dry conditions. Early leader at the top of the time sheets was Sheard, bettering Murphy’s time and in close proximity were able use the slipstream to gain a quicker time for the following if judged just right.
George Line and Henderson spent the session taking turns to lead and it was these two who soon moved up to top the time sheets, Line going fastest by less than a tenth of a second late in the session. Throughout qualifying, times had been disallowed due to track limits but it wasn’t until the results were published that Lines times were discounted, demoting him to 17th on the grid.
This gave Henderson his 3rd SuperCup pole of the season ahead of Nield and then Murphy. As always in the SuperCup times were tight throughout the entire field, just 1 second separating 1st and 10th places on the starting grid.
Other notable performances came from Simon Traves and Adam Brindle who would start 5th and 7th respectively. Championship points leader Clements could only manage 13th on the grid after a tough session.
Race 1
First race of the afternoon and the crowds around the Castle Combe banking had grown even bigger. Off the line it was Henderson who made the best start ahead of Nield easing into the lead by the time they reached Quarry, meanwhile Murphy had bogged down heavily from the starting grid, causing bunching of the pack behind with some drivers having to take to the grass in avoidance.
By the time the first lap was completed it was Goddard up to third ahead of James Blake Baldwin but nose to tail stuff for the first 6 cars allowed Henderson to edge out a small gap at the front. Battling was frantic right through the pack.
As the cars crossed the line at the end of lap 3 a scary incident for Dan Irving as the result of a gearbox issue left him sliding along the start finish straight in front of a pack of cars at 100mph, all the following drivers doing a superb job in avoiding contact with the both Irving’s stricken car and each other. This incident brought out the safety car which unfortunately missed the leader Henderson, but instead picked up the middle of the pack.
As Irving’s car was removed by marshals some juggling of the pack was needed to bring safety car to the head of the field. Once this issue was resolved it wasn’t long before the safety car lights went out and Henderson could control the pack for the restart. Slowing the group to let the safety car get away and then making his move, Henderson was able to pull a small gap from the restart and retain his lead but the field chasing him had closed right up again.
With positions changing all the time, by lap 11 it was Sheard who had a shuffled forward in the bunch and was hunting down the leader, Henderson’s 1.4 second advantage having dwindled to nothing. For the remaining laps the fight was on between Sheard and Henderson, but the former never quite having enough pace to squeeze ahead as Henderson went on the defensive. Sheard was trying hard, using every bit of road and more to try and take the win, but as the last lap board showed it appeared he had taken too much out his tyres as Henderson took the flag 0.4 of a second ahead.
Nield completed the podium ahead of Blake-Baldwin, then Simon Goddard who took fastest lap. Throughout the field the racing was close, championship leader Clements taking a hard fought 12th place behind scholarship winner Jack Harding, George line and Adam Brindle. Despite having smoothed the track surface at Combe it is still an unforgiving circuit, a surprising number of DNFs due to contact with barriers and other minor mechanical issues.
Race 2
By the start of the second race late in the afternoon, the sky over the circuit had darkened but fortunately the rain held off. All cars bar one which had suffered issues in the first race lined up to take the start of race 2. Thanks to great work by all the teams in getting the cars ready with such short gaps between the two races.
Once again it was Henderson who led the way from the lights, but this time a great opening lap from Blake-Baldwin meant he was the man in second across the line for the start of lap 2 followed by Nield in 3rd. Once again all the drivers in the very busy SuperCup pack made it safely around Quarry on lap 1, a corner known in the past for first lap Mazda incidents.
It seemed for race two that all the drivers had got to grips with the circuit and were racing fast and clean, battles taking place right down the order. At the front it was impossible to call, Henderson leading the opening laps before Nield squeezed ahead, the order of cars behind changing every lap. This race Liam Muphy was the man on the move, making up for his poor start in race 1.
On lap 6 Henderson in 2nd lost out to Sheard at Camp corner and this cost him dearly as he was shuffled out of the queue, arriving at the next corner Quarry now in 6th. Murphy then moved passed Sheard and closed down Nield at the front. The two set about a superb battle, the lead changing several times with Murphy leading only briefly then again Nield, while Goddard was back in the mix for third position with Blake Baldwin.
On Lap 13 Nield hit the front and stayed there taking his first ever SuperCup win and becoming the third different race winner this year by just 1 tenth of a second from Murphy! Goddard hanging on to third from Henderson. Without doubt one of the most exciting SuperCup races this year and well worth a watch when aired on TV!
JJ Clements managed to salvage something from his weekend, coming home in 6th position ahead of George Line and Jonathan Greensmith. Will Chappell completed a solid weekend backing up his 7th from race one with 9th in race 2. Fastest lap and new lap record went to George Line with a 1.17.676, an impressive time which must leave him wondering what could have been if he had heeded the warnings from the driver’s briefing and avoided penalties for exceeding track limits.
Spin of the weekend goes to Ray Grimes in the Barnett and Southgate College entered car, who finished a good 200m away from the track on the grassy infield after an oversteery exit for the final corner. The college prepared car had good pace throughout the weekend though, showing that the team are getting to grips with car set up and preparation!
A busy day at Combe and now also with dropped scores coming into play leaves the championship wide open once again. Alan Henderson leads the title race from Jonathan Clements and Simon Goddard as the championship looks ahead to Snetterton for the next rounds of the 2015 MX-5 SuperCup.
