All images courtesy of Jon Elsey
Some of the best racing yet in SuperCup…..
17 SuperCup drivers made the journey onto the windswept Island of Anglesey for rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the BRSCC MX-5 SuperCup championship, one of the longest trips to any circuit for the majority involved in UK motorsport.
Those that made the journey were not disappointed, as the fabulous scenery and circuit made a great setting for some of the best racing the SuperCup has seen this year. Despite warnings of a hurricane and torrential rain only one SuperCup session was rain affected with changeable conditions in race two. The rest of the weekend remaining dry and bright if a little breezy! Notably absent from the entry list was second in the championship, David Chapman, meaning leader Mike Comber had the opportunity to take a significant step in sealing the title this weekend…
Saturday
Practice
A 20 minute free practice kicked off the weekend’s action and gave the first indication of who would be the dominant force of the meeting. Abbie Eaton, runner up last time out at Snetterton and fourth in the championship standings posted a time 0.7 of a second clear of championship leader Comber to top the time sheets for the first time this year the only driver to dip below the 1.20 mark. Returning to the championship was car #18 of Paul Sheard, always a bench mark for pace and third on the time sheets ahead of guest Driver Anthony Nield also of Paul Sheard Autos. Behind, just 2 seconds covered the drivers from 1st down to Adam brindle in 9th in what was already set up to be a mega competitive weekends racing.
Qualifying
Abbie Eaton picked up where she left off in free practice posting a near identical time to take her first pole of the season with a 1.19.660 demonstrating the speed & consistency of her car and driving. The dry and bright circuit conditions for the mid-day session meant that the tyres and the circuit went away from the drivers after only a handful of laps and anyone failing to set a time early in the session found themselves lower down the order. Sheard improved his time from the morning session to join Eaton on the front row, also dipping into the 1.19’s. Tom Roche and Liam Murphy both improved their times to take positions on row two. Liam had celebrated his 18th birthday a day earlier with a replica model of his MX5 race car and a cake being presented by the SuperCup organisers.
Liam Murphy had his 18th birthday at Anglesey!
New to the SuperCup this year Garry Townsend impressed taking 8th position on the grid as he continues to get to grips with his new car while championship leader Comber recorded his lowest grid start of the season down in fifth. As always with the SuperCup, times were tight right down the field setting the scene for an exciting race 1 later in the afternoon.
Race 1
Look how close the racing is!!
Off the line for the first time Liam Murphy suffered a driveline failure on the second row with drivers behind doing a superb job to avoid him as they barrelled into the first turn. Drivers jostled for position on the opening lap and arrived nose to tail at the corkscrew to waved yellows. As the drivers exited the final turn at near full racing speed they encountered a stationary Land Rover safety car parked in the centre of the track. As everyone desperately slowed to avoid the hitting the safety car, Abbie Eaton was forced onto the grass in avoiding action and farther back John Davies went into a near spin avoiding the queue of cars in front. Fortunately no one made contact with either the other cars or the pit wall and, disaster averted, the race was red flagged and restarted to allow removal of Murphy’s stricken car from the circuit infield.
From the restart Eaton lead from pole followed closely by Sheard in second but after only one lap she had already opened a small gap to Sheard who was coming under increasing pressure from Roche in third. From then on Eaton set a pace which could not be matched as she edged away at the front by nearly half a second a lap to take her first SuperCup win of 2014 and become the 4th different winner this year. Behind, a five car battle ensued for second position between Roche, Sheard, Comber, Anthony Nield and Matt Davies the five cars running nose to tail and up to three abreast at points in the race, swapping places each lap and demonstrating the kind of racing for which the SuperCup is renowned. By lap 7 Roche and Comber had made moves on Sheard stick and began to try to peg the gap to Eaton but were unable to make inroads into what was by now a 5.5 second lead, Roche finishing second having pulled a small gap to Comber in third by the flag. At the line just one second covered fourth to sixth, Sheard managing to hold off Nield and Davies as his tyres went off.
Three abreast chasing Abbie Eaton
Behind, the lead bunch, Chris Lord and Rob Way enjoyed a race long battle briefly joined by a recovering Townsend before another mistake left Way and Lord to fight it out to the flag, Way just ahead at the line with Steven Andrew in a solid 9th just behind. Julian Taylor and Geoff Gouriet both found more pace than they had in qualifying, moving up the field and hence the starting order for race 2. Fastest lap and extra point went to race winner Eaton and the words ‘race of the day’ appeared more than once on social media.
Race 1 Podium Eaton, Roche and Sheard.
The competitiveness and raw speed of the SuperCup cars is underlined by the fact that Abbie Eaton’s fastest lap would have ranked her fifth amongst the Porsche Boxsters, which have over 100bhp more, in their race which took place just before!
Sunday
Race 2
There was drama prior to the start as at the last minute a second amended grid sheet was handed to drivers and officials confirming that championship leader Mike Comber had been excluded from the results of race one by the Clark of the Course because of a technical infringement. For Comber this means a zero score in the championship, which cannot be dropped, and he would have to start from the back of the grid for race 2 of the weekend. Also receiving penalties which moved them down the grid were Garry Townsend and Simon Fleet as the officials continue to enforce a policy of no contact on circuit.
Driving rain in the collecting area, which eased before the drivers joined the grid, left the circuit greasy with damp patches as two green flag laps were signalled. This didn’t affect Eaton as she got the jump off the line to lead the opening lap by over two seconds from Sheard who once again fought hard with Roche. As in race one Eaton’s pace was unmatched and helped further by the frantic racing behind, she was able to take a second comfortable win of the weekend in difficult conditions, setting fastest lap again on route.
Comber fought up from the back of the grid on lap 1.
Comber made the most of the greasy circuit on the opening lap to leap from last to 7th first time over the line. From here on progress was more difficult as he first had to contend with the Davies brothers Matt then John, then Nield & Sheard. The racing here was again fantastic to watch as the drivers traded places lap after lap in the fight for 3rd, Roche having made a break in second on lap 4. As the last lap board was shown it was Matt Davies holding on for the final podium spot but a mistake in the drying conditions allowed Sheard then Comber to draft past on the long back straight, Sheard taking third ahead of Comber.
Following disappointment in race one, Murphy had worked his way back to a useful starting position for the final race in eighth, narrowly ahead of Rob Way at the line. The changing conditions had spread the remainder of the field by the flag but all drivers returned unscathed despite the Anglesey circuit’s unforgiving run off when wet, the current SuperCup set up of Eibach anti-roll bars and Gaz suspension working well in both the wet and dry.
Race 3
With conditions dry once again for the final race, Abbie Eaton was looking for the hat-trick of wins to complete a perfect weekend but with others having found more pace during the meeting the final race looked set to be the most difficult.
Surf was up for race 3.
Again as the lights went out, Eaton took the lead but this time Roche closely followed her with Comber also in tow. Roche applied the pressure to Eaton in the early laps crossing the line each time just 0.3 of second behind despite Eaton setting the fastest lap of the weekend and new lap record on lap 2. However by lap 6 Eaton had begun to edge clear opening up a lead as once again a great set-up and consistent driving allowed her to maintain the pace while others began to struggle. Both Roche and Comber faded towards the end of the race but Roche was still only 1.7 seconds behind Eaton at the flag.
Behind, the battle for fourth was again a tough one with Nield and Matt Davies pushing Sheard hard, before Davies was forced to retire with a broken drive shaft allowing Nield to concentrate on passing Sheard and take a brilliant best result of the weekend in his first outing in what is a mega competitive championship.
Chris Lord, Adam Brindle and Simon Fleet found themselves in a fight for 7th with Liam Murphy as the group closed up over the final laps of the race but with no-one able to make a decisive move to improve position the order remained the same.
The new championship lap record set by Abbie Eaton of 1.19.432 betters the previous MX5 mk3 lap record held by David Chapman racing in the sister MAX5 championship by nearly two seconds showing just how well this year’s BRSCC MX5 SuperCup drivers and cars are performing.
Abbie Eaton completed the perfect weekend at Anglesey’s Coastal circuit, topping every time sheet and taking 3x wins 3x fastest laps and a new lap record for maximum points from the weekend. With the drama from race one results and championship leader Combers zero score (which he cannot drop) Abbie Eaton takes the lead of the championship as David Chapman now must also include a zero in his championship tally.
It is now only Roche or perhaps Davies who look to be able to catch Eaton for the title, however with 6 races still to go, and as Anglesey proved, anything can happen in the SuperCup. The title race is still wide open!
Once again a big thank you to driver’s representative Ray Worley and the rest of the SuperCup Co-ordinating team who had a very busy weekend. The next meeting is at Oulton Park in three weeks’ time on the 30th August where we hope to see the new spec SuperCup cars dip below the 2.00 minute mark on the International layout.
Full Results: http://www.tsl-timing.com/brscc/2014/143232xsc.pdf
Championship Standings: http://www.mx5supercup.co.uk/standings
