After both had a break from the cockpit of a racing car, Tom McArthur and Jamie Jardine went home with silverware when they made a welcome return to the sport in the Avon Tyres Northern Formula Ford 1600 Championship during the meeting staged by the BRSCC’s North Western Centre at Anglesey Circuit during the weekend of 11th/12th August. McArthur was driving a Medina JL18 prepared by B-M Racing in which he started from second on the grid for race 1 as Jake Byrne in his family-prepared Ray GR13 had set the fastest time in qualifying but he was soon leading the opening contest of the weekend having got a better run down the back straight exiting Church on the first lap. Byrne remained on his gearbox throughout but had to settle for second in this battle for points in the Post89 Class. Meanwhile, in the Pre90s, there was more joy for B-M Racing as Jack Wolfenden took that category in third overall with a Reynard 88FF that the team had prepared. A disconnected plug lead on his Reynard 84FF caused Jardine to drop down to sixth on his return to the track. The second half of the Double Header saw a re-match between McArthur and Byrne until the latter dropped to fourth when he locked up and ran wide at Rocket as, now firing on all cylinders, Jardine charged up the order to beat Wolfenden to the Pre90 laurels claiming second overall. Michael Heath (XR2) took the first of 3 encounters for the Kerax Hyperdrive ST-XR Challenge after pole- man Michael Blackburn slipped down to third in his XR3i behind the XR2 of Steve Poole. Next time out, heavy rain arrived making conditions tricky for all. Heath held on to a huge slide through The Corkscrew but was then overtaken by Poole round the outside at Rocket on the next lap before the green hot hatch pulled away to win. William Heslop managed to claim the final place on the podium. Conditions were still damp the final time the Ford saloons took to the tarmac and Blackburn seemed to have the best car for the slippery track as he took a comfortable victory ahead of Poole and Heath. The Mazda MX5 remains a staple of BRSCC events and there were 9 races for the Japanese sportscar. In the Super Series, Brian Chandler took 3 out of 3, claiming the last of these in exuberant style with a glorious power slide out of the final corner when the rain was at its heaviest. Sam Bailey and Ben Short joined Chandler on each podium with Bailey twice claiming the runner-up position. In the MX5 Championship, Samuel Smith emulated Chandler by doing the hat-trick with John Langridge following him home every time. Oliver Allwood twice took third with Will Blackwell-Chambers taking that place on the final occasion. With enough entries for the field to be split into two groups and there were victories in the B races for Simon Orange, Lewis Cannon and Ali Bray. Adam Southgate scooped the first of the weekend’s trio of Toyo Tires Championship rounds from James Coleman and Kevin Molyneaux – all of whom were driving Boxsters. The second race was halted when Nick Hull lost control exiting the Bus Stop and slammed into the pit wall. Coleman took the restart from Southgate and Molyneaux. The result of the German cars’ final thrash was the same as the first even though this encounter required each driver to make a pit-stop to have three strips of Velcro removed from the side of their car. Gavin Johnson won the 924 Class on each occasion. Finally, the meeting featured two guest races that were part of the MG Car Club’s Cockshoot Cup. Gary Wetton and Ray Collier were rarely a car length apart in their ZRs throughout and took a win apiece. The BRSCC would like to thank all the officials and marshals who enabled the meeting to run very smoothly despite weather which was, at times, particularly inclement. Words: Dave Williams Photo: Rachel Bourne