Curborough Championship

Report On Round 9

Results to Round 9

The second BMMC event of the year attracted a full entry and had been oversubscribed for some weeks as previously reported. There were a few late cancellations but at least the sun shone for most of the day!
The 9 car MGZR Class Sa saw a couple of late car problems which once again showed the camaraderie of Curborough Speed events as instantly double drives were offered by two of the other class competitors. The class produced another win, and a maximum, for Steve Barrow, with Jack Twomey second, also under the record but losing his best time due to a cone penalty. Third was Graham Harvey with Craig Tock fourth, sharing Jack’s car.
In Class Sc, a returning Neal Bateman, having dropped his old Fiesta ST and now Clio mounted, took the Class win from Paul Glendenning in second. Third was Wayne Parke from Paul Gough and John Adams, 4^th and 5^th respectively.
Stuart Ballinger was back to winning ways in his Mini in Class 1a, from Keith Waters’ Metro and Dean Ratcliffes’ MGZR.
In a repeat of the last round, the larger capacity Road car class again went to the MGZR of Lee Willars, with the MX5 of Melvyn Cox in 2^nd. Third was the 106 Rallye of Derrick Wallbank.
John Caldicott reversed the previous round’s result in 2La by taking the win in the Elsie scrap with David Whitely.
A two car Formula Ford class saw the Royale of Graham Cherry taking the win from David Reed’s Lotus.
The family Westfield Mega Busa battle went to Mark Williams from his dad Phil.

After 9 Rounds of the Championship, going to the final round, quite a few competitors have now started dropping worst scores, the top 8 have closed up even more!

1. Paul Glendenning       141
2. Stuart Ballinger           140
3. Lee Willars                  139
4. Jack Twomey              139
5. Steve Barrow              138
6. John Bradburn 138
7. Simon Price                 133
8. David Large                133

The Final round, is on us already !  With a good entry for the annual SDCC single lapper it should be a fitting Finale and a good fight for the Championship Top 3 positions, and some class positions as well.  Hope to see most of you there.

Steve Wood

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 8

Results up to Round 8

The MCMRC figure of eight Sprint attracted almost a full entry, as a couple of late cancellations reduced the numbers on the day, and yes, we had rain again!

The event kicked off with a 12 car MGZR Class Sa and produced another win for Steve Barrow, from the ever improving Mike Smith in second. Third was Graham Harvey just holding off Craig Tock, with less than 0.3 secs splitting 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th! David Owen and Les Wilson were a close 5^th and 6^th, and FTD, or “Fastest Tent of the Day” , went to Julian Fishwick whose small tent caught a gust of wind, as he packed away after the final run, and tried to do a lap of honour around the track!

In Sb Jamie Moffatt was back to the fore, beating co driver Bob Smith in the Saxo VTR.

The other “one make challenge” that is Class Sc, produced a really good 9 car Clio Sport contest with Paul Glendenning taking the win, from John Adams and Paul Gough. James Partridge was a close 4th.

Due to three late cancellations, a smaller than expected Class 1a saw a win for the MGZR of Dean Ratcliffe from the Mini of Stuart Ballinger.

The larger capacity Road car class went to the MGZR of Lee Willars, with the MX5 of Melvyn Cox in 2^nd. Third was the 106 Rallye of Derrick Wallbank.

Championship interloper, Nigel Fox took the 2B Kit Car Class win, with Simon Price second and Paul Evans third, all 3 within 0.8sec.

David Whitely won the Elise dice from John Caldicott in Class 2La.

In the Mod Prod upto 2.0L class Mark Williams Clio reversed the previous round result by taking the win from Liam Ulyatt in the Peugeot 106.

The Libre Class saw another win for John Bradburn, with David Large in 2^nd both in Radicals.

A good size Formula Ford class saw another win for the Van Diemen of Christopher Horton, with the Royale of Graham Cherry in second and David Reed’s Lotus third.

The “real” FTD went to Mark Williams in the Westfield MegaBusa with a great time of 56.34sec.

After 8 Rounds of the Championship, and a few competitors having now started dropping worst scores, the top 7 have closed up and we have a new overall leader :

1. Paul Glendenning        141
2. Stuart Ballinger           140
3. John Bradburn 138
4. Jack Twomey               137.5
5. Lee Willars                  136.5
6. Simon Price                 133
7. David Large                 133

The next round, is the BRMMC Figure of 8 on Saturday August 28^th, ( don’t turn up a day late on the Sunday!). Hope to see most of you there.

Steve Wood

CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT ROUND 7

Results after Round 7

The SDCC July two lap Sprint attracted a full entry, and, at last, we had a dry day!
The event kicked off with the Sa “MGZR” class and produced the usual close dice with a Steve Barrow just holding off Jack Twomey, both under the class record. Les Wilson took a very good 3^rd place scrap from Mike Smith on the final run by 0.08sec. A “within class ” Ladies battle was won by Sara Holland, from Juley Coffey and Tracey Smith, respectively, with Sarah winning the Clubs’ Ladies award on the day as well.
In Sb Jamie Moffatt was back to the fore, just pipping co driver Bob Smith in the Saxo VTR.
Another good entry in Class Sc produced a really good Clio Sport contest with Paul Glendenning taking the win, from John Adam. Greg Owen just beat Paul Gough for 3^rd place by 0.11sec.
In Class 1a, Stuart Ballinger saw off the other larger A series challengers in his “spare” 1071cc Mini, with Graham Harvey a very close second (0.09sec) in his immaculate newly finished 1293cc Mini, and Keith Waters third in his 1340 Metro.
The larger capacity Road car class went to the MGZR of Lee Willars, with the MX5 of Melvyn Cox in 2^nd. Third was the MGTF of Kevin Lehert, with the 106 Rallye of Derick Wallbank 4^th , and the MGZR of Rosemary Collins 5^th, just 0.08 sec behind!
Two 2 car classes followed, with Simon Price winning 2B in his Westfield, and John Caldicott winning 2L in his Elise.
In the Mod Prod upto 2.0L class Liam Ulyatt in the Peugeot 106, won another really close scrap with Mark Williams’ Clio, taking it by 0.12 sec on the final run.
The Libre Class saw another win for John Bradburn, with David Large in 2^nd both in Radicals.
Martin Duffield returned to take FTD, and the single seater upto 1100cc class in his Jedi, from the OMS of Andrew Bisping.
The Formula Ford class witnessed another win for the Van Diemen of Christopher Horton, followed home by the Royale of Graham Cherry in second.
The Terrapin 10F of Rod Law saw off the challenge of the double driven Ford Anglia in period defined race cars to take a comfortable win.
Although not part of the Curborough Championship , it was good to see the new Autocar Shelsley Walsh Young Driver Corsa Championship class well supported, with George Gwilliam winning their inaugural, very closely contested round, from Ben Evans in second place.

With the Championship now nearing it’s end game, after 7 rounds, the top 6 now looks like this:

1. Stuart Ballinger            140
2. Paul Glendenning        139.5
3. John Bradburn             137.5
4. Jack Twomey               137.5
5. Simon Price                 133
6. David Large                 133

The next round, is the MCMRC Figure of 8 on August 8^th, after which some competitors will start dropping their lowest scores. Hope to see most of you again then.

Steve Wood

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 6

Results up to Round 6

The annual Owen M C “Graham Hill” Sprint attracted a full entry, but a few late cancellations dropped the entry to 69. The forecast showery weather kept everyone guessing all day, but didn’t really affect anything after first practice!
The event kicked off with the SA “MGZR” class and produced the usual close battle with a storming drive from Jack Twomey taking the win, under the record, from Steve Barrow and Craig Tock 2^nd and 3^rd who were split by 0.04sec!  David Owen took 4th place, Mike Smith 5^th , and Les Wilson 6^th .
Jack Snape had a spectacular crash in his ZR, which stood up to it’s numerous barrel rolls remarkably well!
In Sb Jamie Moffatt was back to the fore, beating co driver Bob Smith in the Saxo VTR, and they were both under the current class record.
Another great entry in Class Sc produced a really good Clio Sport contest with Paul Glendenning just taking the win, from Rob Thomson and Wayne Parke, all split by less than 0.2 sec.
In Class 1a, Stuart Ballinger had to settle for 2^nd in the Mini battle with Tom Bishop, with Dean Ratcliffe third in the ZR, and the Metro of Keith Waters fourth.
A few none championship interlopers in 1B, saw the win go to Jim Bryant’s MX5, from Owen Cule second in his BMW Mini Cooper. James McWilliam was third in the 205GTI.
Simon Price’s Westfield won Class 2B from Paul Evans in second, with John Caldicott third.
The large capacity Mod Prod class, 3b, saw a win for the Clio of Mark Williams.
The Williams family megabusa produced a win for son Mark, with Dad Phil taking second.
A well supported Rally Car Class, saw some entertaining driving, with Tim Seipel taking the win in his MGZR, from Bill Rushden’s Escort with Matt Walk 3^rd in the Fiesta.
The Libre Class saw a win, and PB, for John Bradburn, with David Large in 2^nd both in Radicals.
Andrew Bisping won the depleted 1100cc racing car class in his OMS.
The Formula Ford class followed the previous round’s result with a win for the Van Diemen of Christopher Horton, followed home by the Royale of Graham Cherry in second, and the Lotus 61 of David Reed third.

With the Championship now past the half way point, after 6 rounds, the top 6 now looks like this:

1. Stuart Ballinger 120
2. Paul Glendenning            119
3. Jack Twomey                     118
4. John Bradburn   117
5. Simon Price                        115
6. David Large                         114

Note : For info, there is a corrected 0.5 point score from the S&HMC event due to a miscalculation in the FF1600 class gap between first and second places.

The next round, is the second SDCC event of the season on July 11^th . Hope to see most of you again then.

Steve Wood

2021  SEASON  CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 

Results After Round 1

It’s Great to be back – even with the snow!

After the enforced year off, the 23^rd year of the Championship kicked off, for the first time ever, with the MGCC event, and attracted 47 Championship entries, but 2 had to cancel before the day. With a full entry of 80 competitors the event started in snowy conditions, but after the first practice runs everyone was treated to a dry, if cold, day.
With MGZR’s seemingly as far as the eye could see, Class Sa got the meeting under way with a win for “your Scribe” from Graham Harvey 2^nd, and Jack Twomey 3rd, all split by 0.3sec. Fourth was Mike Smith on his Championship debut run, followed closely by Jack Snape and David Owen, making up the top 6. Many of the positions were split by a few hundredths!
In Sb, even in the really cold conditions, Jamie Moffatt broke the class record in his Saxo, with a 39.43!
Another large class Sc, had Rob Thomson’s Clio 172 taking the honours, from the Clio 200’s of Paul Glendenning and Paul Gough. Terry Roberts and James Partridge completed the top 5 in their Clio 182 and 172 respectively. Again, many of the class places were only split by hundredths of a second.
Class 1a had a win for Stuart Ballinger’s Mini, from 2^nd placed Keith Waters’ Metro, with Martin Domleo celebrating his recent 80^th birthday with a close 3^rd place in his Fiesta Ecoboost.
Class 1b win went to novice Lee Willars in his 1.8MGZR, with fellow novice Melvyn Cox’s MX5 second, in front of the other MGZR of Rosemary Collins.
The 3 Elises in 2La were led home by David Whiteley, from ex Caterham regular, John Caldicott in his new acquisition!
In class 3A, the Mini battle went to Stuart Gad.
A really healthy looking Libre Class had all 4 Championship entered Radicals in attendance, with David Large leading them home from John Bradburn in 2^nd  and David Bickley 3^rd.
FTD went to the Van Diemen FR96 of Steve Miles with a 29.72.
Many thanks to MGCC for putting on a great event, and managing to get 3 timed runs in after the wet start to the day.
The Championship organisers would also like to say, a BIG thank you to P.J.S Sports Cars and Paul Green Jewellers for continued support in 2021 following the cancelation of the 2020 season.

With entries still coming in we now have a total of 70.

For any Championship novices, please remember that the Championship points are calculated from the first 2 timed runs only, regardless of any club offering 3 timed runs on the day.

IMPORTANT NOTE to all Championship Entrants; All of the rounds regs and entry forms appear on the Curborough website Championship Page as soon as they are released.  With many events seemingly getting oversubscribed quicker than usual this year, please get our entries in as early as you can.

Hope to see as many of you as possible at the next round, the S&HMC event on Sunday April 25th,

Steve Wood

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 5

Results Round 5

The second S&HMC event of the Championship was, unfortunately cut short to one timed run, due to an accident leaving a competitor needing an ambulance.
As all second runs would not have been able to be achieved before the track’s 6.00pm noise curfew, this bought Championship regulations rule 1.6.1 into force for the first time ever, meaning the results are taken from everyone’s first timed runs.
The weather at least stayed dry for the second practice runs and everyone’s timed run.

The event kicked off with the swarm of MGZR’s in Sa and produced a second win for Steve Barrow from Jack Twomey, both, again under the Class record, with David Owen taking a great 3^rd place. 4^th, 5^th and 6^th, were Graham Harvey, Mike Smith and Jack Snape, respectively.
In Sb Bob Smith turned the tables on co driver Jamie Moffatt to take the win in the Saxo VTR.
Another great entry in Class Sc produced a really good contest with a Clio 1,2,3. Paul Glendenning taking the win, from co driver Wayne Parke, with John Adams third.
In Class 1a, the win again went to Stuart Ballinger in the Mini, with Keith Waters’ Metro second, and the ZR of Dean Ratcliffe taking third.
1B, the 1.4L to 2.0L road going class, saw the MGZR of Lee Willars taking the class win, from the MX5 of Melvyn Cox, with Derek Wallbank third in his 106 Rallye.
Simon Price’s Westfield claimed the win in 2B from the similar car of Paul Evans in second.
2L saw a win for John Caldicott, following the unfortunate accident to Leonard Bennett in the Elise, that he co-drives with his son, Scott. The good news was that Leonard was back at home on Monday after the precautionary trip to hospital.
The large capacity Mod Prod class, 3b, went to Adrian Crawley in his rapid 205GTI, long overdue his Championship return! The Clio of Mark Williams taking second.
The Williams family megabusa saw a win for son Mark, with Dad Phil taking second.
The Radical Libre see-saw scrap continued with a win for John Bradburn, with David Large in second, and David Bickley third.
Andrew Bisping won the 1100cc racing car class in his OMS.
The Formula Ford exponents also swapped the previous round’s positions with a win for the Van Diemen of Christopher Horton, with the Royale of Graham Cherry in second, and the Lotus 61 of David Reed third.

With the Championship at the half way point, after 5 rounds, the top 6 now looks like this:

1. Stuart Ballinger 101
2. Paul Glendenning            99
3. John Bradburn   97.5
4. Jack Twomey                     97.5
5. Lee Willars                           96.5
6. David Large                         96

Note : For info, following a few queries at the meetings, the Championship results are accessed by clicking the “blue” RESULTS word at the top of each round’s bulletin on the website.

The next round, the Owen MC Graham Hill Sprint, which has been on the Curborough calendar since the mid 60’s, is on June 20^th. Hope to see most of you then.

Steve Wood

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4

Results Round 4

The first SDCC event of the Championship was, as common place this year, oversubscribed. The weather forecast earlier in the week turned out to be wrong, with the rain staying away until after 4.0 pm and nearly throughout the second timed runs.
The event kicked off with a big entry in Sa of MGZR’s and a win for Steve Barrow from Jack Twomey, both under the Class record, with Graham Harvey 3^rd equalling the old Class record and Craig Tock 4^th , all 4 split by less than 4 tenths. Also great to see 3 Lady drivers in the class.
Another great entry in Class Sc produced a really good contest with Clio’s 1,2,3. Paul Glendenning taking the win, from co driver Wayne Parke, with Paul Gough third. The class also showed the great comradery of Sprinting when they all joined in to fix Dominic Grubb’s Clio’s clutch allowing him to get a run in in the afternoon timed runs after problems in practice.
Sd went to the BMWM140i of Patrick Johnston, from the 350z of SDCC Chairman John Williams.
In Class 1a, the win again went to Stuart Ballinger’s Mini, with Dean Ratcliffe second on his MGZR debut event, and Howard Cottrell third in his MG Midget .
1B, the 1.4L to 2.0L road going class, was led home by the MR2 of Peter Darlington from the MGZR of Lee Willars in the MGZR in second.
Simon Price’s  Westfield claimed the win in 2B from the similar car of Paul Evans in second.
2L saw a win for John Caldicott, from David Lee , both in the Elises.
The large capacity Mod Prod class, 3b, went to the new Clio of Mark Williams, from the 106 of Liam Ulyatt.
The Williams family megabusa’s first outing of the year saw a win for son Mark.
The Radical Libre Championship scrap continued with a second win for David Large, from John Bradburn in second, with John’s co driver, Colin Quigley third, and David Bickley fourth.
Andrew Bisping won the 1100cc racing car class in his OMS.
A good Formula Ford dice, went to the Royale of Graham Cherry, from Laurence Marks and Christopher Horton, both in Van Diemens.

With the Championship entries seemingly levelled out off at 76, after 4 rounds the top 5 looks like this:

1. Stuart Ballinger    80.5
2. Paul Glendenning 79
3. Jack Twomey                         78
4. John Bradburn      77.5
5. David Large                           77

NOTE: The points for the Libre Class 6a, at the BMMC event were corrected after a scoring error on the number of entries in the class on the day as only one competitor had cancelled before the event.

The next round, the second S&HMC, was nearly full as this bulletin went to print, again showing the importance of early entries. All of the regulations are now on the website, to enter.  Hope to see you at the S&HMC event on June 6^th, hopefully with some sun perhaps?

Steve Wood

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3

Results Round 3

The BMMC May event was the third round of the Championship and attracted 37 Championship entrants in it’s full entry. Even with persistent rain throughout the day, there were only a few “offs”, and the weather shook up some of the class results.A Class of 10 MGZR’s in Sa got the meeting started with a win for Jack Twomey, with Graham Harvey second and Craig Tock third.  4^th and 5^th were Mike Smith and David Owen respectively, with Les Wilson in 6^th on his first outing in the class.
Jamie Moffat continued his great start in Sb class in the Saxo, with another win.
As usual, a good entry of Clio Sports filled Class Sc and produced a great contest with the win going to Paul Glendenning from Paul Gough in second, with Terry Roberts third.
A really varied car entry in 1a, saw the win go to Stuart Ballinger in the Mini from Alan Henley’s Fiesta Ecoboost, with the MG Midget of Howard Cottrell 3^rd ,who also was a contender for the Bob Marley award for spending the most time on grass!
The upto 2.0L road class went to Derek Wallbank in his 106Rallye, with Melvyn Cox’s MX5 second and the MGZR of Lee Willars claiming third. Rosemary Collins in 5^th picked up the Ladies Award, beating two of the Caterham seated Lady drivers in doing so, in her MGZR!
John Caldicott swapped back into his Caterham from his Elise and took second place in 2B behind class winner Simon Price’s Westfield.
A few of single car class entries followed unfortunately, with the Mini of Karl Dickinson taking the amalgamated Mod Prod class on the day, but good to see the first outing in his Clio for 2019 Champion Mark Williams, and the return of the big Scimitar of Bev Fawkes.
The Libre Class saw John Bradburn taking the win, with David Large second, both in the Radicals.
A closely run thing in the two car FF1600 Class went to Christopher Horton’s Van Diemen 88, from the Lotus 81 of Dave Reed.

With the SDCC round on May 23^rd already a full entry, and now having 76 Championship entrants registered, as previously stated, everyone needs to get their entries in early for the events they wish to contest. Entries for the June S&HMC event are filling up, and the regulations for the August MCMRC Figure of Eight round should appear on the website soon.

The Championship top 6 now looks like this after the first 3 rounds:

1. Stuart Ballinger           60
2. Paul Glendenning        59
3. Jack Twomey              58.5
4. John Bradburn             57.5
5. Lee Willars                  57.5
6. Simon Price                 57.5

Hopefully it will be a bit drier for the SDCC event on May 23^rd , and we look forward to seeing many of you there as it is a full entry again.

Steve Wood

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2

Results after Round 2

The S&HMC April Figure of Eight event was, for a change, the second round of the Championship, and attracted 47 Championship entrants out of the total of 57 following a few late cancellations. Dry weather, although cold, thankfully accompanied the day. Timekeeper technical issues combined with the current MSUK rules not allowing an office PC display spoilt the results availability on the day, for competitors, and for the frustrated S&HMC organising club’s officials.
The ever-increasing fleet of MGZR’s in Class Sa got the meeting started with another close scrap! A win for Jack Twomey, (and a new class record), from Craig Tock, with Graham Harvey third and your scribe fourth, all 4 within 0.8 sec. Steve Barrow, Simon Parkin and Mike Smith, were 5^th, 6^th and 7^th respectively.
The shared Saxo in Sb saw Jamie Moffat break the class record for the second meeting running!
As usual these days, a great entry in Class Sc produced a really good contest with the Clio’s of Paul Glendenning and Rob Thompson first and second split by 0.29 sec. Third and fourth placed Paul Gough and Wayne Parke in their Clio’s were split by 0.03 sec!
Another close finish in Class 1a, saw the win go to Stuart Ballinger’s Mini, by 0.24sec from Keith Waters’ Metro.
The larger engined road car class, 1b, by comparison, went fairly comfortably to the MGZR of Lee Willars, from the MX5 of Melvyn Cox.
The road going Lotus class, 2La, went to Martin Roberts, from John Caldicot, both in Elise’s.
Simon Price had the closest win of the day, by 0.02 sec from Matt Bramall in the 2B kit car class.
3a saw a big accident, with Stuart Gadd, barrel rolling his Mini and causing everyone watching to hold the their breathe until he thankfully emerged ok from the car!
The large capacity Mod Prod class, 3b, went to the 106 of Liam Ulyatt.
The “Radical” battle continued in Class 6a with John Bradburn “just” taking the win from David Large by 0.07 sec, with Colin Quigley 3^rd.
The 3 car Formula Ford scrap went to the Merlyn of David Owen, with Graham Cherry 2^nd and Laurence Marks 3^rd.
Matt Walk, unfortunately had no competition in the Rally Car class, but still threw the Fiesta around as if he had stolen it!
FTD went to the Force of Glyn Sketchley, with a time of 55.11 sec.

With two rounds down, and with 53 entrants having competed in one, or both events, and most of the events filling up fast, it looks like being a really competitive season!

With the Championship entries now up to 75, after 2 rounds the top 2 are:

1. 40 points                     Stuart Ballinger            Mini                1a
2. 39.5 points                  Lee Willars                  MGZR              1b

Hope to see many of you at Round 3, the BMMC event, on May 8^th, which has a full entry.