ANGLO IRISH TROPHY BONANZA AT ANGLESEY FINALE

Jake Byrne proved to be the quickest Formula Ford at the Winter raceday. Photo: www.brscc.co.uk

There was competition for many trophies between racing drivers from both sides of the Irish Sea when the North Western Centre took charge of the BRSCC’s final 2014 race-day at Anglesey. With a healthy entry list and plenty of marshals in attendance it proved to be a popular affair.

Brian Linley was a much loved figure in the Formula Ford section of the paddock and all were saddened when he suddenly passed away last winter. In his memory the Linley family commissioned a trophy to be presented annually which was made by one of the students from the University of Central Lancashire who had worked with Brian’s CGA Race Engineering team on a placement. The first recipient of this splendid piece of silverware was Tom McArthur who won the first Formula Ford 1600 encounter of the day. Irish visitor Jake Byrne set the quickest time on the last lap of qualifying but was beaten off the line by McArthur who then kept his rival from the Emerald Isle at bay until the final lap when Byrne ran wide at Rocket and lost the runner-up spot to Jason Cooper.

McArthur made another demon start from pole on grid 2 which was set by everyone’s second fastest laps of qualifying. This time a trophy in honour of another Formula Ford legend, Bernard Baxter, was at stake. Once again Byrne was all over McArthur’s gearbox and this time he got ahead when he made a move on the inside at The Banking in the early stages. After Byrne had gone on to take the flag 1 second ahead, McArthur graciously admitted: “Jake was definitely the quicker driver over the two races.”

With Byrne not registered for the Star of Anglesey Championship, McArthur was a double winner as far as the points system was concerned meaning he took the Post89 title. Jamie Jardine took the Pre90 section of the series after he was the first car home in that category in both outings. This earned him a Grand Slam of all the Pre 90 BRSCC FF1600 Championships (Triple Crown, National, Northern and Champion of Oulton were the others).

In addition to Jake Byrne – and Ivor Mairs who ran further back in the Formula Ford field – the Global Lights and RT Supercar runners also made the trip from Ireland. They ran as combined grids in 3 trophy dashes. The Global Lights in particular treated spectators to some fabulous dicing. In their opener, Peter Drennan and Derek Behan battled at the front for much of the race but neither were victorious because Mark Braden recovered from a first lap spin at Church to pass both on the penultimate circuit.

Race number 2 was even better and culminated with leaders Paul Fitzpatrick and Drennan running side by side for much of the final few laps. The former got the verdict by a tenth. Behan made it to the top step of the podium in the third event after he had overtaken Ivor Miller in the middle element of the Corkscrew a few tours from home.

Philip Jones took a brace of RT Supercar wins after Bob Cameron was victorious at the first time of asking.

Just as he had done 12 months previously, Doug Carter won both of the Winter Sports/Saloons thrashes in his Radical PR6. After John Morris ran wide in his Vauxhall Tigra at Rocket on lap 2, Cam Forbes’ Westfield came home second but next time they took to the track Morris held off Forbes in the fight for the minor podium places.

The Ginetta G50 of Garry Wardle was uncatchable in the 45 minute Winter Enduro, beating the Caterham’s of Matt Spark and John Saunders into second and third respectively.

You can check out all the results and lap analysis courtesy of TSL at Anglesey Results

Dave Williams