Herbert defends his MX-5 Supercup title after close fight with rival Harding

Luke Herbert successfully defended his Mazda MX-5 Supercup crown in tricky conditions at Donington Park.

Herbert and Jack Harding had headed into the meeting level on points, but the advantage swung Herbert’s way when he secured pole position for races one and two, while Harding could only qualify 14th and 11th. Wet conditions had hurt Harding, who had no new tyres left from his season’s allocation. Come the dry race one, it was a different story. Harding carved through the field and came close to nicking the win from Herbert on the final lap.

Heavy rain on Sunday morning meant Harding would suffer again. While Herbert followed home Aidan Hills, who scored his second victory of the season, Harding was only eighth after the race was red-flagged with just four laps completed. A six-car accident on the run to Mcleans had left Sam Tatler and Colin Bysouth requiring trips to hospital with suspected broken bones.

From the reversed-grid pole in race three, Harding needed the win and fastest lap, with Herbert no higher than fourth. A poor start dropped Harding to sixth, and his recovery to third behind Steve Roberts and Hills wasn’t enough. Once he knew the job was done, Herbert eased off to finish sixth.

With the National Formula Ford title already decided, champion Niall Murray sat out the final rounds, opening the door for Rory Smith to secure a pair of wins, his first in the National Championship. In a frenetic opener, Smith passed Matt RoundGarrido and polesitter Joey Foster for the lead, then benefited when Foster hopped the Roberts chicane’s sausage kerb, forcing Round-garrido into evasive action. Luke Cooper passed Michael Moyers for second on the outside at Redgate.

Smith’s second win came courtesy of an inside pass on Moyers at Redgate, with Michael Eastwell further demoting his Kevin Mills Racing teammate. Cooper won a shortened third race in very wet conditions from American duo Jake Craig and Carter Williams, the best results for both.

Rob Baker condemned team-mate Mark Grice to finish as runner-up in the Civic Cup standings for a third consecutive year. Ninth in race one following an early off at Hollywood when avoiding a slow car, Baker was rescued by the top-10 reversal for Sunday’s grid. He followed home the fast-starting Ben Sharpe while Grice’s hopes were dashed when he went off in the wet at Schwantz Curve. Bruce Winfield had beaten Grice to the flag in Saturday’s curtain raiser.

Champion Steven Dailly won the first Compact Cup race after passing Ian Jones at Coppice on the final lap, having earlier shuffled polesitter Matt Parkes down the order. Jones beat home Ben Huntley, Dailly and Parkes in a close race two.

Despite missing Saturday’s race while best man at a wedding, Josh Smith wrapped up the OSS title with the third in class he needed in the wet race two. That was dominated by the Chiron of Richard Wise, who doubled- up in race three. Jon-paul Ivey won on Saturday, carving through from the back of the grid after he’d run wet tyres on a drying track in qualifying.

The Classic Alfa Challenge, the Historic Racing Drivers Club’s latest initiative, brought a win for Chris Snowdon’s GTV after Ted Pearson’s early pressure ended with his Alfasud having a moment at Roberts mid-race.