Grice and Sharp extend lengthy Civic winners list
The Civic Cup underlined its credentials as one of the country’s most competitive championships as it produced its fifth and sixth winners from the first halfdozen races. Mark Grice, the 2017 runner-up, triumphed in the first race at Oulton before Arron Sharp took his first car racing victory – at his home circuit – in the second.
Grice, who was third in the standings before the weekend, had a comingtogether with Silverstone victor Dan Reason at Shell on the opening lap, allowing Paul Bancroft to lead for a time. Grice lost just one position and was able to close the gap to Bancroft by lap five out of eight, before challenging him on the sixth lap at Hislops and completing the move at Druids. Championship leader Rob Baker and Reason followed him through over the following sequence of corners and eventually completed the podium, and then David Buky relegated Bancroft to fifth on the drag to the line.
“Two or three laps from the end something came loose and I kept going wide,” admitted Grice after surviving final-lap offs at Cascades and Lodge.
From the front row of the reversed-grid second race, Sharp was able to assume a comfortable margin from the outset, establishing a five-second gap at the end of lap six that enabled him to cling on despite a mistake in the closing stages. “The car was mint, but we’re still learning – this is only our third meeting with it,” he said.
Jason Ballantyne made a strong start from row three and grabbed second place from Lewis Rose down the Avenue on lap three, but a truculent gearchange at the end of the penultimate lap allowed Reason through to second. Having dropped to 15th on the opening lap, Baker climbed back to eighth to maintain his 12-point lead over Ballantyne, while Grice – who finished race two in 10th – was leapfrogged in the points by Reason.
Mike Comber Racing drivers completed a clean sweep of the MX-5 Championship wins, a great birthday present for the team proprietor – even if he did play third fiddle on track to Will Blackwell-chambers and Sam Smith, who split the three wins.
Blackwell-chambers, championship leader by six points over Oliver Allwood, passed Smith for the lead at Dentons on lap seven of race one. The pair went on to finish well clear of Comber, who clinched third in a tight finish with Allwood and Brian Trott despite a differential-bearing issue.
Smith was untroubled in the second race, aided when Blackwell-chambers got a bad exit from Cascades and was outpowered by Trott and Allwood along Lakeside. He got the places back, but lost second again to Trott at Cascades on the final lap.
Smith’s victory in the final race came by just 0.044s over Blackwell-chambers. Trott lost third to Cadwell victor John Langridge at Old Hall on the final lap, while
Allwood finished 17th after bouncing off the Old Hall barriers.
Rory Smith moved to the top of the Northern FF1600 standings with a win and a second place in his Medina. In the opener, David Mcarthur drove around the outside of Smith to take the lead at Old Hall before a red flag wound the result back a lap. After another poor start – caused by a clutch issue on his Van Diemen – Mcarthur repeated the move in the second race, this time claiming the win. Jack Wolfenden twice took his Reynard to Pre-’90 spoils.