ROSS REWARDED FOR FULL CAMPAIGN
Graham Ross secured the MG Trophy championship in the MG Car Club’s season-closer where several titles were settled.
Ross’s closest challenger Jason Burgess won the opening race while Ross finished third after a spin and therefore needed second place in race two for the title. Burgess once again led but suffered an early spin at Hamilton and finished fourth. This let Ross, whose car wasn’t handling well, cruise home second behind Paul Luti for his first MG Trophy championship. Luti was making a one-off Class A appearance having competed in Class B previously this year.
While Ross has competed in the series since 2008 this was his first full season as he commutes from Crieff in Scotland for every round.
“I was going to say this was 11 years in the making; this is my first full assault at it and I can’t ask for a better result. It [chasing a championship] is something completely new to me,” he said.
“[I had to] stand own my two feet. Once you make that decision [you think] let’s start off and see how things go. When you start doing well and winning it kinds of sucks you in.
“In reality if I’d had some really bad rounds halfway through I probably wouldn’t have done the whole season. We probably do [travel] 4,500 to 5,000 miles to come and do 500 miles of motorsport.”
Tylor Ballard clinched the Class C title from John Booth and David Heasman.
Matthew Simpson’s double MG Cup win in his Rover 220 Tomcat Turbo was not enough to deny Peter Burchill in his ZS 180 the championship in pacesetting Class C. In a dramatic two-race finale Burchill finished second and third to pip Simpson to the title, taken despite not having won a race this season.
Alan Brooke’s and Mike Williams’ Metros had set the Snetterton MG Cup pace but both hit technical problems in the races; Brooke falling behind Simpson in race two’s run to the line when he lost drive. The overall, Class A and Class B
titles were decided in advance of the meeting – the first for Darren Harris and the latter for Nick Arden.
Stephen Collier claimed the MG
Midget and Sprite Challenge title with two overall Snetterton race wins in his Midget. Class D’s Edward Easton entered the final round with a clear points advantage and indeed took class victory in race one, but he had to sit out race two after damaging his Austin Healey Sprite’s suspension on a kerb on route to the earlier win. This opened the door for Collier to take the championship with a strong result. Jack Ashton secured the MG Metro
Cup championship. He won the opening race by holding off a strong challenge from his brother and title rival Andrew. Andrew won race two while Jack cruised home conservatively to finish fifth and ensure his title. Philip Goddard in a +8 won the
Morgan Challenge race after longtime leader Keith Ahlers’s +8 had a major oil spillage at Coram; the oil slick caused an early chequered flag not long later.
Andrew Thompson in an ARV6 won the special handicap Morgan
pitstop race. He was first both on the road and after post-race handicapping was applied.