DUNN HEADS THE DOUBLE WINNERS WITH MX-5 GLORY
Nick Dunn took a clean sweep of the two Max5 Racing Championship races during Mallory Park’s Bank Holiday Sunday meeting on a day that regularly featured double winners.
Dunn demonstrated why he has a commanding lead of the championship, winning the first race by a colossal 15-second margin.
Max5s are known for close racing and a five-car train battle for second allowed the championship pacesetter to canter into a lead that wouldn’t be surpassed.
John Munro headed the train, recovering to second after falling down to fourth at the start after a poor getaway. He regularly swapped places with Russell Tamplin and Matthew Tidmarsh before coming out second late on.
Tamplin completed the podium, and the rostrum was repeated in the second race.
This time there was a much closer battle for the win. Roles reversed at the start, as Dunn’s poor start handed Munro the lead.
Dunn recovered, and the top two ran nose-to-tail for lap after lap. The championship leader finally made a move stick through Devil’s Elbow, and a mistake late on at the Shaw Hairpin wasn’t enough for Munro to challenge again.
Ian Goodchild managed an even more impressive weekend in the Hyundai Coupe Cup. He took a clean sweep on the day with two wins, two fastest laps and pole position.
That form was a replica of his Cadwell Park round last time out, bar a lap record, and incredibly Mallory was just his fourth ever race weekend.
Goodchild had to hold off the advances of Jon Winter in both sprints, narrowly coming out on top each time.
While Goddard enjoyed a clear track, Winter had to contend with the challenge of former Ginetta Junior racer William Taylforth, who took two third places behind him.
Double winners continued in the Intermarque Championship as Malcolm Blackman became the third driver to take two wins.
The encounters were filled with attrition, with the lowlight coming when six cars went off at Gerard’s Bend amid contact on the first lap of the opening race.
On the same lap, polesitter Lewis Smith retired with a broken driveshaft to allow Blackman to charge to the finish unchallenged.
Smith returned for the second race and, in a reverse-grid format, impressively jumped from the seventh row to third on the first tour.
Smith soon reached second, and hounded Blackman. The pair ran nose to tail, but a cruel second break to his driveshaft resigned him to retirement and the leader to a second win.
In the MG Owners’ Club Championship, there was the fourth clean sweep of the weekend with David Mellor coming out on top.
Mellor secured pole for both races with his fastest lap and second fastest taking the top slots, but in the first he had to recover after a superior start from Adrian Wray.
Wray continued to lead until backmarkers began to affect the lead duo. Wray would lose three seconds in a single lap while Mellor manicured expertly to win.
In the second race, Mellor’s victory was straightforward, following Wray’s issues. After repairs between the two races, a loose connector on Wray’s ZR forced him into the pits and out of contention.
The Sevenseque Series was the only championship to provide different winners, with David Tilley’s homemade Hart winning in a field of Caterhams before Anthony Bennett won the finale.