Curborough Championship

Results Round 6

Report on Round 6

The 60^th running of the OMC Graham Hill Sprint had a good entry of 62, and we had good weather accompanying most of the day as well.
The figure of eight event kicked off with Class Sa and a win for Lee Bradford, from Jake Wheeler, with John Denman third, all in MGZR’s. Great to also see two ladies in the class, with Jaqui Bradford having her first ever sprint sharing the ZR with Lee.
SB, saw a close 3 car BMW Mini scrap which went the way of Joshua Beresford, from co pilot Matt Maries, with Martin Lahert third.
SC  went to a returning Neal Bateman in his Clio, from the MGZR160  of Jack Twomey, both getting PB’s on the figure of 8.
SD  saw all three Championship class contenders out, and Liam Meredith taking the win in his Z4. 2^nd was the Renault Megane RS of Ivor Williams, from 3^rd placed Andrew Ward’s MGZS.
Class 1a saw a good entry and a Mini 1, 2 with Tom Bishop taking the win from Graham Harvey.
Third was the MG Midget of Howard Cottrell from fourth placed Owen Cule in the MGZR.
In Class 1b, Championship regulars Lee Willars in his MGZR and Michael White in his Clio had to settle for 2^nd and 3rd respectively behind the MX5 of Peter Taylor.
Class 1c had Anthony Ashcroft having to settle for 2^nd in his Mini behind the BMW of Dan Smith.
The family Caterham outing in 2B went to John Caldicott, with Reece second.
The Roadgoing Lotus class produced a win for the Elise of Martin Roberts from Mark Sturman.
The upto 1.4 Mod prod mini battle went to Alan Henley.
The upto 2.0L Mod Prods in Class 3B saw a win for Liam Ulyatt’ s 106, from the Scirocco of Dave Carvell, with a returning Mark Williams in third in his Clio.
Steve Jackson in the 911 had to withdraw after practice, and Charlotte Ward grabbed the Class 3C win from Dad Andrew in the MX5 turbo by just 0.14sec, with Rosemary Collins third in her MGZS180.
The usual Megabusa family outing in 4B went to Mark Williams from Dad Phil.
FTD went to Steve Potter in his Empire Evo single seater with a time of 52.76 sec.

A great event, well run with better than originally forecast weather sees us enter the second half of the Championship. Also great to see 5 Ladies in the event obviously inspired by the previous weekend’s brilliant Indy NXT win by Jamie Chadwick at Road America!

With 6 rounds down the Championship the top 5 looks like this:

1.  Lee Bradford              121
2. Graham Harvey           115
3. Mark Sturman             103
4. Stuart Hadley              103
5. Liam Ulyatt                  97

The next round is the SDCC event with entries still open, Let’s hope the weather is again kind for the event with Summer arriving at last!

Steve Wood

Report on Round 5

Results Round 5

The second S&HMC event of the year was a lovely sunny day - again! Coming at the end of school half term and clashing with a few other big Midlands Speed events possibly impacted on entries, but the event had 42 entries, and at least that meant everyone there had the opportunity for 3 timed runs.
The 2 lap event kicked off with the usual close MGZR scrap in Class SA, with the win going to Lee Bradford, from co driver Ian Poole, with John Denman in third. Lee was close the class record.
A good entry in Sc, saw the win go to Paul Glendenning in the Clio RS200 from Jack Twomey’s MGZR. Dave Goodlad was third in his Clio 172 Cup.
Class 1a had the “old School” Mini and Midget 1380’s of Graham Harvey, and Howard Cottrell respectively,  first and second.
Anthony Ashcroft in the BMW Mini Cooper took Class 1c from the MX5 of Stuart Hadley.
The Family Caterham R300 in 2B, saw John Caldicott winning from Reece.
Sadly a few single car classes followed, but the mod Prods up to 2.0L class, was a really close scrap with Dave Carvell’s Scirocco snatching the win on his last run after a fail on the first run. Second was the Peugeot 106 of Liam Ulyatt, just 0.2 ahead of third placed Tom Harding in the Golf who had also had a fail on his first run.
The over 2.0L Mod Prods had another win for Michael Jackson in the 911, from co driver Dad Steve. Charlotte Ward took a great third place in the MX5 Eunos, by 0.04sec from fourth placed Matt Parker in the Mini Cooper S!
The usual family Megabusa westfield entry of Mark and Phil Williams saw Mark taking the win.
FTD went to Glyn Sketchley back out with the Force PT, after a few runs in his Elise, but he was pushed close by Michael White, swapping his usual Clio Sport for a first sprint in his OMS CF97. A big thanks to Michael for also sponsoring the Event on the day with his Optimal Graphics Company.

With the Championship nearing the mid-point, after 5 rounds,  the top 5 now looks like this:

1. Lee Bradford               100.5
2. Graham Harvey             96
3. Stuart Hadley                86
4. Mark Sturman               86
5. P. Glendenning             77

PLEASE NOTE: The next round, the annual Owen MC “Graham Hill” Sprint, is the 60^th Anniversary running of this event which used to be an annual round of the British Sprint Championship.

As this goes to press the event still has entries available, so get your entries in in the hope of a full event to celebrate one of the longest standing Curborough events in the Calander !

The final set of Championship entry regulations, for the MGCC August round is now available to enter on the Championship page or through the MGCC website .  Hope to see most of you at the Owen event,

Steve Wood

Results Round 4

Championship Report Round 4

The first of the 3 SDCC events this season attracted a decent entry of 63, and again the weather was warm and dry!
The Figure of 8 event kicked off with the usual Sa MGZR’s clan, although depleted by a couple of cancellations, and had a win for Lee Bradford from his co-driver Ian Poole.
In Sb 2^nd place went to Joshua Beresford behind Championship interloper Glyn Butlin.
A good entry in Class Sc produced a win for the Clio of Paul Glendenning with Jack Twomey second in his MGZR.
Sd produced a win for Liam Meredith in the BMW Z4.
In Class 1a, the win ‘eventually’ went to Graham Harvey in his Mini, seemingly using a Klingon Bird of Prey cloaking device which made the Mini invisible to the timing system! Second went to the well driven Fiesta Eco boost of Martin Domleo, with Dean Ratcliffe 3^rd in the MGZR.
A great class in 1b, the up to 2.0L road car class, saw a win for John Fox, from Michael White in the Clio Sport, with Richard Raybould similarly mounted in 3^rd, and the MGZR of Lee Willars 4^th. 2023 Champion, Steve Barrow had a big off in practice which sadly sidelined the Clio for the afternoon runs.
1c had the Mini of Anthony Ashcroft in 2^nd and the MX5 of Stuart Hadley 3^rd.
Another Championship interloper took the 2b kit car class win, with Simon Price’s Westfield second, and John Caldicott third in the Caterham.
Martin Roberts won the regular 2LA Elise battle from Mark Sturman.
A large 3B  Mod Prod class saw the win go to the Peugeot 106 of Liam Ulyatt, with the Golf GTI of Tom Harding in second. Dad Andy bought the shared GTI home in third.
A really good entry in the over 2.0L Mod Prods Class, saw Michael Jackson at the top of the charts again!, with Dad, Steve, second in the shared 911.  Third and fourth respectively were Andrew and Charlotte Ward in the shared MX5 Eunos. Charlotte also took the Ladies Award on the day.
Mark Williams took the Class 4b win in the rapid Westfield Megabusa.

FTD went to the Radical of John Bradburn with a 57.57sec run.

After the 4^th round, the top 4 looks like this:

1. Lee Bradford               80.5
2. Graham Harvey           77.5
3. Michael White 77
4. Lee Willars                  71

The next round, the second S&HMC event on June 2nd, is in danger of cancellation with only 25 entries to date, so please get your entries in NOW if you want to do it!

Steve Wood

Results Round 3

The regular BMMC May event was the third round of the Championship and after a slow start to the entries, eventually had a good entry of 62 competitors, and a scorcher of a day for once!
A Class of 4 MGZR’s in Sa got the meeting started with a win for Lee Bradford from co driver  Ian Poole in second. Sadly a gearbox oil leak in practice prevented John Denman from getting a timed run in the afternoon.
A two car Sc Class saw the win go to Paul Glendenning, with Jack Twomey pushing him closer than the previous event, on his second outing in his new ZR160.
The small capacity road cars class had a win for the Mini of Graham Harvey, with Howard Cottrell’s MG Midget a close second and Dean Ratcliffe’s ZR third.
A large entry upto 2.0L road cars class saw a Clio 1,2,3, with Steve Barrow taking the win from Michael White and Richard Raybould in 2^nd and 3^rd respectively. Fourth was the MGZR of Lee Willars.
The 4 car over 1.7L kit car class went to the Westfield of Simon Price, with the Caterham of John Caldicott second.
The 2 car 2L lotus class saw Martin Roberts take the win from Mark Sturman, both in Elises.
A good scrap ensued in the upto 2.0L Mod Prods, with Liam Ulyatt taking the win in his Peugeot 106, from the Scirocco of Dave Carvell in second and Tom Harding third in the Golf.
Michael Jackson won a “thriller” in the over 2.0L mod prods in the 911! Second was Matt Parker’s Mini Cooper S, with the MX5 of Andrew Ward only 0.18 back in 3^rd.
Great to see Phil and Mark Williams back out in the rapid Westfield Megabusa, with Mark taking the honours.

After three rounds great to see that 48 of the 55 Championship entrants registered have competed in at least one round.

The Championship top 5 now looks like this after the first 3 rounds:

1. Lee Bradford               60
2. Michael White 58
3. Graham Harvey           57.5
4. Dave Carvell                56.5
5. Lee Willars                  54

NOTE :  Some of the points scores have been corrected for the first two events for classes 1b and 1c from the previous result sheet as the organiser hadn’t recognised that one competitor had changed class from last year, a later entry had been omitted. A good reminder for ALL competitors to check the results on the website after each round.

The August MGCC event regs and entry form should be on the website in early June.

Entries are currently low for the June S&HMC event, so please get your entries in if you intend to do that event as the club may consider cancelling if they think entries are too low to run the meeting. The next round, is the SDCC event, so look forward to seeing you all there, and another sunny day!

Steve Wood

Report Round 2

Results Round 2

The S&HMC April Figure of Eight event attracted a good entry of 64 including some nice Ferrari’s to look at, and- AT LAST - it was a nice sunny day!
The usual MGZR 1.4’s filled Class Sa and got the meeting started with the win going to Lee Bradford, with Jake Wheeler second, Paul Cammerer third and John Denman fourth.
Class Sb is turning into a “one Make” BMW Mini class, with all 3 championship Mini contenders entered. Joshua Beresford took the win with Matthew Maries second and Martin Lahert third.
A two car Sc had the win going to the Clio of Paul Glendenning from Jack Twomey having his first outing in his MGZR160.
Graham Harvey took his Mini to the win in 1a, from the Peugeot 106 of Simon Parkin, with Dean Ratcliffe third in the MGZR.
The larger engined road car class, 1b, was a Clio Sport 1-2 with Steve Barrow first from Michael White. Lee Willars took third in his MGZR160, with Stuart Hadley fourth in his MX5.
In the road going Lotus class, the win went Glyn Sketchley from Mark Sturman, both in Elises. Best wishes to Martin Roberts who had to retire after practice not feeling too well.
The double driven Westfield of Simon Price and Paul Evans were first and second respectively.
Sadly the usually well supported up to 2.0L Mod Prod class, 3b, was a bit depleted this week and the win went to the Scirocco of Dave Carvell.
The over 2.0L Mod Prods was a close scrap with Championship newcomer Matt Parker taking the win in his BMW Mini Cooper S, from Steve Jackson in his 911. Andrew Ward’s MX5 and Paul Green’s 911 were third and fourth respectively, all four within just over a second!

With two rounds down, and with 55 entrants and still getting a few late entries, hopefully we will get a few more yet. A reminder, with less in the Championship at the moment, please get your entries in early in case clubs are considering having to cancel their meetings if entries are too low.

Also just a reminder, to all competitors, that as far as the MSUK are concerned it is up to competitors to ensure their vehicle is eligible for the class they enter by reading both the Championship Regulations, the Event regulation for the day, and also of course, the MSUK Blue Book.

With the Championship entries now up to 53, after 2 rounds the top 4 are:

1. 40 points                     Lee Bradford               MGZR              Sa
2. 38.5 points                  Graham Harvey           Mini                 1a
3. = 37.5                          Lee Meredith              BMW Z4          Sd
4. =37.5                           Dave Carvell                Scirocco           3b

Hope to see as many of you as possible at Round 3, the BMMC event, on May 11th, which is still looking for a few more entries as we post this result sheet and bulletin.

Steve Wood

Here we go Again!  Welcome to the start of the 2024 Season.

Results Round 1

The 26^th year of the Championship again kicked off with the MGCC event, and attracted a decent entry of 65 after a couple of cancellations.
A damp start resulted in a few spins in practice, and then a changeable day meant some dry and some wet runs depending how your luck was! With three timed runs offered on the day, as usual only the first two counted for Championship points.
Class Sa saw a relatively low number of MGZR 1.4’s compared to recent years, but the win went to Lee Bradford from Jake Wheeler with John Denman third.
In Sb, the only entry was Martin Lahert in his new Mini Cooper after switching from his previous Sc MGTF.
Sd went to the Renault Megane of Ivor Williams, from Liam Meredith, with Andrew Ward third having his first outing in his new MGSZ180.
Howard Cottrell obviously took inspiration from it being an MGCC event, taking the Class 1a win in his Midget, from Graham Harvey’s Mini, with Martin Domleo third in his Eco Boost Fiesta. All three split by half a second.
Class 1b saw a win for Michael White in his Clio Sport, from a couple of Championship interlopers with Richard Raybould in 4^th in his Clio Sport.
Anthony Ashcroft took a good second place in a well supported Class 1c in his BMW Mini Cooper S.
Martin Roberts took the 2L Lotus class, of 3 Elises, from Glyn Sketchley and Mark Sturman.
3B had a close scrap, with the win going to Tom Harding in the Golf, from the Scirrocco of Dave Carvell, with the Peugeot 106 of Liam Ulyatt third, all within 0.4 sec.
Championship sponsor, Paul Green, took the win in 3c in his 911.
As in this event last year, FTD went to the Jedi of Mike Hull, with a time of 31.82.
Many thanks to MGCC for putting on another great event to kick start the Championship.
The Championship organisers would also like to say a BIG thank you to P.J.S Sports Cars and Paul Green Jewellers for their continued support in 2024.
We currently have a lowish total of 50 entries in the Championship at this point in time, compared to previous years of about 65. Due to this it is important to get entries in early to the events you wish to do to avoid the possibility of any events being cancelled due to low uptake. All the Club’s rely on our Championship entries to be viable these days.
IMPORTANT NOTE ; Most of the events regs and entry forms are already on the website, and the remaining two will appear on the Curborough Championship Page as soon as they are released so please check the website regularly.

Hope to see you all at the S&HMC event on Sunday April 21st,                                                                Steve Wood