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While Fergus Campbell claimed a dominant win in the opening MG Cup race, there was plenty of intrigue in the tactical contest going on behind. That would become the lead battle in the second race, in which Richard Buckley prevailed.

Campbell (pictured above), the current MG Trophy Class B champion, plans a relaxed season, and was making his first appearance in the MG Cup. Outright power is not as important at Cadwell Park as some other circuits, which Campbell demonstrated by putting his MG ZR 170 on pole position alongside the similar car of Ian Boulton (Car Number 74, above). The Class B pairing held that order throughout, with Campbell claiming victory by nearly 5s.

“Cadwell Park’s a fantastic place to come to,” enthused the victor. “You’ve got to keep your wits about you round here.”

Behind them, Dave Nixon was struggling to maximise a new set of tyres on his Rover 220 Tomcat. Having to go defensive through Gooseneck to keep the similar car of Buckley behind compromised their overall pace and allowed a multi-car train to form behind. Eventually, the pressure told, and Nixon’s trip over the Mansfield kerb let Buckley and Dennis Robinson (ZR 170) through, with Buckley winning Class C.

Seventh overall and winning Class A was Driver of the Race Marcus Short (Rover 216 GTi), who had qualified a fantastic third overall, and stayed among the main pack, clawing back in the corners what he lost on the straights. He would repeat his class success later in the day, albeit slipping to ninth overall.

From row two, Buckley jumped Campbell and Boulton at the start of race two and was joined shortly afterwards by Nixon in second. A similar train then formed behind the leader, with Buckley holding firm by making sure Nixon always had to think about attacks from behind as well as his own challenges for the lead.

“It was a bit of reversed roles there, wasn’t it?” said 2019 champion Buckley. “I got an absolutely amazing start. I didn’t do what I normally do which is spin the wheels up. Took it nice and steady, they hooked up, and that was it – I was gone!

“I saw Dave had had a fairly decent start as well. Fergus is a really good driver. He’s class. So I pretty much knew that if I could keep Dave at bay, then Fergus would keep nibbling at him. I was playing him a little bit because I knew Fergus was there, so if I could just back him up a little bit, especially coming up through up over the Mountain and into the woods, let Fergus have a little bit of nibble at him, he’s got to look behind him.”

It worked well, and earned Buckley the commentators’ Driver of the Race award, as he won from Nixon, Class B victor Campbell and Boulton, with father-and-son duo Dennis and Carl Robinson completing the closely-contested top six.

23 drivers line up on the 8th May……..

Welcome to Harry Buckley who will join us at Silverstone in Class B in his MGZR170…..

Welcome to Fergus who joins the MG Cup in his MGZR170 making 41 cars registered….

Good entries so far, for the home of MG Rover club racing…..

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The MG Cup races at Brands Hatch also had two frantic battles for first, in this case between 2019 champion Richard Buckley (pictured above), these days back in his Rover Tomcat Turbo, and the invitational MG ZS 180 entry of Karl Green, who is more commonly seen in the Cockshoot Cup and was at Brands Hatch for the very first time.

Buckley held off an attacking Green to win a restarted Race 1, which also was ended early when Chris Boulton’s MG ZR 190 went off at Paddock. Ian Boulton was third overall and first in Class B, ahead of Iain Dowler’s fellow MG ZR 170.

Steve Tyler beat fellow MG ZR 160 runner Aaron Ross by 1.3 seconds to win Class A, and this also got Tyler Driver of the Race.

Buckley and Green took up battle for first again in Race 2, and Green passed Buckley a handful of laps in with an charging move at Druids. But this delayed both and Green and Buckley resumed in third and fifth respectively.

The pair quickly recovered to first and second and Buckley chased Green hard for the rest of the way, though Green won by 0.4s.

“Good day,” Buckley said, “first race, I made an absolute hash start, it was awful, but I managed to then keep the lead. Karl in the ZS, that thing is so quick. I just managed to keep him behind me, we had a really good race.

“And then second race, same thing really. Didn’t make a particularly brilliant start. Ian [Boulton] got in front and Karl was in front. I managed to get back past Ian then I made a demon move down into Paddock to take Karl, and I thought it was going to be pretty much the same thing [as Race 1].

“He did a bit of a late lunge down on me into Druids [and] Ian and Iain went past. So we were then chasing them and then I was trying to chase Karl to see if I could get him again but he was just that little bit in front. It was good fun again. Two really good races so can’t be happier.”

Boulton again was third home overall and the Class B winner, while fellow MG ZR 170 competitor Jack Chapman finished fourth overall and second in Class B and was awarded Driver of the Race.

Ross won Class A, while next up in class this time was Marcus Short in his Rover 216 GTi, who rose through the field impressively after a poor start. Short, taking part in only his second ever car race, is the latest racing son of Le Mans overall victory contender Martin Short – who built the 216 – and is the younger brother of last year’s MG Cup frontrunner Morgan, who also cut his MG Cup teeth in the 216.

Its going to be good……

20th March for rounds 1 & 2 of the MG Cup, and we cant wait…..