MG Car Club - MG Live
Silverstone
Report by Dickon Siddall
11th - 12th June 2022
Returning after a three year absence due firstly to track resurfacing in 2018 and then the Covid pandemic, the MG Car Club’s MG Live was held at Silverstone on 11th & 12th June 2022.
MG Live is heralded as the world’s largest MG festival with a packed programme of racing, autotests, live music, trade show, autojumble and much more.
The races, held on the historic Grand Prix circuit, featured several of the MG Car Club championships, Equipe Classic Racing, the GT & Sports Car Cup and the Morgan Sports Car Club. This report concentrates on the MGCC championships.
Mark Wright took third overall and Class F win in the ex-Brian Butler MG F in the Cockshoot Cup.
MGCC BCV8 Championship
Twenty four competitors qualified for the BCV8 races. Ollie Neaves, making his first appearance in the championship this year, continued his run of success from 2021 by claiming pole position for both races.
Despite concerns about his clutch Neaves went on to win the first encounter with James Wheeler taking second from a hard-charging Russell McCarthy.
Ollie Neaves and Ian Fowler headed the grid for both BCV8 encounters.
Race two was a repeat victory for Neaves. Due to those clutch issues he dropped to fifth at the start then fought back into second place and inherited the lead after the initial leader, Neil Fowler, dropped out with gearbox problems which had also sidelined him in race one.
Class winners included Andrew Young, Mark Scott, James Walpole, Babak Farsian, Paul Eaves and David Strike.
Andrew Young, winner of Class C in both BCV8 races, leads Jim Bryan round Chapel.
Cockshoot Cup and MG Cup
The Cockshoot Cup and MG Cup shared the track for their races, forming two separate grids with the MG Cup cars starting 10 seconds after the Cockshoot Cup cars. Karl Green was on pole for the Cockshoot Cup in his MG ZS180 whilst Matthew Simpson’s Rover 220 Turbo Tomcat took the MG Cup pole.
The first race was red flagged following a collision between two of the MG Cup cars. When racing resumed Karl Green once again took command in the Cockshoot Cup and went on to take the flag 4s ahead of Paul Wignall also in a ZS180. David Greenbank made it three ZS180s on the podium. David Morrison (MG Midget) took the Class B win ahead of John Payne (Austin Healey Sprite). Rhys Higginbotham (MG ZR160) won Class A from Leon Wignall (MG ZR160).
Karl Green (MG ZS180), winner of both Cockshoot Cup races.
Karl Green’s crew changed the car’s differential overnight and he rewarded them by taking top step on the podium again in the Cockshoot Cup’s second race. He was followed home this time by Keith Egar (MG Midget) who had climbed up from seventh on the grid.
Mark Wright (MG F Cup) won Class F and was third overall. David Morrison was victorious again in Class B with Mark Bellamy (MG ZR 170) taking second spot. Rhys Higginbotham took Class A honours again from Leon Wignall.
In the MG Cup Richard Buckley continued his winning ways and, after entertaining battles, headed Matthew Simpson home in both races. Former MG Trophy racer Fergus Campbell (MG ZR170) took third spot and Class B in race 1 whilst Ian Boulton (MG ZR170), also ex-Trophy, was third over the line and Class B winner in race 2. Marcus Short (Rover 216GTi) took the Class A win in both races from John Gil (MG ZR160).
Richard Buckley and Matthew Simpson took the top two steps of the podium in both MG Cup races.
MG Trophy and MG Metro Cup
The MG Trophy shared the track with the five MG Metro Cup cars that entered their non-championship race. Like the MG Cup, the Metros formed a second grid behind the Trophy cars and started 10s after the lights went out.
As expected, the Trophy Class A ZR190s dominated qualifying with Jason Burgess in his Carrot Racing sponsored machine grabbing pole position for both races. He was joined by Adam Jackson on the front row of the grid.
Class B (ZR170s) pole was monopolised by Joe Dalgarno with Josh Bromley second for race 1 and Tylor Ballard second for race 2.
Jason Burgess (MG ZR190) leads the way into Chapel.
It was good to see Tylor smiling again after his disappointment at the previous Cadwell Park meeting where he had been the innocent victim caught up in someone else’s accident and forced to retire on the spot. He would be smiling even more by the end of the day having received Driver of the Race and Driver of the Day awards.
Colin Robertson made another welcome appearance in his unique ZR190 powered MG3.
Jason Burgess dominated both races, winning the first by 5.8s and the second by 7.5s. Doug Cole and Adam Jackson squabbled over the remaining podium positions in both races with Cole prevailing. He crossed the line 3s ahead in race one but Jackson gave it his all in race two and reduced the deficit to 0.39s.
Class B was hotly contested in both races. Tylor Ballard emerged victorious in race one followed home by Joe Dalgarno and Josh Bromley. Ballard was unable to maintain his momentum in race two when a spin at Maggotts dropped him down the field. He was able to recover to P4 in class but saw Dalgarno take the laurels ahead of Bromley and James Dennison.
Matthew Harvey (MG ZR160) was the sole Class C finisher in both races.
Squabbling ZR170s of Ian Dowler, Fergus Campbell and Ian Boulton.
The first MG Metro encounter was won by Philip Gough making a welcome appearance in his bright pink machine with Tim Shooter second and Neil Burnett third. Pole sitter, Jon Moore retired on lap four with a broken throttle cable.
Moore avenged himself in race two after a captivating fight with Shooter and Gough. Moore led for most of the race but towards the end he and Gough battled for the lead. Moore finally prevailed and Shooter slipped into second spot leaving a disappointed Gough in third.
Close contest between Job Moore, Phil Gough and Tim Shooter in the second MG Metro race.
We don’t have to wait long for more closely contested MG races - the next MG Car Club race meeting will be at Donington Park on 2nd & 3rd July.
You can find out more about the MG Car Club by following this link.
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