MG Owners’ Club 2021 (sponsored by Lancaster Insurance) Race Meeting at Mallory Park, 5th May
14 May 2021
The first race meeting of The MG Owners’ Club 2021 season – at Mallory Park Racing Circuit – was boosted by the debuts of several drivers, writes Jim Baynam.
The race had its usual quotient of high-octane thrills and was the inaugural such event for Carl Bate (MGBGT), Anthony Bate (Maestro), Mathieu Dore (MGBGT), Jack Woodcock (ZR) and Tim Grigsby (TF). It’s never easy to recruit new drivers but getting new ‘blood’ on the grid is vital to the race’s long-term success. Unfortunately, another debutant, Mark Grant, was unable to get his ZR ready in time for Mallory but plans to make his bow at Castle Coombe.
The Meeting went well and I wasn’t aware of any bangs or scrapes – in fact everyone seemed to enjoy the day. I know that all our new and returning guys enjoyed themselves and went home happy. It was great, also, to see a Maestro back on the grid.
Not long into the race, the 22 competitors dropped to 21 when a broken steering wheel column forced Paul Wisbey to withdraw. Dave Mellor, who had bad luck with mechanical problems on the day, had to put his ZR back on the trailer with a broken crank.
In addition, Adrian Olsson had a head gasket fail in practice and missed the qualifying session, so had to start all three races from the back of the grid. Steve Darbey also had a cylinder head problem in Race 1 and despite the best efforts of Kev Bull and Dave to repair it, he didn’t make it onto the grid for Races 2 and 3.
In the Classic class, Nick Webster’s fuel pump failed up on the first qualifying lap. A new one was fitted in time for Race 1, but Nick had to start all three races from the back of the grid. Will Sharpe had a diff fail in Race 1, he charged back home to collect a spare and made it onto the grid for Race 3 and was going well until being forced to retire yet again with a clutch problem. A disappointing day then, for Team Sharpe.
As is always the case with broken cars, everyone mucked in to get them repaired and, where possible, back out on track. It’s good to see that the spirit of MGOC racing is alive and well.
Congratulations go to Steve McDermid who took all three overall and Class Z wins.
Simon Kendrick took the Class F win in Race 1, but Mark took the honours in Races 2 and 3.
Malcolm Hill took the Classic class win in Race 1 but Dave Amphlett took the honours in Races 2 and 3.
The only new lap record was in Class Z where Steve took .002secs off Stuart Philps’ 2016 lap record.
Outstanding performance of the day was from Jack Woodcock who qualified his ZR on the third row of the grid and went on to take 2nd place in Races 1 and 3, with 3rd place in Race 2. Well done Jack.