Munro Dominates Mallory Park

Mark Ridout arrived at Mallory Park with every reason to smile; having dominated the weekend at Cadwell Park with pole position and both race wins, it was evident that he was the favourite heading into the second meeting of the year. On top of his success at Cadwell, it was a great start for his team, Cursley Motorsport. Darren Banks, Luca Staccini and newcomer, Dan Munro all scored podium finishes, and walked away from Cadwell in high spirits.

But now it was time for a new challenge; Mallory Park returned to the calendar for the first time since 2021 and the circuit is a test of precise driving and maintaining as much speed as possible, the perfect place then for Mark Ridout's silky smooth style? Not in Qualifying it seemed! Dan Munro set the pace in the extremely tight session, with Neale Hurren in second place just 0.042 off the pace. Luca Staccini with just six thousands further back in third, while Banks completed the second row. Ridout was three tenths off the pole time in fifth, with Darren Swift a spectacular sixth! Mark Jones and Kevin Middleton were closely matched for seventh and eighth, with Matthew Watson and Dan Fletcher on row five. Silvester and Lawrie ended the session in eleventh and twelfth, with Roger Owens and Mark Worsley close behind. Debutants Gary Hobbs and Ben Wilkinson completed row eight, with Don Gillies, Spencer Hirons and our final rookie, Simon Smith, completing the grid.

It was time for lights out for Race One of the weekend, and Munro got a great start and led into Gerards bend ahead of Hurren! Ridout and Staccini went to battle as the pack flooded into Edwina's while Darren Banks watched and waited. Jake Silvester, Gary Hobbs and Mark Worlsey fought it out in the mid field, while Paul Lawrie set off after Matthew Watson for tenth!

Staccini wasn't happy being sat behind Ridout for long; on lap four, Luca started to fill Mark's mirrors - moving left and right down the straight trying to unsettle his Cursley Motorsport team-mate. Mark though was unfazed and sought to keep what he'd gained on the first lap. Luca would not give up easily though; a great exit from Edwina's left him with a run at Ridout. He scythed down the inside into the hairpin, but an excellently orchestrated switchback meant that Mark retained third place into Devil's Elbow.

Dan Fletcher was in a feisty mood too, taking aim at Darren Swift's eighth position. He got his nose down the inside through Gerards bend, and that was all she wrote - Swift was powerless to fight back around the outside of the long, fast right-hander, and settled in to ninth. Neale Hurren was in no mood to settle for anything, lap after lap, he hunted Munro down, closing on the youngster's rear bumper, hoping to force a mistake, but it never came. After a race oozing with excitement and pressure, Dan Munro took his first victory in the Series, much to his and his father, Chris' delight. Hurren came home second less than a a second behind Munro, Mark Ridout finished third ahead of Staccini in fourth. To view the full results for Race One, click here.

Race Two got underway with another textbook start from Munro, and a great getaway for Ridout who demoted Hurren to third - the pressure was on for Neale to hold his podium finish with Staccini right behind him. A little bit of panel bashing in the pack left Simon Smith with a damaged front bumper on his debut weekend; he would need to pit for repairs later in the race. Watson, Worsley and Hobbs were enjoying an epic battle as they thundered through Edwina's side-by-side, Matthew Watson coming off best and shooting up to eleventh behind Roger Owens.

Meanwhile, newcomer, Ben Wilkinson was joining the fight, the BEZO Motorsport car crawling over the rear of Hobbs out of the hairpin. He made the move stick on Gary for thirteenth place. Meanwhile, Kevin Middleton was putting Darren Banks under extreme pressure; the battle for fifth was well and truly on. Banks withstood the pressure for the time being, while leader Munro was busy watching his mirrors for Mark Ridout behind. The top three were clearly closely matched, trading fastest lap times in their pursuit of the lead.

Silvester was doing his best to come through the field as he did at Cadwell Park; attacking the circuit in his bright yellow Gen1 whilst in pursuit of Swift and Watson ahead of him. While that was going on, Staccini had found his way past Hurren and back up into third place. It wouldn't be the win that the Italian was hoping for, but it was still a great result against formidable rivals. Try as they might though, no one could halt Dan Munro's charge; he'd done the double, taking both race wins in just his second race meeting in the Series. What a weekend for Munro; Ridout followed him home for second place ahead of Staccini in third place. Neale Hurren finished fourth ahead of Banks and Middleton. For full results, click here!

Words from Andrew Holmes

Images from Phil and Kian Baines