Donington Park is the setting for the third round of the John Cooper Challenge on Saturday 15 May. After two speed events to open the season, the 30 MINIs will now take to the race circuits for the remainder of the season.
A piece of motorsport history will be created in the 750 Motor Club race meeting at Donington, with the first ever race for the exciting new 140mph Works MINI Cooper S. This is the third year of the John Cooper Challenge, which was created to honour the memory of the man who developed the original Mini Cooper back in the 1960s. But for the first time in 2004, the superb Works Cooper S is competing alongside the existing MINI Clubsport cars in a two-class championship.
Already, the competition has been tremendous and four drivers have taken to the top step of the podium so far. Martin Wallbank and Stephen Campbell won their respective classes in the opening sprint at Lydden, but at the Wiscombe Park hillclimb two weeks later it was Arthur Forster and Ed Stark at the head of the classes.
Now, with the speed events behind them, the drivers turn their focus to racing and that will certainly be familiar territory for series newcomer Wallbank. He has a fine racing pedigree in single-seaters and has returned to the sport this season after a couple of years away. He knows Donington well, and will surely be a leading runner in the S Class. But so too will defending champion Mark Speller who is far more at home on a race track than in the speed events. After a quiet start to his campaign, Speller will now aim to move strongly into contention.
Another driver relishing the switch to racing is Andy Sayle, who has plenty of race experience to bring to his season in which he is racing for Cancer Research. Along with Forster, Tony Skelton, Nick Smith, and Darren and James Needham, there should be some great competition in the S Class. Making his S debut at Donington will be Rob Holgate, who missed the opening two events.
The same level of competition will apply to the Club Class where four drivers have eked out a small early-season advantage. The ebullient Barney Craggs tops the points, having finished second in both events to date, but he faces tough opposition from youngsters Campbell and Stark. Campbell already has a pretty good racing pedigree, but Stark is an absolute novice having never competed before the start of the season. This will be the first race for the Oxford based driver. The fourth of the leading Club Class pack is Jonathan Shepherd, who achieved his ambition of a podium finish at Lydden and promptly did it again at Wiscombe!
Other Club Class drivers who should come to the fore in the races include Gary Robertshaw, James Whelan and Rob Austin as they all have some decent race experience. Amongst the newcomers, Mick Beauchamp and Paddy Murray have already made a good impression.
So the stage is set for the first of 10 races in the John Cooper Challenge. With a packed grid, fierce competition in both classes and a host of potential winners, it should be a cracking opener to the racing programme.
