Castle Combe Championships in full health as season opens

Castle Combe Circuit’s 2016 season makes its traditional Easter Monday start with Howards Day on March 28 and all its championships as healthy as ever!

Full to the brim is the Saloon Car Championship with local drivers aplenty, including Bristol’s Mark Wyatt, defending his outright title with his trusty Astra. Wyatt runs in the ‘B’ class for cars under 2.5 litres, which means smaller turbo charged cars like the unique Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart of Calne’s Simon Norris join him in battle. The bigger engined Fiestas of those such as Ayrton Anderson from Peasedown St John and Kieren Simmons from Weston Super Mare are also class contenders. Likely to be right out front are two opponents who fought tooth and nail last year for every inch of track. Calne’s Tony Hutchings, in his newly rebuilt Audi TT, will be fending off Combe’s most successful driver, Southampton’s Gary Prebble in his powerful SEAT Leon Cupra. But they have plenty of other opposition too, including a new threat from Bridgwater’s Tony Dolley who has moved classes to wield his SEAT Leon at the sharp end. Bath’s Dave Scaramanga should have his potent VW Scirocco fully sorted this year, whilst the ‘Bird’ family, Kevin and Charles from Ditcheat, will continue their father and son battle. Charles has his Megane whilst father Kevin has yet to reveal his new steed, which is believed to be “something rather good”. Seend’s Julian Ellison returns to do battle with Keynsham’s John Barnard for Astra VXR Turbo honours. A betting man for the outright title would do worse than put money on Corsham’s Will Di Claudio, who returns to the fray in class C with a new Peugeot 106 Gti. With three under his belt already and an even quicker car than last time, only class D’s Russell Poynter-Brown from Compton Martin has as good a chance of taking maximum points at each round.Every year, the circuit’s Formula Ford 1600 Championship promises to be even more exciting than the last and whilst that seems unlikely after so many successful years, 2016 promises as much as ever. One of the most exciting prospects is Luke Cooper from Yatton Keynell in the family’s latest creation, a Swift SC16. Having shown his ability in older cars, this is Cooper’s chance to emulate Rob Hall, who took a Swift to the championship title in 2011. Another local dynasty, the Higgins family, in the form of the Chippenham based Riadro Racing team, is focusing on its two older drivers this year, namely 66 year old principle Bob Higgins and his eldest son Richard from Bridgwater. Both have newly refurbished cars and in a break from tradition, will be undertaking testing, rather than perfecting the cars whilst they race. Higgins senior, a former triple champion, feels being able to test his RF 90 Van Diemen will put him right at the front. He said, “I’m looking to not only win class B, but be in the top 5 overall. The car has been totally refurbished and we will have everything we need to win.” It was 1983 when Higgins senior last won a title, with youngest son Adam winning outright in 2013 and 2014, so Richard is hoping the new engine and other upgrades to his A class Van Diemen JL12 will allow him to complete a trio of family championships. Trying to stop them will be the Kevin Mills Racing team, fielding reigning champion, Langport’s Roger Orgee, in the Ridgemill Van Diemen RF00 as well as five other highly competitive drivers. Joining the squad for the first time is David Vivian from Bradford on Avon, a previous class B front runner who will be keen to resume that level of pace in his Swift SC92. Brothers Felix and Josh Fisher from Bridgwater are another family racing connection, this time pitted against each other in class A. With Josh able to lead races last year in an elderly class C car, he will be a frightening opponent now he is installed in a modern Van Diemen. Contrastingly, Chippenham's Pete Diccox enters his 80th year in his Van Diemen RF89 as the country’s oldest single seater racing driver.The thunder from the circuit’s Sports Racing Series will be doubly amplified on Monday as these unlimited capacity monsters are unleashed. Two races, each of twenty minutes, will see impressive machinery such as the 6.2 litre Riley TDC of Salisbury’s Nigel Mustill being powered to mind boggling speeds over the Wiltshire circuit’s rises. It won’t be plain sailing for Mustill though as a previous formidable opponent, Taunton’s Craig Fleming, is back with his Juno TR250, which he planted on pole and won with in 2013. There are also the circuit specialists such as Wrington’s Darcy Smith who is still in a Radical, but one with a much smaller engine than he has been used to. His SR4 version will run in the lower capacity class C with 1340cc motorcycle power. Mark Nicholson from Wotton under Edge and Brent Hill from Brean will continue their Radical SR3 battle from last year and there is plenty of other ‘Radical’ presence too. But for a complete contrast, look no further than the historic Martin BM9/10 of George Douglas from Frampton Cotterell, a long time circuit supporter.Portishead’s Oliver Bull is back to defend his title in the Sports & GTs Championship for highly modified saloon and sports cars. The 2 litre Vauxhall Tigra ‘Silhouette‘ which Bull races is typical of the variety of cars in the field. This year it’s been upgraded with a 6 speed sequential box, which will help to keep it ahead of the opposition such as the Ginetta G50s of Tetbury pairing David Krayem and Ben Scrivens. To add to the fun, Bath’s Dave Scaramanga, more familiar to fans for his Scirocco in the Saloon Car championship, is wielding a new Nissan GT-R in class A against the Mitsubishi Evo 9 of Torquay’s Barry Squibb. Other ‘tin top’ types to watch out for include Chris Vinall from Axminster in his SEAT Leon Supercopa and the indefatigable Adam Prebble from Southampton in his Rover Tomcat.The circuit’s ever popular races are backed up by the visiting Mini Se7ens and Miglias, having their opening races of the season. The Minis bring with them their MGP Promo Grid Girls’ to add a touch of glamour.Also with a pair of races in its first outing of the year is the MG BCV8 Championship, where most derivatives of the MGB can be seen in action. They will range from the almost road-going to very highly tuned V8 monsters capable of lap times on a par with modern machinery.Monday's action starts at 8.30 am with racing getting under way from 12.40 pmAdmission prices are £15 for Adults and £10 for seniors. Accompanying Under 17s are admitted free. Paddock Transfer is free if the tickets are purchased in advance

For further information, visit castlecombecircuit.co.uk built by Racecr


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