MaX5 Mallory Park review

The beautiful scenery of Leicestershire's Mallory Park circuit was the perfect host for rounds seven and eight of the 2016 MaX5 championship. Heading into the event, Nick Dunn was the championship leader ahead of Chris Webster but after scoring his first championship victory last time out at Pembrey, John Munro was hoping to bring a serious challenge to Dunn's lead.

For the third time in four qualifying sessions, Nick Dunn would set the fastest time for a mark three but it was a tight session with the top six all covered by less than second. Behind Dunn would be Scotsman John Munro followed by Matt Tidmarsh, Russell Tamplin, Andy Pretorius and Ian Loversidge. After writing off his mark four at Pembrey, Paul Roddison would be driving a mark three borrowed from Richard Smith and the former champion would line up seventh ahead of Shipley, Webster and Hollin. Andrew Bayliss would qualify on pole in the mark one class, just over two tenths ahead of closest rival Guy Carter.

Mark Theaker wouldn't start race one due to engine problems but the other sixteen cars would make the grid for what proved to be an incredible race. From the outside of the front row, John Munro would make a poor start and drop back, costing him any chance of beating Dunn who had sprinted off into an early lead that he would never lose. Behind Dunn there was an incredible battle for second as Tidmarsh, Tamplin and Munro all battled together. Tidmarsh come off worse, spinning out at Shaw's hairpin on lap thirteen and dropping to tenth, he would eventually recover to eighth. Once again tough it was Nick Dunn who absolutely dominated the race, ending it more than fifteen seconds clear of John Munro who passed eventual third place finisher Russell Tamplin on lap sixteen. Just off the podium would be Chris Webster who put in an excellent drive to charge through the field and he would be followed by Roddison, Loversidge, Pretorius, Tidmarsh, Shipley and Lee Hollin who rounded out the top ten. Andrew Bayliss and Guy Carter would have a fantastic scrap over third that ultimately ended with Bayliss taking victory be just over one tenth of a second.

In race two Nick Dunn wouldn't have such a simple walk in the park though. This time it was the championship leader who made a poor start, allowing John Munro through and into the lead. Dunn didn't give in though and kept right on the back of Munro who made a small slip up that allowed his rival through. The Scotsman fought back and through everything imaginable at Nick Dunn but ultimately Munro would come home second, an achingly close 0.274 seconds behind the winner. Munro did set the fastest lap of the race but the result was still beneficial to Dunn. Behind the battling duo, Russell Tamplin would have a relatively quiet race on his way to podium number two of the weekend. Ian Loversidge also had a fairly quiet race on his way to fourth position ahead of Matt Tidmarsh who gained three places throughout the race. Shipley, Roddison and Hollin would have an absolutely brilliant battle over sixth place, there was never more than a few tenths between them and the trio often went three wide through Shaw's hairpin. In the end it was Jeremy Shipley who won that battle ahead of Roddison and Hollin. Pretorius would come home a lonely ninth ahead of another battle, this time between Adrian Baker and Chris Bexon. Andrew Bayliss once again won the mark one class.

Nick Dunn leads John Munro out of Shaw's hairpin.

All of this means that Nick Dunn remains at the top of the table on 394 points ahead of Ian Loversidge on 325. Chris Webster's non-score in race two drops him to third, fifteen points behind Loversidge. John Munro climbs his way up to sixth with 267 points but he really needs to start winning if he's to have a shot at the championship heading into the final rounds at Silverstone in October. Bayliss now leads the mark one class, a full thirty nine points ahead of Guy Carter.

The next rounds of the championship will be held at Donington Park on the 18th and 19th of June. You are not going to want to miss them.

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