MaX5 Brands Hatch Review

Brands Hatch - the jewel of the south east played host to the eleventh and twelfth rounds of the 2016 MaX5 Racing Championship. Heading into the event, Scotsman John Munro was hoping to start to make an indent into Nick Dunn's championship lead but he would face serious challenges from series regulars and a few new names this year.

A wet and greasy circuit saw John Munro snatch pole position in the dying moments of what was the closest qualifying session this season. His lap of 1:08.223 was just enough to pip his teammate and former champion, David Chapman who set a lap of 1:08.287. Championship leader Nick Dunn ended up third place, over nine tenths back from the top two. The two MK 4s of Roddison and Halliwell came next and they were closely followed by Chris Webster. Geoff Gouriet ended up seventh with a lap time 1:10.906 with George Grant, Andy Pretorius and Ian Loversidge rounding out the top ten - all less than one second behind Gouriet. Neither Andrew Bayliss or Guy Carter were in attendance so it was an all rookie top three in the MK 1 class. Daniel Grist took the class pole with a 1:14,266 with Josh Malin again impressing with second on the grid just over four tenths back. Simon Roden, Mark Theaker and Tom Hotchkiss rounded out the class.

Race one and as per usual the MK 4s of Roddison and Halliwell would have to start at the back of the grid. As the lights went out, David Chapman got the jump on teammate Munro and escaped out and into the lead with Munro, Webster, Dunn and Gouriet in hot pursuit. The greasy conditions made for tough going but Chapman managed to escape at a consistent rate of two tenths per lap to eventually win, 11.451 seconds ahead of the closest MK 3. The battle for second was intense, Chris Webster chased down John Munro and briefly managed to squeeze past on lap ten before disaster struck. On lap sixteen his gearbox got stuck in fourth gear and Webster was out of the running with just five laps remaining. Geoff Gouriet and Nick Dunn set about replacing in Webster in chasing down Munro, however neither of them could make the pass. This allowed Munro to come home second from Gouriet in third, Nick Dunn was less than a second behind Munro in fourth. Behind them Ian Loversidge and Jeremy Shipley both had quiet races on their way to fifth and sixth in class, twenty two and thirty three seconds behind the leader respectively. Andy Pretorious and George Grant had a great battle in the final laps that eventually went the way Pretorious by just under three tenths of a second. Lee Hollin and Matthew Todmarsh rounded out the top ten in class. The MK 1 class saw a fantastic race long battle between rookies Josh Malin and Danny Grist and the more experienced Mark Theaker. Theaker took an early lead from Grist and Malin but the rookies fought back, Malin slipped past Grist on lap three and had Theaker firmly in his sights. Despite Malin's lack of experience, he had a strong drive and made his move on lap ten to take the class lead. Unfortunately, confusion regarding a black and white flag saw Malin come into the pits unnecessarily and he dropped to fifth in class.This left Grist and Theaker to fight it out and on lap nineteen Grist made his move into the class lead. He was able to hang on and take the win in his first ever MaX5 race, Theaker and Roden rounded out the class podium.

In honour of Nick Dunn's late uncle, race two was renamed the Jeremy Dunn memorial trophy.

This time David Chapman wouldn't have things as easy. Championship leader Nick Dunn made a great start and was up to second in class by the end of the first lap. By contrast, both John Munro and Geoff Gouriet made poor starts and dropped back to fourth and sixth respectively. Out front the gap between the leaders fluctuated between one and eight tenths of a second but every time Dunn got close, Chapman held him off. Dunn tried everything possible but in the end David Chapman managed to make it two wins from two races - taking victory by eight tenths of a second. Behind them, Geoff Gouriet spent the race making up for loss ground on the first lap, he passed Pretorius on lap two, Munro on lap three and Loversidge on lap five. From there, he'd have a quiet race on his way to podium number two of the weekend. Loversidge had an untroubled run to fourth whilst John Munro struggled with traction but held on to take fifth. Not for the first time this season Chris Webster had a stunning drive from the back of the grid and ended up sixth, just eight tenths behind Munro. Pretorius would have a quiet run to seventh whilst behind him, Shipley, Tidmarsh and Grant had a fantastic battle for the final places in the top ten. They ended the race just two seconds apart with Shipley in eighth, Tidmarsh ninth and Grant tenth in class.

In the MK 1 class, Grist would take a reasonably untroubled second victory of the weekend thanks mainly to Sam Moody in his MK 3 who spent most of the race keeping Josh Malin at bay. Despite the sixteen year old's best attempts, there was nothing he could do to get past Moody and he ended up second in class - still a fantastic result for the inexperienced youngster. Mark Theaker would once again make the podium.

All of this sees Nick Dunn extend his championship lead to ninety nine points over Ian Loversidge. Chris Wesbeter's non score in race one drops him to fifth behind Jeremy Shipley, on 437 points and Andy Preotius, on 435 points. John Munro remains sixth, now just four behind Webster on 429 but he really needs to get a couple of wins in the final four races of the season if he's to make any serious shot at the title. Time is running our for the Scotsman.

#MaX5