A MAZDA-FUL PERFORMANCE

While guest driver Aidan Hills dominated the opening Silverstone weekend with three wins, the points-scoring Pro Class cars behind him were headed by Richard Amos and Patrick Fletcher, the former taking two 100 points scores to head the championship after the first weekend of racing, but with a plethora of equally formidable drivers lining up behind him.

Amos strengthened his lead at Snetterton’s three races by battling through the pack in each to pick up two more victories as Adam Bessell took the other, with James Cossins, Fletcher, Leigh Britten, Will Blackwell-Chambers and Colin Bysouth all sharing podiums between them and it looked as though Richard would be the man everyone had to chase.

Back to Silverstone on the GP circuit, Amos had back-up in the returning Sam Smith as a guest driver, and while he would take a win on the road in race two, it would be maximum scores achieved for Bysouth this time as on both occasions he was out in front with a running mate for company, while Langridge and Fletcher split third places between them as they continued to stay in touch in the points. Brands Hatch saw Aidan Hills reappear as a guest, but he only ended up outright winner once all weekend as Bysouth took a brace and Blackwell-Chambers additionally claimed the century of points behind Hills in race three. It was at this point going into the second half of 2022 that Amos’ title chances came off the rails.

It was now becoming a battle between Blackwell-Chambers and Bysouth for the top spot and WB-C did all the right things next time out at Oulton Park with second behind race winner Knibbs in race one and then his first SuperCup victory later in the day ahead of Bysouth who could only manage sixth and second respectively and dropped points to the lead. As for Amos, two DNFs cost him valuable points, and finishing no better than sixth at the next weekend at Cadwell

Park did his chances no favours either as he dropped off the top spot.

At Cadwell, Blackwell-Chambers and Bysouth once again shared the spoils of victory with Knibbs, with Bysouth especially impressing in the third race after passing early leader Nic Grindrod and scoring the biggest winning margin that weekend. Colin carried on his superb momentum to the Donington Park GP circuit, claiming a stunning and emotional hat-trick of victories at a circuit he’d not raced at since an accident there put him on the sidelines for a couple of seasons. Returning in the best possible way, he applied more pressure to points leader BlackwellChambers, who happily banked two podiums with Amos, Fletcher and Cossins also sharing the silverware that weekend.

It all came down to the Snetterton finale, where both men picked up a win each to set up a final race showdown, and while Bysouth had to recover from a first corner spin and drive his heart out in what felt like the race of his life, he couldn’t better fifth behind Blackwell-Chambers, whose fourth place made him SuperCup Pro Class champion for 2022 from a valiant Bysouth in P2 and James Cossins proving strong all year to complete the class top three.

Over in the Club class, Stephen New looked like the early favourite with a win and several podiums providing a strong start, but from Brands Hatch onwards Scott Wright made the most of his Paddock Motorsport machine to begin topping the class on a regular basis. In the end, eight class wins went his way including a sublime trio on the final weekend to give him Club class honours for the season, with a move into Pro Class now on the cards for 2023.

Nic Grindrod also dominated the Masters class on his first season of MX-5 SuperCup racing, winning the final race outright and in the process taking his nineteenth Masters success of the year, leaving him the champ from Martin Tolley and Adrian Burge respectively.