Alistair Camp became our first repeat winner of the Milltek Civic Cup season, retaking the championship lead to leave the Brands Hatch triple header with 75 points, seven ahead of nearest rival David Buky. After a retirement in the reverse grid race, Camp was quick to re-establish his dominance at the Indy circuit, collecting his second silverware of the weekend.
What had appeared to be a bad start for polesitter, and pre-race championship leader Matt Luff turned out to be technical problems. The #72 was noticeably slow up to Druids and retired as a result. It was not the way the ex-Ginetta Junior and Mazda driver wanted to conclude the running, but will be determined to hit back at Oulton Park next round.
Back to the race and it was another key title rival; Jamie Tonks, who inherited the lead on the opening lap. Pulling a second advantage over the chasing pack, Tonks, like Camp was eager to put a mends to his earlier retirement.
His free air would not last long though, Camp closing down the #4 FastR-sponsored driver within a few laps. By the fourth, Camp had set the fastest lap, passing Tonks for lead in the process, but Tonks was not about to let him get away though as George Alp-Williams created the leading trio.
Morgan Bailey meanwhile was holding his own against the racier Dan Thackeray and David Buky in fourth. Between the leading three and the battle for fourth, the cameras were more than occupied, allowing Phil Wright to slowly catch Buky in front without the pressure of cars around him.
Tonks may have not let Camp race away after his overtake, but he would receive the worst news possible as he picked up a 5 second penalty for a track limits violation. He wouldn’t be the only driver though as fourth place Bailey repeated the offence.
Aware that Tonks was effectively out of contention, Alp-Williams decided that he needed to make a move now-or-never, giving himself 5 minutes to make inroads to Camp’s lead. Protagonists of the 2020 season, Camp was eager to prove his metal as the defending vice-champion, holding off Alp-Williams who slowed on the run to the chequered flag. The result was Area Motorsport’s second 1-2-3 of the weekend, putting the team in prime position to produce their second champion in as many years.
Three different winners from as many races in the Civic Cup ensures the battle at the top of the championship could barely be closers, but leaving Brands it would be Camp, Alp-Williams and Tonks who completed the podium despite his penalty.
Wright would inherit fourth after Bailey’s penalty cost him his best result of the season, with Buky and Thackeray close behind. For Thackeray, he’ll be disappointed considering he’d been one of the quickest drivers in the first half of the race, but will be buoyed knowing he’d only 15 points behind championship leader Camp.
Race two winner Ben Sharpe held off the skilled FN2 of Ben Mills for seventh as Bailey’s penalty dropped him to ninth, in front of Ross Darlington.
Talking about the race, #45 Alistair Camp said;
“I hope I’ve done my old man proud today, happy Father’s Day! I saw Tonks penalty flash up on the board and when I realised he was the car behind me I breathed a sigh of relief knowing it gave me a bit of breathing space, but then I saw George come through and knew I then had to get on with it. Brands isn’t even my strongest track, so it’s fantastic to do what I did today.”
The Production Class was again dominated by Alfie Threlfall as the 21-year-old further extended his championship lead to 12 points over Mervyn Beckett who finished second, just 0.808 seconds behind.
At the end of the opening lap, Threlfall had already taken lead from fourth ahead of Beckett and Simon Welch. It was bad news for Beckett, who had a free run in front of him due to Peter Dell being forced to pull out of the finale. While the #66 was never able to pull out a significant gap he never really looked troubled either, cruising to a clean sweep.
By the half race point all eyes were on Mark Hughes who had made his way past Harry Threlfall, then Welch, but it was all for nought as a mistake saw him narrowly avoid the barrier, dropping down the class. Unfortunately for Welch, a maiden Production podium was denied by Harry Threlfall, who moves up to third in the standings as a result.
“It was such a good weekend, couldn’t have gone any better,” said Alfie Threlfall. “It might just be beginners luck, but my first race ever was at Cadwell. I made a good start and got into the lead as early as possible, then just tried to hold on with Mervyn behind me.”
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Full Results can be found on TSL Timing.