WILTSHIRE drivers were at the forefront of race winners at Castle Combe circuit’s ‘West Country Cracker’ meeting, organised by the Corsham based ‘Classic Sports Car Club’ (CSCC).

Two of the most impressive wins came in the CSCC’s ‘Swinging Sixties’ races.

Getting the weekend under way, Radstock brothers Olly and Julian Howell were totally dominant winners of the ‘Group One’ two driver race.

Driving their 1380cc Mini for the first time in two years, the pair qualified on the front row, alongside the similar car of Clive Tonge and Vaughn Winter.

A good start by Olly gave the Mini a lead which it only briefly lost in the pit stop, Julian going on to make up all the time lost when the race was neutralised under a Code 60 period to go on to win by a massive 27”.

Fellow Radstock driver Ross Whittock took his 'rally spec' Mini to 10th overall in a rare circuit racing outing.

In the ‘Swinging Sixties’ Group Two section Westbury’s Mike Dowd and Glastonbury’s Jeremy Cooke, took their Lotus Elan 26R from pole to a dominant win, some half a minute ahead of their nearest rivals.

Dominic Malone, from Widcombe, near Bath, entered two of the weekend’s races, putting his BMW M3 on the front row for both.

Sadly, Saturday’s ‘Open Series’ race was abandoned after a collision at Folly on the opening lap, the circuit’s curfew preventing a re-run.

Sunday’s ‘New Millenium’ race for post 2000 production based cars, saw Malone start from pole, initially headed by the Porsche 911 of Feltwell’s Peter Challis, only to take the lead after the compulsory pit stops, going on to win by some 14 seconds.

Fellow Widcombe resident, David Marcussen, brought his BMW M3 from seventh on the grid to that place at the finish.

Bridgwater’s Josh Fisher extended his lead in the circuit’s Formula Ford 1600 championship after his arch rival, Wellingborough’s Michael Moyers, ended his race in the barriers at Quarry after the pair tangled once too often.

The front row men had been engaged in the most furious battle, with Yatton Keynell’s Luke Cooper, Coventry’s Nathan Ward and Langford’s Roger Orgee all getting in on the act in the first five laps.

With Moyers in the barriers, a ‘safety car’ situation turned into a red flag as the circuit’s new compressible safety barriers began to catch alight from the heat of the Spectrum.

At the re-start, Fisher was down to sixth after the coming together with Moyers, Cooper leading a train of cars headed by a well-recovered Orgee.

But by the second lap, Fisher had taken the lead, helped by Cooper having to visit the pits to replace a plug lead.

This also helped Ward to third, with Michael Eastwell, teammate to Moyers in the ‘Kevin Mills’ squad, a fine fourth and Bromyard’s Rob Hall fifth. French driver Thomas Cappezzone took sixth on his first outing in the Swift.

The state of the championship remains in doubt after Moyers protested Fisher, first for driving standards - which was thrown out - then for his engine, a matter which will be investigated.

Father and son Andy and Chris Southcott, from Curridge, brought their pair of MG Midget clones to the circuit’s GT championship race, providing an interesting contrast to the likes of the Lamborghini Gallardo of Jordan Billington and the BMW M6, driven by Bal Sidhu.

Interestingly, it was the elder Southcott’s Midget which was the dominant force, winning by three seconds from Bradley John’s Mitsubishi Evo and the Caterham CSR of Simon Smith.

Pole man Tony Bennett, from Salisbury, was fourth in his Caterham, Portishead’s Oliver Bull took his Ford-engined Vauxhall Tigra Silhouette to fifth, with Hove’s Ilsa Cox a fine sixth and first of the conventional road cars in her SEAT Leon Cupra.

The circuit’s ‘Saloon Car Championship’ race saw drama on lap eight when Bournemouth’s Nigel Marsh rolled his Mini into the infield, catching the grass and the car alight.

Southampton’s Gary Prebble, who was leading from Calne’s Simon Norris in the class B Mitsubishi Colt prior to the stoppage, was briefly headed by Will Di Claudio on the re-start, but was soon back in control.

Nevertheless, Prebble’s SEAT was kept on its toes right to the flag, with Norris right behind him on the road, but in reality, classified fourth after a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.

Norris extended his championship lead, helped by Corsham’s Di Claudio being pipped to fastest lap in class C by the similar 106 GTi of Sturminster Newton’s Geoff Ryall.

The penalty for Norris placed Di Claudio second and Ryall third overall The class C influence continued up to eighth place with fifth overall taken by Bristol’s Hadyn King, also 106-mounted.

Bristol’s James Keepin took his relatively-unmodified MG ZR to a brilliant sixth, Chippenham’s Martin Chivers in his similar car seventh and Shepton Mallet’s Mike Ritchie eighth in the Honda Integra Type R.

Brixham’s Mike Good was lucky to take the class D win after Dursley’s Alex Kite retired his class D Saxo.

Regular Combe saloon championship runners Kevin Bird and son Charles from Ditcheat, looked as though they would dominate the CSCC ‘Modern Classics’ race having qualified Kevin's Nissan 200SX on pole by over a second.

The expected win failed to materialise however, with mechanical failure on lap three, fastest lap being the only consolation.