Long distance racing came to Castle Combe at the weekend as the Britcar British Endurance championship provided some thrilling entertainment, writes John Moon.

But it was the circuit’s own championships for saloons, Sports & GTs and Formula Ford, enjoying a pair of races each, where local drivers made their mark.

After a break away from the track, Bratton’s Ben Norton took a fine pair of wins for the circuit’s Formula Ford 1600 championship.

Driving the Wiltshire College Spectrum 010b, which took him to the 2009 title, Norton was never headed in race one and soon dealt with the fast-starting Rob Hall in race two, before the race was stopped two laps short due to an accident involving Bradford on Avon’s David Vivian, whose Swift was all but destroyed after clipping a back marker and rolling.

“I would like to have completed the last two laps as I was really enjoying it, but I’m very pleased to receive the biggest cup of my life,’’ said Norton after being presented with the impressive SES Autoparts trophy.

Saltford’s Steven Jensen, in the Kevin Mills Racing Spectrum, took a fine second and third after some battling race-long drives, pipped by Hall in race two, whose Combe-based Cooper Racing team had worked miracles to rebuild the engine of his Swift SC10 after a race one problem which saw the pole man drop to fourth.

But the hero of race two was Melksham’s Ed Moore.

Having scored a third place in race one with his new Ray, Moore worked miracles to bring his car home fourth after the steering all but locked as he pulled away from the start.

“As I changed from first to second gear I felt the steering tighten and after that I had virtually no left lock and only a small turn of right” explained the double champion.

Chippenham’s Adam Higgins fended off his fellow B class opponents to pick up two impressive victories in his Van Diemen RF90 and then went on to win the Formula Ford class in the weekend-closing Formula Free single seater race.

Atworth’s Rob Ballard took his first win and Saturday’s ‘driver of the day’ award in the Saloon Car championship race in his new SEAT Leon Cupra after a race-long battle with Bridgwater’s Tony Dolley.

Ballard said: “I’m here because a girl donated her kidney to me, so the win and the award are very special.”

Unfortunately, race two on Sunday gave him nothing more than retirement, after clipping a kerb on lap four.

Yate’s Nick Charles extended his overall championship lead with a pair of class wins in his Peugeot 106, third overall on Saturday and a strong second on Sunday some 30 seconds ahead of Trowbridge’s Mark Funnell in the under-powered Mini.

Reigning Castle Combe Sports & GT champion, Funnell, improved from sixth overall in race one to take a highly-impressive place on the podium after a race-long dice with Bristolian Nick Mizen in the class B MG ZR.

Class C went to Nick Clark in the Suzuki Swift, now right on the pace following attention from 2008 champion, Will Di Claudio from Bromham.

Sunday’s race brought a brilliant fifth overall, ahead of Melksham’s Adrian Slade in the B class MG ZR.

In the first Sports and GT race, pole man Darcy Smith from Wrington, in the Nemesis RME98, took a close win from the similar car of Bath’s Guy Parr, the pair finishing in the same order on Sunday, but with Simon Tilling ahead of them after storming from the back of the grid.

Chippenham’s Ian Hall missed Saturday’s race after attending his daughter’s wedding, but took another emotional victory in class B with his V8 Darrian Wildcat, exactly 45 years after making his Combe debut.

A little history was made when three members of the same family shared a podium.

David, Nigel and Sarah Moore finished in those places in the new 4two cup for Smart cars.

Chippenham’s Kyle Tilley suffered misfortune in the headlining Britcar race.

Sharing a seven-litre Marcos Mantis with Sam Head, the pair qualified the car second in class and eighth overall on the track where Tilley is reigning Pre ’90 Formula Ford champion.

Head started the two-hour race, bringing the car to a class lead prior to the first pit stop.

Having handed over to Tilley, the car was soon back in the pits with a broken driveshaft, the legacy of a hit from a following car in a previous ‘safety car’ period.

Salisbury’s Nigel Mustill was the effective winner, coming home second on the road in the mighty Aquila, albeit two laps down on the Invitation class Ferrari 458 GT3 of Phil Dryburgh and John Gaw.

Bristol’s Owen O’Neill took class three and fifth overall in the Topcats Marcos Mantis shared with Jon Harrison.