The Holden MG Trophy

The MG Trophy races at Snetterton, sponsored by Holden MG, featured a high-quality five-way battle at the front. Adam Jackson and Fred Burgess returned to the MG ZR 190 Class A contest to join habitual frontrunners Graham Ross and Doug Cole plus Cadwell Park’s in-form man, Sam Meagher.

At the start of the first race the front five quickly became three as poleman Meagher spun at the first turn and Jackson had to run off the track in avoidance.

Ross had taken the lead at the start and stayed ahead for the duration while Cole held off an attacking Burgess before Burgess dropped away late on with an exhaust breakage but still finished third. Jackson set fastest lap and recovered to fourth place before parking with a driveshaft failure. 

James Cole dominated Class B after establishing a clear early lead and he beat newly crowned overall champion, Tylor Ballard, by six seconds. Ballard, after claiming the title at Cadwell last time out, ran the number one and a special gold champion’s windscreen sunstrip (a surprise gift from Graham Ross) on his car at Snetterton.

Ross said: “In qualifying I looked at the times, 1.2s behind, and I thought ‘this is going to be a struggle’. But I made a good start. I thought that was my only way if I was going to maybe win it or control it if I could get to the front. 

“And I’d made a couple of adjustments with set-up, because I’ve been twiddling all year with set-up, and it certainly wasn’t any worse, let’s put it that way. I just felt really good, felt comfortable, and just felt I could pull a gap. Chuffed there’s life in the old dog yet!”

At the start of race two Ross again led from Doug Cole while Jackson immediately vaulted from 10^th on the grid – after traffic problems in qualifying – to run fourth behind Meagher, with Burgess completing the front quintet.

Ross looked good for a double win but spun at Murray’s. This let Meagher – who’d passed Cole early on – into the lead but with Cole on his tail. Cole got by to lead with a lap to go thanks to a fine move at Riches were he lined up on the outside line of the defending Meagher then cut back to out-accelerate him on the inside at the corner’s exit.

It meant Cole won his final race before retiring from full-time racing and, adding to the celebration his son James doubled up on Class B wins holding off Ballard and Scott Bugner. Cole Sr also got Millers Oils NanoDrive Driver of the Race. Jackson, meanwhile, pitted as his driveshaft broke , the other side this time, and the grease in the boot went onto the exhaust filling the car with smoke.

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Cole said: “Just bided my time, tyres were coming in slowly, and when I saw Graham go off I started charging. 

“[Meagher] was struggling around Coram so I thought ‘I can get a run up here’. The lap before [at Riches] I went to the left a little bit and he covered the right. And I thought ‘I know what I’m going to do next lap’. [The next lap] exactly the same thing, he tried to get too tight and I did the old switch back: 25 years of racing teaches you something!

“So the last official MG Trophy race, and I win the race. And my son won as well, even better!”

As always, the Trophy races featured fierce battles in both Class A and B and produced an excellent spectacle for the spectators and a fitting finale to the 18 years that it has been an MG Car Club championship. It’s ‘all change’ for 2024 and news of a new era for the Trophy will be announced shortly.

Words by Graham Keilloh. Photographs by Dickon Siddall.

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The MG Trophy competitors gathered at the scenic Cadwell Park circuit for rounds 7 & 8 of the 10 round 2023 championship and had a great day of close and competitive racing in fine weather.

The Lincolnshire venue with its spectacular fast turns and undulations is appropriately nicknamed the ‘Mini Nurburgring’ and the Trophy has seen it’s fair share of dramas during previous visits to the venue. This time around there were intense battles in both Class A and Class B but the real drama came two days after the meeting when the championship points table was published. One of the drivers did the maths and realised that Tylor Ballard had amassed sufficient points to secure the 2023 championship title. Tylor, supported by Simon, his father, have battled through many setbacks during the years since Tylor started racing with the championship in 2017. His victory this year is richly deserved and will be applauded by his fellow competitors.

Qualifying

Class B cars initially dominated qualifying with Jack Woodcock and Tylor Ballard setting the pace until the Class A cars had fully warmed their slicks. Sam Meagher then headed the timesheets until Graham Ross annexed the top spot on his 11th tour. Not to be outdone Meagher put in a storming final lap to claim pole by 0.444 seconds leaving Ross P2 and Doug Cole P3.

Woodcock and Ballard continued to push each other for the Class B pole, Woodcock finally claimed the spot with a time just 0.026 seconds quicker than Ballard whose session was compromised by an alternator problem.. Cal Moore qualified well and secured the 3rd fastest Class B time.

Fergus Campbell was 8th quickest in his borrowed ZR170 and Jack Meagher was P11 on his first visit to Cadwell Park.

Race 1

Sam Meagher, who moved up to Class A earlier this season driving an MG ZR 190 previously raced by Ross Makar was delighted to take pole position for both races which were sponsored by Charles Warner MG of Lincoln. 

Maegher led for much of the opening race. Although he got a good start he missed a gear, which allowed Graham Ross to get ahead but Meagher reclaimed the lead halfway around the first lap.

Ross, now happier with his car’s handling than earlier in the year, shadowed Meagher for many laps with Doug Cole in third, the top three running in close formation. Then, at two-thirds’ distance, Ross got on the inside of Meagher into The Mountain and Meagher slid onto the grass which left Ross in the lead and Meagher resuming in third place behind Cole. The trio finished in that order with Ross grateful to have ended his run poor luck at this venue. Second-placed Cole received the Millers Oils Driver of the Race award.

Ross said: “Cadwell being Cadwell, I genuinely thought the only place I was going to get a win out of this was off the start. I didn’t make a great start but Sam missed a gear so by the first corner I was in front but then on the back straight I defended and he drove past me, I was just too slow.”

“Then I thought I’m going to have to hope he misses a gear or something falls into my lap, but he was driving really well.”

“But [nearer the end] I noticed that in some of the slow corners he was struggling for grip; coming out of Gooseneck the sharp turn left, he was struggling for traction out of there. My car seemed to be quite good, so I could gain on him there.”

“So I thought, his tyres are going off, if I can just get up the inside of him there I have a chance. I managed it and we were side by side into The Mountain. I don’t think Sam knew I was there because we touched a wee bit. I got the turn and that was it. I got lucky and made the best of my opportunities. I really really enjoyed it.”

“It’s the third time I’ve been to Cadwell and it’s the first time I’ve actually completed a race here. I never even completed practice last year.”

Jack Woodcock won the Class B race just 0.027 seconds ahead Tylor Ballard who was happy to add more valuable points to his championship tally. Cal Moore repeated his qualifying performance and brought his ZR170 home P3 in class.

Race 2

The same Ross-Meagher-Cole trio fought for the overall win in race 2 though this time Meagher, again starting from pole, got a poor start and Cole led from Ross followed by the recovering Meagher. 

With overtaking at Cadwell not easy, they circulated in that order for a time. That was until half distance when Graham Ross spun into the grass at Gooseneck and was rather at a loss to explain his error. “I thought I was doing the same thing every time [at that corner],” Ross said, “the car just broke away instantaneously.” He resumed in fifth place and that left Meagher on leader Cole’s tail.

But at Park on the next lap Meagher touched the back of Cole which put the leading MG ZR 190 off and nudging the barriers. Cole was able to resume albeit in P9. That left Meagher free to take his first win while Ross and Cole recovered to second and fifth overall respectively, P2 and P3 in class. Ross got the consolation of the Millers Oils Driver of the Race award.

The Class B fight was a role reversal from race 1 as Ballard started ahead of Woodcock and was able to lead throughout to claim the class win. Matthew Harvey claimed P3 after Cal Moore retired on lap 10.

“Over the moon, it’s great,” Meagher said of his victory. “It was a bad start but it was nice to compete with the boys at the front. I tapped Doug by accident, I can only apologise for that. But I’m over the moon to get the first win. It’s my first win, ever!”

“[My start] was horrendous, I dropped down to about sixth, so I had to fight my way back though the field.”

“[With Cole] I just went a bit too hot into the corner, just a racing incident I think.”

“Keep [the car] as it is now, it’s going fast, so see how we go at Snetterton.”

Words by Graham Keilloh. Photographs by Dickon Siddall.

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Report by Graham Keilloh. Photographs by Dickon Siddall.

Two-time MG Trophy champion Graham Ross bounced back from a tricky 2022 by winning both of 2023’s season-opening races at Brands Hatch in his left-hand-drive ZR 190. 

Ross dropped to third on the opening lap of race one but by lap four had claimed first place, where he stayed. He finished though just 1.8 seconds clear of Fergus Campbell in his Class B ZR 170, who hung on gamely and won his class, ahead of Tylor Ballard who closed in on him late on. And Lee Sullivan – who at Brands returned to the Trophy for the first time since 2016 when he came second overall and won Class B – led the race overall early on and was leading the Class B charge behind Ross but dropped out with a broken gearbox.

Jack Chapman, who rose from the back to finish fifth overall, got driver of the race.

Ross’s race-one win was aided too by that Class A rival Doug Cole got stranded in the collecting area as a broken alternator resulted in a flat battery. He returned for race two and early on climbed from fourth to second, then he closed in on leader Ross and attacked him for the place. 

Cole got alongside Ross several times at Paddock and Druids, though Ross was the stronger at Graham Hill Bend, and he managed to resist Cole for the rest of the way to win.

Sullivan again led the race early on – this time from pole – and was leading Class B when he again retired with a repeat of his technical woes. That left the battle for the class win between Campbell and Ballard, and Ballard got by for victory with a magnificent pass, hanging on around the outside of Druids then getting the inside line for Graham Hill Bend. Ballard also got driver of the race.

“[The weekend was] more successful than I thought,” Ross said. “I was happy to come here [and] not go away with any damage. 

“We’ve tinkered a bit with suspension settings and stuff like that just trying to get an advantage. We’ve got ourselves in a rabbit hole going the wrong direction, I think we’re going the right way now. It still isn’t quite right. Compared to Doug it was really good at Graham Hill, everywhere else it was not as good, so it was a race spent defending. But we’re getting there.

“[Race one] was a bit lonely, good to boost the confidence, but if Doug had been on the track I doubt I would have won it. I didn’t think I would have defended to keep him back for that whole race [in race two], but I managed it.

“Two wins: chuffed to bits. Also it was my first pole at Brands. Couldn’t have gone much better.”

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