Browne completes Champion of Brands sweep with Martin Down Trophy

Photo courtesy of James Roberts

Low Dempsey Racing’s Jonathan Browne has won every round of the 2020 Aumento Coaching Champion of Brands after triumphing in the season-ending Martin Down Trophy.

Browne started from pole position again but found himself under pressure throughout the 15-minute race. Initially, Team Dolan’s Ross Martin put on the pressure after a strong start, but Kevin Mills Racing’s Neil Maclennan worked his way ahead of the National FF1600 champion. Browne forced Maclennan wide at Graham Hill Bend a short while later, but the Spectrum driver was able to recover.

Several times Browne and Maclennan made contact, including into Paddock Hill Bend, but the pair kept it on the road. Browne led every lap once again, but the gap was always minuscule. Maclennan, the reigning holder of the Martin Down Trophy coming into the race, tried coming out of Clearways to draw alongside but fell short by just over half a tenth of a second.

Browne’s victory is his fifth in a row in Champion of Brands and his fourth in succession on the Indy circuit, adding to his victory on the Grand Prix loop last month.

Martin was only a few tenths behind in third but was not quite able to push towards the front two. KMR’s Michael Macpherson was a distant fourth after early pressure from behind. After retiring from the first race, Morgan Quinn put in a stellar drive to climb all the way back up the order into fifth, including a three-wide pass on Grant Palmer and Alex Walker – who finished sixth and seventh on the road.

Max Esterson inherited seventh from Walker who had a five-second time penalty applied for track limits, which dropped the former British Formula 4 racer down to eighth. Mataeo Pearce and Adam Fathers rounded out the top 10.

After retiring from the opening race, LDR’s Bryce Aron also had a challenging second race. Starting from the back, he was making progress early on before coming across the spun Jamun of Matt Hayes. Aron could not avoid it and damaged his suspension. He was the sole retiree.

After an issue in the first race of the day, Martin Down received support from the whole of the CoB paddock – as well as the National regulars who are making cameo appearances – to get his Getem Mygale back on the circuit for the race in honour of his late father who passed away in 2019.

Down ran as high as 10th after starting at the back, but eventually slipped back to 13th.

Following his incident in the first race, Andrew Pryke did not make the start in the second race of the day.