With what seemed like the blink of an eye, the Super Mighty Minis Championship found itself at the end of another season with the finale at the sublime Castle Combe.

Unfortunately the finale would be delayed due to heavy early morning fog. Eventually the fog gave way to the late summer sun and qualifying was soon underway. Alex Comis in the Mini Spares car was soon in the groove and by the end of the session, put in a time good enough for a 2^nd row start.

With the sun continuing to grace the circuit, the cars were soon lining up on the grid for race 1. Lights out and Comis didn't make his usual flying start and with the long drag to the 1st corner, was soon swamped by the field and down in 10^th place. By the end of lap 1, Comis had clawed back a place and with the pack of cars so closely matched, places were swapping faster than could be a be kept up with. Comis was looking strong but struggling to capitalise. By lap 5, another place gained only for the Safety Car to be deployed before the race was red-flagged. With the positions being taken from the penultimate lap, Comis was classified in 9^th place, but such was his race pace, Comis managed to take fastest lap.

Race 2 and the weather had closed in with heavy clouds and the threat of rain. At the start, this time Comis hooked up the launch and was on the challenge into Avon Rise. By the 2^nd lap he was up to 8th, and by the 4^th lap up to 5^th. With the lead 5 separated by only a second, this could have been anyone's race. Another lap and another place. In to the last 5 minutes and a late lunge by Neven Kirkpatrick saw Comis demoted back to 5^th, but it was all still to play for. On to the last lap and a mere 2 seconds separated the top 5. Throughout the lap, as with the rest of the race, there was nothing separating the cars but at the line, remarkably, the positions were the only thing that remained static.

Reflecting on the day, Comis had mixed emotion. “I genuinely didn't think qualy went that well so was reasonably happy with 4^th. I just made a mess of the start and just didn’t anticipate the light this time. With such a long run to the 1st corner, the lack of momentum really hurt but great to get fastest lap. The second race was just great fun. So good to be mixing it up at the sharp end and so close to a podium.”

And his thoughts on the season; “It's been quite a learning curve with the changes to the car at the start of the season They took some time to get used, to especially without any testing, but there's been steady improvement culminating in a fastest lap today. It's good to end a season on a strong positive.”

Photography courtesy of John Creech Motorsport Photography