SILVERSTONE’S 1.64 mile National Circuit was the first stop off point in a very busy Easter schedule for Appleshaw driver Simon Tilling and his Ligier JS49T.

Two days and three races in the BRSCC Excool OSS Championship saw Simon leave the Northamptonshire circuit with a second place overall and a first in class.

With a car that Simon described as ‘running well’ he then headed down to Wiltshire for the now traditional Howard's Day Easter Monday meeting at Castle Combe for two more races.

The ultra-fast 1.85 mile track, which has been partly resurfaced over the winter was sunny and dry and in qualifying Simon was soon on the pace at the track which he knows so well.

He started from pole ahead of Josh Smith, who he had been racing at Silverstone and the first of the two races saw Simon and Josh take to the front and battle with each other.

By lap ten of the 17 lap race the pair were carving through the back markers, but in the end Tilling won by more than two seconds.

That win put the Ligier on pole again for race two and Smith got the jump on Tilling at the start and led up until lap five of the 15 lap race when Simon passed him and went on to win by 1.4 seconds.

Andover builder Ray Ferguson was also out at Combe in round 1 of the Saloon Car Championship in his MG ZR.

This championship has more than 40 entries making it one of the best supported championships in the UK and qualifying put him on row 17 and at the end Ray had worked his way up to 26th overall and 11th in class C.

The next round of the Castle Combe Championship is on Monday May 4 and will be live on Motors TV.