Chris Mackenzie was able to hold off the challenge of a charging Archie Johnson to bag JCW Sport honours in the opening Vertu MINI CHALLENGE race of the weekend at Croft.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Bitcoin Racing driver had been the man to beat during qualifying in North Yorkshire which allowed him to line up on pole for the Saturday afternoon encounter, which was held in warm summer conditions.<\/p>\n
Mackenzie made the ideal start when the lights went out to retain his advantage at the front, and ended the opening lap more than a second clear of the pack behind, helped by the fact that Johnson in second spot had a lurid slide going into the Complex.<\/p>\n
That opened the door for him to come under attack from team-mate Henry Howarth into the hairpin, where unfortunate contact between the two would result in Johnson picking up damage to his car.<\/p>\n
Despite that, Johnson set about charging after Mackenzie for the lead, with the JamSport driver gradually reeling in the man ahead.<\/p>\n
By the end of lap six, the leading duo were together and heading down to Tower, Johnson went for the inside line to grab the lead – only to run deep on the exit.<\/p>\n
That allowed Mackenzie back through into the lead and also allowed Howarth to get into second.<\/p>\n
From there, Mackenzie was able to take advantage of the squabbles behind to move clear and took the flag nearly three seconds ahead of the chasing duo to take the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very hot and it felt like a very long race!\u201d he said. \u201cI had to defend hard from Archie until he launched a move at Tower and went deep, and from there, it was a case of just waiting for the chequered flag.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cI tried not to worry too much about what was going on in my mirrors, and just focused on going forwards.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nHowarth and Johnson would battle throughout the remainder of the race, with Johnson – who set the fastest lap in the class – trying more than once to find a way ahead.<\/p>\n
Howarth however was able to hold on to leave Johnson forced to settle for third despite one of his strongest races of the year to date.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a bit of an error and got the toe knocked out on lap one, but then I got the gap to Chris down to nothing in a few laps,\u201d he said. \u201cA mistake at Tower cost me a place which is a real shame as the pace was there to go for the win.<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m happy with the speed we have shown, but we just didn\u2019t have the luck.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\nOutside the top three, Nicky Gauci was best of the rest despite a somewhat lonely race for the Maltese racer, who was unable to keep pace with the top three but was comfortably clear of Ben Crossley in fifth.<\/p>\n
Will Crooks rounded out the field in sixth spot with just one more race to come this weekend on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ background_enable_image=”off” background_size=”contain” background_position=”center_left” custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg” title_text=”MC1″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC2-1.jpg” title_text=”MC2″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chris Mackenzie was able to hold off the challenge of a charging Archie Johnson to bag JCW Sport honours in the opening Vertu MINI CHALLENGE race of the weekend at Croft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":28928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1462,1506],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-jcw-sport"],"yoast_head":"\n
CHRIS MACKENZIE SECURES LIGHTS-TO-FLAG WIN IN CROFT OPENER - MINI CHALLENGE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CHRIS MACKENZIE SECURES LIGHTS-TO-FLAG WIN IN CROFT OPENER - MINI CHALLENGE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chris Mackenzie was able to hold off the challenge of a charging Archie Johnson to bag JCW Sport honours in the opening Vertu MINI CHALLENGE race of the weekend at Croft.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MINI CHALLENGE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-02T15:19:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-02T15:19:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Matt Salisbury\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt Salisbury\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/\",\"name\":\"CHRIS MACKENZIE SECURES LIGHTS-TO-FLAG WIN IN CROFT OPENER - MINI CHALLENGE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-02T15:19:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-02T15:19:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/de9a273b439dd2768abb418d35178200\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg\",\"width\":960,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CHRIS MACKENZIE SECURES LIGHTS-TO-FLAG WIN IN CROFT OPENER\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"MINI CHALLENGE\",\"description\":\"WORKING TO BE THE BEST ONE MAKE RACING CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE UK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/de9a273b439dd2768abb418d35178200\",\"name\":\"Matt Salisbury\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/author\/matt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CHRIS MACKENZIE SECURES LIGHTS-TO-FLAG WIN IN CROFT OPENER - MINI CHALLENGE","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"CHRIS MACKENZIE SECURES LIGHTS-TO-FLAG WIN IN CROFT OPENER - MINI CHALLENGE","og_description":"Chris Mackenzie was able to hold off the challenge of a charging Archie Johnson to bag JCW Sport honours in the opening Vertu MINI CHALLENGE race of the weekend at Croft.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/","og_site_name":"MINI CHALLENGE","article_published_time":"2025-08-02T15:19:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-02T15:19:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Matt Salisbury","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matt Salisbury","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/","url":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/","name":"CHRIS MACKENZIE SECURES LIGHTS-TO-FLAG WIN IN CROFT OPENER - MINI CHALLENGE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-02T15:19:28+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-02T15:19:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/de9a273b439dd2768abb418d35178200"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/MC1-1.jpg","width":960,"height":540},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/2025\/08\/02\/chris-mackenzie-secures-lights-to-flag-win-in-croft-opener\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CHRIS MACKENZIE SECURES LIGHTS-TO-FLAG WIN IN CROFT OPENER"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/","name":"MINI CHALLENGE","description":"WORKING TO BE THE BEST ONE MAKE RACING CHAMPIONSHIP IN THE UK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/de9a273b439dd2768abb418d35178200","name":"Matt Salisbury","url":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/author\/matt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28926"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28931,"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28926\/revisions\/28931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.minichallenge.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}